Behaviour and transformation of pesticides in soil: hydrolysis,
photolysis, and catalysis.
Sanitizing effect of myrosinase-glucosinolate system of
Brassicaceae at root level and in soil.
Use of pectins for the remediation of soil from pesticides.
Protection and clean up of water bodies from veterinary drugs and
hydrocarbons by means of sorbent mineral phases.
Rimoval of mineral oil hydrocarbons from celllulose-based food packaging.
Behaviour and degradation of pesticides in soil. The study of
the environmental fate of pesticides is carried out throught the
analysis of adsorption and degradation mechanisms. Hydrolysis
provides information on the stability of the active ingredient
(a.i.) in aqueous solution at different pH values. Catalysis gives
information on the degradation of a.i. in the presence of
natural catalysts or photosensitizers as clays, oxides and
hydroxides, and organic matter. Photolysis is useful to
foresee the degradation of a.i. under sunlight and in the presence
of photosensitizers usually present in the soil solution as the
dissolved fraction of soil organic matter. The degradation kinetics
along with the by-products identification helps to define the
general degradation mechanism useful to foresee the environmental
fate in different soil compartments.
- Sanitizing effect of mirosinase-glucosinolate system. Some
defence systems of plants as that showed by Brassicaceae
towards soil-borne pests have been considered for long time to face
the fase-out of specific chemical fumigants as methylbromide,
responsile among the others of warning environmental changes
recorded in the last decades. Since unknown is the behaviour of
mirosinase at the root level, this enzyme was immobilized into a
simplified model of root mucigel (Ca-polygacturonate) and its
activity analysed in soils differenty characterized in organic
matter content and under different soil water potentials with
important practical implications.
- Protection and remediation of water from veterinary drugs. The
pollution of surface and deep waters by veterinary drugs usually
depends on their persistence and marked mobility into the soil or
on polluting point sources. The mobility of a pollutant can be
described as macroscopic result of the weak forces by which it
interacts with soil surfaces. Sulfamide antibiotics, mainly anionic
under the pH values of natural waters and characterized by high
mobility and persistence, are responsible for resistance phenomena
in bacteria. Mineral phases of zeolitic type are used to detoxify
waters from sulfamides due to the irreversible adsorption and the
short adsorption time recorded.
- Rimoval of mineral oil hydrocarbons from celllulose-based food packaging. The
discovery that some monomers released from plastic materials can
interfere with the endocrine system launched the study on the
release of contaminants from packaging, a problem which has been
receiving the attention of the Research and Food Safety and Control
Organs. Specific interest is focused on the study of thermal
treatment (pasteurization or sterilization) and radiative treatment
(microwaves or UV) on the migration to food and environment of
anti-stick coatings, antistatics, antimicrobials, UV stabilizers,
plastifiers, antioxidants, etc. released from composed plastic
materials and multi-material plastics used in packaging and for
shelf-life preservation.
