Advanced characterization of natural nanoparticles in environmental aquatic systems

This project aims at establishing collaboration between NTNU - Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering and the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institute of Bio- and Geosciences in Germany. First contact between the involved research groups has rec ently been made, based on the fact of acquirement of identical state of the art fractionation technology (Asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation, AF4) from the same manufacturer (Postnova Analytics GmbH, Lansdberg, Germany). However, each party combin ed the instrument with a series of unique but different detectors, a reason that lead to strong interest in the work of the other. In addition, both research groups have a shared background in environmental engineering. Within the frame of this bilateral cooperation it is intended to conduct an in depth study of the characteristics of naturally occurring nanoparticles (NP) in environmental aquatic systems, like surface waters, natural streams and water purification systems. The same particles have very ve rsatile functions depending on the system of interest. Therefore, processes in ecosystems will be assessed in addition to water treatment unit processes. For both, the physico-chemical properties of interest include the size distribution of particles in s urface waters, their chemistry (chemical and elemental composition), their colloidal stability, their adsorption/desorption properties and their functioning in environmental systems. In addition, the effect of water treatment unit processes, such as coagu lation/flocculation and membrane filtration, on such particles will be investigated, in order to assess the treatability and fate of NPs in the environment. The project includes research exchange stays for PhD students and will lead to several publicatio ns in high-level peer-reviewed journals, regarding advanced water treatment and nanoparticle characterization. In addition, this project is going to close with applying for an independent research project.