Advanced oxidation processes for WWTP effluent reuse in agriculture: combined effects of nanoplastics and pesticides on soil and crop quality

• Grant number: 24/14786-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment
• Principal Investigator: Valdemar Luiz Tornisielo
• Grantee: Jacqueline Aparecida Malvestiti
• Supervisor: Carmen Sans Mazon
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/04015-1 - Effects of oxidative treatments on microplastic pollution and its associated chemical and biological risks, BP.PD

Abstract

Nanoplastics (NPs) are not effectively eliminated in conventional water supply treatment plants (WTPs) or wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), becoming important entry points for contaminants into the aquatic environment and causing public health problems. The contamination of agricultural soils and irrigation waters by NPs in combination with other pollutants, such as emerging contaminants (EC), is a cause for alarm and must be treated as a problem that requires specialized and efficient solutions. Plastic particles can change the pH in soils and when associated with EC they can affect the mobility and adsorption of these contaminants, thus influencing soil fertility and plant nutrition, as these particles can be absorbed by the roots and transported to parts higher levels of the soil, in addition, it can affect several soil organisms. It is known that Advanced Oxidative Processes (AOPs) are capable of promoting the degradation of plastic particles, affecting the sorption-desorption capacity of contaminants presents in the aqueous matrix. The coexistence of NPs and EC still requires more detailed studies to understand the mechanisms that influence the interactions between them and the consequences of using this water in the irrigation, involving plants and soil properties. The project will address the suitability of using wastewater contaminated with nanoplastics and EC, protected by advanced oxidative processes, for reuse irrigation on real agricultural soils and crop development. Furthermore, this project aims to provide new insights into the transport of ECs in WWTPs, as well as in aquatic ecosystems, since adsorption on NPs appears to be a mechanism that significantly contributes to the aquatic fate of these polluting substances.