Addressing Pfas Contamination in Blood Bank Supplies with Hydrogel Nanocomposite Sorbents

Environmental pollutants continue to be a threat to global human health. Persistent contaminants, such as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), have been linked to a multitude of adverse health effects such as cancerous tumors, increased blood cholesterol levels and liver damage. The dominant source of exposure to PFAS is through contaminated drinking water, and accumulation has been found to occur significantly in human blood serum. Thus, high-risk groups who are receiving frequent blood transfusions are exposed to these harmful chemicals in a dual fashion, which could prove detrimental. Traditional sorbents that display an affinity for PFAS include powdered activated carbon and clay. Recently, a protein found in plasma, albumin, has been identified as the major carrier protein for PFAS in human blood. The two most widely detected PFAS in human serum are perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, PFOA. Thus, this work aimed to develop hydrogel nanocomposites that have the capability to remove PFOA and PFOS from human blood serum. Crosslinked acrylamide polymers were synthesized with varied crosslinking densities of 0.1 mol%, 1 mol%, and 10 mol% to evaluate potential exclusion of serum proteins. In order to incorporate physiochemical properties of sorbents known to bind PFOA and PFOS, varied amounts of dried sorbent particulate were integrated into the synthesized hydrogels. Powdered activated carbon, sodium montmorillonite clay, and bovine serum albumin were studied at loadings of 1 wt% and 5 wt% respective to total reactant weight. The synthesized hydrogels were characterized via FTIR and TGA analysis. Competitive binding to evaluate PFOA and PFOS affinity was completed in a binding matrix of pH 7.4, similar to blood serum.