Food production is a growing industry in Arizona making safe and sustainable practices for irrigating crops of the utmost importance. Harvesting materials such as knives, packing crates, plastic pallets and processing tables are constantly exposed to soil and other bacteria- laden environments presenting the risk for contamination. Irrigation pipelines are assembled using rubber gaskets to make a watertight seal. The gasket pipeline interface is a warm, moist environment that is subject to biofilm accumulation. Therefore, a long-term sanitization treatment of these materials would be greatly beneficial to the farms of Yuma, Arizona. Quaternary ammonium compounds and chlorine dioxide have proven to be sufficient household cleaning products. Our work examined the efficiency of these products as well as others in long- term sanitization of harvesting materials and irrigation systems. Treating materials with these compounds did not inhibit microbial growth or prevent biofilm accumulation in irrigation systems. The first study treated of harvesting materials (knives) with sanitization treatments. Samples were qualitatively analyzing the presence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) as an indicator bacteria and its ability to survive on the equipment after the equipment goes through three different treatments; water (as a control), QACs and bleach. The second study determined the efficacy of these treatments on packing materials such as wood, plastic and metal. Both studies found the treatment, given the contamination levels present in the study, was not an effective microbial control. The third study will quantified the presence of heterotrophic bacteria, E. coli and Salmonella as indicators of biofilm accumulation on irrigation pipeline gaskets. The same treatment methods were used for the gaskets that hold the irrigation pipelines together. The study determined that treating the gaskets did not inhibit the growth of biofilms and that pretreatment was not an effective microbial control. A field study determined that treatment residues did not affect the growth of spinach. The present research provides preliminary data to assist in the development of future studies.

La pollution de l'environnement, sa remédiation et l'obtention de sources d'énergie plus propres et plus efficaces sont des problématiques difficiles auxquels les humains sont confrontés. Parmi les nombreux matériaux développés par les scientifiques, les polymères de coordination cristallins type MOFs sont de plus en plus développés dans plusieurs domaines, du fait de la facilité et la versatilité de leur synthèse. La recherche sur ces matériaux est récente, mais les possibilités qu’offrent ces matériaux pour différentes applications sont énormes.C'est dans ce cadre que nous avons travaillé sur la conception et la synthèse de différents MOF pour la récupération, le recyclage et/ou la dégradation de certains polluants. En utilisant différentes approches de synthèse, nous avons obtenu des matériaux efficaces pour les diffèrent applications ciblées de ces matériaux. Nous pensons que les MOF ont le potentiel pour solutionner certains problèmes cruciaux comme la décontamination de l'environnement. / The pollution of the environment, its remediation and to obtain a cleaner and more efficient energy sources are some of the most challenging topics that humans are now facing. Among the several materials that scientists have developed, Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are gaining a lot of attention on several fields due to the easiness and the versatility in which these materials can be designed, synthesized and used. Even when research on these materials is still young, the possibilities that they offer are enormous.It is on this frame that our work group has worked on the design and the synthesis of different MOFs for the recovery, the recycling and/or the degradation of some pollutants of interest. By using different synthesis approaches we have tested the versatility in the synthesis and the possible applications of these materials. We believe that MOFs hold the potential to solve some crucial issues in the recovery of the environment.