Development of emerging contaminants – hybrid soft sensor for on-line monitoring of contaminants of emerging concern in water
The water resources and especially the drinking water in Europe and globally face new challenges with the emerging micropollutants, originating from pharmaceuticals, personal care products, plastics, flame retardants, etc. Even though they present in extremely low concentrations and do not exhibit acute toxicity to living organisms or environment, the long-term effects are uncertain. The water and wastewater treatment plants do not fully remove or eliminate them; thus, they accumulate in the water resources leading to higher concentrations increasing the health and environmental risks. Hence, the revisions of the EU drinking and wastewater directives are anticipated to require monitoring and control of these substances. 

However, that poses a challenge to the water utilities in Europe; The current analytical and monitoring systems of detection of these compounds at low concentration are expensive, time-consuming and usually complicated. Current studies have only reported the fate of these substances during various treatment processes but not on how to optimise them to maximise removal. To solve this problem, we would like to combine the expertise of the host research group and fellow applicant—the group of prof. Ratnaweera has experience in the development of real-time control and monitoring systems, while the fellow applicant is specialised in the analysis and removal of emerging contaminants during treatment processes. Thus, the global objective is to develop novel, cost-effective and simple to use surveillance system that would also enable the optimising of the removal of emerging contaminants in water. The concept will be developed and verified in collaboration with Norwegian and European water utilities addressing their needs and concerns.