[WATER]Manufactured Nanoparticles: Assessing the Mobility of a Future Class of Contaminant in Groundwaters

纳米技术正在迅速扩张，预计在不久的将来将成为一个价值万亿美元的产业。随着纳米技术应用的增加，越来越多的人造纳米颗粒(MNPs)将被释放到环境中，这是不可避免的。大多数可能的颗粒物类型的释放对环境和人类健康的影响在很大程度上尚不清楚，但就地下水而言，除了对饮用受污染的水的影响外，还对土著细菌种群构成潜在的严重威胁，包括那些与减少污染物有关的细菌种群。因此，开发评估MNPs在包括地下水在内的各种环境隔间中的流动性的方法非常重要。带电相互作用的粒子在不同大小的岩石孔隙系统中的运动是复杂的预测，在这些系统中，孔壁也是带电的。初步实验表明，聚集之后会发生应变和各种附着过程，这取决于颗粒/岩石组合和化学条件，但如果不解决一些表面测量难题，量化/预测是不可能的。然而，这样的问题在一系列商业应用中很常见，因此领先的颗粒表征仪器制造商马尔文仪器(MI)一直在开发新的方法，为解决其中一些问题提供了可能性。因此，本项目旨在将这些新方法应用于实验金属氧化物mNP/砂岩系统，以帮助开发mNPs与岩石相互作用的概念模型，并在此基础上使用测量的参数值来量化表示适合用于污染风险评估的系统。所开发的模型在将mNPs用于地下水修复的情况下也应直接使用(尽管在更充分地了解健康问题之前，这将是罕见的)。该项目将包括实验室、现场和计算机建模方面。除了促进进入迅速扩大的研究领域外，它还将提供水行业缺乏的专业培训，并培养任何地下水污染职业所需的可转让技能和见解。

Nanotechnology is rapidly expanding, and is forecast to become a trillion dollar industry in the near future. It is inevitable that as nanotechnology applications increase, increasing amounts of manufactured nanoparticles (mNPs) will be released into the environment. The environmental and human health implications of the release of most of the huge range of possible particle types are as yet largely unknown, but in the context of groundwaters, apart from implications for the drinking of contaminated water, there is also a potentially serious threat to indigenous bacterial populations, including those that are involved with attenuating contaminants. Thus it is very important to develop methods for assessing the mobility of mNPs in the various environmental compartments, including groundwaters. The movement of charged interacting particles through variably-sized rock pore systems where the pore walls are also charged is complex to predict. Preliminary experiments indicate that aggregation followed by straining and various attachment processes occur, depending on both particle/rock combinations and chemical conditions, but quantification/prediction is not possible without resolving some difficult surface measurement issues. However, such problems are common in a range of commercial applications, and consequently Malvern Instruments (MI), the leading particle characterization instrument manufacturer, has been developing new approaches that offer the possibility of tackling some of these problems. This project, therefore, aims to apply these new approaches to experimental metal oxide mNP / sandstone systems in order to help develop a conceptual model of the interactions of mNPs and rock, and from this to use the measured parameter values in a quantitative representation of the system appropriate for use in pollution risk assessment. The model developed should also be of direct use in cases where mNPs are used in groundwater remediation (though this will be rare until the health issues are more fully understood). The project will include laboratory, field, and computer modelling aspects. Besides facilitating access to a rapidly expanding research area, it will provide training in a specialization lacking in the water industry, and also develop the transferable skills and insights necessary for any groundwater contamination career.