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

该项目旨在弥合学术界与行业和从业人员所掌握的丰富实践知识之间的差距，以亚拉巴马大学（UA）的水研究为基础。全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）由于其所需的功能和生产能力，自20世纪40年代后期以来已在工业和消费应用中生产。目前全球市场上有4，700种PFAS，但大多数研究和法规主要集中在约30种目标PFAS上。我们的水和废水设施中存在未知的PFAS污染负担。该项目将允许来自UA的研究人员在水塔进行研究，学习新的PFAS表征技术，并在孤立的研究实验室的墙壁之外建立工业和公用事业合作伙伴关系。本研究旨在学习一种变革性的方法来测量可提取的有机氟（CHF），同时量化归因于已知PFAS的有机氟的比例，以关闭饮用水再利用场景中的氟质量平衡。这项工作将为一名研究生提供培训，其结果将纳入本科课程和研究。通过该项目形成的研究合作将有助于开发UA的能力，以推动所有公用事业的标准化方法的进展，提供额外的机会，教育和培训研究生和本科生。这个研究基础设施改善轨道-4 EPSCoR研究员（RII轨道-4）项目将提供奖学金的助理教授和培训的研究生在亚拉巴马塔斯卡卢萨大学。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，并使用他们的实验室和示范设施，从邻近的先进的污水处理设施，F。韦恩希尔水资源中心（WRC），以测试总体假设，即散装有机氟测量可以是全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFASs，CnF 2n +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，其流出物供应间接饮用再利用处理设施。该项目将使用燃烧离子色谱法（CIC）和液相色谱-串联质谱法（LC-MS/MS），这些方法是测量可提取有机氟和目标PFAS的表征工具。研究计划的两个目标是：（1）与水塔研究人员建立学术合作，学习EOF-CIC和LC-MS/MS表征技术，以表征可提取的有机氟总量，同时量化可饮用水再利用方案中已知PFAS的有机氟比例，和（2）确定环境样品中未知PFAS的出现，并关闭饮用水再利用方案的氟质量平衡。UA和水塔之间的合作将产生高质量的本科生和研究生在水回用和废水处理领域的研究机会，同时建立在UA的水研究使命。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.