Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REMEDI (Trapping and Removal of X-ray Contrast Medium agents from water resource and stream Sediments- New Concepts in Trapping, Recycling and Management)
Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-12-31
REMEDI trains future professionals and scientists in the area of competitive use of water resources within an industry centered environment, targeting the problem of scarcity of water resources due to contamination by pharmaceuticals. Enhanced loading of water resources with pharmaceuticals is a key challenge in meeting the objectives of the EU Water Framework Directive. Iodinated X-ray contrast medium agents (CMA) are one type of the pharmaceuticals being used for the imaging of soft tissues which are typically administered in elevated doses for each imaging operation and excreted mainly nonmetabolized. The CMA are persistent during conventional biological wastewater treatments and therefore, CMA have been detected at elevated concentrations in the effluents of waste water treatment plants, surface waters, groundwater, and even in drinking water. Tauw GmbH is an environmental company which recognizes that design of strategies for treatment of water resources requires solid knowledge leading to new methods and approaches to trap pharmaceutical components in water treatment systems and in the sediments of lakes and rivers. Tauw GmbH does not have in-house resources to undertake the body of research required to set and develop. It has stimulated the REMEDI EID action, jointly with Politecnico di Milano and University of Warwick, to address these issues. Trapping of CMA involves the application of iron(Fe)- containing by-products from drinking water treatment. REMEDI implements a circular economy concept and aims at recovering the retained X-ray Contrast Media agents in water treatment systems and natural waters (rivers, aquifers, lakes). Novel technologies will be developed to convert CMA-loaded Fe-minerals into marketable products whose suitability will be evaluated. 5 ESR projects address these challenges with a level of interaction and synergy among academic and non-academic players leading to forming a cadre of scientists with skills apt to unravel complex environmental scenarios.
The initial phase of the REMEDI project was devoted to setting up the project and recruitment of the five ESRs. The consortium composition was slightly revised and the REMEDI team has welcomed the participation of Lario Reti Holding as a new partner. Lario Reti Holding is an Italian company active in the sector of water distribution and management, thus providing a perfect fit for the REMEDI scopes. Recruitment has been particularly demanding in a period where COVID-related restrictions were in place. Finally, the ESRs have all started their research path between January and August 2022. The group started with three ESRs based at Polimi and two at the University of Warwick. Research activities have been set up in all three technical work packages and encompass experimental and numerical approaches across various scales of observation. Experiments and modelling are primarily concerned with the characterization of CMAs in engineered porous media, as well as in natural water resources (rivers, lakes and aquifers). UoW is developing batch and column experiments to address such characterization, and has targeted development of pore-scale numerical models. At the same time research carried out at Polimi targeted the development of innovative modelling tools. These include machine learning approaches for the prediction of solute transport as well as nanoscale characterization of surface processes. As the ESRs are all in their first year of research results are still not published, but scientific papers have been drafted and conference and workshop presentations have been already planned for the future months. REMEDI will be disseminated across various conferences, such as the upcoming Interpore conference and SIAM Geoscience meeting.
Training activities are in line with the plan, training course are underway including technical training as well as soft skills such as communication skills and dissemination through e-learning. These activities will facilitate future planned communication activities which will scale up in the coming year. The project has currently a complete and functional website which will stands as a key communication platform.
Training activities are in line with the plan, training course are underway including technical training as well as soft skills such as communication skills and dissemination through e-learning. These activities will facilitate future planned communication activities which will scale up in the coming year. The project has currently a complete and functional website which will stands as a key communication platform.
REMEDI provides an innovative, interdisciplinary research and training framework that intends to close the following deficiencies in knowledge and technology:
• New technologies to remove dissolved and Fe-bound CMA from water treatment systems will be developed and optimized in view of CMA retention, management of water treatment systems, and recycling of the trapped CMA and the corresponding.
• Goals of circular economy will be met by developing procedures to transform CMA-containing Fe0 oxides into new medical components and demonstrating their suitability to be reused.
• Mechanistic and quantitative models will be developed based on advanced knowledge on microbially or abiotically driven Fe mineral transformations and their consequences for binding and release of CMA.
REMEDI works towards the implementation of a circular economy paradigm for CMA production. This is a relevant objective contributing to securing supply critical pharmaceutical products. At the same time the project has a foreseen on environmental sustainability regarding medical use of CMA. The project has then wide foreseen impacts across the scientific and industrial sector. The project target can only be accomplished while relying on a sound technical understanding of the chemical and physical processes influencing CMA fate. Behaviour of CMA in natural water and porous media has been only partially explored to date. REMEDI is taking a systematic approach to this problem with a major research effort. Preliminary results show promising results in terms of (i) design appropriate materials for CMA recovery, (ii) interpretation of laboratory data, (iii) use of machine learning approaches to build flexible tools to characterize the fate of CMAs in natural waters. To these end, REMEDI is pursuing a multi-scale and multi-disciplinary effort combining molecular dynamics simulations with laboratory experiments and microfluidics devices.
• New technologies to remove dissolved and Fe-bound CMA from water treatment systems will be developed and optimized in view of CMA retention, management of water treatment systems, and recycling of the trapped CMA and the corresponding.
• Goals of circular economy will be met by developing procedures to transform CMA-containing Fe0 oxides into new medical components and demonstrating their suitability to be reused.
• Mechanistic and quantitative models will be developed based on advanced knowledge on microbially or abiotically driven Fe mineral transformations and their consequences for binding and release of CMA.
REMEDI works towards the implementation of a circular economy paradigm for CMA production. This is a relevant objective contributing to securing supply critical pharmaceutical products. At the same time the project has a foreseen on environmental sustainability regarding medical use of CMA. The project has then wide foreseen impacts across the scientific and industrial sector. The project target can only be accomplished while relying on a sound technical understanding of the chemical and physical processes influencing CMA fate. Behaviour of CMA in natural water and porous media has been only partially explored to date. REMEDI is taking a systematic approach to this problem with a major research effort. Preliminary results show promising results in terms of (i) design appropriate materials for CMA recovery, (ii) interpretation of laboratory data, (iii) use of machine learning approaches to build flexible tools to characterize the fate of CMAs in natural waters. To these end, REMEDI is pursuing a multi-scale and multi-disciplinary effort combining molecular dynamics simulations with laboratory experiments and microfluidics devices.