Groundwater contamination by organic compounds represents a widespread environmental problem. The heterogeneity of geological formations and the complexity of physical and biogeochemical subsurface processes, often hamper a quantitative characterization of contaminated aquifers. Compound specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) has emerged as a novel approach to investigate contaminant transformation and to relate contaminant sources to downgradient contamination. This method generally assumes that only (bio)chemical transformations are associated with isotope effects. However, recent studies have revealed isotope fractionation of organic contaminants by physical processes, therefore pointing to the need of further research to determine the influence of both transport and reactive processes on the observed overall isotope fractionation. While the effect of gasphase diffusion on isotope ratios has been studied in detail, possible effects of aqueous phase diffusion and dispersion have received little attention so far.The goals of this study are to quantify carbon (13C/12C) and, for chlorinated compounds, chlorine (37Cl/35Cl) isotope fractionation during diffusive/dispersive transport of organic contaminants in groundwater and to determine its consequences for source allocation and assessment of reactive processes using isotopes. The proposed research is based on the combination of high-resolution experimental studies, both at the laboratory (i.e. zero-, one- and two-dimensional systems) and at the field scales, and solute transport modeling. The project combines the expertise in the field of contaminant transport with the expertise on isotope methods in contaminant hydrogeology.
Arsenic-contaminated ground- and drinking water is a global environmental problem with about 1-2Prozent of the world's population being affected. The upper drinking water limit for arsenic (10 Micro g/l) recommended by the WHO is often exceeded, even in industrial nations in Europe and the USA. Chronic intake of arsenic causes severe health problems like skin diseases (e.g. blackfoot disease) and cancer. In addition to drinking water, seafood and rice are the main reservoirs for arsenic uptake. Arsenic is oftentimes of geogenic origin and in the environment it is mainly bound to iron(III) minerals. Iron(III)-reducing bacteria are able to dissolve these iron minerals and therefore release the arsenic to the environment. In turn, iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria have the potential to co-precipitate or sorb arsenic during iron(II)- oxidation at neutral pH followed by iron(III) mineral precipitation. This process may reduce arsenic concentrations in the environment drastically, lowering the potential risk for humans dramatically.The main goal of this study therefore is to quantify, identify and isolate anaerobic and aerobic Fe(II)-oxidizing microorganisms in arsenic-containing paddy soil. The co-precipitation and thus removal of arsenic by iron mineral producing bacteria will be determined in batch and microcosm experiments. Finally the influence of rhizosphere redox status on microbial Fe oxidation and arsenic uptake into rice plants will be evaluated in microcosm experiments. The long-term goal of this research is to better understand arsenic-co-precipitation and thus arsenic-immobilization by iron(II)-oxidizing bacteria in rice paddy soil. Potentially these results can lead to an improvement of living conditions in affected countries, e.g. in China or Bangladesh.
Present concepts of industrial management are based on a linear value chain of products and services. Input materials such as raw materials, water and energy are transformed into products and by-products but cogenerating significant amount of wastes and polluting emissions. Cleaner production approach, focusing on single process efficiency within companies, and industrial symbiosis approach, focusing on systemic spatial resource efficiency among different companies, are both contributing to reduce the environmental impact of the industrial production. In this context, different tools to optimize industrial management have been developed, but none of them include both approaches. The aim of the present project is to combine both approaches in order to increase the overall resource efficiency of industrial processes within a system of different factories. Overall goal of the program Ecomanindustry: Development of a universal reproducible software based tool called CPIS for decision support integrating the existing experiences and methodologies of Cleaner Production (CP) and Industrial Symbiosis (IS). The CPIS-tool will facilitate inter-industrial assessment and communication for waste avoidance and reuse of materials based on the Software as a Service (SaaS) principles. Specific goals of the swiss partners: FHNW: FHNW will be the coordinator of the overall Project and lead field tests and case studies. FHNW will collect customer feedback on existing software and test user friendly and failure free functionality of a beta version of the developed CPIS-tool in a field test, and proof customer acceptance of the CPIS-tool application in two case studies. UNIL: UNIL will gather and valorize previous research and experiences of existing GIS-based decision support tools for the development of eco-industrial parks, design the concept, functionalities and boundaries of the software-based CPIS-tool, and choose the appropriate technologies to be implemented in the CPIS-tool. SOFIES: SOFIES will build a community of users and service provider, ensure the long term development of the CPIS-tool, promote the dissemination to other countries and elaborate adequate user guide and training to facilitate dissemination.
Objective: Space heating accounts for more than 50Prozent of the energy consumption of public & residential buildings, and reduction of this energy demand is a key strategy in the move to low energy/low carbon buildings. The careful management of air flow within a building forms part of this strategy through the control of inlet fresh air and exhaust air, maximising air re-circulation, and minimising the amount of fresh air which is often drawn in through a heat exchanger. However, there is a high risk that the air quality is reduced. Continued exposure to environments with poor air quality is a major public health concern in developed and developing countries. It is estimated that the pollutants responsible for poor air quality cause nearly 2.5 million premature deaths per year world-wide. Significantly, around 1.5 million of these deaths are due to polluted indoor air, and it is suggested that poor indoor air quality may pose a significant health risk to more than half of the world's population. Perhaps surprisingly, remedial action to improve air quality is often easy to implement. Relatively simple measures such as increased air flow through ventilation systems, or a greater proportion of fresh air to re-circulating air are sufficient to improve air quality. Low-energy air purification and detoxification technologies are available which will reduce the concentration of specific pollutants. Similarly, filtration systems (e.g. electrostatic filters) can be switched in to reduce the level of the particulate matter in the air (the principle pollutant responsible for poor health). The INTASENSE concept is to integrate a number of micro- and nano-sensing technologies onto a common detection platform with shared air-handling and pre-conditioning infrastructure to produce a low-cost miniaturised system that can comprehensively measure air quality, and identify the nature and form of pollutants. INTASENSE is a 3-year project which brings together 8 organisations from 5 countries.
The aim of the research project is to further develop and compare the acceptability and technical performance of fluoride removal filters and to explore ways of sustainably implementing these in rural Ethiopia. According to estimates of the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources more than 14 million people in Ethiopia rely on drinking water contaminated by fluoride in the Rift Valley region. Over 40Prozent of deep and shallow wells are contaminated and concentrations, up to 26 mg/L, are significantly higher than the present international WHO guideline value of 1.5 mg/L. The main source of fluoride are the basaltic rocks in the Rift Valley. Over 80Prozent of children suffer from different degrees of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis is increasing, mainly among older people. The mitigation of this health problem has been hampered mainly by the lack of a suitable, inexpensive removal method. A switch to treated surface waters for drinking is being discussed, but it is accepted that fluoride removal systems for rural communities are required. To date there has been no successful implementation of such a system in Ethiopia. This project aims to combine technical and social research at both Eawag and University of Addis Ababa, including field work together with NGOs to find a solution to the mitigation of fluorosis. Not only the suggested removal techniques but also the inter- and transdisciplinary research approach is innovative. Intensive interaction of engineering and social sciences is indispensable in this project, because even the best technical solution is useless when it is not accepted by the population. This collaborative project also has an important goal of capacity and human resource development in Ethiopia. It aims at strengthening the knowledge and research capacity of the Ethiopian university and the participation of NGOs will consolidate the ties between research and implementation. Furthermore, the results will be applicable not only to Ethiopia but also for other fluorosis-affected developing countries. Two fluoride removal systems that can cope with the elevated fluoride concentrations will be further developed and tested in the field. The first, based on filtration with aluminium (Al) oxide, has been developed in the Chemistry Department of Addis Ababa University. Laboratory tests have shown a very high removal capacity, but still further laboratory and field testing is required. The second filter material is based on a calcium hydroxyapatite, including bone char, that is successfully being developed and currently implemented by the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru (CDN) in Kenya. Preliminary implementation studies with bone char filtration in Ethiopia, carried out by the NGO consortium Swiss Interchurch Aid (HEKS) / Oromo Self-Help Organisation (OSHO) in collaboration with CDN and Eawag have shown that the water composition, the high fluoride concentrations,
The investigation of sediment cores from two of the largest freshwater lakes from Western Europe (lakes Geneva and Lucerne) demonstrated that natural sources of trace elements dominated before the European industrial revolution. The heavy metal pollution (e.g. lead, mercury) highly increased following the industrialization of Switzerland after 1850. The implementation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the 1960s significantly decreased the metal pollution at the deepwater sites. By contrast, the Vidy Bay of Lake Geneva where are released the WWTP of the city of Lausanne since 1964 was highly contaminated by heavy metals due to the WWTP emissions. Lead isotopic composition furthermore highlighted the industrial pollution sources over the last 200 years. During the twentieth century, industrial releases multiplied by 10 times heavy metal fluxes to hydrological systems located on both sides of the Alps. The remote and small high altitude lake Meidsee (2661 m a.s.l. in the Southwestern Alps) revealed the strong increase in anthropogenic trace metal deposition during the Greek and Roman Empires (ca 300 BC to AD 400), the Late Middle Ages (ca AD 1400), and the Early Modern Europe (after ca AD 1600). The greatest increases in anthropogenic metal pollution were evidenced after the industrial revolution of ca AD 1850, especially in Lake Lucerne where industrial activities and the steamboat navigation released high amounts of fossil fuel combustion residues and heavy metals. The elemental and isotopic composition of sedimentary organic matter from the high-altitude Lake Meidsee provided additional information about the high-altitude Alpine landscape evolution since the Late Pleistocene/Holocene deglaciation in the Swiss Southwestern Alps; and indicated the predominant deposition of algal-derived organic matter with limited input of terrestrial organic matter before the Holocene Climatic Optimum (between 7.0 and 5.5 years ago). This research also investigated faecal indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and Enterococcus), multiple antibiotic resistant and antibiotic resistance genes, in sediment profiles from different parts of Lake Geneva (Switzerland) over the last decades. Results showed that the WWTP input constituted the main source of pollution for several contaminants, including heavy metals, antibiotics, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The Bay of Vidy of Lake Geneva can therefore be considered as a reservoir of bacteria multiple resistance genes. Hence, the human-induced eutrophication in the 1970s highly enhanced the sediment microbial activity, and therein the spreading of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes in this aquatic environment used to supply drinking water in a highly populated area.
In previous projects of the EC and Switzerland a non-GMO approach of conventional in-vitro breeding and mutagenesis was used to introduce a good number of new genotype of crop plants with significantly enhanced properties for metal accumulation, extraction and exclusion, for improving of the effieciency of phytoextraction technique for cleaning of contaminated soil. Within COST Action 859 most efficient genotypes of sunflower, Brassica and tobacco and specific cultivation methods will carefully be assessed and comparative field experiments in Switzerland and Belgium will be continued with the aim to optimise and validate the 'improved phytoextraction technique' and to bring this sustainable remediation procedure towards a practical use.
Although the use of genetically modified plants for bioremediation, or the in situ cleaning of contaminated sites, has been known for quite some time, little attention has so far been paid to the production of antibodies in plants and their ex vivo application in selective depletion. Therefore, highly affine and specific antibodies against algal toxins using microcystin as an example will be produced in plants at low cost within this research project. The basis is a monoclonal antibody (Mab 10E7, species: mouse) generated in a former research project. The sequence of the variable domains will be determined, optimized for plants and sub cloned into suitable plant transformation vectors, which already contain constant antibody sequences. In addition, a scFv fragment containing different tag sequences and fusion proteins will be constructed. Leaf-based (tobacco) as well as seed-based (barley) systems will be used.Affinity-purified plant-produced antibodies (plantibodies) will be characterized in detail for their binding properties using microtitre plate-ELISA and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). The monoclonal mouse antibody will be used as reference. To assure cost-efficiency for future applications, roughly purified fractions (sequential pH and temperature treatment followed by filtration) will be tested for the upscaling. Following immobilization of the plantibody fractions on suitable substrates, for instance membranes, porous polymer monoliths or in porous glasses, their application for depletion will be defined using model water samples spiked fortified with microcystins.
Understanding transport of contaminants is fundamental for the management of groundwater re-sources and the implementation of remedial strategies. In particular, mixing processes in saturated porous media play a pivotal role in determining the fate and transport of chemicals released in the subsurface. In fact, many abiotic and biological reactions in contaminated aquifers are limited by the availability of reaction partners. Under steady-state flow and transport conditions, dissolved reactants come into contact only through transverse mixing. In homogeneous porous media, transverse mixing is determined by diffusion and pore-scale dispersion, while in heterogeneous formations these local mixing processes are enhanced. Recent studies investigated the enhancement of transverse mixing due to the presence of heterogeneities in two-dimensional systems. Here, mixing enhancement can solely be attributed to flow focusing within high-permeability inclusions. In the proposed work, we will investigate mixing processes in three dimensions using high-resolution laboratory bench-scale experiments and advanced modeling techniques. The objective of the proposed research is to quantitatively assess how 3-D heterogeneity and anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity affect mixing processes via (i) flow focusing and de-focusing, (ii) increase of the plume surface, (iii) twisting and intertwining of streamlines and (iv) compound-specific diffusive/dispersive properties of the solute species undergoing transport. The results of the experimental and modeling investigation will allow us to identify effective large-scale parameters useful for a correct description of conservative and reactive mixing at field scales allowing to explain discrepancies between field observations, bench-scale experiments and current stochastic theory.
| Organisation | Count |
|---|---|
| Bund | 36 |
| Europa | 9 |
| Land | 2 |
| Wissenschaft | 11 |
| Zivilgesellschaft | 1 |
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| Förderprogramm | 36 |
| License | Count |
|---|---|
| Offen | 36 |
| Language | Count |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | 5 |
| Englisch | 34 |
| Resource type | Count |
|---|---|
| Keine | 29 |
| Webseite | 7 |
| Topic | Count |
|---|---|
| Boden | 36 |
| Lebewesen und Lebensräume | 36 |
| Luft | 36 |
| Mensch und Umwelt | 36 |
| Wasser | 36 |
| Weitere | 36 |