Superfund Research Program
Identification of Remediation Technologies and Conditions that Minimize Formation of Hazardous PAH Breakdown Products at Superfund Sites
Project Leader: Lewis Semprini
Co-Investigator: Ha-Yeon (Paul) Cheong
Grant Number: P42ES016465
Funding Period: 2009-2025
Project-Specific Links
Final Progress Reports
Year: 2019 2012
The major accomplishments of Staci Simonich, Ph.D., and her team over the current reporting period include five publications in the peer-reviewed literature and six presentations on the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) derivatives and developmental toxicity during steam-enhanced extraction remediation of creosote contaminated soils (Trine, 2019), formation of PAH oxidation products in secondary organic aerosols exposed to ozone (Kramer, 2019), predicting the structures of PAH transformation products (Titaley, 2019), development of a high-throughput in vivo screening platform for particulate matter exposure (Roper, 2019), and the impact of regional air pollution sources on tribal air quality in the Pacific Northwest (Kramer, 2020). The research conducted under this project resulted in the education and mentoring of two SRP trainees. The team continued active collaborations with environmental engineers in academia and the USEPA to study the formation of PAH breakdown products due to bioremediation, thermal treatment, and chemical oxidation of soils at Superfund sites. In 2019, researchers published a manuscript in Environmental Science and Technology evaluating computational and structural approaches to predict the transformation products of PAHs (Titaley 2019). This approach is now used throughout project experiments and in other SRP laboratories. In 2019, Lisandra Santiago-Delgado completed her research started by her 2015 K.C. Donnelly externship, through a collaboration with Eva Davis of the USEPA, to study the formation of PAH breakdown products during thermal remediation of PAHs in Superfund soils. The experiments were conducted on creosote contaminated soil from the Wyckoff/Eagle Harbor Superfund Site. A manuscript describing the formation of PAH transformation products and increased development toxicity following thermal remediation has been published in Environmental Science and Technology.