Final report: Ecotoxicity of PFAS-Free Fire Fighting Foams: Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Species ER20-1518

Published

February 27, 2026

Author(s)

Edward Wirth, Marie DeLorenzo, Peter Key, Katy Chung, David Moore, Guilherme Lotufo, John Kucklick, Katherine Peter, Jessica Reiner

Abstract

The Department of Defense (DoD) is actively engaging in research to identify fluorine free foams (F3) that do not contain per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) as replacements for traditional Aqueous Film Forming Foams (AFFF) products that historically contained PFAS. The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is currently supporting a number of efforts to help determine environmental bioavailability and toxicity of selected candidate PFAS-free AFFF formulations in relation to traditional PFAS-containing AFFF. This awarded project targeted four distinct research tasks: 1) Use non-targeted analysis (NTA Chemical Analysis) to identify multiple ions/fragments for each AFFF and F3 and use this information to develop a targeted LCMS protocol to assist in evaluating exposure; 2) Determine acute toxicity thresholds (LC50 values) for freshwater and marine taxa exposed to F3 products; 3) Use the acute toxicity thresholds to evaluate the possible persistence of toxicity as F3 products age, and; 4) Determine chronic / sublethal AFFF and F3 toxicity thresholds associated with growth or reproduction in marine and freshwater taxa. Based on acute toxicity thresholds, the marine species were often more sensitive to the F3 compounds than freshwater species, with the mud snail being the most sensitive species tested. AF1 was generally observed to be the most toxic F3 compound tested. AF5 was generally the least toxic F3 compound tested. Chemical markers were selected based on the non-targeted analysis and were used to demonstrate good correspondence between nominal and measured initial exposure concentrations. Chemical markers were also used to characterize stability of the test compounds over time in the exposures and revealed rapid degradation of F3s over 24-96h of aqueous exposure, whereas the Reference had greater chemical stability. Two of the F3 formulations (AF1 and AF2) and the Reference were tested to evaluate changes in toxicity as the compound aged (degraded). Acute toxicity of both F3 formulations and the Reference decreased with aging. Chronic exposures were used to evaluate the impact of longer exposures and to identify sublethal effects (reductions in growth, development, and reproduction). Several of the F3s were ranked as "very high" on the hazard scale for chronic impacts to marine algal growth. Juvenile mysids were observed to mature more slowly relative to controls and impacts to shell growth were observed in the clam M. mercenaria. Results for these tasks in both freshwater and marine species will be used to support the DoD's decisions regarding the environmental specifications used to select appropriate replacement F3s.

Citation

SERDP ESTCP project website

Pub Weblink

https://serdp-estcp.mil/

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Keywords

PFAS, AFFF, F3

Citation

Wirth, E. , DeLorenzo, M. , Key, P. , Chung, K. , Moore, D. , Lotufo, G. , Kucklick, J. , Peter, K. and Reiner, J. (2026), Final report: Ecotoxicity of PFAS-Free Fire Fighting Foams: Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Species ER20-1518, SERDP ESTCP project website, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960362, https://serdp-estcp.mil/ (Accessed March 19, 2026)