ABSTRACT
The United States deployed ~3 million service members to the Middle East since 2001. Approximately 600,000
Veterans now suffer from “Chronic Multisymptom Illness” (CMI). The “Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics
or PACT Act, signed into law in 2022, now exists to mitigate Veteran suffering associated with military burn pit
exposures. The single most common risk factor among these ailing Veterans is inhalation exposure to complex
combustion emissions generated by these burn pits. CMI symptoms include: cardiopulmonary morbidity,
cognitive impairments, behavioral disorders, fatigue/diminished energetics, compromised immune function and
pain. Despite the fact that the number of Veterans suffering from CMI is forecast to surge, two major knowledge
gaps exist: 1) the exposure conditions that lead to CMI are poorly characterized, and 2) the mechanism(s) of
CMI development cannot currently be studied as a model of exposure does not exist. Neither of these gaps can
be properly addressed in the absence of an emission generator capable of mimicking burn pits and their diverse
parameters of operation. The objective of this application is to validate our novel generation system and identify
the most relevant fuel mixtures that accurately recapitulate military burn pit emissions. This will be achieved in
our unique Inhalation Facility located in the WVU Center for Inhalation Toxicology. AIM 1: Determine, optimize
and validate the burn pit surrogate emission generator parameters of operation. We have developed an
automated combustion chamber with a hopper feed system to operate under a variety of temperatures, feed
speeds, and air richness. Combustion is enhanced by a fuel feed system that independently drips jet fuel (the
most common accelerant used in burn pits) into the combustion chamber. The goal is to identify the full range of
these parameters, and couple them with the resultant emissions delivered to the exposure chamber for real-time
aerosol characterization and sampling. AIM 2: Determine the operable proportions of representative mixed fuels
that when combusted, produce reliable and repeatable emissions for real-time aerosol characterization and
inhalation exposures. We manufacture combustible pellets with a variety of raw materials to feed into our
surrogate emission generator. These materials have different combustion temperatures, and varying the mixture
and/or amount/pellet produces different emissions. The goal is to identify a range of mixture proportions that
combust and smolder over the full operating parameters, that produce reliable and repeatable emissions in the
exposure chamber. Upon completion, a novel inhalation exposure instrument will be validated and optimized for
subsequent CMI studies. Fuel mixtures and accelerant delivery rates will be established as the standards for
these studies. Identification of these parameters is critical for rigor and reproducibility, and will also initiate the
foundation for future CMI research that ultimately benefits Veteran health. Added value exists as the surrogate
generator is capable of combusting virtually any substance. Therefore, it will also be invaluable in assessing first-
responder exposures to diverse conditions such as domestic and wildland urban interface (WUI) fires.