Grantee Research Project Results
Rapid, Field-Deployable Water Sampling Device to Facilitate On-Site Total PFAS Measurement
EPA Contract Number: 68HERC23C0014Title: Rapid, Field-Deployable Water Sampling Device to Facilitate On-Site Total PFAS Measurement
Investigators: MacMillan, Hunter
Small Business: Forever Analytical Services, Inc.
EPA Contact: Richards, April
Phase: I
Project Period: December 12, 2022 through June 11, 2023
Project Amount: $99,983
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I (2023) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: SBIR - Water , SBIR - Homeland Security , SBIR - Sustainability , SBIR - Air and Climate
Description:
a. Innovativeness of the proposed technology
Forever Analytical Services (FAS) has developed particle-induced gamma-ray emissions (PIGE) spectroscopy for the high-throughput screening of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This proposal seeks to extend the utility of this technique to the field by developing a field-deployable solid phase extraction (SPE) device containing a filter. Filters are then placed in an accelerated beam of protons where the resulting gamma-rays are measured to determine total fluorine content. PIGE is the only spectroscopic method for total fluorine analysis, which is rapid, quantitative, and sensitive.
b. Technical feasibility compared to current technologies
Rinsing a SPE filter with methanol and performing a second rapid PIGE measurement will distinguish inorganic fluoride from organofluorine. Limit of detection (LOD) is volume dependent, and since the SPE is performed in the field, larger sampling volumes can be used to lower the LOD below that of other existing total organic fluorine quantification methods such as combustion ion chromatography (CIC). Filters can be eluted to provide species information for select samples of interest. To date the FAS SPE/PIGE process has been demonstrated in the laboratory under controlled conditions.
c. Commercial potential (applications and end users)
This field-deployable SPE/PIGE method will provide regulatory agencies, PFAS-impacted communities, and environmental end-users with a fast and reliable method for screening for the presence of PFAS prior to speciation. This technique does not attempt to replace existing EPA methodologies, but rather to provide additional total organic fluorine screening information that is collected on-site in known areas of contamination for improved decision making. Given the widespread environmental contamination of our waters with PFAS, we anticipate that any tool that can screen samples more quickly and allow an end-user to select where to analyze in detail for specific PFAS will provide significant long-term cost savings.
d. Potential for environmental feedback
The SPE device paired with PIGE will allow on-site sampling for PFAS characterization more quickly and allow better-guided decision making for environmental remediation efforts. This technology will screen out samples that do not have significant PFAS and save money spent on the unnecessary analysis of clean water samples. Lastly, this device will provide environmental agencies information about the presence of all PFAS, not just regulated species. This is of increasing environmental interest and a precautionary approach to take, when coupled with the development of SPE methods proposed here to select the PFAS of most concern.
Progress and Final Reports:
SBIR Phase II:
Scaling Up a Field-Deployable Water Sampling Device to Rapidly Screen Adsorbable Organic Fluorine in situThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.