Validation of a Military Burn Pit Surrogate Generator and Aerosol Exposure System

The purpose of this project is to determine and validate the full operational parameters of a novel combustion generation system in the WVU Center for Inhalation Toxicology: a surrogate military burn pit generator. The conditions of combustion in burn pits varies tremendously and the resultant emissions generated also vary tremendously.

Completion of this project will identify: proportions of combustion elements, parameters of operation, characterize emission aerosols in a whole-body rodent inhalation exposure chamber, and validate these parameters for subsequent animal models of burn pit exposures to study chronic multisymptom illness in U.S. Veterans.