Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RECYCLE (Removal and Mitigation of Pollution from the Use of Pesticides: Prevention, Recycling and Resource Management)
Reporting period: 2020-02-01 to 2024-01-31
Pesticide fluxes from agricultural areas to surface waters is decreasing the quality of a resource that is becoming scarce and conflicts with concepts of a circular economy. Enhanced loading of pesticides in waters is the main cause for eutrophication and a key challenge in meeting the objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive. RECYCLE targets this issue. Its core objective is to develop new methods to trap pesticide components in drained agricultural areas and in the sediments of eutrophic streams while possibly identifying new approaches to convert trapped pesticides into reusable products for agriculture. The project promotes scientific and technological progress at both fundamental and applied research levels. The vision of RECYCLE is set forward through a research program grounded on strong collaboration and implemented through secondments between world-leading teams encompassing academic and private sectors, both within and outside the EU. These activities are interlaced with summer schools and training courses to maximize sharing of the latest findings and further propel the acquired knowledge within an operationally-oriented view. All activities are structured within a framework designed to maximize advancement of knowledge and career development as well promoting the enhancement of the participating experienced (ERs) and early-career researchers (ESRs) and professionals. Integration of industrial partners from various stakeholder groups into the RECYCLE Consortium paves the way for implementation of acquired knowledge.
The initial two-year period of RECYCLE (2020-2022) was marked by significant management efforts. This was related to the need of implementing progressive adjustments of the secondments plan in response to the issues gradually emerging during the 2020-2022 COVID pandemic. Such adjustments were implemented consistently with subsequent prolongations of project duration. Three Amendments of the Grant Agreement became necessary so far. The latest amendment entered into force in December 2023 and officialized the replacement of the original beneficiary STANTEC with two new partners: Lario Reti Holding, Italy, and the University of Liverpool (UoL), UK. The former is an active company in the field of water distribution and management, thus providing a perfect fit for the project scopes. Inclusion of UoL allowed the Consortium to preserve the precious commitment of Prof. Nezhad, Deputy Coordinator of RECYCLE, despite the change in her affiliation as of late 2023. In parallel with these actions, the first mobilities were actuated starting in late 2022. Such delay also reflected in cascade effects on the achievement of research objectives. The degree of progress achieved so far comprises preliminary studies/setting of fundamentals for the design of technical approaches based on sorption of pesticides. Accomplished research tasks embrace all three work packages tied to research advances. These encompass theoretical and numerical studies tackling the behavior of pesticides and/or their proxies in soil-water systems. Three main research lines were followed. The first research line led to the development of a novel modeling framework addressing the effects of the heterogeneity in the spatial structure of sediment hydrogeological properties at the continuum scale. As such heterogeneity ultimately drives solute transport, its effects are critical on our capability to identify appropriate strategies to intercept the flux of chemicals (including pesticides) in water-sediment systems. The second research line relies on machine learning approaches to assess chemicals transport in large-scale groundwater systems. The established modeling framework demonstrates the potential to guide future data acquisition campaigns through modern sensitivity analyses. The third research line focuses on non-linear flow and transport modeled at the pore scale, a key outcome of the work being represented by enhanced insights on dispersive mass transfer dynamics in porous media.
The findings related to these research lines are available in the form of peer-reviewed publications on high-quality scientific journals (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2023.0476 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-268 and https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034655).
Dissemination of results is further facilitated by the implemented communication platform (https://www.recycle.dica.polimi.it).
Actuation of training activities is delayed as compared to the original plan. Indeed, the reduced proportion of seconded ESRs during the first reporting period (due to the graduation of PhDs originally assigned for mobilities) severely challenged the possibility of deploying the conceived-in-person training activities, which are clearly unsuitable for an ER audience. Therefore, the management board envisions pooling educational/training activities in one or more package(s) accessible in hybrid form to maximize audience and benefit for available ESRs.
The findings related to these research lines are available in the form of peer-reviewed publications on high-quality scientific journals (https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2023.0476 https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2023-268 and https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR034655).
Dissemination of results is further facilitated by the implemented communication platform (https://www.recycle.dica.polimi.it).
Actuation of training activities is delayed as compared to the original plan. Indeed, the reduced proportion of seconded ESRs during the first reporting period (due to the graduation of PhDs originally assigned for mobilities) severely challenged the possibility of deploying the conceived-in-person training activities, which are clearly unsuitable for an ER audience. Therefore, the management board envisions pooling educational/training activities in one or more package(s) accessible in hybrid form to maximize audience and benefit for available ESRs.
RECYCLE provides an innovative, interdisciplinary research and training framework based on a strong collaboration among key international players in the academic and industrial sectors in the areas of water and environmental engineering. The project contributes to scientifical and technological breakthrough in relationship with the following urgent societal demands:
• Development of novel approaches to trap pesticides leaking in natural water systems from agricultural drainage areas. This directly contributes to the mitigation of environmental risks posed by pesticides contamination in water-sediment systems.
• Identification of potential strategies/pathways to convert trapped pesticides components into new marketable products. This is perfectly in line with the EU principle of circular economy and contributes to face the societal challenge of future pesticides shortage.
• Development of mechanistic and quantitative models, as well as theoretical frameworks and methodologies as fundamental tools for the development and future implementation of technologies to recover and reuse pesticides.
RECYCLE works towards the implementation of a circular economy paradigm for pesticides production and environmental safety. This is a relevant objective contributing to guarantee the supply of critical products for food security. The project has wide foreseen impacts across the scientific and industrial sectors. Achievement of the project target rests on a sound technical understanding of the chemical and physical processes influencing the fate of pesticides in natural water-soil systems. Behavior of pesticides in surface and groundwater has been only partially explored to date. RECYCLE is taking a systematic approach to this issue with a major research effort. Preliminary studies show promising results in terms of (i) enhanced capability to interpret data at various scales of analysis, and (ii) use of machine learning approaches and sensitivity analyses to build flexible tools to characterize the fate of pesticides in water-sediment systems. To this end, RECYCLE is pursuing a multi-scale and multi-disciplinary effort combining numerical and analytical developments spanning across diverse scales of interpretation.
• Development of novel approaches to trap pesticides leaking in natural water systems from agricultural drainage areas. This directly contributes to the mitigation of environmental risks posed by pesticides contamination in water-sediment systems.
• Identification of potential strategies/pathways to convert trapped pesticides components into new marketable products. This is perfectly in line with the EU principle of circular economy and contributes to face the societal challenge of future pesticides shortage.
• Development of mechanistic and quantitative models, as well as theoretical frameworks and methodologies as fundamental tools for the development and future implementation of technologies to recover and reuse pesticides.
RECYCLE works towards the implementation of a circular economy paradigm for pesticides production and environmental safety. This is a relevant objective contributing to guarantee the supply of critical products for food security. The project has wide foreseen impacts across the scientific and industrial sectors. Achievement of the project target rests on a sound technical understanding of the chemical and physical processes influencing the fate of pesticides in natural water-soil systems. Behavior of pesticides in surface and groundwater has been only partially explored to date. RECYCLE is taking a systematic approach to this issue with a major research effort. Preliminary studies show promising results in terms of (i) enhanced capability to interpret data at various scales of analysis, and (ii) use of machine learning approaches and sensitivity analyses to build flexible tools to characterize the fate of pesticides in water-sediment systems. To this end, RECYCLE is pursuing a multi-scale and multi-disciplinary effort combining numerical and analytical developments spanning across diverse scales of interpretation.