Enhanced adsorption-biodegradation processes for the removal of pesticides in drinking water in Brazil

饮用水生物滤池有潜力成为提供安全饮用水的完全可持续和低成本的解决方案，特别是在发展中国家。然而，这项技术仍然缺乏广泛应用所需的可靠性和效率，特别是在定向清除特定污染物(如杀虫剂)方面。事实上，目前尚不清楚是什么力量控制着过滤介质上生长的微生物群落的组成和活动，这些微生物群落负责水处理，阻碍其充分优化。目前，这些系统的工程设计是基于完全经验的方法。如果我们想要升级这项技术，我们需要一种合理的方法，能够控制饮用水过滤器中微生物群落的结构，使用特定的操作条件。这项研究的主要目标是开发生态工程过滤器，利用吸附和生物降解过程相结合的方式去除目标农药。

Drinking water biofilters have the potential to be fully sustainable and low-cost solutions to provide safe drinking water, particularly in developing countries. However, this technology still lacks the reliability and efficiency required to be widely employed, particularly for the targeted removal of specific contaminants such as pesticides. Indeed, yet unknown are the forces that control the composition and the activity of the microbial communities developing on the filter medium, which are responsible for the water treatment, impeding its full optimisation. Currently, the engineering of these systems is based on a fully empirical approach. If we want to upgrade this technology, we need a rational approach able to control the structure of the microbial community in the drinking water filters, using specific operational conditions. The overarching aim of this research is to develop eco-engineered filters for the removal of targeted pesticides using a combination of adsorption and biodegradation processes.