The Environmental Pollution and Agriculture (EPA) group is focused on the natural processes affecting the fate of contaminants in the environment to find nature-based approaches to mitigate chemical pollution and the associated impact of human activity on the ecosystems. The research lines range from environmental chemistry to environmental forensics to identify the pollution sources and the key processes affecting their fate in the environment, including sustainable wastewater treatment systems, biogeochemistry of Mercury in ecosystems and fate of contaminants in agroecosystems. Non-target screening and metabolomic methods are developed to get further insight into the contaminant degradation pathways and their impacts into the downstream environment.
- Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Systems
- Biogeochemistry of Mercury in Ecosystems
- Fate of Contaminants in Agroecosystems
Permanent Researchers
Postdoc Researchers
PhD Students
Technical
Administration
Communication and Outreach
Projects and Fundraising
Uncovering the importance of the interaction between VOCs and rainwater
A novel and innovative approach integrating technologies to quantify the role of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in rainwater
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can directly influence in the physio-chemical characteristics of rainwater, since VOC dissolve into rain drops. This process can have important implications at ecosystem scale, since these chemically altered raindrops can alter soil and freshwater acidity, as well as the nutrient content, consequently affecting forest and crop productivity, surface water chemical composition and biodiversity loss. Therefore, I propose a novel and innovative approach integrating technologies to quantify the role of VOCs in rainwater. This project is aimed to design and construct an automatic rainwater VOC sampler prototype to be deployed for 1 year at a Mediterranean forest. Laboratory plant and soil experiments will also be performed to explore the effects of chemically modified rainwater in the ecosystems at the process level. At last, an integrated assessment and review will be performed to assess the impacts of VOCs in rainwater at a landscape and regional level.
Funded by: La Caixa Foundation Junior Leader Retaining fellowship
Start Date: 01/11/2021 – End Date: 30/11/2024
Project Leader: Ana María Yáñez Serrano
Funding: National Project
NeuroTICs
New generation of drugs protecting against neurotoxic industrial chemicals
Human brain is a great target for chemical terrorism, so NATO nations should be prepared to respond effectively to terrorist threats involving neurotoxic industrial chemicals (neuroTICs). The main objective of this project is to assess the therapeutic potential of AD4 and thioredoxin-mimetic peptides, blood-brain barrier permeable drugs targeting oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation, on acute neurotoxic syndromes induced by three common TICs (organophosphorus compounds, acrylamide, organic mercury). Moreover, specific combinations of drugs derived from the analysis of potential therapeutic targets for each toxidrome will be also tested.
This project is supported by: The NATO Science for Peace and Security programme
Start Date: 03/06/2021 – End Date: 02/06/2024
Project Leader: Demetrio Raldúa Pérez
Researchers: Melissa Faria , Juliette Bedrossiantz , Carlos Barata Martí , Benjamí Piña Capó
Funding: International Project
https://neurotics-project-nato.com/
nPETS
Nanoparticle Emissions from the Transport Sector: Health and Policy Impacts
Air pollution in European cities is still threatening human health, even though EU emission directives have been sharpened over the last 25 years. Adverse health effects of airborne particles are strongly linked to their size. A major fraction of outdoor ultrafine particles is traffic generated from road, rail, air, and sea transportation. The story that nPETS aims to communicate is the life of the sub 100 nm emissions from its creation to its potential path to human beings and animals. The nPETS consortium aims to improve the knowledge of transport generated exhaust and non-exhaust nanoparticle emissions and their impacts on health and new public policies.
It aims to monitor and sample with state-of-the-art particle instruments the sub 100 nm transport generated emissions from shipping, road, rail, and aviation both in field and controlled laboratory environments. Both aged and fresh aerosols will be considered, including primary and secondary volatile and non-volatile particles. Characterising the emissions will be done from shipping, road, rail, and aviation by linking their sizes, chemical compositions, and morphologies to its specific emission sources such as engines, brakes, clutches, and tyres to increase the understanding of the mechanisms behind adverse risks posed by different types and sources of the identified sub 100 nm particles. The effects of nanoparticles from various transport modes and fuels, as well as specific emission sources, will be compared with a focus on markers of relevance for carcinogenesis and inflammation. Living cells will be exposed to collected and real-world primary and aged aerosols as well as primary and aged aerosols generated in the laboratory.
Furthermore, it also aims to evaluate the possible future impact of new policies in this area on public health and linking the impacts with specific emission sources. This should lead to an understanding and quantification of the risks posed by different types and sources.
Start Date: 01/06/2021 – End Date: 31/05/2024
Researchers: Fulvio Amato , Benjamí Piña Capó , José Portugal Minguela , Barend L. van Drooge , Xavier Querol Carceller , Andrés Alastuey Urós , Teresa Moreno Pérez
Funding: European Project
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/954377/es
LIFE REMY
Reducing Emission Modelling uncertaintY
REMY project, through a detailed quantitative modelling analysis in three EU critical areas (Po Valley -IT, Catalonia - E, Southern Poland - PL), investigates the impact of uncertainty in pollutants emission and air dispersion models that could negatively affect air quality plan, both on the regional and the local scale, leading to the identification of ineffective emission abatement strategies.
Entidad financiadora: European Commission (LIFE program)
Start Date: 01/05/2021 – End Date: 30/04/2024
Project Leader: Fulvio Amato
Researchers: Federica Ippolito , Teresa Moreno Pérez , Aurelio Tobías Garces , Marco Pandolfi
Funding: European Project
https://liferemy.eu/
MAGO
The aim of MAGO (Mediterranean wAter management solutions for a sustainable aGriculture supplied by an Online collaborative platform) is to demonstrate novel solutions to enhance integrated water resources management (IWRM) for a sustainable agriculture in the Mediterranean Region. These solutions, which will be demonstrated in Tunisia, Spain, France and Lebanon, will boost water use efficiency in agriculture, the use of alternative water resources, and climate change adaptation (CCA). These solutions will build upon (1) a novel participatory approach with end-users and stakeholders and (2) a new online collaborative platform for researchers and entrepreneurs for delivering web applications.
Funded by EC, PRIMA (Horizon 2020)
Start Date: 01/04/2021 – End Date: 31/03/2024
Project Leader: Miren López de Alda Villaizán
Funding: International Project
RECOPPs
RECOPPs: REcovery of Added-Value Raw Materials from Copper Primary Production
RECOPPs (REcovery of Added-Value Raw Materials from Copper Primary Production) aims to transition the environmentally and economically sustainable recovery of added-value raw materials Bismuth (Bi) and Antimony (Sb) and removal and inertisation of Arsenic (As) from the residues and by-products generated during the pyrometallurgical production of Copper (Cu), based on RECOPP fast track proven technologies (TRL 5), to a TRL of 7(pilot scale) to validate this technological solution at such operational environment.
Funded by: EIT RawMaterials Horizon Europe
Start Date: 01/01/2021 – End Date: 31/03/2024
Project Leader: Patricia Córdoba Sola
Researchers: Samanta Rojas Castro
Funding: European Project
https://recopps.com/
Biological dynamics of CO2 in classrooms given the current context of climate change and pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (CoViD-19 disease)
The project studies how the natural ventilation required during the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic influences air quality in classrooms, in line with the recommendations of the guide published by CSIC (https://www.ciencia.gob.es/stfls/MICINN/Ministerio/FICHEROS/Guia_para_ventilacion_en_aulas_CSIC_v4.pdf). CO2, PM2.5 and NO2 are measured in different classrooms of urban and rural schools of Barcelona province during 2021 and placed into the context of anthropogenic climate change concerning seasonal variation of CO2, temperature, humidity, wind speed-direction, precipitation and surrounding vegetation cover.
SINERGIA Project (Severo Ochoa)
Start Date: 01/01/2021 – End Date: 31/12/2021
Project Leader: Natalia Moreno Palmerola , Belen Martrat
Researchers: Jordi López Fernández
Funding: National Project
ESAR-Net 2.0
Exploración de las aguas residuales como indicador complementario, rápido y objetivo sobre el consumo de sustancias de abuso.
The main aim of this project is to implement the sewage water based epidemiology as a tool, complementary to the classic epidemiological indicators, to estimate the consumption of substances of abuse, including illegal (cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy), legal (alcohol and tobacco), and new psychoactive substances, in Spain. The objective is to include in the study a large number of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) giving service to different types of populations (in terms of size and main economic activity), located in different autonomous communities, representing a large part of the Spanish population. The research team includes 33 researchers from 12 different centers, many of which have already worked together, and with public entities such as the Observatory European Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and the Spanish Observatory on Drugs and Addictions, on this issue through the ESAR-Net network
Funded by: Ministerio de Sanidad. Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional sobre Drogas (Exp. Núm. 2020I009).
Start Date: 01/01/2021 – End Date: 31/12/2023
Project Leader: Miren López de Alda Villaizán
Funding: National Project
https://www.esarnet.es/
CoPerMix
European training network on control prediction and learning in mixing processes
The CoPeRMix network brings together a collection of experts at the European scale from academia and industry, who have all adopted new angles of attack to the problem of mixing according to their needs and fields of application, in order to foster the emergence of a unified viewpoint, through intensive collaboration between different schools of thought and methods. This effort builds up on existing collaborations between several participants, and lectures or courses delivered by some of us in various university curricula in their own institution, and abroad. More precisely, this training network is the emanation of the “Mixing Days” organized by the consortium on a yearly basis (Marseille in 2016, Rennes in 2017, Barcelona in 2018 and Brussels in 2019), which have been the opportunity to conceive and share a new methodology: the lamellar description of mixing.
It consists in viewing a mixture as a set of elongated lamellae and sheets and understanding how they are stretched and dispersed by the stirring flow. This first step provides the necessary information to address the stirring/molecular diffusion coupling, leading to the complete statistical description of the mixing process i.e. the full concentration distribution. This disruptive vision has prompted new numerical (Diffusive Strip Method) and experimental methods. They offer an unprecedented opportunity of accurately describe Stirring protocols which is the ground to understanding and model- ling Mixing and its Impact in a diversity of fields. This lamellar description of mixing provides a consistent and invertible theoretical framework giving us also the opportunity to Learn from mixed scalar fields.
Very promising outcomes are expected as the CoPerMix programme unites leading academic and industrial partners with a broad expertise in the fundamentals and applications of mixing in a very wide range of fields.
Start Date: 01/01/2021 – End Date: 31/12/2025
Project Leader: Marco Dentz , Juan José Hidalgo González
Funding: European Project
https://www.copermix-itn.eu/
Prenatal exposure to poly- and perfluorinated substances (PFAS) in drinking water and neurodevelopment in early life.
The objectives of this project are:
Evaluate exposure during pregnancy to poly- and perfluorinated substances (PFASs) in drinking water.
Estimate the contribution of drinking water to the total exposure burden.
Estimate the association with neurodevelopment at 6 months in the framework of the BISC project (Barcelona Life Study Cohort).
ISGlobal, ASPB, IDAEA-CSIC