Project description
Studying the chemical impact of microplastics and micropollutants
Microplastics are the result of physical and chemical changes that reduce the mechanical integrity and molecular weight of polymers in plastic during degradation. They have been observed to damage the environment physically, but they also accumulate and stick to various organic pollutants that cause further chemical damage. Unfortunately, despite a severe need, little to no research is available on this subject. The EU-funded IMPACTAS project, based at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, will change this. IMPACTAS will study the impact of micropollutants and microplastics on the islands. The research will be further reinforced with the introduction of an environmental analytical chemistry research group.
Objective
Degradation of plastics is a sequence of chemical and physical changes reducing their molecular weight and mechanical integrity of the polymer and leads to formation of microplastics (MPs). Negative effect of the MPs on the environment is not only physical, but also chemical due to their ability to adsorb and accumulate many persistent organic pollutants The role of MPs as a vector of the contamination is newly formed phenomenon and could fundamentally top off the role of MPs in the ecological systems. Only limited number of scientific papers and research are currently available and published, thus IMPACTAS project aims to change it. University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria provides unique opportunity to study micropollutants-microplastics topic in terms of islands location, extensive tourism industry, protected natural parks, excellent infrastructure and knowledge of Environmental Analytical Chemistry research group belonging to Institute for Environmental Studies and Natural Resources. Project will focus at few objectives: - Development of analytical methodologies and strategies for the determination of organic pollutants adsorbed on MPs; - spatial and temporal monitoring of micropollutants - microplastics in different environmental compartments and; - environmental risk assessment of micro-pollutants in different natural ecosystems. Objectives of the project are multidisciplinary including combination of analytical chemistry, statistics, biology and environmental sciences. IMPACTAS implies international research visits and placement of the researcher for further knowledge implementation. Expected results have potential to provide state of the art solutions for micropollutants monitoring and control in different environmental and biology systems around Canary Islands which could be transferred across research groups within EU countries. This project is in line with the EU Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy and Blue Growth strategy of the European Union
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesanalytical chemistry
- natural scienceschemical sciencespolymer sciences
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG-UN - HORIZON Unit GrantCoordinator
35001 Las Palmas De Gran Canaria
Spain