Fate and transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in porous media
- 1Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Civil Engineering, India (ce21resch01004@iith.ac.in)
- 2Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad, Civil Engineering, India (seetha@ce.iith.ac.in)
Fate and transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in porous media
Rima Manik, N. Seetha
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy-502284, India
Abstract
Increasing use of engineered nanoparticles in various fields has led to its inevitable release into the natural environment thereby causing soil and groundwater contamination. Soil is inhabited by various types of bacteria, which forms biofilm on the grain surface. Biofilms have been found to influence the fate & transport of nanoparticles. In this study, the transport behavior of titanium dioxide (nTiO2) nanoparticles through soil is studied through laboratory column experiments in the presence and absence of soil biofilm. Escherichia coli BL21 strain is used for the biofilm formation. It is observed that the retention of nTiO2 is larger in the presence of biofilm than in its absence. This indicates that biofilm acts as a more favourable attachment site for TiO2 than the bare soil. The column experiment results are further modelled using a 1D advection-dispersion-deposition equation. The mechanisms predominantly observed in the experiment are straining and ripening.
How to cite: Manik, R. and Narayanan, S.: Fate and transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in porous media , EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9035, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9035, 2022.
