The Current Challenges Mitigating PFAS

In part 5 of our conversation with Ralph Mead and his group, they talked about climate change and how it impacts carbon fluxes, describing the role of PFAS in these environments (1).

In the final part of this interview, Mead and his group discuss the biggest challenges in mitigating the effects of PFAS right now. Here’s the final part of our conversation with the Mead Group at UNC Wilmington.

Below is some of our conversation with Ralph Mead and his team. To listen to their full remarks, watch the video below.

Question: What are the current challenges in mitigating PFAS in the environment?

Paul Wojtal: The state of knowledge is such that we are trying to answer very basic questions about how much PFAS is out in the environment. Where is it going? How long does it stay there? Where is it coming from? And so we're not necessarily working on mitigating PFAS. People are working on this issue though; I don't want to imply otherwise at all. But the nature of the work that we do is very much trying to answer more basic questions than that, and so we're not involved in mitigation, which I guess is a challenge in trying to communicate that to the public. Dylan can talk a lot more about that, but trying to communicate to the public that we would love to be working on mitigation issues, and certainly, some of the isotope fingerprinting tools that we're trying to develop, will be helpful in understanding whether mitigation strategies are working, but we're just not there yet.

Ralph Mead: For the North Carolina PFAS Testing network, we have several researchers that are in the network who are coming up with innovative destruction tools and technology to remediate PFAS. I think to get to that question of mitigation, you know, which is a multi-disciplinary approach and problem to be solved because it's going to take a combination of the academic researchers to design and explore the fundamental science. But then, it's also the regulators as well. So, it's this very nice mix of both sides to address the issue.

Rachylle Hart: The technology that Paul, Chad, and Ralph are working on right now might not be able to be used for mitigation, but creating those partnerships very early is important. Ralph has partnerships with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Air Quality, so he's actively in conversations with them and learning about the types of mitigation they need and the types of questions they need to be answered. And so, starting that communication very early in this process, not in 10 years when the technology is ready to be commercialized is important. You want to start the communication now when you can figure out what those regulators need and what your partners who are in practice need.

To watch the earlier clips from our interview with Ralph Mead and his group, you can access them in references (1–5).

References

1. Wetzel, W. The Role of PFAS Impacting Carbon Fluxes. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/the-role-of-pfas-impacting-carbon-fluxes (accessed 2025-04-09).
2. Wetzel, W. Inside the Laboratory: The Mead Group at UNC Wilmington and the North Carolina PFAS Testing Network. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/inside-the-laboratory-the-mead-group-at-unc-wilmington-and-the-north-carolina-pfas-testing-network (accessed 2025-04-09).
3. Wetzel, W. The Challenges of Characterizing PFAS in the Environment. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/the-challenges-of-characterizing-pfas-in-the-environment (accessed 2025-04-09).
4. Wetzel, W. The Interactions Between Bacterial Communities and PFAS. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/the-interactions-between-bacterial-communities-and-pfas (accessed 2025-04-09).
5. Wetzel, W. Understanding the Movement of PFAS in the Environment. LCGC International. Available at: https://www.chromatographyonline.com/view/understanding-the-movement-of-pfas-in-the-environment (accessed 2025-04-09).