RII Track-4:NSF: Characterization of Extractable Organic Fluorine as an Indicator of Total PFASs to Close the Fluorine Mass Balance in Potable Reuse Scenarios

RII Track-4：NSF：可萃取有机氟的表征作为总 PFAS 的指标，以关闭饮用水再利用场景中的氟质量平衡

• 批准号: 2228903
• 负责人: Leigh Terry
• 金额: $ 19.49万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2025-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228903&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RII; Track; NSF; Characterization; Extractable

This project seeks to bridge the gap between academics and the wealth of practical knowledge held by the industry and practitioners to build upon water research at the University of Alabama (UA). Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been produced since the late 1940s in industrial and consumer applications due to their desired functionality and production capability. There are currently 4,700 PFAS on the global market, yet most research and regulations primarily focus on ~30 targeted PFASs. There is an unknown burden of PFAS contamination in our water and wastewater facilities. This project will allow researchers from UA to conduct studies at the Water Tower to learn new PFAS characterization techniques and to create industry and utility partnerships outside the walls of isolated research laboratories. This research seeks to learn a transformative approach to measure extractable organic fluorine (EOF) while quantifying the proportion of organofluorine attributed to known PFAS to close the fluorine mass balance in potable reuse scenarios. This work will provide training for one graduate student, and results will be integrated into undergraduate curriculum and research. The research collaboration formed through this project will help develop capacity at UA to advance progress toward a standardized EOF method for all utilities, providing additional opportunities to educate and train graduate and undergraduate students.This Research Infrastructure Improvement Track-4 EPSCoR Research Fellows (RII Track-4) project will provide a fellowship to an assistant professor and training for a graduate student at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa. This work would be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Water Tower Institute in Burford, GA. The goal of the proposed project is to create partnerships with the Water Tower and use their laboratories and demonstration facility with live flows from the adjacent advanced wastewater treatment facility, The F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (WRC), to test the overarching hypothesis that bulk organofluorine measurements can be a key indicator of Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, CnF2n+1-R) contamination. The project will seek to develop methods to close the fluorine mass balance in wastewater treatment whose effluent supplies an indirect potable reuse treatment facility. The project will use combustion ion-chromatography (CIC) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods that are characterization tools to measure extractable organic fluorine (EOF) and targeted PFAS. Two objectives will carry out the research plan: (1) Establish scholarly collaborations with investigators at The Water Tower and learn EOF-CIC and LC-MS/MS characterization techniques to characterize total extractable organofluorine while quantifying the proportion of organofluorine attributed to known PFAS in potable reuse scenarios, and (2) Determine the occurrence of unknown PFAS in environmental samples and close the fluorine mass balance for potable reuse scenarios. The collaboration developed between UA and The Water Tower will generate high-quality undergraduate and graduate research opportunities in the field of water reuse and wastewater treatment while building upon UA's water research mission.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目旨在弥合学术界与行业和从业者掌握的丰富实践知识之间的差距，以建立在阿拉巴马大学(UA)水研究的基础上。全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质(PFAS)自20世纪40年代末以来一直在工业和消费应用中生产，因为它们所需的功能和生产能力。目前全球市场上有4,700种全氟辛烷磺酸，但大多数研究和法规主要集中在大约30种目标全氟辛烷磺酸。在我们的水和废水设施中有一种未知的全氟辛烷磺酸污染的负担。该项目将允许UA的研究人员在水塔进行研究，学习新的全氟辛烷磺酸表征技术，并在孤立的研究实验室之外建立行业和公用事业伙伴关系。这项研究试图学习一种变革性的方法来测量可提取有机氟(EOF)，同时量化已知全氟化铝的有机氟比例，以在可饮用水重复使用的情况下接近氟质量平衡。这项工作将为一名研究生提供培训，并将结果整合到本科课程和研究中。通过该项目形成的研究合作将有助于发展UA的能力，以推动所有公用事业的标准化EOF方法的进展，提供更多的机会来教育和培训研究生和本科生。这个研究基础设施改进Track-4 EPSCoR研究人员(RII Track-4)项目将为阿拉巴马大学塔斯卡卢萨大学的一名助理教授提供奖学金，并为一名研究生提供培训。这项工作将与佐治亚州伯福德水塔研究所的研究人员合作进行。拟议项目的目标是与水塔建立合作伙伴关系，并利用他们的实验室和示范设施，利用邻近的高级废水处理设施--F.Wayne Hill水资源中心(WRC)的实时流动，来检验总体假设，即大量有机氟测量可以成为全氟和多氟烷基物质(PFAS，CnF2n+1-R)污染的关键指标。该项目将寻求开发方法，以关闭废水处理中的氟质量平衡，废水提供间接的饮用水再利用处理设施。该项目将使用燃烧离子色谱(CIC)和LC-MS/MS(LC-MS/MS)方法，这两种方法是测量可提取有机氟(EOF)和目标全氟化铝(PFAS)的表征工具。研究计划将实现两个目标：(1)与水塔的研究人员建立学术合作，学习EOF-CIC和LC-MS/MS表征技术，以表征总的可提取有机氟，同时量化饮用水再利用方案中已知全氟化合物所占的有机氟比例，以及(2)确定环境样品中未知全氟化合物的存在，并为饮用水再利用方案关闭氟质量平衡。UA和水塔之间的合作将在UA水研究任务的基础上，在水再利用和废水处理领域创造高质量的本科生和研究生研究机会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。