US EPA PFAS Method 1633

In September 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) issued a draft method for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) [1]. US EPA Method 1633 is the first PFAS method issued by the US EPA for non-drinking water matrices. Until now, regulated entities and environmental laboratories relied upon modified EPA methods or in-house laboratory standard operating procedures to analyze PFAS in non-drinking water matrices.

Draft EPA Method 1633 is a single laboratory validated method that provides a standardized approach for measuring up to 40 PFAS in a diverse range of environmental matrices including: wastewater, surface water, groundwater, soil, biosolids, sediment, landfill leachate, and fish tissue. This draft method recognizes and incorporates the use of isotope dilution techniques to accurately quantify target PFAS.

Key differences between the draft US EPA Method 1633 and current Bureau Veritas standard operating procedures (based on modified US EPA Methods 537.1 and 533) are highlighted in Table 1 (below). Currently, draft Method 1633 has only been validated by one laboratory. US EPA indicates that a multi-laboratory validation study of draft Method 1633 has begun, and anticipates completion of the study in 2022.

Detailed parameter lists reported are provided in Table 2.

Table 1: Method Comparison between Draft US EPA Method 1633 and Bureau Veritas Standard Operating Procedure CAM SOP-00894/16 (based on a modified US EPA Methods 537.1 and 533.1)

Notes: Reporting Limit data for US EPA Method 1633 are derived from a single-laboratory validation study and are only provided as examples in this draft method. These will be updated with the pooled reporting limit data from the interlaboratory study results in a subsequent revision.

Table 2: Detailed Parameter Comparison between US EPA Method 1633 and Bureau Veritas Standard Operation Procedure CAM SOP-00894/16 (based on a modified US EPA Method 533.1)

References

[1] United States Environmental Protection Agency: “Draft Method 1633 – Analysis of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Aqueous, Solid, Biosolids and Tissue Samples by LC-MS/MS” (821-D-21-001, August 2021)