Descrizione del progetto
Rimozione dei composti perfluorurati dall’acqua potabile e dalle acque sotterranee
I composti perfluorurati sono un gruppo di sostanze chimiche tossiche che persistono nell’ambiente per lunghi periodi. Queste sostanze chimiche antropogeniche sono state rilevate nell’acqua potabile e nelle acque sotterranee, sollevando serie preoccupazioni sulla salute umana. Ad oggi, i processi avanzati di ossidazione, inclusi i reagenti di Fenton, l’ozono, la luce ultravioletta o i catalizzatori, hanno mostrato un successo limitato nel ridurre e rimuovere questi prodotti chimici. Il progetto PFCsByPlasCat, finanziato dall’UE, testerà un’opzione di trattamento alternativa nota come trattamento al plasma non termico che produce più specie reattive alla volta. Verranno testati vari nanocatalizzatori, tra cui l’ossido di grafene drogato con boro, per massimizzare l’efficienza del nuovo processo plasma-catalizzatore ibrido. Per convalidare il processo verranno testati campioni reali di acque sotterranee contaminate.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- 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
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
35122 Padova
Italia