546-0852/01 – Contaminants and their behavior in the environment (KŽP)
| Gurantor department | Department of Environmental Engineering | Credits | 5 |
| Subject guarantor | doc. Mgr. Eva Pertile, Ph.D. | Subject version guarantor | doc. Mgr. Eva Pertile, Ph.D. |
| Study level | undergraduate or graduate | Requirement | Compulsory |
| Year | 1 | Semester | summer |
| | Study language | Czech |
| Year of introduction | 2019/2020 | Year of cancellation | |
| Intended for the faculties | HGF | Intended for study types | Bachelor |
Subject aims expressed by acquired skills and competences
The graduate will be able to characterize the properties of individual components of the environment (atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere, biosphere) and combine this knowledge with the occurrence and fate of chemical substances in these components. They will understand the links between the structure of chemical substances, their physicochemical properties and their fate in the environment and the environmental impact on this fate. They will also be able to explain the connection between the sources of pollution and the primary and secondary pollution of individual components of the environment.
Characteristics of knowledge and skills to be acquired: Students will be able to interpret the fate of chemicals in the environment, their transport in the environment, interphase transitions, equilibrium in the environment and transformation of chemicals in abiotic and biotic components of the environment.
Teaching methods
Lectures
Experimental work in labs
Summary
A large number of different chemical substances, mainly of anthropogenic origin, are released into the environment. Understanding the fate of contaminants in the environment is a prerequisite for assessing the environmental risks associated with them. Learning outcomes of the course unit The course will provide students with knowledge and experience with the evaluation of the behaviour of contaminants in individual components of the environment. The course focuses on the transformation and transport of significant environmental contaminants, with a particular focus on air, soil, water and sediments.
Compulsory literature:
Recommended literature:
Way of continuous check of knowledge in the course of semester
Student's knowledge is verified in writing, with emphasis on understanding the given topic and application of theoretical knowledge in solving practical tasks. The evaluation includes collective evaluation and self-evaluation. Active participation of students in lessons is included in the overall assessment.
E-learning
Other requirements
Knowledge of valid chemical nomenclature and terminology according to IUPAC.
Prerequisities
Subject has no prerequisities.
Co-requisities
Subject has no co-requisities.
Subject syllabus:
1. Introduction. Basic terms and definitions.
2. Origin and fate of pollutants in the environment I - general introduction. Environmental interface and chemical equilibrium. Relationship
between chemical structure and reactivity.
3. Origin and fate of pollutants in environment II - Classes of compounds included in the list of priority pollutants. New environmental
pollutants.
4. The fate of chemicals in the environment - transport, transformation - basic concepts and relations.
5. Biogeochemical cycles of macrobiotic and microbiogenic elements and important pollutants.
6. Atmospheric pollution and its consequences. Sources and transformation. Smog and its types. PMx. Acidic/dry deposition.
7. Organic compounds in the troposphere: Occurrence of organic compounds in the troposphere. Volatile organic compounds in the troposphere -
environmental characteristics of group representatives; degradation processes in the troposphere of selected pollutants.
8. Persistent organic compounds in the troposphere - environmental characteristics of group representatives. Global importance of POPs
occurrence in the environment, fate and transport in the environment, deposition of POPs. International Conventions. Inventory POPs
9. Potentially toxic metals in the air: environmental characteristics of PTK and their entry into the environment. Transformation processes of
metals in the environment.
10. Organochlorinated pesticides in the troposphere: introduction, environmental characteristics of some important organochlorinated
pesticides.
11. Pollution of the pedosphere. Main pollutants occurring in soil and their environmental characteristics. Interaction of pollutants with
soil component. Transformation of pollutants in the pedosphere. Distribution of chemicals in soil - diffusion and leaching. Primary and
secondary soil pollution.
12. Pollution of the hydrosphere. Chemical reactions in waters, hydrolytic reactions, equilibria in waters (protolytic, complex-forming,
precipitation, dissolution, redox). The most common pollutants involved in hydrosphere pollution. Bottom sediments, origin, water-sediment equilibrium, sorption on the sediment surface.
13. Landfills as possible sources of contamination of environmental components.
Conditions for subject completion
Occurrence in study plans
Occurrence in special blocks
Assessment of instruction