FY 2020 STATEMENT OF NEED

Environmental Restoration (ER) Program Area

The objective of this Statement of Need (SON) was to develop passive sampling methods to provide repeatable and environmentally relevant measures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Specifically, the goal was to address the following research needs:

• Develop passive sampling media competent to quantitatively “concentrate” the wide range of PFAS of interest from water.
• Establish physical-chemical properties, including sorbent/water partition coefficients, molecular diffusivities of PFAS in water and sorbent media.
• Establish the range of PFAS that can be quantifiably sampled using the sorbent(s).
• Characterize the impacts of co-contaminants and various water quality and conditions.
• Develop a fundamental understanding of the natural solid-water sorption coefficients of PFAS as a function of sorbate properties, natural solids, and solution properties.
• Develop passive samplers that yield representative spatial and temporal interrogation of site contaminants when deployed.
• Develop passive sampling methods/procedures that are capable of being efficiently deployed and retrieved in widely varying field applications.

The projects listed below were selected to address the objectives of this SON. Additional information on individual projects can be found by clicking the project title.

• Development of Novel Functionalized Polymeric Thin Films for Equilibrium Passive Sampling of PFAS Compounds in Surface and Groundwater
  • Lead Investigator: Upal Ghosh, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

• Development and Field-Testing of Advanced Passive Samplers for PFAS
  • Lead Investigator: Rainer Lohmann, University of Rhode Island

• Development of Passive Sampling Methodologies for PFAS 
  • Lead Investigator: Sarit Kaserzon, The University of Queensland

• Development of a Novel PFAS Passive Sampler with Efficient Sorbent Media and Robust Membrane Barrier
  • Lead Investigator: Yin Wang, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

• Passive Samplers for PFAS with Innovative Sorbents
  • Lead Investigator: Mei Sun, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Ion Exchange Membranes and Fibers as Passive Samplers for Chemically-Diverse PFAS
  • Lead Investigator: Lee Blaney, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

• Development of a Diffusive Gradients in Thin-Films Passive Sampling Methodology for PFAS in Water
  • Lead Investigator: Julian Fairey, University of Arkansas

• Osorb Media Use in PFAS Samplers
  • Lead Investigator: Craig Divine, Arcadis

Research should lead to better sampling and analysis of PFAS at DoD sites. This will in turn lead to improved and more cost-effective management of PFAS sites by facilitating more accurate and precise assessments of the extent of PFAS contamination.