Notizie

Ossidazione, ma nel modo giusto - tesi premiata

Nota: Questo testo è stato tradotto in italiano automaticamente con DeepL Pro. Per l'articolo originale si prega di selezionare Tedesco, Inglese o Francese (per cambiare lingua vedasi in alto nella pagina).
 

La chimica ambientale Joanna Houska è stata premiata per la sua tesi di dottorato dalla Società tedesca di chimica dell'acqua. Houska ha condotto una ricerca presso l'Eawag e l'EPFL e ha dimostrato sia teoricamente che sperimentalmente come il trattamento ossidativo dell'acqua con ozono o cloro possa essere utilizzato in modo più efficiente se si conosce con maggiore precisione quali sostanze organiche sono disciolte nell'acqua da trattare.

"Il lavoro è una pietra miliare per una migliore comprensione del ruolo della materia organica disciolta nel trattamento ossidativo dell'acqua", afferma il supervisore di Joanna Houska, Urs von Gunten. È professore all'EPFL e dirige il gruppo di chimica dell'acqua potabile presso l'istituto di ricerca acquatica Eawag. Secondo von Gunten, Houska ha "un'enorme capacità di affrontare questioni scientifiche complesse a livello teorico e sperimentale e di risolvere con successo i problemi con grande indipendenza". Nei suoi esperimenti, ma anche con la modellazione, la ricercatrice ha prodotto e interpretato nuovi dati interessanti che possono essere utilizzati per migliorare il trattamento ossidativo dell'acqua.

Inefficiente e pericoloso senza un'analisi precisa

Qual è il problema? Quando si usa il cloro o l'ozono per disinfettare/ossidare l'acqua, l'obiettivo principale è quello di rendere innocui gli agenti patogeni e i microinquinanti. Tuttavia, la maggior parte degli agenti ossidanti reagisce con i componenti della matrice dell'acqua, come la materia organica disciolta. Questo non solo riduce l'efficienza del processo, ma nel peggiore dei casi può portare alla formazione di sottoprodotti tossici. È quindi importante sapere con la massima precisione possibile cosa è disciolto nell'acqua da trattare per rendere efficiente il processo di ossidazione. È qui che è entrata in gioco la ricercatrice Houska, perché finora si utilizzavano soprattutto parametri sommari, derivati ad esempio dall'assorbimento dei raggi UV. Nella sua tesi di laurea, quindi, ha innanzitutto sviluppato metodi per misurare la concentrazione dei composti rilevanti. Li ha poi caratterizzati e ha valutato se e in che misura possono formare sottoprodotti problematici. Infine, ha utilizzato gli isotopi dell'ossigeno nel perossido di idrogeno per scoprire come i precursori problematici possano essere differenziati gli uni dagli altri. È interessante notare che la Houska non ha limitato la sua ricerca alla disinfezione/ossidazione dell'acqua utilizzata come acqua potabile. Piuttosto, ha seguito anche la formazione di sottoprodotti dell'ozonizzazione in un impianto di trattamento delle acque reflue e la loro successiva degradazione nel post-trattamento biologico delle acque reflue depurate.

Prima volta in Svizzera

Il premio di dottorato nel campo della chimica delle acque viene assegnato dal 1992 ed è dotato di 1500 euro. Nel 2024 sarà assegnato per la prima volta alla Svizzera. Joanna Houska sa già cosa farà con i soldi del premio: "La mia bicicletta ha urgentemente bisogno di essere aggiornata, per questo motivo i soldi del premio saranno probabilmente investiti in essa". Ora lavora nel dipartimento ambientale di Roche, nel settore della protezione delle acque reflue e dell'acqua.
 

Immagine di copertina: Joanna Houska alla cerimonia di premiazione con il Prof. Thomas Ternes alla conferenza annuale della Società di Chimica dell'Acqua a Limburgo (D) (Foto: Nina Hermes, BfG).
 

Pubblicazione originale

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      originalId => protected23921 (integer)
      authors => protected'Houska, J.; Salhi, E.; Walpen, N.; von Gunten, U.' (69 chars)
      title => protected'Oxidant-reactive carbonous moieties in dissolved organic matter: selective q
         uantification by oxidative titration using chlorine dioxide and ozone
' (145 chars) journal => protected'Water Research' (14 chars) year => protected2021 (integer) volume => protected207 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'117790 (11 pp.)' (15 chars) otherpage => protected'' (0 chars) categories => protected'dissolved organic matter; oxidative titration; chlorine dioxide; ozone; elec
         tron-donating capacity; molecular tagging; electron-rich moieties; phenols;
         oxidation byproducts
' (172 chars) description => protected'The application of oxidants for disinfection or micropollutant abatement dur
         ing drinking water and wastewater treatment is accompanied by oxidation of m
         atrix components such as dissolved organic matter (DOM). To improve predicti
         ons of the efficiency of oxidation processes and the formation of oxidation
         products, methods to determine concentrations of oxidant-reactive phenolic,
         olefinic or amine-type DOM moieties are critical.<br />Here, a novel selecti
         ve oxidative titration approach is presented, which is based on reaction kin
         etics of oxidation reactions towards certain DOM moieties. Phenolic moieties
          were determined by oxidative titration with ClO<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>3</su
         b> for five DOM isolates and two secondary wastewater effluent samples. The
         determined concentrations of phenolic moieties correlated with the electron-
         donating capacity (EDC) and the formation of inorganic ClO<sub>2</sub>-bypro
         ducts (HOCl, ClO<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup>, ClO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>).
         ClO<sub>2</sub>-byproduct yields from phenol and DOM isolates and changes du
         e to the application of molecular tagging for phenols revealed a better unde
         rstanding of oxidant-reactive structures within DOM.<br />Overall, oxidative
          titrations with ClO<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>3</sub> provide a novel and promi
         sing tool to quantify oxidant-reactive moieties in complex mixtures such as
         DOM and can be expanded to other matrices or oxidants.
' (1422 chars) serialnumber => protected'0043-1354' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1016/j.watres.2021.117790' (28 chars) uid => protected23921 (integer) _localizedUid => protected23921 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected23921 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
1 => Snowflake\Publications\Domain\Model\Publicationprototypepersistent entity (uid=30070, pid=124) originalId => protected30070 (integer) authors => protected'Houska,&nbsp;J.; Manasfi,&nbsp;T.; Gebhardt,&nbsp;I.; von Gunten,&nbsp;U.' (73 chars) title => protected'Ozonation of lake water and wastewater: identification of carbonous and nitr
         ogenous carbonyl-containing oxidation byproducts by non-target screening
' (148 chars) journal => protected'Water Research' (14 chars) year => protected2023 (integer) volume => protected232 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'119484 (17 pp.)' (15 chars) otherpage => protected'' (0 chars) categories => protected'high resolution mass spectrometry; ozonation; carbonyl compounds; dissolved
         organic matter; lake water; wastewater; phenols
' (123 chars) description => protected'Ozonation of drinking water and wastewater is accompanied by the formation o
         f disinfection byproducts (DBPs) such as low molecular weight aldehydes and
         ketones from the reactions of ozone with dissolved organic matter (DOM). By
         applying a recently developed non-target workflow, 178 carbonous and nitroge
         nous carbonyl compounds were detected during bench-scale ozonation of two la
         ke waters and three secondary wastewater effluent samples and full-scale ozo
         nation of secondary treated wastewater effluent. An overlapping subset of ca
         rbonyl compounds (20%) was detected in all water types. Moreover, wastewater
          effluents showed a significantly higher fraction of <em>N</em>-containing c
         arbonyl compounds (30%) compared to lake water (17%). All carbonyl compounds
          can be classified in 5 main formation trends as a function of increasing sp
         ecific ozone doses. Formation trends upon ozonation and comparison of result
         s in presence and absence of the <sup>•</sup>OH radical scavenger DMSO in
         combination with kinetic and mechanistic information allowed to elucidate po
         tential carbonyl structures. A link between the detected carbonyl compounds
         and their precursors was established by ozonating six model compounds (pheno
         l, 4-ethylphenol, 4-methoxyphenol, sorbic acid, 3-buten-2-ol and acetylaceto
         ne). About one third of the detected carbonous carbonyl compounds detected i
         n real waters was also detected by ozonating model compounds.<br />Evaluatio
         n of the non-target analysis data revealed the identity of 15 carbonyl compo
         unds, including hydroxylated aldehydes and ketones (e.g. hydroxyacetone, con
         fidence level (CL) = 1), unsaturated dicarbonyls (e.g. acrolein, CL = 1;
          2-butene-1,4-dial, CL = 1; 4-oxobut-2-enoic acid, CL = 2) and also a ni
         trogen-containing carbonyl compound (2-oxo-propanamide, CL =1).<br />Overall
         , this study shows the formation of versatile carbonous and nitrogenous carb
         onyl compounds upon ozonation involving ozone and <sup>•</sup>OH reactions
         . Carbonyl compounds wit...
' (2196 chars) serialnumber => protected'0043-1354' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1016/j.watres.2022.119484' (28 chars) uid => protected30070 (integer) _localizedUid => protected30070 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected30070 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
2 => Snowflake\Publications\Domain\Model\Publicationprototypepersistent entity (uid=30998, pid=124) originalId => protected30998 (integer) authors => protected'Houska,&nbsp;J.; Stocco,&nbsp;L.; Hofstetter,&nbsp;T.&nbsp;B.; Gunten,&nbsp;
         U.&nbsp;von
' (87 chars) title => protected'Hydrogen peroxide formation during ozonation of olefins and phenol: mechanis
         tic insights from oxygen isotope signatures
' (119 chars) journal => protected'Environmental Science and Technology' (36 chars) year => protected2023 (integer) volume => protected57 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'18950' (5 chars) otherpage => protected'18959' (5 chars) categories => protected'ozonation; hydrogen peroxide; reaction mechanisms; olefins; phenol; oxygen i
         sotopes; isotope ratio mass spectrometry
' (116 chars) description => protected'Mitigation of undesired byproducts from ozonation of dissolved organic matte
         r (DOM) such as aldehydes and ketones is currently hampered by limited knowl
         edge of their precursors and formation pathways. Here, the stable oxygen iso
         tope composition of H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> formed simultaneously with th
         ese byproducts was studied to determine if it can reveal this missing inform
         ation. A newly developed procedure, which quantitatively transforms H<sub>2<
         /sub>O<sub>2</sub> to O<sub>2</sub> for subsequent <sup>18</sup>O/<sup>16</s
         up>O ratio analysis, was used to determine the δ<sup>18</sup>O of H<sub>2</
         sub>O<sub>2</sub> generated from ozonated model compounds (olefins and pheno
         l, pH 3-8). A constant enrichment of <sup>18</sup>O in H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2<
         /sub> with a δ<sup>18</sup>O value of ∼59‰ implies that <sup>16</sup>O-
         <sup>16</sup>O bonds are cleaved preferentially in the intermediate Criegee
         ozonide, which is commonly formed from olefins. H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> f
         rom the ozonation of acrylic acid and phenol at pH 7 resulted in lower <sup>
         18</sup>O enrichment (δ<sup>18</sup>O = 47-49‰). For acrylic acid, enhanc
         ement of one of the two pathways followed by a carbonyl-H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2
         </sub> equilibrium was responsible for the smaller δ<sup>18</sup>O of H<sub
         >2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>. During phenol ozonation at pH 7, various competing re
         actions leading to H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> via an intermediate ozone addu
         ct are hypothesized to cause lower δ<sup>18</sup>O in H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2<
         /sub>. These insights provide a first step toward supporting pH-dependent H<
         sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> precursor elucidation in DOM.
' (1650 chars) serialnumber => protected'0013-936X' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1021/acs.est.3c00788' (23 chars) uid => protected30998 (integer) _localizedUid => protected30998 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected30998 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
3 => Snowflake\Publications\Domain\Model\Publicationprototypepersistent entity (uid=30345, pid=124) originalId => protected30345 (integer) authors => protected'Manasfi,&nbsp;T.; Houska,&nbsp;J.; Gebhardt,&nbsp;I.; von Gunten,&nbsp;U.' (73 chars) title => protected'Formation of carbonyl compounds during ozonation of lake water and wastewate
         r: development of a non-target screening method and quantification of target
          compounds
' (162 chars) journal => protected'Water Research' (14 chars) year => protected2023 (integer) volume => protected237 (integer) issue => protected'' (0 chars) startpage => protected'119751 (14 pp.)' (15 chars) otherpage => protected'' (0 chars) categories => protected'carbonyl compounds; disinfection byproducts; ozonation; dissolved organic ma
         tter; non-target analysis; high-resolution mass spectrometry
' (136 chars) description => protected'Ozonation of natural waters is typically associated with the formation of ca
         rbonyl compounds (aldehydes, ketones and ketoacids), a main class of organic
          disinfection byproducts (DBPs). However, the detection of carbonyl compound
         s in water and wastewater is challenged by multiple difficulties inherent to
          their physicochemical properties. A non-target screening method involving t
         he derivatisation of carbonyl compounds with <em>p</em>-toluenesulfonylhydra
         zine (TSH) followed by their analysis using liquid chromatography coupled to
          electrospray ionisation high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-HRMS) and
          an advanced non-target screening and data processing workflow was developed
         . The workflow was applied to investigate the formation of carbonyl compound
         s during ozonation of different water types including lake water, aqueous so
         lutions containing Suwannee River Fulvic acid (SRFA), and wastewater. A high
         er sensitivity for most target carbonyl compounds was achieved compared to p
         revious derivatisation methods. Moreover, the method allowed the identificat
         ion of known and unknown carbonyl compounds. 8 out of 17 target carbonyl com
         pounds were consistently detected above limits of quantification (LOQs) in m
         ost ozonated samples. Generally, the concentrations of the 8 detected target
          compounds decreased in the order: formaldehyde &gt; acetaldehyde &gt; glyox
         ylic acid &gt; pyruvic acid &gt; glutaraldehyde &gt; 2,3-butanedione &gt; gl
         yoxal &gt; 1-acetyl-1-cyclohexene. The DOC concentration-normalised formatio
         n of carbonyl compounds during ozonation was higher in wastewater and SRFA-c
         ontaining water than in lake water. The specific ozone doses and the type of
          the dissolved organic matter (DOM) played a predominant role for the extent
          of formation of carbonyl compounds. Five formation trends were distinguishe
         d for different carbonyl compounds. Some compounds were produced continuousl
         y upon ozonation even at high ozone doses, while others reached a maximum co
         ncentration at a certain...
' (2551 chars) serialnumber => protected'0043-1354' (9 chars) doi => protected'10.1016/j.watres.2023.119751' (28 chars) uid => protected30345 (integer) _localizedUid => protected30345 (integer)modified _languageUid => protectedNULL _versionedUid => protected30345 (integer)modified pid => protected124 (integer)
Houska, J.; Salhi, E.; Walpen, N.; von Gunten, U. (2021) Oxidant-reactive carbonous moieties in dissolved organic matter: selective quantification by oxidative titration using chlorine dioxide and ozone, Water Research, 207, 117790 (11 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.watres.2021.117790, Institutional Repository
Houska, J.; Manasfi, T.; Gebhardt, I.; von Gunten, U. (2023) Ozonation of lake water and wastewater: identification of carbonous and nitrogenous carbonyl-containing oxidation byproducts by non-target screening, Water Research, 232, 119484 (17 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.watres.2022.119484, Institutional Repository
Houska, J.; Stocco, L.; Hofstetter, T. B.; Gunten, U. von (2023) Hydrogen peroxide formation during ozonation of olefins and phenol: mechanistic insights from oxygen isotope signatures, Environmental Science and Technology, 57, 18950-18959, doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c00788, Institutional Repository
Manasfi, T.; Houska, J.; Gebhardt, I.; von Gunten, U. (2023) Formation of carbonyl compounds during ozonation of lake water and wastewater: development of a non-target screening method and quantification of target compounds, Water Research, 237, 119751 (14 pp.), doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.119751, Institutional Repository