This $298,143 National Science Foundation project grant will support the development of a portable instrument for measuring poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) by the University of Texas at Arlington from September 2022 through August 2025. PFAS are man-made chemicals used in firefighting foams and cleaning products that accumulate in the environment and pose health risks. Typically analyzed using expensive laboratory equipment, this new portable instrument aims to reliably measure total organic fluorine as an affordable scout for PFAS contamination. It is intended to concentrate PFAS from water samples in the field, mineralize the compounds using plasma discharge, and separate fluoride using miniature solid phase extraction and ion chromatography. If successful, this new technology could significantly improve data acquisition for PFAS, particularly in isolated and rural areas, by enabling real-time mapping of contamination plumes and source attribution under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049).
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