What are AOPs, what environmental issues can afford to and what environmental issues can be addressed?
Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) rely on the in situ production of very powerful and highly reactive oxidant species, namely hydroxyl radicals (HO·). These species can react unselectively with a wide range of organic contaminants (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors compounds, dyes, etc.) contained in different polluted environmental matrices (groundwater, surface water, urban wastewater, industrial wastewater, soil, sediments, sludge, air). Hydroxyl radicals can be generated by both photochemical processes (e.g., ultraviolet (UV) radiation in combination with ozone (O3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), Fe2+/H2O2 (Fenton reagent), heterogeneous catalysts (e.g., TiO2)) and non-photochemical processes (e.g., electron beam irradiation, O3 in combination with H2O2 or Fenton reagent).
European PhD School on AOPs: objectives and expertise
“European PhD School on Advanced Oxidation Processes” includes European scientists from different Universities and Research Institutes (presently 40 Scientific Committee members from 12 different Countries), with a strong and internationally recognized expertise in the environmental applications of AOPs (e.g., water treatment, urban wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment, soil remediation, etc.). The Objectives of the school include, among others, the promotion of higher education of young researchers in the environmental applications of AOPs, as well as the collaboration with possible stakeholders (such as enterprises, management companies/authorities) in order to increase job opportunities for young researchers not only in Academic/Research institutions but also in enterprises/companies, authorities, etc.
Who may have an interest in collaboration with the School?
Enterprises and management companies/authorities that are looking for a specialist support to successfully afford environmental contamination issues. In particular:
- Enterprises with a background/knowhow in environmental remediation technologies that would like to approach AOPs based-technologies to successfully address specific contamination issues where other technologies failed;
- Enterprises with a background/knowhow on some closely related technologies (e.g., ozonation, UV radiation, etc.) that would like to broaden their offer by including AOPs based-technologies;
- Environmental management companies/authorities that are looking for possible solutions to environmental contamination issues where conventional processes/technologies failed or showed to be not sustainable;
- Enterprises and environmental management authorities that are looking for effective and environmental friendly solutions (e.g., solar driven AOPs).
Possible collaborations with enterprises and environmental management companies/authorities
Possible collaborations should be evaluated case by case and include, but are not limited to:
- Thematic PhD and post-doc grants funded by the enterprise/authority to investigate AOPs based technologies to solve a specific environmental problem;
- Stages for PhD candidates;
- Application to call for proposals (e.g., Horizon 2020);
- Research agreements with one or more expert/institution from the School to address a specific environmental problem.
Enterprises and environmental management companies/authorities would like to activate or to learn more about possible collaboration with the School are kindly invited to send an email to the Chair (l.rizzo@unisa.it).
