Paul Edminston lab develops national award-winning environmental monitoring tool

A new environmental monitoring tool, developed and initially tested in The College of Wooster lab of Paul Edmiston, Theron L. Peterson and Dorothy R. Peterson Professor of Chemistry, won the Environmental Business Journal’s 2024 Technology Merit Award announced in February, which recognizes demonstration, development, or commercialization of a new sampling technology.

The passive sampler, designed and tested in collaboration with Arcadis, is a cost-effective method for field sampling per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly known as forever chemicals. The environmentally persistent, anthropogenic chemicals are non-biodegradable and have been found in many water sources around the world. In 2023, the device was patented–Edmiston’s 13^th patent—and then commercialized by Aquanex Technologies as the Sentinel^TM.

“The device acts like flypaper to latch onto PFAS from river or lake as water passes,” Edmiston explained. “After a time in the water, the sampler is then removed, analyzed in the laboratory, and then you can tell how much PFAS contaminant flowed past while it was in the water.” The device helps to monitor pulses of chemicals that flow past intermittently that otherwise would be missed in a single sample of water.

The development of specialized adsorbents—materials that attract and hold other substances onto its surface—has been part of Edmiston’s research for 20 years. In 2021, he and environmental engineers from Arcadis collaborated to apply for and receive funding from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program to develop a passive sampler for PFAS. He provided the adsorbent development and lab-scale testing, and Arcadis did the field evaluation and field design work. The adsorbent in the Sentinel^TM is a variation of Osorb, that he previously developed.

Edmiston included several Wooster students in his research for the project, including Riley Hershberger ’24, a biochemistry and molecular biology major and environmental studies minor, and Noah Hill ’24, a chemistry major and physics minor. Both were co-authors on the 2023 journal article in Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation. “We conducted a parallel laboratory study that demonstrated the passive sampler has an integrative response to measure PFAS for greater than 90 days,” Edmiston said. “One of the unique features of Riley’s work is she deployed the samplers in Ghana to expand the knowledge about where PFAS is being found globally.”

“I’m excited that the environmental monitoring industry recognizes the utility of the device we invented,” he said. “I hope many environmental scientists use the sampler to understand how PFAS is affect rivers and lakes.” The award will be presented at the San Diego National Conference Environmental Industry Summit XXIII, April 2-4.

Posted in Faculty, News on March 17, 2025.