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The University of Murcia, the IMIDA and the Murcian company Novedades Agrícolas have patented a novel device that allows to eliminate up to 83 percent of the residual concentration of pesticides present in water.
This technology has been conceived for the treatment of water from the washing and rinsing of all types of machinery that carries out phytosanitary treatments to combat plant pests and diseases, as well as the washing of containers that have contained pesticides.
The device consists of a compact device based on the use of solar photocatalysis.
Its operation focuses on using irradiation with sunlight, in combination with a photocatalyst, to accelerate the rate of degradation of pollutants.
The catalyst that degrades the pesticide product recovers completely at the end of the process, thus obtaining a decontaminated water that can be reused without any additional residue.
This new technology has special relevance for three fundamental reasons.
First, it reduces health risks, since pesticides can end up contaminating the waters of river beds, springs, wells, rivers and seas.
Secondly, it provides agricultural producers with an affordable solution from the economic point of view, since the treatments that currently exist in the market are more expensive than the technology patented by the University of Murcia.
Finally, it is a clean technology, with little impact on the environment, since it bases its operation on the use of clean energy, such as solar energy, and does not generate waste sludge.
On behalf of the UMU, members of the Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry research group and the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Geology and Edaphology, led by Prof. Simón Navarro García, participated in this project.
The involvement of the research team of the UMU has been decisive in the development of the same, focusing on scientific-technical aspects that have gone from the optimization of the technique at the laboratory level to obtaining results in the pilot plant.
Once the patent is applied for, the owners intend to develop their commercial exploitation and ensure that this technology is introduced in Royal Decree 1311/2012 on the Sustainable Use of Phytosanitary Products as a proposal for the elimination of surpluses of phytosanitary products in agricultural holdings.
In the words of the Office of Research Results Transfer (OTRI) of the UMU, "the exploitation of the patent will involve fulfilling the objective of transferring the technology generated in the research centers to the productive fabric, contributing to improve the levels of innovation and the competitiveness of our companies while obtaining economic returns in the form of royalties, which can be reversed in financing new research activities ".
The results of this work, framed in the European project Aquemfree and in which the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Murcia (FECOAM) has also participated, were presented last June at the Environment Office of the European Commission in Brussels.
Source: Universidad de Murcia
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