EJQ4 - Spring 2025 - Journal - Page 16
Another key to understanding and regulating the multitude of variants
is quantifying their actual presence. SGS Canada specializes in testing,
inspection and veri昀椀cation of a wide range of industrial chemicals, and
its SGS AXYS lab in B.C. developed the U.S. Environmental Protection’s
Agency’s Method 1633, a standardized procedure the agency implemented last year to assess 40 PFAS in wastewater, surface water, groundwater,
drinking water, soil, biosolids, sediment, land昀椀ll leachate, and 昀椀sh tissue.
“It’s a standard best-practice method for PFAS measurement using
mass spectrometry,” explains Bharat Chandramouli, a product director with SGS Canada. Analysts use solid phase extraction to isolate PFAS
and adsorb it into a solid stationary phase. They then use a liquid chromatograph and mass spectrometer to separate complex components
into speci昀椀c compounds of interest and, in turn, produce a concentration measurable at extremely low levels. While the technique is currently commercially available for only 80 to 100 PFAS variants, other techniques can be employed to pursue additional, known variants, according
to Chandramouli.
Canadian governmental agencies have tapped into Method 1633 for various measurement purposes. Last year, Health Canada employed it in the
E N V I RON M E N T J OURN A L QUA RT E RLY RE PORT • S PRI N G 2 0 2 5 • P AGE 1 6
