Harnessing Biological Catalysis as Low Energy Solutions to Pesticides & other Micropollutants

Collaborative research projects are available within the EPSRC-funded Water-WISER Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) www.waterwisercdt.ac.uk to work with UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) https://ukwir.org/eng/leading-the-water-industry-research-agenda on low energy, biological micropollutant degradation. The project will be based in the UK at the brand-new microbiology laboratories associated with the George Solt Memorial building within Cranfield Water Sciences at Cranfield University. The project will feature travel both within the UK and internationally. The project will also have access to world class molecular biology labs at York University. The project will benefit from pilot and full-scale testing facilities at the UKCRIC National Research Facility in Water and Wastewater Treatment https://www.ukcric.com/facilities/national-research-facility-for-water-and-wastewater-treatment/.

Background
Conventional intensive agriculture in low-income settings relies on extensive use of pesticides to ensure maximal crop yields. Millions of tonnes of these xenobiotic compounds are applied annually, the problem will get worse as human population continues to increase and resistant pests emerge. Leaching and runoff of pesticides and nutrients from agricultural land into freshwater courses leads to an adverse impact on aquatic ecosystems and causes contamination of drinking water supplies, with nutrients giving rise to algal growth which generate toxins and other micropollutants. In some circumstances these issues challenge existing treatment capabilities, in other situations the water may often used untreated by the local populace. This will be exacerbated by climate change influences on rainfall seasonality and intensity and increased temperatures. Whilst the use of pesticides has supported intensification of agriculture, sustainable food production requires both high crop yields and the development of sustainable mechanisms to reduce this pollution. Current strategies for removal of micropollutants such as pesticide residues from raw drinking water rely on energy intensive physicochemical methods such as ozone and granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment, which are also not effective for some pesticides particularly in low income countries. Other technologies such as slow sand filtration (SSF) with/without GAC, have limited efficacy for some recalcitrant organic micropollutants (MPs), because these compounds demonstrate high aqueous mobility or low affinity to suspended particulate matter (hence poor filtration performance) or low adsorbate molecular weight resulting in limited adsorptive bed capacity. To date, SSF has shown limited capacity for adsorption and biodegradation of some MPs due to long start-up times, process inflexibility and inconsistent biodegradation rates. For example, despite a reduction in drinking water pesticide failures over the last decade, as a group, pesticides still represent the most common chemical non-compliance events (50%,11/22), highlighting their importance considering access to wholesome drinking water and other emerging micropollutants (mostly wastewater derived) are expected to challenge the drinking water industry. Biology offers an alternative approach to achieving their removal, exploiting the extreme diversity, versatility and specificity of microbial metabolism and the power of biological catalysis. Here we will utilise specific pesticide degraders to degrade pesticides without the need for carbon intensive interventions. The student will receive formal training in microbiology, molecular biology techniques and drinking water engineering as part of their development.