Fellowship focus: Exploring an innovative approach for reducing soil and groundwater pollution caused by pesticide production.
The pollution of soil and groundwater caused by pesticide production is a widespread problem in many developing countries. Professor Xu and Dr Cao will, for the first time, combine in-situ chemical oxidation technology (ISCO) – a solution which is widely used but offers limited efficiency – with groundwater circulation well technology in order to improve the speed at which pollutants degrade. The Fellowship aims to establish a hydrogeochemical numerical 3D model and verify the technology at a pesticide company in Jiangsu Province in China, with the longer term objective of reducing unnecessary use of ISCO and providing a more sustainable solution.