Transport and fate of pollutants in the environment

The aim is to help students to become familiar with fundamentals needed for understanding the fate and transport of pollutants in the environment. Principles are demonstrated on pollution of water, air, soil, rivers, estuaries, coasts and oceans. The examples encompass acid rains, Chernobil accident, troposphere ozone, ozone hole and eutrophication of surface water.

Mathematical analysis, fundamentals of modelling the environmental processes (cf. the content of the course Modelling delivered at the first level), basic knowledge of physics and chemistry.

• Fundamentals of partial differential equations;
• Numerical solutions of partial differential equations;
• Conservation laws;
• Fundamentals of fluid dynamics;
• Transport phenomena, diffusion, dispersion;
• Chemical reaction kinetics;
• Biological oxygen demand;
• Pollutants with high oxygen demand in rivers;
• Water quality in rivers, lakes, estuaries and groundwater;
• Basics of air pollution;
• Climate dynamics.

Students are expected to:

• be able to set up the mathematical model of realistic environmental processes;
• be in position to carry on computer simulations of the models on standard tools at least for simple problem geometry;
• be able to define requirements related to environmental management based on numerical simulations.

• G. M. Masters: Introduction to environmental Engineering and Science, Prentice Hall, 2nd Edition, 1997. Katalog
• J. L. Schnoor: Environmental Modeling: Fate and Transport of Pollutants in Water, Air and Soil, Wiley Interscience, 1996. Katalog E-version
• H. B. Fischer, E. J. List, R. C. Y. Koh: Mixing in Inland and Coastal Waters, Imberger and N.H. Brooks, Academic Press, 1979.E-version

Completed homework (40 %), written exam (50 %), oral exam (10 %)

Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Nova Gorica

• OORT, Pouline M. van, WHITE, Iain R., AHMED, Waqar, JOHNSON, Craig, BANNARD-SMITH, Jonathan, FELTON, Timothy, BOS, Lieuwe D., GOODACRE, Royston, DARK, Paul, FOWLER, Stephen J. Detection and quantification of exhaled volatile organic compounds in mechanically ventilated patients : comparison of two sampling methods. Analyst, ISSN 1364-5528. [Online ed.], 2021, vol. 146, no. 1, str. 222-231, ilustr. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9AN01134J, doi: 10.1039/C9AN01134J.

• BEALE, David J., JONES, Oliver A. H., KARPE, Avinash V., OH, Ding Y., WHITE, Iain R., KOUREMENOS, Konstantinos A., PALOMBO, Enzo A. Breathomics and its application for disease diagnosis : a review of analytical techniques and approaches. V: CUMERAS, Raquel (ur.). Volatile organic compound analysis in biomedical diagnosis applications. Oakville; Waretown: Apple Academic Press. cop. 2018, str. 159-194, ilustr.

• SONDERFELD, Hannah, WHITE, Iain R., GOODAL, Iain C. A., HOPKINS, James R., LEWIS, Alastair C., KOPPMANN, Ralf, MONKS, P. S. What effect does VOC sampling time have on derived OH reactivity?. Atmospheric chemistry and physics, ISSN 1680-7316, May 2016, vol. 16, iss. 10, str. 6303-6318, ilustr., doi: 10.5194/acp-16-6303-2016.

CORDELL, Rebecca L., WHITE, Iain R., MONKS, Paul S. Validation of an assay for the determination of levoglucosan and associated monosaccharide anhydrides for the quantification of wood smoke in atmospheric aerosol. Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, ISSN 1618-2642, 2014, vol. 406, no. 22, str. 5283-5292, ilustr., doi: 10.1007/s00216-014-7962-x.

• BARBER, Shane, BLAKE, Robert S., WHITE, Iain R., MONKS, P. S., REICH, Fraser, MULLOCK, Steve, ELLIS, Andrew Michael. Increased sensitivity in proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry by incorporation of a radio frequency ion funnel. Analytical chemistry, ISSN 0003-2700. [Print ed.], 2012, vol. 84, no. 12, str. 5387-5391, ilustr., doi: 10.1021/ac300894t. [COBISS.SI-ID 5420283],

• PRADHAN, M., LINDLEY, R. E., GRILLI, R., WHITE, Iain R., MARTIN, Damien, ORR-EWING, A. J. Trace detection of C2H2C2H2 in ambient air using continuous wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy combined with sample pre-concentration. Applied physics. B, Lasers and optics, ISSN 0946-2171. Tiskana izd., 2008, vol. 90, iss. 1, str. 1-9, ilustr., doi: 10.1007/s00340-007-2833-1.