HEИндивидуална стипендия2023–2025

NaplaGro · Nanoplastic Transport in Groundwater environments

„Хоризонт Европа“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“

Период: 2023-04-01 → 2025-05-31
Финансиране от ЕС: 222 728 €
Участници: 2
Схема: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF

Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.

Накратко на български

Нанопластмасите в подземните води се изследват чрез влиянието на тяхната форма, скоростта на потока и взаимодействието им с гъбички. Това е важно, защото тези частици могат да пренасят токсини в питейната вода и да застрашат човешкото здраве.

Този кратък обзор е генериран от изкуствен интелект

Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.

Резултати накратко

Nanoplastic Transport in Groundwater environments

Groundwater is Earth’s largest source of drinking water, supplying 75% of EU residents. Recent studies have documented plastic contamination in drinking water wells. Nanoplastics (NPs, <1000 nm), originating from product use and microplastic degradation, are emerging pollutants of concern. NPs can act as vectors for toxins, disrupt nutrient cycles, and pose risks to human health, including cytotoxicity and oxidative stress. Their presence in groundwater thus represents a serious health threat. Despite this, NP transport in aquifers remains poorly understood. Key knowledge gaps include the influence of particle shape, flow conditions, and interactions with biofilms and microbial—especially fungal—communities. This MSCA was carried out to investigate NP transport in complex groundwater systems addressing three core questions: 1) How does NP shape influence transport in groundwater? 2) How do flow rates affect NP mobility in mineral and biogeochemical media? 3) Can fungal communities retain NPs under realistic aquifer conditions? The outcomes will improve our understanding of NP behavior in subsurface environments, inform predictive models of NP pollution in drinking water, and support future applications in wastewater treatment or NP immobilization strategies.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз

Цел на проекта

Groundwater is the largest drinking water resource on earth and 75% of EU residents depend on groundwater as water supply . Plastic contamination of drinking water supply wells has recently been documented. Plastic particles are a vector for pollutants ; interfere with biogeochemical cycles and nutrient transport , while particular nanoplastic (NP) is shown to cause adverse effects on human health. Hence, drinking water contamination by NP is a serious threat to human health. To protect the Earths largest freshwater reservoir and guarantee a sustainable use of water resources within Europe for future generations, we need to understand NP behavior in groundwater aquifers. In this MSC-action, I will study the transport behavior of NP particles in complex mineral and biogeochemical groundwater settings from lab- to field scale in order to embrace the natural complexity of aquifers. The following MSCA objectives address four major knowledge gaps of NP transport in groundwater systems: i)How does NP shape affect transport in groundwater? ii)Can flow rates modify NP transport in complex mineral and biogeochemical porous media settings?iii)Are fungal communities able to retain NP under realistic aquifer conditions? iv)Can findings from laboratory studies be up-scaled to field scale studies? I will answer these objectives by conducting laboratory experiments combining nanotechnological methods with novel microfluidic chips as well as field scale experiments using a tracer injection method. With these approaches, we generate tracer breakthrough curves inferring sediment specific retention rates, while they also enable us to gain better mechanistic understanding of NP transpor in porous media. This MSCA will be a stepping-stone in understanding NP transport in groundwater environments more systematically. Such knowledge will inform the development of new environmental models to enhance the predictive capability of NP pollution in drinking water reservoirs.

Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).

Участници

LUNDS UNIVERSITET · LundКоординаторШвеция
ROYAL INSTITUTION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING MCGILL UNIVERSITY · MontrealКанада