Dr Carlos Pestana c.pestana@rgu.ac.uk
Lecturer
Dr Carlos Pestana c.pestana@rgu.ac.uk
Lecturer
Herbicides and pesticides (i.e. biocides) are widely used world-wide. Many biocidal agents are persistent in the freshwater environment and are on the EU watchlist for priority and priority hazardous substances, as well as the Scottish Environmental Protection Agencies risk matrix for contaminants in surface waters. Several biocidal agents have been shown to have adverse health effects in humans including carcinogenic properties, birth defects, and disruption of the endocrine system. Therefore, the development of a system for the source management of these compounds is timely and pressing. Photocatalytic degradation of biocidal agents is well established in the scientific literature, mostly by the application of titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysis. TiO2 is a non-toxic, abundant chemical that has many applications including in the food and cosmetics industries. Photocatalytic activity results in the creation of short-lived high energy hydroxyl radicals upon the input of UV irradiation resulting in the subsequent oxidation of pollutants. To date, TiO2 photocatalytic treatment has not been not widely employed due to limitations such as catalyst removal and energy costs. The requirement of energy input in the form of near UV light has been a barrier to deployment until the recent advent of water submersible UV-light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs ; 367 nm).
Status | Project Live |
---|---|
Funder(s) | Scottish Funding Council |
Value | £149,506.00 |
Project Dates | Oct 1, 2020 - Sep 30, 2024 |
'Microcystin Toolbox' - monitoring the impact of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Indonesia by HPLC May 31, 2019 - May 31, 2020
Water is a precious resource subject to a host of extreme environmental pressures which can effect water quality and pose a hazard to human and animal health. Many water quality issues are due to hazardous microbes present in drinking water including...
Read More about 'Microcystin Toolbox' - monitoring the impact of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in Indonesia by HPLC.
Microplastics as a vector for micropollutants in aquatic environments Nov 1, 2019 - Oct 31, 2023
Any plastic particle that measures less than 5 mm in all dimensions is considered to be a microplastic. Microplastics have become a prevalent contaminant in most aquatic environments; conventional water and waste water treatment methods struggle to r...
Read More about Microplastics as a vector for micropollutants in aquatic environments.
About OpenAIR@RGU
Administrator e-mail: publications@rgu.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
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