Course: Environmental Chemistry

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Course title Environmental Chemistry
Course code UECHI/C251
Organizational form of instruction Lecture
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 6
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory, Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Krejčová Anna, doc. Ing. Ph.D.
Course content
Chemicals and their environmental risks. Environmental compartments. Biogeochemical cycles. Hydrological cycle. Structure of chemicals and their reactivity. Transport relations: transformations, concepts and relations. Environmental borderlines and chemical equilibrium Parameters of characterization of properties of substances and environmental properties. Solubility. Dissociation. Partition coefficients. Influencing chemical factors. Transport of chemicals in the environment. Diffusion. Fick's laws. Dispersion, advection, deposition, volatilization, sedimentation, phase separation, elution, biofeeding, elimination. Abiotic environmental balance: air-water-soil-biota equilibrium. Biotic environmental balance: bioaccumulation, bio-enrichment, food intake, intake from sediment, combined intake from water, food and sediments. Abiotic transformations of chemicals: non-reductive reactions, redox reactions, photochemical processes. Biotic transformations of chemicals: biodegradation, biotransformation (reactions, mechanisms, kinetics). Models of distribution of chemicals in the environment. Hydrosphere: basic description, properties (pH, conductivity, redox potential, solubility, buffering and neutralizing capacity), chemical composition, chemical reactions in water. Pedosphere: formation of soil, component of soil system, chemical composition of soils, sorption capacity, transport and reaction of chemicals in pedosphere. Atmosphere: basic description (composition, temperature profile, air pressure, energy balance). Mechanisms of Atmosphere fall. Pollution, aerosols, radicals, atmospheres. reaction. Greenhouse effect. Ozone. Smog. Biosphere: basic characteristics, exposure of organs, its consequences.

Learning activities and teaching methods
Monologic (reading, lecture, briefing)
Learning outcomes
The aim of the subject is: - to submit a description of the chemical substances, their risks and their fate in the environment, - to clarify the physical, chemical and biochemical processes in the environment and its interfaces (balance, transport, transformation), - to characterize the properties of the environmenal compartmentst and put them into context with the occurrence and fate of chemicals in these compartments.
Students are able after completing the course to orientaate in the physical, chemical and biochemical processes occurring in the environmental compartments and their borderlines. They have a comprehensive overview of the chemicals, their fate in environmental and affecting factors. They are able to assess the risks associated with the spread of chemicals in the environment and its compartments. This qualification is essential for specialists to provide the technological aspects of the production and disposal of waste, quality control in chemical laboratories and administrative management institutions in the field of environmental protection.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of inorganic, organic, physical and analytical chemistry is required.

Assessment methods and criteria
Oral examination, Written examination

The final exam has written and oral part.
Recommended literature
  • Anděl Petr. Ekotoxikologe, bioindikace a biomonitoring. Liberec, 2011. ISBN 978-80-903787-9-7.
  • Blažej Anton. Chemické aspekty životního prostředí. Bratislava, 1981.
  • Manahan, Stanley E.. Fundamentals of environmental chemistry. Boca Raton ;: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, 2009. ISBN 978-1-4200-5267-1.
  • Pitter Pavel. Hydrochemie. Praha, 2015. ISBN 978-80-7080-928-0.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester