Removal of pharmaceuticals and nutrients from agricultural drainage water using nano-engineered porous ceramic media

Controlled agricultural drainage is used extensivelyin the U.S. for better crop production; howeverdisposalor re-use of these contaminant-laden agricultural water has been questioneddue toassociated impacts on water quality and food safety.Discharge of excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, into receiving water bodiesoftenresults in eutrophication (even hypoxia) in surface waters, as well as groundwater contamination. As emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceuticalsthat includeantibiotics and hormones,may result in proliferation of antibiotic resistant bacteria, disruption of hormonal systems of humans and animals, and subsequent long-term health problems due to chronic exposure to sub-therapeutic levels of pharmaceuticals. An increasing trend in agricultural practices isthe use of controlled drainage systems for watermanagement. Hence,the proposedprogram will demonstrate use of new technology to remove excessive nutrientsfrom water discharging fromcontrolled drainage systems and develop an innovative nano-engineered porousceramic mediathat cancleanundesireable trace pharmaceuticals from agricultural drainage water and this will leadto new environmental tools.Successful completion of this project will lead to media and equipment that can be used in cleaning agricultural drainage water for safe discharge to water bodies or reuse for irrigation. This proposal supports the NIFA Social Challenge areaby developing new technologies to mitigate climate changethrough control of nutrients and water footprints of agricultural production. The project also directly addresses a topic of NIFA FY 2013 research priorities, i.e., Water Quality and Conservation in the area of Air, Water and Soils, through remediating agricultural drainage water contaminated with nutrients and pharmaceuticals from animal manure and fertilizers.InPhase I of this SBIR project, we will demonstrate efficient nitrogen and phosphorus removal from agricultural drainage water by using our already-developed media shown to beeffective in other types of wastewater treatment. More importantly, we will develop new media for pharmaceutical removal using MetaMateria & #39;s proprietary technologies and test its effectiveness in batch and flow-through column systems. The proposed work will use water from controlled drainage systems.The Phase I SBIR willprimarily focus on media development and testing neneded for field testing using controlled drainage systems that will be conducted in Phase II.For Phase II, anenvironmental engineering partner will be selected to assist in designing and marketing sytems for use with controlled drainage used in agriculture. This new media for trace pharmaceuticals removal will likely find uses in treatment of water and wastewater in other industries.The proposed SBIR project addresses one of USDA & #39;s Strategic Goals to protect and enhance America & #39;s water resources. This project directly addressesreduction of nutrients and pharmaceuticals in agricultural drainage water. This clean water can be discharged to ground and surface waters or can be reused for agriculture needs, thereby improving the quality of our water resources. These expected outcomes could significantly benefit agricultural communities.