EAST LANSING, Mich. — There are over 200 sites in Michigan contaminated with PFAS, a so called "forever chemical" linked to increase cancer risk, developmental delays and reduced fertility.
“Perfluorinated alkyl substances or PFAS is a really interesting compound. It has been used since about the 1950s for a multitude of reasons it has incredible properties,” said Angela Wilson, John A. Hannah distinguished professor of chemistry at Michigan State University.
They are man-made chemicals that are used in a lot of everyday products, like makeup, non-stick cookware, firefighting foams, and products that resist grease, oils and water.
“The challenge, of course, is the fact that these supposed miracle compounds are a class of compounds, there are 1000s of them, are now linked to and many of them are now linked to being toxic,” she said.
PFAS easily travels through our drinking water and gets into our soil. Wilson and Narasimhan Loganathan, a senior research associate at Michigan State, are using computer simulators to figure out how to get it out. .
“The contaminated sites can be very different depending upon the soil components. So we decided to understand the different components, and how each interacts with PFAS using molecular dynamics simulations,” said Loganathan.
By taking soil samples from different sites and understanding how they interact with other molecules, they can figure out how to eliminate PFAS in those contaminated locations.
Wilson said to think of it as using a colander to drain macaroni noodles. You want to figure out how big the noodles are and how many noodles you have, which will help you decide what size colander you need.
“With these models, we can tell people more in terms of how far do you need to dig? What type of colander do you need to use to truly get rid of these things so they're not still in the soils or in water bodies,” she said.
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