Volatile Methylsiloxanes in the Environment

Vera Homem is an Assistant Researcher at the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE), a research unit at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP, Portugal) and has been an Invited Assistant Professor at FEUP since 2013. She graduated in Chemical Engineering (2007) and holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering (2011) from FEUP. Her research has mainly focused on environmental chemistry, namely the development of new analytical methodologies for the detection of emerging organic contaminants in trace levels in the environment, monitoring strategies, development of risk assessment studies (exposure assessment, effects assessment and risk characterization), prioritization systems, remediation technologies (advanced oxidation processes and sorption) and waste valorisation. Nuno Ratola has been a Principal Researcher at the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy (LEPABE), based at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP, Portugal) since 2019, and an Invited Assistant Professor at FEUP since 2015. He graduated in Chemical Engineering (1996), and completed his Master’s in Environmental Engineering (2002) and PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering (2009) at FEUP. He has profited from numerous external residencies at various leading foreign research institutions, including a Marie Curie fellowship at the University of Murcia (Spain) from 2012 to 2014. His research interests include environmental chemistry and the behaviour of legacy and emerging organic contaminants, field sampling strategies, advanced analytical techniques, waste valorisation for energy production and safe recycling (circular economy), human exposure assessment and climate change scenarios.

• Properties, Potential Toxicity and Transformations of VMSs in the Environment.- Main Uses and Environmental Emissions of Volatile Methylsiloxanes.- Analytical Methods for Volatile Methylsiloxanes Quantification: Current Trends and Challenges.- Fate of Volatile Methylsiloxanes in Wastewater Treatment Plants.- Presence of Siloxanes in Sewage Biogas and Their Impact on Its Energetic Valorization.- Volatile Dimethylsiloxanes in Aquatic Systems.- Cyclic and Linear Siloxanes in Indoor Environments: Occurrence and Human Exposure.- Levels of Volatile Methyl Siloxanes in Outdoor Air.- Atmospheric Fate of Volatile Methyl Siloxanes.- Bioconcentration, Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification of Volatile Methylsiloxanes in Biota.- Volatile Methyl Siloxanes in Polar Regions.- Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives.