Projects / Programmes
Development of new, environment-friendly approaches for plant and human virus inactivation in waters
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.06.00 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Biotechnology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| T490 |
Technological sciences |
Biotechnology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.04 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agricultural biotechnology |
waterborne virus, cavitation, plasma, virus inactivation, water disinfection
Researchers (28)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
Water intended for human consumption (i.e., drinking water), or for human related activities (i.e., irrigation in agriculture), should preferably be free from different harmful contaminants that range from chemicals and organic compounds, to microbiological hazards. The accepted concentrations of such contaminants are regulated through specific water directives in different regions worldwide. Bacteria have traditionally been in the forefront of research among microbiological contaminants in water, while human and plant viruses were discriminated, due to the lack of appropriate concentration and diagnostic methods for viruses. Lately, methodologies have become more available and viruses are being increasingly causatively related to disease outbreaks (usually gastroenteritis) or crop losses. Therefore proper cleaning and efficient virus disinfection methods are urgently called for. The USA Environmental Protection Agency states that a proper water disinfection method should reduce the viral load by 4 logs, while new European legislation is in preparation. In this project, experts in virology, mechanical engineering and plasma chemistry and physics, will aim to contribute to the field of waterborne virus inactivation with two innovative technologies that have already been applied for bacterial and organic compound disinfection, but whose power has not been tested yet for viral inactivation: hydrodynamic cavitation and gaseous plasma. While hundreds of research groups worldwide work on plasma treatment of water and several are involved in cavitation, this project represents the first attempt to combine the two techniques and benefit from synergistic effects. According to our hypothesis, cavitation will provide numerous dense water-vapour bubbles that will be used to create gaseous plasma rich in OH radicals, other reactive species and UV radiation for immediate oxidation of viruses on the bubbles’ surface, which will increase the destruction efficiency by orders of magnitude compared to separate treatments by cavitation or plasma. As soon as the proof of concept will be confirmed we will consider a patent application. The efficiency of the proposed method for virus inactivation will be assessed on different plant and human model viruses with different virus characterization tools, that target different viral components, such as particle integrity (Electron microscopy), genome integrity (Nanopore sequencing, PCR) and infectivity assays. The inactivation efficiency with traditionally used techniques such as chlorination will be tested in parallel to evaluate advantages of the new technique. One of the drawbacks of traditionally used virus inactivation methods like chlorination is the release of disinfection by-products. Here we will evaluate the potential effect of the water treated with both cavitation and plasma on plant’s growth and development, toxicity to human cells and compare it with the effects of a chemical treatment i.e., chlorination. In collaboration with the project partner at the wastewater treatment plant Domžale, we will also asses the suitability for upscaling the technology to a water treatment plant level, so commercialization of the technology is foreseen after termination of this project. This could be achieved with the involvement of the Ministry of agriculture, forestry and food, which is included as a financer. The dissemination of the project results will raise public awareness and alert the responsible stakeholders to the waterborne microbe problematics and solutions offered by the project. This is especially important in the field of reusable water resources management, which is more and more important due to climate change and the lack of high quality water resources.
Significance for science
Cavitation and plasma technologies are increasingly being used in different applications, including removal of biological and non biological contaminants from water. However, their application for waterborne virus inactivation, apart from the promising initial results obtained by the project partners with both techniques, is scarce or only preliminary. Thus, the outcome of this project will surely be important for both cavitation and plasma technologies as it will allow to expand their already growing application niches and support an increase in the investigations on the mechanisms of inactivation. Moreover, the results of the project will also be of high importance for water virologists, as it will offer new tools for inactivation of viruses in water, as well as for all scientists working on water cleaning, as our combined method would present a great, environmentally friendly, non-toxic substitution for other water decontamination methods.The relevance of the project for the scientific field is strongly supported by the publication of the first evidence on virus inactivation by cavitation in the leading journal in the field of water research (Water research, first SCI journal in the field) and the echoes and reactions generated in different scientific forums. Also, the ERC consolidation project that was recently granted to the partner at Faculty of mechanical engineering to study cavitation mechanisms is a good indicator of the relevance of our applicative project for the scientific field, as it will serve to apply the basic science generated in the ERC project. Partners from the Jožef Stefan institute and Faculty of mechanical engineering will ensure the sharing of our results internationally with scientists from the fields of plasma and cavitation, respectively, while the partner from NIB will disseminate the results internationally among plant and environmental virologists; all through participation in international conferences, working groups and expert panels.
Significance for the country
There is an increasing concern on the microbiological safety of different water bodies, especially of those that are related to human use, such as, recycled wastewater, irrigation water, drinking water or recreational water. Viruses, both plant and human, are now known to use water as route for infection, posing a risk to human, animal and plant health, with associated economical impact. The technologies that will be developed in this project will directly contribute to the treatment of such type of waters for efficient, cost effective and clean virus but also other biological inactivation. That is very important since many viruses are still present and infectious in the water even after treatment. Availability of new tools to make the water microbiologically safer is a direct advantage for the society in general. In addition, the outcomes of the project will be particularly important for water treatment plants, water supply systems, swimming pools, military missions, irrigation systems including hydroponic growth facilities, etc. The results of the project will be also of high interest for the agencies of the ministries of agriculture, environment, health and defence, since the developed technology can be implemented in different segments of the infrastructure for safer use of water resources. The presence of the Wastewater treatment plant Domžale and the Ministry of agriculture forestry and food among the partners of our project will ensure the transfer of the results to such potential stakeholders. The proposed innovative approach has the potential for future commercialization. Reaching global markets and application of patents is envisaged. The emergence of new high-tech companies for further development and exploitation of the proposed technology is therefore very likely. The active cooperation of all three partners with industrial partners and their involvement in spin-off companies ensures an optimal technology transfer to industry.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
