PT13 Aquatic Ecotoxicology I
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Tuesday
(PT172) Toxicity of PAN-based carbon fibers to aquatic receptors.
Chester, Nancy1, Haley, Mark1, Kurnas, Carl1, Checkai, Ronald1, 1 US Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, US
ABSTRACT- We are investigating the toxicity of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers to aquatic receptors, in support of the Millimeter Wave (MMW) Pre-Planned Product Improvement Program for the Joint Project Office for Nuclear Biological and Chemical Contamination Avoidance (JPM-NBCCA), Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. The carbon fiber material will be used in a newly developed MMW Module aboard the current M56 smoke generation system, and will provide the user with a capability to deliver large area obscurant screens in the millimeter wave-range of the electromagnetic spectrum. We are assessing the toxicity of the carbon fiber material to the aquatic species Ceriodaphnia dubia (water flea), Pimephales promelas (fathead minnow), and Selenastrum capricornutum (green single celled algae), adapting standard USEPA aquatic toxicity methods. These bioassays were selected on the basis of their ability to determine chemical and mechanical toxicity to ecologically relevant species, and because they include at least one reproduction or growth component among the measurement endpoints. Chronic toxicity to these species will be determined from two types of exposure: (1) direct amendments of carbon fibers to test media, and (2) supernatants resulting from 96-hour soaks of fibers in media. Results will be presented both as lethal and sub-lethal parameters including LC50 (24-, 48- and 96-h when possible), IC50, EC20 and EC50 values, and bounded NOEC and LOEC values.
Key words: aquatic organisms, aquatic toxicity, polyacrylonitrile, carbon fibers