Category Archives: Scientific News

RCPTM proudly announces the new project. We were successful in evaluation of new environmental project called “Environmental Friendly Nanotechnologies and Biotechnologies in Water and Soil Treatment” with total costs 14 mil EUR in 8 years. Project intention is to establish the NANOBIOWAT Center connecting potentials of 3 academic and 6 industrial subjects in order to develop and implement ecologically friendly nanotechnologies and biotechnologies for treatment of a variety of water types (ground, drinking, waste and surface water) with possibility to remove organic, inorganic and microbial pollution. Project strategic objective is to reinforce position of the Czech Republic as European leader in the field of water/soil treatment. The strategic objective of the NANOBIOWAT project is to establish the Center realizing a regular transfer of the research and development results into the industrial practice, thus reinforcing the position of the Czech Republic as an European leader in the field of advanced technologies of water and soil treatment which carry an immense potential to be applied at the national and world market. In order to accomplish this strategic objective, new technologies and biotechnologies will be developed, patented, verified and implemented at the market. They will be focused on the treatment of a wide range of waters including groundwater, drinking water, industrial and surface water and for removal of pollutants such as organic and inorganic compounds, heavy metals, radioactive compounds, endocrine disruptors, pescidides and microbial pollution.

The cyanobacteria are currently being considered as one of major threats to water resource worldwide. There has been a lot of effort devoted to cope with this problem proposing various technologies being effective, cheap and ecologically friendly to the ecosystem. Recently, a novel method meeting all the above-mentioned requirements has been proposed by the researchers of RCPTM and published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal (see Marsalek et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. 2012, 46, 2316-2323). This technology employs nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI), which has been identified as a potentially useful multipronged weapon for use against cyanobacterial water blooms. It has been shown that the treatment with nanoparticles of zerovalent iron is an effective and environmentally benign method for destroying and preventing the formation of cyanobacterial water blooms. The nanoparticles have multiple modes of action, including the removal of bioavailable phosphorus, the destruction of cyanobacterial cells, and the immobilization of microcystins, preventing their release into the water column. Ecotoxicological experiments showed that nZVI is a highly selective agent, being nontoxic to other biological water species including algae, daphnids, water plants and fishes. The primary product of nZVI treatment is nontoxic and highly aggregated Fe(OH)3 compound which helps promote flocculation and gradual settling of the decomposed cyanobacterial biomass.