Rehabilitation of contaminated soils and water using “tailor-made” Technosols

Abstract

With the substantial population growth and consequent remarkable alterations in consumption patterns, pharmaceuticals and pesticides are increasingly acknowledged as chemicals of emerging concern, with known negative impacts on soil and aquatic species and respective ecosystems and potential effects on human health. Environmental contamination by the anti-depressant fluoxetine, the herbicides Glyphosate and glufosinate, and aminomethylphosphonic acid, the primary metabolite of glyphosate, require corrective measures, imposing the development of remediation techniques for the rehabilitation of the affected areas. Monitoring antibiotics and anti-depressants in the waters and sediments of two rivers was carried out and a literature review of glyphosate, AMPA, and glufosinate contamination of water and sediment worldwide was performed to evaluate the mobility of these compounds after their use. The use of adsorption as remediation technology, applying new, low-cost, and sustainable materials such as biochar and tailor-made technosols was, also, proposed and investigated in this work.