Despite being a recognized issue for decades, the fundamental origins of polymer fouling remain unclear, and mitigation strategies are primarily empirical. Moreover, researchers haven't agreed upon the fouling mechanism, fouling precursors, and the location of reactions (in the bulk liquid or at the equipment surface). Additionally, very few predictive detailed models exist for polymer fouling. Oftentimes, the fouling models are composed of pseudospecies or highly simplified chemistry, which loses the resolution to investigate chemical mechanistic details.