Analysis of emerging contaminants and nanomaterials in plant materials following uptake from soils

Abstract

The reuse of treated wastewater or wastewater-impacted river water is growing, particularly in arid areas, due to the climate change. As well, the disposal of sludges, biosolids or biochar as soil amendments to improve agricultural output is widely implemented in the EU. These practices can be a source of emerging contaminants and engineering nanomaterials (ENMs) to the environment and condition their incorporation to food chain that could affect human beings. This review covers current analytical techniques, instruments and methodologies used to determine emerging contaminants and ENMs from irrigation water and/or soil amendments in plants. Trends regarding sample treatment, separation and detection approaches are addressed. Special emphasis is placed on in-situ characterization of ENMs (e.g. particle size distribution, shape, aggregation state, etc.). We also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the analytical methods and techniques for determining emerging contaminants and fully ENMs characterization, and cover promising future prospects.