Research progress on the sources, occurrence, and ecotoxicity of trifluoroacetic acid in aquatic environments

Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), as a new persistent environmental pollutant, has seen a sharp rise in its environmental concentration recently, triggering global concerns regarding whether it might exceed Earth's planetary safety boundary. However, existing studies mainly focus on local environmental distribution reports and limited toxicological experiments, lacking a comprehensive global analysis. This study systematically reviews the research progress on TFA’s sources, occurrence, and ecotoxicity in global aquatic environments. TFA has diverse sources, including industrial production, sewage discharge, landfill leachate leakage, fluorinated pesticide degradation, and fluorinated greenhouse gas transformation. These sources are complex and interrelated, affecting its global distribution. In terms of environmental fate, TFA is widely detected in rainfall, surface water, drinking water and groundwater, and the concentrations show significant spatial differences. In terms of bioaccumulation, TFA can enter the food chain through plant absorption and animal feeding, leading to human exposure. Ecotoxicity studies show that TFA is toxic to both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, affecting their growth, reproduction, and health. But existing studies have limitations in exposure condition settings and environmental factor considerations. In the future, more efforts should be put into quantitatively analyzing TFA sources to clarify their contribution ratios. Based on actual environmental concentrations, in-depth research on TFA's ecotoxicity mechanisms in ecosystems is needed. By integrating multi-disciplinary technologies, a comprehensive assessment of its ecological risks can be carried out, providing a scientific basis and forward-looking guidance for TFA pollution control in global aquatic environments and ecological protection.