RAPID: Concentration and Form of Metal and Metal-Baring Nanomaterial Contamination in Maui Fire Ash and Soil

近年来，由于气候和社会变化，野火活动和相关的环境影响急剧增加。火释放并改变储存在植物、土壤和结构材料中的金属的性质，使它们更易溶解、更具反应性，并可能对环境和人类健康造成更大的危害。这一快速反应研究(RAPID)项目将收集与毛伊岛火灾有关的具有时间敏感性的样本和数据。特别是，这项研究将检查1)毛伊岛火灾后收集的火山灰和土壤中金属和含金属纳米材料的浓度、组成和性质，以及环境中持续存在的自由基，2)估计从火山灰中提取的金属的肺部生物可获得性，以及3)将火山灰中的金属和纳米材料动员到从烧伤地区径流中接收地表水的水中。该项目产生的数据将及时与当地毛伊岛居民和社区共享，以帮助毛伊岛社区了解灾难性的毛伊岛火灾后遗留在他们家中、企业和土地上的污染物以及这些污染物对环境和人类健康的潜在风险。该项目将支持两名研究生的培训。在这个项目中产生的方法、数据和工具将被整合到南卡罗来纳大学和加州州立大学现有的本科和研究生课程中。荒地-城市交界处的植被和结构材料燃烧后留下的火山灰通常富含金属和含金属的纳米材料。此外，高温、有限的氧气和有机物在火灾环境中热解产生的还原剂会改变金属和含金属纳米材料的性质，可能会将它们转化为比天然材料更具流动性和活性的材料。降雨会产生陆上径流，进一步将火灰中的金属和纳米材料转移到下游地表水域，可能会造成环境和人类健康问题。这一快速反应研究(RAPID)项目将收集与毛伊岛火灾有关的时间敏感的火山灰、土壤和水样和数据，目的是1)量化在毛伊岛荒地-城市界面火灾后收集的野火-城市界面火山灰和土壤中金属、含金属纳米材料和环境持久自由基的浓度，2)表征火山灰和土壤中含金属纳米材料的特性，特别是金属的形态，以及3)使用建立的金属在人工肺液中的溶解度分析来评估从火灾灰烬中提取的金属在肺部的生物可获得性。这项拟议的研究将全面了解火灾环境中金属、含金属纳米材料和环境持久自由基的性质、浓度和转化。这些数据将通过采用最先进的多方法方法来表征附带纳米材料的性质而产生，包括单粒子感应耦合等离子体飞行时间-质谱仪、高分辨率透射电子显微镜、X射线衍射、X射线吸收光谱和电子顺磁共振。拟议的研究的主要和最重要的更广泛的影响是帮助毛伊岛社区了解灾难性的毛伊岛火灾后遗留在他们家里、企业和土地上的污染物以及这些污染物对环境和人类健康的潜在风险。拟议研究的其他更广泛的影响包括：1)发现新问题并指导未来火灾污染领域的研究；2)生成对公共卫生等其他领域有用的数据集，以更好地了解与火灾排放污染物暴露有关的疾病；以及3)使饮用水处理厂等公共设施能够使用生成的数据，以确保饮用水的适当处理。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。

Wildfire activity and associated environmental impacts have increased dramatically in recent years as a result of climate and societal changes. Fire liberates and alters the properties of metals stored in plants, soils, and structural materials, rendering them more soluble, reactive, and potentially more hazardous to environmental and human health. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project will collect time-sensitive samples and data related to the Maui fire. In particular, this research will examine the 1) concentration, composition, and properties of metals and metal-bearing nanomaterials, and environmentally persistent free radicals in fire ash and soil collected following the Maui fire, 2) estimate the lung bioaccessibility of metals from fire ash, and 3) the mobilization of metals and nanomaterials in fire ash into surface water receiving runoff from burned areas. The data generated in this project will be shared with local Maui residents and communities in a timely manner to assist the Maui community in understanding the contaminants left over on the ground in their homes, businesses, and land following the catastrophic Maui fire and the potential environmental and human health risks of such contaminants. This project will support the training of two graduate students. Methods, data, and tools generated in this project will be integrated into existing undergraduate and graduate curricula at the University of South Carolina and California State University. The combustion of vegetation and structural materials in the wildland-urban interface leaves behind fire ash which is typically enriched in metals and metal-bearing nanomaterials. Additionally, the high temperature, limited oxygen, and release of reducing agents due to pyrolysis of organic matter in the fire environment alters the properties of metals and metal-bearing nanomaterials, potentially transforming them to more mobile and reactive materials compared to their native counterparts. Rainfall generates overland runoff which further mobilizes metals and nanomaterials in the fire ashes to downstream surface waters, potentially causing environmental and human health concerns. This Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project will collect time-sensitive ash, soil, and water samples and data related to the Maui fire with the aim to 1) quantify the concentration metal, metal bearing-nanomaterial, and environmentally persistent free radicals in the wildfire-urban interface fire ash and soil collected following the Maui wildland-urban interface fire, 2) characterize the properties, with particular focus on metal speciation, of metal-bearing nanomaterials in fire ash and soil, and 3) estimate the lung bioaccessibility of metals from fire ash using established metal solubility assays in artificial lung fluids. The proposed research will provide a comprehensive understanding of the nature, concentrations, and transformations of metals, metal-bearing nanomaterials, and environmentally persistent free radicals in the fire environment. These data will be generated by adopting a state-of-the-art multi-method approach to characterize the properties of incidental nanomaterials including single particle-inductively coupled plasma-time of flight-mass spectroscopy, high resolution-transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance. The major and most important broader impact of the proposed research is to assist the Maui community in understanding the contaminants left over on the ground in their homes, businesses, and land following the catastrophic Maui fire and the potential environmental and human health risks of such contaminants. Other broader impacts of the proposed research include: 1) identifying novel questions and guiding future research in the area of fire-borne contamination; 2) generating datasets useful to other fields such as public health to better understand diseases linked to exposure to fire-emitted contaminants; and 3) enabling use of the generated data by public utilities such as drinking water treatment plants, to ensure appropriate processing of drinking water.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.