6 EC
Semester 1, period 3
5254ENCH6Y
In this course students will learn fundamentals of environmental chemistry, more specifically the major sources and emission pathways of chemical pollutants, the mechanisms governing their transport and fate in different environmental compartments (with a focus on organic pollutants) as well as approaches to chemical risk assessment and management. Students will learn about the different classes of chemical pollutants and how their environmental behavior is driven by their underlying chemical structure and properties.
Topics include transport and distribution processes, and physico/biochemical reactions of compounds in the environment; bioavailability, bioaccumulation and degradation of chemicals; monitoring and non-target screening, prediction and fate modelling in environmental compartments; structure property/activity relationships; risk assessment and regulation.
The course Environmental Chemistry will consist of interactive online classes with exercises, group projects, a computer practical and a final exam. Lecturers are Dr. Antonia Praetorius, Prof. Annemarie van Wezel, Dr. Thomas ter Laak and Dr. Saer Samanipour. Two teaching assistants will support the course by assisting during the exercises and group work.
Schwarzenbach et al., 'Environmental Organic Chemistry', 3rd Ed., 2017 John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-76723-8, for detailed background reading and training questions
exercises on SOWISO, publications (pdf)
handouts (ppt), lecture recordings on Canvas
Classes provide the basic knowledge to gain an understanding of the theory of environmental processes. Examples of these processes will be applied to one contaminant (or group of contaminants) per week as a case study. Exercises will be used to apply and practice the material .
Weekly quizzes will be used to test the understanding of the material from the previous week.
A group project will be performed in parallel to the lectures, in which students will apply the knowledge acquired in class to build up a risk assessment dossier for a chemical. The work will be presented in form a poster, which will be peer-reviewed by other students prior to submitting a final version and presented to the class in a short presentation.
A computer practical will be dedicated to learn how to use computer fate models for exposure predictions.
Demonstrations will be used to show how to use online tools for substance property retrieval.
|
Activity |
Hours |
|
|
Lectures |
26 |
|
|
Group work |
14 | |
| Computer practical |
4 |
|
|
Final exam |
3 |
|
|
Self study |
121 |
|
|
Total |
168 |
(6 EC x 28 uur) |
This programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (TER part B).
Additional requirements for this course:
Attendance and participation is mandatory for the group poster presentations on January 27th and highly recommended during the computer practical on January 31st.
A short quiz is scheduled at the beginning of each lecture (starting from the second lecture on Jan 13th). The quizzes count towards 10% of the final grade. The 5 best quizzes (out of 6) count towards the grade, so 1 quiz can be missed unexcused.
It is required that the groups meet (online) frequently to advance the group work. Teaching assistants and lecturers will be present to assist with the group project during the Werkcolleges on Thursday afternoons h and it is highly recommended that the groups work together during this time.
| Item and weight | Details |
|
Final grade | |
|
0.5 (50%) Tentamen digitaal | |
|
0.1 (10%) Quizzes | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 2 | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 1 | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 3 | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 5 | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 6 | |
|
1 (17%) Quiz 4 | |
|
0.4 (40%) Group poster |
The final grade of the course is based on the results of the quizzes (10%), the group project (40%) as well as the final exam (50%).
The quizzes will be held online via Canvas at the beginning of each lecture (starting from lecture 2). The average of the outcomes of the 5 best (out of 6) quizzes will make up the grade. One quiz can be missed unexcused.
The group projects will be assessed based on the group poster and short presentation on January 27th. A common grade will be given per group.
The final exam will take place in the digital environment SOWISO on February 3rd at Science Park. A resit will be held on February 21st. More details about the exam and permitted material will be provided at least one week prior to the exam date. A sample exam using SOWISO will be made available for the students to familiarize themselves with the platform in advance.
Students will be assigned to groups during the first class and work on the project over several weeks. As final outcomes of the group work the students will prepare and present a poster during a seminar on January 27. The overall grade for the group project makes up 40% of the final course grade.
Exercises covering the course material will be made available via SOWISO every Monday and discussed during Monday's Werkcolleges. Exercises are not graded and do not have to be handed in.
The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl
| Weeks | Subjects Monday class | Subjects Thursday class |
| 2 |
Introduction, emission & WWBE |
Partitioning, sorption, bioavailability |
| 3 | Persistence, biodegradation, abiotic degradation, « forever chemicals » | Transport processes, volatilization, long-range transport |
| 4 |
Environmental monitoring and NTA |
Risk assessment, chemical regulation, emerging contaminants |
| 5 |
Fate Modelling |
Final exam |
Question hour Week 5 on Tuesday, Feb 1 (11-13)
The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.
due to the current covid-19 measures, the course was moved online on short notice. Some details in the planning might still change, students will be informed via Canvas.
Teaching assistants