Hosted by Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program
This SERDP and ESTCP webinar focuses on DoD-funded research efforts to develop and demonstrate PFAS passive samplers. Specifically, investigators will discuss the development and performance of prototype of anion exchange membranes as passive samplers for PFAS, as well as the development of the Sentinel passive sampler and its use for groundwater, surface water, and stormwater monitoring in accordance with EPA 1633.
Abstracts
“Ion Exchange Membranes and Fibers as Passive Samplers for Chemically-Diverse PFAS” by Dr. Lee Blaney (SERDP Project ER20-1073)
New strategies are needed to bolster efforts to efficiently measure and monitor per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at Department of Defense (DoD) facilities. This project supports SERDP’s goals of developing novel passive samplers for PFAS. Passive samplers are typically deployed in water or sediment, where they accumulate contaminants over days or weeks. Following the deployment period, the samplers are retrieved for extraction and analysis of contaminant levels. Then, known equilibrium or kinetic relationships are employed to back-calculate time-averaged or integrated concentrations of the contaminant in the dissolved phase. The wide-ranging physicochemical properties of PFAS complicate conventional passive sampling techniques. In this project, we leveraged the anionic head groups of prioritized PFAS to enable passive sampling strategies with anion exchange membranes, which are widely used in other water/wastewater processes. The ion exchange mechanism provides key advantages with respect to the development of universal calibrations that can be used in variable water quality conditions. This presentation will describe the justification for using ion exchange membranes as passive samplers for PFAS, the uptake and transport of PFAS in anion exchange membranes under different water quality conditions, and the development and performance of prototype samplers.
“Field-Ready PFAS Passive Sampler Calibrated to EPA 1633 Analytes” by Dr. Paul Edmiston (SERDP Project ER20-1127)
PFAS are a class of persistent contaminants that are increasingly being monitored in the hydrosphere. Passive sampling is emerging as an alternative to discrete sampling for environmental monitoring due to its advantages of reducing costs and providing a time-averaged measurement of concentration. This presentation will cover the basics of passive sampling and will summarize the results of SERDP supported work on the development of a PFAS specific passive sampler, the Sentinel passive sampler. The effectiveness of passive sampler measurements validated via laboratory studies and field trials in both groundwater monitoring wells and surface water systems will be presented. Strategies on the use of the Sentinel passive sampler for groundwater, surface water, and stormwater monitoring in accordance with EPA 1633 will be reviewed.