Descripción del proyecto
Eliminación de los compuestos perfluorados del agua potable y las aguas subterráneas
Los compuestos perfluorados son un grupo de sustancias químicas tóxicas que permanecen en el medio ambiente durante largos períodos. Estas sustancias químicas artificiales se han detectado en agua potable y aguas subterráneas, lo que ha generado una gran preocupación por la salud humana. Hasta ahora, los procesos avanzados de oxidación, que incluyen reactivos de Fenton, ozono, luz ultravioleta o catalizadores, han tenido poco éxito en la reducción y eliminación de estas sustancias químicas. El proyecto PFCsByPlasCat, financiado con fondos europeos, ensayará una opción alternativa conocida como tratamiento con plasma no térmico que produce varias especies de reactivos a la vez. Se probarán varios nanocatalizadores, incluido el óxido de grafeno dopado con boro, para maximizar la eficacia del nuevo proceso híbrido del catalizador de plasma. Para validar el proceso, se analizarán muestras reales de aguas subterráneas contaminadas.
Objetivo
The extensive use of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in many industrial/commercial applications, as surfactants, emulsifiers, etc., and their high chemical stability are responsible for their ubiquitous presence in the environment. Specifically, the contamination of groundwater and drinking water supplies by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) is raising great concern as more data on PFCs toxicity in humans and wildlife is becoming available. Thus, a parallel surge in monitoring campaigns and in the search for innovative water treatment technologies for PFCs is required. Since PFCs are highly resistant to degradation by standard chemical and biological processes, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are being considered and, including Fenton, ozone and UV irradiation with catalysts, applied so far with limited success. Among innovative AOPs, air non-thermal plasmas (NTP), which produce several reactive species at a time, have been recently tested for the treatment of PFOA/PFOS yielding promising results. The proposed research aims to advance the state of art by developing an innovative treatment process for PFCs in which NTP is applied in combination with novel boron-doped graphene oxide (B-GO) nano photocatalysts. The catalysts synthesized and characterized by the Researcher will be tested on prepared solutions of PFOA and PFOS using various NTP reactors which are available in the beneficiary laboratory. The best catalyst-reactor combination will thus be identified; conditions and parameters will be optimized to maximize the synergy between plasma and catalyst and the efficiency of the novel hybrid plas-cat process. Real samples of contaminated groundwater will be tested to verify the process applicability to complex matrices. For excellence of research, basic guidelines will be drawn and disseminated for implementing an efficient hybrid plas-cat process in view of auspicable scaling-up and technology transfer to stakeholders.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- natural scienceschemical sciencescatalysisphotocatalysis
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistry
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrymetalloids
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
35122 Padova
Italia