Descrizione del progetto
Monitoraggio e controllo online degli agenti inquinanti dell’acqua
I microinquinanti rappresentano una nuova sfida per le risorse idriche, in particolare l’acqua potabile, in Europa e nel mondo. Se da un lato sono presenti in concentrazioni estremamente basse e non mostrano tossicità acuta per gli organismi viventi o l’ambiente, dall’altro non vi sono dati certi sui loro effetti a lungo termine. Gli impianti di trattamento dell’acqua e delle acque reflue non eliminano completamente i microinquinanti, che si accumulano nelle risorse idriche in concentrazioni più elevate aumentando i rischi per la salute e l’ambiente. Le revisioni delle direttive UE sull’acqua potabile e le acque reflue devono disporre il monitoraggio e il controllo di queste sostanze, e ciò rappresenta una sfida per i servizi idrici europei. Il progetto ECO-SOS, finanziato dall’UE, svilupperà sistemi di controllo e monitoraggio in tempo reale, nonché un nuovo sistema di sorveglianza conveniente e di facile utilizzo per ottimizzare la rimozione degli agenti inquinanti emergenti dell’acqua.
Obiettivo
The water resources and especially the drinking water in Europe and globally face new challenges with the emerging micropollutants, originating from pharmaceuticals, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, etc. Even though they present in extremely low concentrations and do not exhibit acute toxicity to living organisms or environment, the long-term effects are uncertain. The water and wastewater treatment plants do not fully remove or eliminate them; thus, they accumulate in the water resources leading to higher concentrations increasing the health and environmental risks. Hence, the revisions of the EU drinking and wastewater directives are anticipated to require monitoring and control of these substances.
However, that poses a challenge to the water utilities in Europe; The current analytical and monitoring systems of detection of these compounds at low concentration are expensive, time-consuming and usually complicated. Current studies have only reported the fate of these substances during various treatment processes but not on how to optimise them to maximise removal. To solve this problem, we would like to combine the expertise of the host research group and fellow applicant—the group of prof. Ratnaweera has experience in the development of real-time control and monitoring systems, while the fellow applicant is specialised in the analysis and removal of emerging contaminants during treatment processes. Thus, the global objective is to develop novel, cost-effective and simple to use surveillance system that would also enable the optimising of the removal of emerging contaminants in water. The concept will be developed and verified in collaboration with Norwegian and European water utilities addressing their needs and concerns.
Campo scientifico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processeswastewater treatment processes
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugs
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrology
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
1433 As
Norvegia