Barrier systems engineering for environmental protection from emerging contaminants of concern

加拿大每年花费超过20亿加元用于收集和处理废物。屏障系统-由覆盖土工合成粘土衬垫（低渗透性粘土薄层）和天然土壤层的土工膜衬垫（薄塑料片）组成-用于衬在填埋场和用于矿物提取的堆浸设施的底部（例如，金矿和铜矿）。屏障系统的目的是通过最大限度地减少有毒化学品泄漏到周围环境中来防止地下水污染。目前用于容纳城市废物的屏障系统是以重金属和碳氢化合物作为主要污染物开发的。然而，有新出现的令人担忧的污染物，如纳米颗粒，沥滤塑料稳定剂和溴化阻燃剂-人们越来越担心它们可能释放到环境中。事实上，目前对这些污染物的屏障系统的有效性一无所知。另一个重要的问题是，塑料土工膜作为有效屏障的作用将持续多久，以遏制新出现的令人担忧的污染物。该项目提供了一个机会，通过在系统工程方法的背景下检查这些新的污染物来回答这些问题，我们在过去几年中一直在开发，以解决一个具有重大国家意义的问题;即确保地表水和地下水的健康和安全。该项目的实验结果将用于优化建模，作为现有设计的系统工程评估的一部分，并用于改进屏障系统设计的开发。该研究汇集了大学研究人员，工程顾问，衬里制造商和监管机构，他们将致力于帮助提高屏障系统的性能，以遏制新出现的令人担忧的污染物。该研究将由4名博士和2名硕士生，1名博士后研究员和1名技术人员进行，他们将通过工业合作伙伴的积极参与获得专门的研究培训和实践经验。

Canada annually spends over $2 billion in collection and disposal of waste. Barrier systems - comprised of a geomembrane liner (a thin plastic sheet) overlying a geosynthetic clay liner (a thin layer of low permeability clay) and a natural soil layer - are used to line the bottom of land fills and heap-leaching facilities used in mineral extraction (eg. for gold and copper mining). The purpose of the barrier system is to prevent groundwater contamination by minimizing the escape of toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment. Barrier systems presently used to contain municipal waste were developed with heavy metals and hydrocarbons as the main contaminants of concern. However, there are new emerging contaminants of concern like nanoparticles, leached plastic stabilizers and brominated flame retardants - where there is growing concern about their potential release into the environment. Virtually nothing is known about the effectiveness of current barrier systems to contain these contaminants. Another important question is how long will plastic geomembranes act as an effective barrier to contain emerging contaminants of concern. This project presents an opportunity to answer these questions by examining these new contaminants in the context of a systems engineering approach, which we have been developing over the past few years, to address a problem of major national importance; namely ensuring the health and security of surface water and groundwater. The experimental findings from this project will be used in optimization modelling to be conducted as part of the systems engineering evaluation of existing designs and in the development of improved barrier system designs. The research brings together university researchers, engineering consultants, liner manufacturers and regulators who will work to help improve the performance of barrier systems to contain emerging contaminants of concern. The research will be conducted by 4 PhD and 2 Masters students, 1 Postdoctoral fellow and 1 technician who will obtain specialized research training and gain practical experience through the active involvement of the industrial partners.