CAREER: Establishing a Knowledge Base for Use and Discharge of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances

全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）是自20世纪40年代以来在许多消费品和工业应用中使用的含氟有机化学品。PFAS是有史以来最稳定的化学品之一。在过去的二十年中，PFAS在环境介质（包括空气、水、土壤和生物群）中的检测越来越多，引起了人们对PFAS在环境中的持久性、稳定性和不利影响（包括对生物体和人类的毒性）的严重关注。在美国，管理和缓解PFAS污染的一个关键挑战是缺乏关于PFAS在整个制造、供应链和产品生命周期中的流量、排放和排放的精心策划的数据和系统知识。该CAREER项目的总体目标是开发和验证系统分析和建模工具，这些工具可用于1）估计美国PFAS的总使用量，累积量和排放量，2）帮助确定国家的地理热点和PFAS污染的经济驱动因素。为了推进这一目标，首席研究员建议围绕两个重点开展综合数据收集和建模研究计划。重点1将收集和综合关于全氟辛烷磺酸使用和排放的现有测量数据（包括空间和时间数据），纳入国家物质流分析，以生成一个综合数据集，为全氟辛烷磺酸风险评估和管理提供信息和改进。 重点2将实施多学科技术，以指导PFAS的安全管理，包括评估美国PFAS利用和消费的供应链和社会经济驱动因素。该项目的成功完成将通过开发和验证新的系统分析和建模工具来指导和支持美国更有效的PFAS风险评估，管理和缓解策略的开发和实施，从而使社会受益。此外，还将通过推广和教育活动，包括对亚拉巴马塔斯卡卢萨大学的一名博士后研究员、一名研究生和一名本科生的指导，为社会带来更多的好处。在美国，各种计划、政策和法规，从产品淘汰到新的饮用水健康标准，目前正在开发管理和减轻PFAS污染对人类和生态系统健康的风险。然而，这些措施的有效性无法准确评估，由于关键的知识差距，包括缺乏系统层面的知识和空间综合信息的PFAS的使用，排放量和整个产品生命周期的排放。这个职业生涯项目将解决这些知识差距。研究的具体目标是开发和验证系统分析和建模工具，以：1）根据过去和未来的产品使用场景，量化全系统范围内PFAS的使用，积累，排放和排放; 2）空间描述PFAS的积累和排放; 3）描述PFAS使用的供应链和社会经济驱动因素;（4）估算PFAS累积和排放对方法和数据不确定性的全球敏感性。该项目的成功完成有可能通过以下方式产生变革性影响：1）生成关于美国PFAS使用、排放和排放的精选数据集; 2）开发和验证系统分析和建模工具，以指导和支持美国PFAS风险管理和缓解计划。为了实现这个职业生涯项目的教育和培训目标，首席研究员（PI）建议在亚拉巴马（UA）塔斯卡卢萨大学为高年级/研究生开发和教授一门新的工业生态学课程。此外，PI计划指导塔斯卡卢萨大学的本科生，并组织沉浸式的夏季研讨会，以促进美国，亚洲和欧洲学术机构的教师和学生之间的交流，网络和合作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are fluorinated organic chemicals that have been used in numerous consumer products and industrial applications since the 1940s. PFAS are one of the most stable chemicals ever produced. During the last two decades, increasing detection of PFAS in environmental media (including air, water, soils, and biota) has raised significant concerns about their persistence, stability, and adverse impact in the environment including toxicity to living organisms and humans. A critical challenge in the management and mitigation of PFAS contamination in the United States (US) is the lack of curated data and systematic knowledge on the flows, emissions, and discharges of PFAS over their entire manufacturing, supply chain, and product life cycles. The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to develop and validate system analysis and modeling tools that could be used to 1) estimate the total use, accumulation, and discharge of PFAS in the US and 2) help identify the Nation’s geographic hotspots and economic drivers of PFAS contamination. To advance this goal, the Principal Investigator proposes to carry out an integrated data collection and modeling research program structured around two thrusts. Thrust 1 will collect and synthesize available measurements of PFAS uses and emissions (including spatial and temporal data) into a national material flow analysis to generate an integrated data set that can inform and improve PFAS risk assessment and management. Thrust 2 will operationalize multi-disciplinary techniques to guide the safer management of PFAS including the evaluation of the supply-chain and socio-economic drivers of PFAS utilization and consumption in the US. The successful completion of this project will benefit society through the development and validation of new system analysis and modeling tools to guide and support the development and implementation of more effective PFAS risk assessment, management, and mitigation strategies in the US. Additional benefits to society will be achieved through outreach and educational activities including the mentoring of a post-doctorate research fellow, a graduate student, and an undergraduate student at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa.In the United States (US), various programs, policies, and regulations, ranging from product phaseout to new drinking water health advisories, are currently being developed to manage and mitigate the risks of PFAS contamination to human and ecosystem health. However, the effectiveness of these measures cannot be assessed accurately due to critical knowledge gaps including a lack of system-level knowledge and spatially integrated information about PFAS usages, emissions, and discharges throughout the entire product life cycles. This CAREER project will address these knowledge gaps. The specific objectives of the research are to develop and validate system analysis and modeling tools to: 1) Quantify system-wide use, accumulation, emissions, and discharge of PFAS based on past and future product usage scenarios; 2) Spatially delineate PFAS accumulation and emissions; 3) Characterize the supply-chain and socio-economic drivers of PFAS use; and 4) Estimate the global sensitivity of PFAS accumulation and emissions to methodological and data uncertainties. The successful completion of this project has the potential for transformative impact through 1) the generation of curated data sets on PFAS usages, emissions, and discharges in the US and 2) the development and validation of system analysis and modeling tools to guide and support PFAS risk management and mitigation programs in the US. To implement the educational and training goals of this CAREER project, the Principal Investigator (PI) proposes to develop and teach a new Industrial Ecology course for senior/graduate students at the University of Alabama (UA) Tuscaloosa. In addition, the PI plans to mentor undergraduate students at UA Tuscaloosa and organize immersive summer workshops on material sustainability research to facilitate exchange, networking, and collaboration between faculty and students from US, Asian, and European academic institutions.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.