Development of remediation techniques for heavy metal species

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Water and soil quality are of primary global interest, which are greatly affected by industrial activities such asthe release of waste waters into the environment. These actions have a widespread impact throughout theecosystem. It is predicted that in the near future there will be a severe lack of clean and drinkable waterworldwide, as well as continued decrease of land that is accessible for cultivation and/or pasturable forlivestock. These limitations exist due to the presence of heavy metal pollutants in the ecosystem, among othertypes of pollutants. New purification techniques with applicability to waters and soils will be jointly developedthrough a partnership between a DELTA Remediation, a Canadian company, and diverse team of scientistswith the goal of addressing these environmental concerns and ensuring access to drinkable water sources andusable farm land.In this collaborative project, cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions will be developed for removing heavymetal contamination from water and soil systems. Challenges still exist when it comes to the clean-up of spillsand leaks, as well as for diagnosing water and soil quality on a large scale. DELTA Remediation and theresearch team of Dr. Byron Gates at Simon Fraser University will work together to demonstrate simpletechnologies for use in the assessment of heavy metal contamination and speciation, as well as the removal ofthese species from aqueous systems (e.g., open water systems and/or soil bound water), with applicability toenvironmental samples and at industrially relevant scales. The goals of this project include an exchange ofknow-how and expertise to create simple solutions to address the contamination of heavy metals in naturalwater and soil systems.