CHEMICAL METHODOLOGIES FOR ENVIROMENTAL MONITORING
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- MARIA CHIARA PIETROGRANDE
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- CHIM/01
Training objectives
- The main education aim is to provide to the students the basis knowledge of the main analytical methods and their applications for environmental monitoring.
The main acquired knowledge will be:
- ability to design a chemical environmental monitoring plan as a function of specific information required;
- knowledge of the main analytical instrumental methods useful for quantify pollutants in soil, water and air;
- knowledge of the basic properties of the main steps of analytical procedures of complex environmental samples: sampling, pre-treatment, instrumental analysis, data handling and result interpretation.
The course will provide the following ability:
- ability to apply the obtained knowledge for approaching environmental monitoring;
- to be able to choose a proper analytical technique, as the most useful for a specific analytical problem, and to motivate the choice;
- to be able to interpret analytical results for evaluating environmental impact of an emission source of contaminants. Prerequisites
- Basic knowledge of the instrumental methods for qualitative and quantitative analyses.
Course programme
- The course describes the analytical methods for chemical characterization of complex matrices of environmental concern, mainly the procedures for quantifying and evaluating environmental distribution of the main contaminants in soil, water and air.
Detailed topics:
-Definition of environmental monitoring: properties and experimental procedures for environmental control. Environmental indicators: definitions and properties. Operative procedures for analysis of environmental priority pollutants: continuous on-line and discontinuous off-line procedures for environmental monitoring.
-Off-line procedures for environmental monitoring. Sampling and sample pre-treatment: representative sample in relation with sampling technique. Sample pre-treatment: solvent extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, solid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction; application examples.
-Air monitoring: description of air quality and emerging problems; sampling systems with or without enrichment; analytical procedures for determination of the main air contaminants (NOx, SO2, chlorine hydrocarbons, O3). Special focus on atmospheric particle matter: sampling systems, emission sources and atmospheric processes, chemical tracers.
-Soil and water monitoring: sample pre-treatment for determination of inorganic and organic pollutants at trace level in soil and water; static and dynamic separations. Examples of analysis of total content and speciation of heavy metals. Examples of determination of organics: aliphatic hydrocarbons, aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbons, pesticides and herbicides.
-On-line system for environmental monitoring; bioanalytical methods for environmental analysis; sensors for environmental analysis: chemical sensors based on electrochemical and optical systems.
-Bioanalytical procedures for determinations of environmental contaminants: procedures based on receptor/ligand and immunochemical interactions; methods based on cellular systems to obtain combined information on concentrations and toxicological effects of pollutants; biosensors; examples of applications to environmental samples. Didactic methods
- Classroom lessons using PowerPoint slides.
Learning assessment procedures
- Oral examination with 3-4 questions on the described methods for quality monitoring of air, warer and soil.
Reference texts
- The teacher will provide learning material: lecture notes used during the lessons and tutorial papers on the specific topics.
