RESEARCH LINES
The research is focused on the understanding of the interconnections between bioavailability and biodegradation of organic pollutants, with the final aim of promoting their removal. A video with a recent seminar on the current research, given at McGill University (Montreal, Canada), can be found here.
The bioavailability of organic pollutants in soils represents their accessibility for biological assimilation and toxicity. Bioavailability has a profound impact on the fate and effects of pollutants. For example, the biodegradability of pollutants in soils cannot be assessed properly without considering their bioavailability for microbial populations able to carry out the transformation. Biodegradation rates may reflect the dependency of slow phase exchanges (desorption, partitioning), and as a result, a-priori biodegradable pollutants can persist for a long time.
Our research has a clear motivation for integrating the results in innovations that allow a better competitiveness of bioremediation technologies, and an improvement of our environment. Ultimately, for creating a momentum, at an international level, for real implementation of bioavailability science into retrospective and prospective regulations of organic chemicals.
The specific objectives of the research cover different chemical and biological mechanisms that affect the bioavailability of organic pollutants:
- Effect of partitioning from non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) on biodegradation, covering aspects such as the application of biosurfactants and oleophilic fertilizers to speed the process.
- Biodegradation of sorbed pollutants in model systems and in soils.
- Mobilizing factors for microorganisms and/or pollutants in soil that act upon slow desorption pollutants, including surfactants and nanomaterials.
- Mobilizing power of microbial chemotaxis in soil, for enhancing pollutant bioavailability.