MILJØ200 Pollution and Environment

Lectures: Definitions of pollutants and environmental toxins with reference to radionuclides, metals, organic pollutants/pesticides, atmospheric sulphur and nitrogen compounds and climate gases. Substance characteristics, compound structures and microchemical reactions. Actual transport routes. The importance of hydrolysis, polymerising, ion change and selective binding, chemical absorption, complexes and chelates, precipitation and co-precipitation, colloidal compounds in water and redox reactions in soil, water and sediments for transport and availability of pollutants and environmental toxins.

The student should understand the important processes relevant to the fate of pollutants and environmental toxins in nature. They should understand how pollutants and environmental toxins are deposited in nature, how they can be transported and how they can be retained in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and the terrestrial environment. The student will be able to do rough estimations related to environmental pollution. The student will obtain a good background to evaluate most pollutants and environmental toxins in an objective way.