In Praise of Cyclopure
By Pat Elder
February 8, 2022
Many of you know that we have been using water test materials developed by Illinois water science company Cyclopure Inc. in our PFAS testing activities. We selected their test process for its accuracy, ease of use, and affordability.
Cyclopure developed its water test kits in 2019 with funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Test materials use the company's PFAS adsorbent DEXSORB® in an extraction disc for point of site sampling with a 250 ml (8 oz) collection cup. The process allows users like us to dip collection cups at a test location and return the sample exposed cups (without water) to Cyclopure's lab, where they measure for PFAS on MassSpec. See NIEHS’s listing.
DEXSORB is distinguished for its molecular selectivity to PFAS chemicals, and has been featured in numerous peer-review articles, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) studies and other publications over the years. Cyclopure engineered the media to remove PFAS from contaminated water which is now being used in water treatment projects with leading environmental firms like AECOM, Tetra Tech, GHD, and HDR.
The company's DEXSORB-based grab sampling method can be used to analyze surface water samples. At the lab, they recover PFAS off of the DEXSORB extraction disc using SPE (standard solid phase extraction) methods. Their analytical chemists have calibrated their LC-MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry) for quantification of 54 PFAS analytes, testing results to a 1-2 part per trillion level of accuracy.
The difference between Cyclopure’s process and the procedures followed by, say, Eurofins or Pace, is in collection and extraction. All three firms follow EPA 537 instrument methods and use isotope dilution in their PFAS measurement.
Use of DEXSORB as a PFAS extraction media and Cyclopure's recovery of PFAS by solid phase extraction (SPE) have been reported in peer-reviewed journals like Environmental Science & Technology and Water Research. The international analytical firm SGS Laboratories of Belgium follows the same SPE recovery method to measure PFAS concentrations in DEXSORB samples used in a commercial water test application offered by iFLUX Sampling
Cyclopure has now tested over 1,000 water samples using its test kits, including the University of Florida and the University of Queensland for PFAS research projects.
Military Poisons/WILPF-US used Cyclopure’s kit to bring attention to PFAS contamination in Piscataway Creek, a body of water the drains from the runway at Joint Base Andrews. We found 2,781.8 ppt of PFAS, including 894.7 ppt of PFOS. The state of Maryland followed up and reported 3,193 total PFAS at the same spot. Based on these results, the state issued its first fish advisory for PFAS.
Prince George’s County, Maryland, where JB Andrews is located, filed a $250 million lawsuit citing the contamination of the Creek and the fish in it. 4 miles away, at the mouth of the Creek where it flows into the tidal Potomac River, we found 234.4 ppt while the state reported 207 ppt.
Military Poisons/WILP-US also tested a stream flowing out of the former Brunswick NAS in Maine and the results were almost identical to the Navy’s results three years earlier. According to the Portland Press Herald.
“One line of evidence supporting the results, Maine Department of Environmental Protection Project Manager Iver McLeod said, was a comparison to a 2018 study by the Navy and DEP in the same creek the local groups tested. The 2018 sampling reported figures for three different compounds in the creek, and the local organizations’ results for those compounds were similar.”
We tested two ponds near Joint Base Cape Cod and our results were within a few percent the state’s results.
We tested the waters of the Winooski River in Vermont, leading the state to reveal results from their own testing that revealed a finding 15,000 ppt in fish near the Air National Guard base. The state’s top official dismissed the results as “background levels for PFAS.”
We are appreciative to have access to an affordable test technology like Cyclopure's. We encounter push back because the company uses its own media to extract PFAS from water sites. Our experience is of consistent accuracy with state test results whether the water source is highly contaminated, lightly contaminated or without PFAS. Maryland state is a case in point when the state’s results came back a slightly higher than Cyclopure’s for Piscataway Creek
I tested water in my creek using Eurofins. The Eurofins test cost $700, ($350 for the field blank and $350 for the test.) It found 12.73 ppt of total PFAS in my creek. The state of Maryland tested very close to the site where I tested and found 13.5 ppt. I tested the same spot a year later using Cyclopure's $80.00 test kit and found 10.0 ppt in the creek.
We are not water scientists, nor do we claim to be. We are concerned citizens who are alarmed by the willingness of the U.S. government to poison its own citizens and cover it up. We care about water quality and aquatic health. We’re using affordable (and we believe expert) tools that permit us the flexibility to do wide testing of water sources. Our work is having the effect of requiring state officials to look into areas where we report high levels of PFAS contamination in the water.
People across the country are testing the waters for PFAS that drain off of military installations and states are reacting with regulations and legislation. It’s good to see.
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Pat Elder