Detailed Description

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as UV-filters, pharmaceuticals and pesticide residues in both wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) effluents and surface waters are associated with the increasing urbanization and limited removal efficiency of CECs by WWTP and represent a great threat to the environment and human health. Despite the availability of some treatment technologies, e.g., membranes bioreactors and ozonation to remove CECs the majority of these treatments are expensive and their application limited.

 

Deep eutectic solvents are biodegradable solvents that have been used to efficiently extract CECs from the sample medium. The immobilization of organic solvents in membranes allows the separation of large amounts of contaminants with low consumption amount of solvent. However, most of this solvent are toxic an present low stability which constrained its industrial application Therefore, this project aims to develop a sustainable and cost-effective technology using a supported liquid membrane based on DES for the removal of relevant CECs from WWTP and surface waters.