 | Tiziana Tosco |
Designing the nanoremediation of contaminated aquifers: from laboratory tests to field implementation
Nanoremediation is a promising in-situ remediation strategy based on the subsurface injection of reactive suspensions of engineered nanoparticles (NPs), aimed at promoting the degradation, transformation, or immobilization of a broad range of groundwater contaminants. The success of field-scale applications depends on the ability to characterize and predict NP transport, retention, and reactivity in complex hydrogeological and geochemical conditions.
This talk presents an integrated methodology combining laboratory-scale testing and numerical modelling to support the design of nanoremediation interventions. Column transport experiments are performed using natural porous media and controlled flow conditions to evaluate key processes governing NP mobility, including deposition onto collector surfaces, detachment, aggregation, and clogging. These tests are designed to systematically explore the effects of ionic strength, pore-water velocity, and carrier fluid rheology. Experimental results are interpreted using the MNMs, a numerical model developed for one-dimensional simulation of colloid transport in saturated porous media, which enables inverse modelling of column tests to derive deposition kinetics and constitutive transport relationships. The resulting parameters are then used as input to MNM3D, a three-dimensional colloid transport model that simulates NP behaviour under realistic field-scale conditions, accounting for site heterogeneity, variable flow regimes, and evolving geochemical environments.
The modelling framework enables the simulation of alternative injection scenarios, supporting the optimization of operational parameters such as NP dosage, injection flow rate, duration, and spatial well configuration. It also provides insights into NP retention profiles and long-term fate under natural groundwater flow conditions.
The approach has been successfully applied in several field-scale studies with iron-based NPs, demonstrating its robustness as a quantitative, process-based tool for the design and performance assessment of permeation-based nanoremediation applications.
About Tiziana Tosco
Tiziana Tosco has been Associate Professor in the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering at Politecnico di Torino since April 2018. She received her PhD in Environmental Engineering in 2010 from Politecnico di Torino.
Her research activities focus on groundwater monitoring and remediation, and on contaminant transport in the subsurface. Current key research topics include the development of nanoparticle-based in-situ remediation techniques for contaminated aquifers, the sustainable exploitation and controlled recharge of groundwater, and the quantification and mitigation of the environmental impacts of agrochemicals (including the development of green nano-formulations for pesticides). Her research experience spans from pore-scale modeling to laboratory and field-scale applications.
Tiziana Tosco is the Academic Advisor of the MSc program in Agritech Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. She is co-responsible for the Environmental Nanotechnology Laboratory at Politecnico. She is the author of 58 indexed papers and has supervised 60 MSc theses and 7 PhD students.
