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

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。******提出的研究范围是通过同时捕获和处理地下污染物，并确保用于处理污染物的活性物质只在污染区域输送和释放（目标输送）来解决这些挑战。反应物质的定向输送将确保反应仅在受污染的区域以受控的方式发生，从而增加补救过程的安全性。******在这个项目中，将开发含有活性物质的凝胶（活性凝胶），以捕获和处理地下污染物，如重金属、杀菌剂和杀虫剂以及有机污染物。反应凝胶的一个重要特性是其可调的粘度，在洁净区低，在污染区高。洁净区的低粘度将允许凝胶流过土壤并到达污染物，而污染区的高粘度将对污染物的迁移产生障碍。******通过使用可切换的表面活性剂乳化这些材料，可以实现活性物质的定向输送，这些表面活性剂对清洁区和污染区的水化学差异很敏感。可切换表面活性剂将在洁净区产生稳定的乳剂，而仅在污染区释放活性物质。******该项目的最终目标是开发新的修复技术来恢复受污染的场地，减轻或消除对人类和生态受体的风险。虽然新技术的实施是该项目的长期愿景，但推进与这些技术相关的所有方面的基础知识是支持实现这一愿景的核心价值。这些知识将成为新应用程序的窗口，这些应用程序将从这个程序中流出，但可能远远超出它。******与这一核心价值相一致，该计划的主要范围是培养精通土壤修复的HQP，并拥有适用于不同领域的多学科专业知识。

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.