EPA Readies Guide On Non-Targeted Analysis To Detect Unknown PFAS

• By: AWMA
• On: 03/28/2025 13:28:46
• In: Press
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The ENTAiLS Toolkit, or Enabling Non-Targeted Analysis for PFAS, is currently undergoing peer review, Maureen Gwinn, EPA's acting assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development (ORD), told a March 11 keynote session of the Air & Waste Management Association's (A&WMA) “The Science of PFAS: Piecing Together the Puzzle” conference here.

The toolkit, which explores NTA methods to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) through high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), was also the focus of a separate March 11 session.

EPA researcher and chemist James McCord, who presented during the session, said the toolkit is a product of EPA's “research ideas and best practices” on NTA, including takeaways from state collaborations and pilot programs, and acts as a guide for carrying out NTA methods. It is not, however, an official government recommendation.

“We developed this toolkit over the course of several years, working with [states] to develop a guide, sort of the ‘Introductory 101' textbook for doing [NTA] for PFAS,” said McCord. “So, it is really a collection of guidelines, a few of the best practices . . . developed internally within ORD and troubleshooted with a lot of public health laboratories.”

The guide includes content tested and applied by state collaborators who have investigated PFAS in drinking water sources, as well as information on study designs, sample preparation and data processing and communication.

McCord added, “The hope is that this is a sort of comprehensive guidance, and the goal is [we] intend to update changes, things change, improve, or if we decide that we were wrong, it's a living document.”

The ubiquitous nature of PFAS, and the thousands of chemicals in the class, have long limited scientists and regulators alike in their attempts to mitigate PFAS contamination. Since targeted methods like EPA's Method 1633, for example, only account for a specific set of known PFAS analytes, EPA is encouraging researchers through its toolkit to use NTA methods to learn more about the thousands of remaining, unknown compounds.

“It's hard to get better than targeted analysis, but there are some limitations to targeted analysis when you're limited to the panels that you produce,” said McCord. “If you're running [Method] 1633, you get your 40 [PFAS compounds]. If you're doing something a little extended, maybe [you could identify] 100 PFAS. You're going to use specific matrix-derived methods, and you're going to have reference standards.”

He continued, “All that is good, but if we're talking about an extended list of chemicals or we're talking about novel chemicals that no one has ever seen before, there is no reference data, there is no [toxicity] data.”

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