Transport and Distribution of Engineered Nanoparticles in Soils and Sediments

Abstract

The fate of engineered nanoparticles in nature is in the spotlight of many research groups, as the application of nanotechnology continues to play an ever increasing role in human lives. Soils and sediments are important porous media which can be negatively affected by the release of engineered particles into the environment. Current knowledge on the mobility of this new emerging type of pollutants in natural porous media is reviewed in the present paper. Discussed are the properties of nanoparticle surface that affect the transport with emphasis on those which affect the aggregation, as well as the properties of the porous media like pH, ionic strength, concentration of natural organic matter and flow rate, which affect the transport of engineered nanoparticles. New trends in the evaluation of the nanoparticle transport include the air phase in soils and the processes connected with it; nanoparticle concentrations typical of the environment are used because their behavior under low and high concentrations is different.