| Summary: |
Cytostatics, used in chemotherapy, are posing the environment at risk. Aware of the need to protect the environment and to prevent human health risks, CytoStraTech aims to reveal, for the first time, cost-effective treatment solutions to prevent their entrance and accumulation in the water cycle. This proposal will also bring knowledge on the contamination status of Portuguese waters resulting from risky cytostatics (never assessed before). The efficacy of different technologies will be evaluated, starting from the most common solution strategies, such as those based on tertiary treatment processes already implemented in some urban WWTPs, up to novel integrated approaches, which combine the concentration of risky cytostatics (by adsorption or membrane processes) and their subsequent degradation through advanced oxidation processes. The most promising technologies at bench-scale will be up-scaled and benchmarked, with the support of Adventech, a Portuguese company acting in this field. |