Environmental Chemistry

The environment continues to suffer damage from pollutants from industry as well as from innumerable other sources. The Environmental Chemistry Department concerns itself with researching how anthropogenic contaminants first occur in marine coastal regions, how they spread and where they remain. Scientists research the historical development of the effects of pollution in Nature by comparing, for example, recent blood and liver samples with older samples from environmental archives. Computer analysis of air and water samples aided by chemical transport simulation models are being applied by researchers to determine how contaminants spread regionally, as well as globally. It is equally important to discover where these contaminants originate. The current focus of research is in organic contaminants with a long lifespan, especially polyflouride compounds, as frequently used in non-stick surfaces and grease or water-repellent materials. These compounds are extremely durable and tend to accumulate in the food chain rapidly. The extent to which they may be toxic, and what the main sources of contamination may be, had not been the object of very extensive research before.