New Materials for Site Remediation and Pollution Containment: Reactive Polymer Gels and Emulsions

用于场地修复和污染控制的新材料：反应性聚合物凝胶和乳液

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04636
• 负责人: Pensini, Erica
• 金额: $ 2.26万
• 依托单位: University of Guelph
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=713059
• 关键词: New; Materials; Site; Remediation; Pollution

There are over 10,000 sites in Canada in which the soil, the groundwater or both are contaminated by toxic substances, including organic pollutants, heavy metals, and pesticides. Groundwater is used by 8.9 million Canadians for domestic purposes and pollutants in drinking water have been detected in the blood of Canadians. Treating soil and groundwater pollution is thus of paramount importance. Significant efforts are being made to remediate contaminated sites. However, most of the existing remediation technologies do not allow simultaneously trapping and treating subsurface contaminants. The pollutants may thus migrate while being treated in situ, posing a challenge to their effective remediation. Also, remediation technologies may involve the use of materials, e.g. nanoparticles, the fate of which has raised safety concerns. The scope of the proposed research is to address these challenges by simultaneously trapping and treating subsurface contaminants in situ, and by ensuring that the reactive materials used to treat the contaminants are delivered and released exclusively in the polluted zones (targeted delivery). The targeted delivery of reactive materials will ensure that reactions occur in a controlled manner in the polluted areas only, hence increasing the safety of the remedial process. In this program gels containing reactive species (reactive gels) will be developed to trap and treat in situ subsurface contaminants such as heavy metals, biocides and pesticides, and organic pollutants. An important characteristic of the reactive gels will be their tunable viscosity, low in the clean areas and high in the contaminated zones. The low viscosity in the clean zones will allow gels to flow through the soil and reach the pollutants, while the high gel viscosity in the contaminated zones will create a barrier to contaminant migration. The targeted delivery of reactive materials will be achieved by emulsifying these materials with switchable surfactants, sensitive to differences between the water chemistry of the clean and the polluted zones. Switchable surfactants will produce stable emulsions in the clean zones, while releasing the reactive materials in the contaminated areas only. The ultimate goal of this program is the development of new remediation technologies to restore polluted sites, mitigating or eliminating the risks to human and ecological receptors. While the implementation of new technologies is the long term vision of this program, advancing the fundamental knowledge of all aspects related to these technologies is the core value supporting the realization of this vision. This knowledge will be a window to new applications, which will stream from this program but may stretch well beyond it. In line with this core value, a major scope of the program is to educate HQP well-versed in soil remediation, and possessing a multi-disciplinary expertise applicable in diverse sectors.

加拿大有超过1万个地点的土壤、地下水或两者都受到有毒物质的污染，包括有机污染物、重金属和杀虫剂。890万加拿大人将地下水用于家庭用途，在加拿大人的血液中检测到饮用水中的污染物。因此，处理土壤和地下水污染是至关重要的。正在作出重大努力来修复受污染的场地。然而，大多数现有的修复技术不能同时捕获和处理地下污染物。因此，污染物在原位处理时可能会迁移，对其有效补救提出了挑战。此外，修复技术可能涉及使用材料，例如纳米颗粒，其命运引起了安全问题。