VIDEOS
AMSEEC Program Overview
The Program for Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC) is a multi-laboratory collaborative of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) that is focused on developing timely, proactive responses to emerging environmental issues related to the development and application of advanced materials or other substances and delivery of cost-effective, comprehensive solutions.
Substances and materials of emerging environmental concern are characterized by a perceived or real threat to human health or the environment. These materials have new or changing toxicity values and new or changing human health and environmental regulatory standards. Environmental concerns may also emerge due to the development and application of new materials, or new applications of existing materials or substances, and the resulting potential for environmental and/or human health impacts.
Analysis Pillar
ERDC’s expertise and capabilities in detecting and measuring substances in the environment are foundational to the Program for Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC). A thorough understanding of the presence, form and amount of substances in the environment is critical to effects assessment, exposure assessment, and risk assessment and management. ERDC is at the forefront of research and development to support ultralow detection limits. Watch to learn more about this interdisciplinary effort.
Exposure Assessment Pillar
The Program for Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC) has a dedicated pillar for exposure assessment that characterizes how substances move and are transformed in the environment. Having an accurate understanding of exposure is critical to characterizing risk, the likelihood that a substance will cause harm, as well as informing decisions on to how to best manage that risk. As materials move through the environment, they may bind to natural substances, undergo bio-geochemical transformation, or be taken up into the tissues of organisms and enter the food chain, which may result in ecological and human health effects.
With its in-house expertise and state-of-the-science facilities, ERDC is uniquely positioned to develop and apply models that predict how novel materials move in the environment and where they will end up.
Effects Assessment Pillar
ERDC has critical expertise, facilities and capabilities to characterize the potential effects of chemicals and other materials on the environment. The Program for Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC) has pillars for Analysis and Exposure Assessment that inform how, and in what form, organisms are likely to come in contact with a chemical. Researchers can then use this information to characterize how organisms interact with, and are ultimately affected by, a chemical or substance, a process also known as effects assessment.
Risk Assessment and Management Pillar
The Program for Advanced Materials and Substances of Emerging Environmental Concern (AMSEEC) is actively engaged in research to better characterize the presence and potential effects of substances in the environment. Understanding how substances are transformed and move through the environment and how these substances interact with and affect organisms provides the basis for characterizing risk, or the likelihood that the substance will cause environmental harm.
Accurately characterizing risk is critical to making informed decisions as to what steps can be taken to reduce or eliminate the potential for environmental harm, whether it’s guidance for how a substance is generated and used, or development and application of technologies for the efficient capture and removal of the substance from the environment.
Decontamination Effluent Treatment System
ERDC conducted a "car wash" demonstration to simulate decontamination of military vehicles. The process minimizes decontaminated water requirements by treating chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear wastes. The water collected in this demo was spiked with supertropical bleach, Cesium-133 (non-radioactive) and Malathion.
The waste was collected, tested and treated for reuse. Results were 100% removal of chlorine and surfactant, greater than 99.9% removal of turbidity, 99.9% removal of Malathion, and a 90% decrease of conductivity. The system is rapidly deployable and easy to maintain. The volume of decontaminated waste requiring management or disposal by the Army is minimized.
Furthering PFAS Research Through Collaboration
A challenging problem facing our military is the impact caused by aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) that has been used to control aviation fires at military bases since the 1970s. It contains a substance called PFAS, which has been discovered at hundreds of installations around the world, and Department of Defense leadership has committed to further studying the issue.
In support of the Department of Defense, ERDC is leading a collaborative effort to bring experts together from government and industry to address the legacy issues of PFAS, and subsequent replacement compounds, as they seek out cost-effective and environmentally protective solutions.
Quantitative Thermodynamic Exposure Assessment
Many Department of Defense sites that require sediment clean-up occur in urban watersheds with numerous contaminant sources, complicating risk assessments, identification of pathways, and in situ sediment remedies.