If labs used to focus on whether they could detect PFOS and PFOA, today the more pressing question is whether they can monitor a much wider range of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) stably, accurately, and efficiently.
In recent years, China's PFAS governance has evolved from risk identification and list-based management toward targeted control and industry-specific emission constraints. This progression runs from risk identification launched under the "First Batch of the Priority Assessment Plan for Environmental Risks of Chemical Substances," to targeted controls implemented under the "List of Key-Controlled New Pollutants (2023 Edition)," to the continuing expansion of the "Priority Control Chemicals List," and most recently to the 2026 draft revisions of wastewater discharge standards for industries such as synthetic resins and petroleum refining, which introduce PFOA and PFOS control requirements.
Behind this regulatory escalation lie new demands on laboratories: it is no longer enough to simply detect PFAS — labs must detect them accurately, quickly, and across an expanding list of target compounds and potential risk substances. Building PFAS monitoring capability that meets the requirements of new-pollutant governance has become an important task in developing China's ecological and environmental monitoring system.
EXPEC 5700 LC-MS/MS (Liquid Chromatography-Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer)
To address the growing list of monitored PFAS compounds, complex environmental matrices, and low target-analyte concentrations, the EXPEC 5700 LC-MS/MS combines chromatographic separation with the selective detection power of multiple-reaction monitoring, improving the accuracy and stability of trace-level quantitative analysis in complex matrices. For PFAS analysis in drinking water, surface water, and groundwater, the system delivers strong linearity, repeatability, and spike recovery, with method detection limits that outperform relevant standard-method requirements. This meets the environmental monitoring field's need for highly sensitive, accurate, and stable analysis of trace new pollutants, providing reliable data support for PFAS investigation and monitoring, risk assessment, and source-tracing analysis.
From the "First Batch of the Priority Assessment Plan for Environmental Risks of Chemical Substances" to the "List of Key-Controlled New Pollutants (2023 Edition)" to the "Priority Control Chemicals List," China's PFAS governance system continues to be refined. Behind this policy escalation is the ongoing evolution of environmental management from "pollution control" toward "risk governance."
Building monitoring capability for new pollutants remains a long-term undertaking. EXPEC Technology will continue to focus on new-pollutant investigation and monitoring, environmental risk assessment, and monitoring-capability building, continually refining its PFAS monitoring technology system. Through an integrated solution spanning laboratory analysis, online monitoring, pollution-characteristic profiling, and source-tracing analysis, the company aims to provide more reliable technical support for the scientific governance of new pollutants by ecological and environmental authorities.
