Chemical analysis of atmospheric, water and soil samples

Detection and determination of parameters of environmental interest in samples of water, soil, sediment or aerosols.

As a consequence of the development of the chemical and pharmacological industry, organic compounds of biological action, such as antibiotics, or other toxic substances such as plasticizers, flame retardants, surfactants or additives of consumer products, are becoming increasingly common in the environment. These new pollutants are called emerging pollutants and are difficult to naturally degrade, therefore, they can generate a high risk to health due to their persistence.

Chemistry Laboratories of the UIB have the scientific-technical equipment necessary for the development and validation of innovative analytical procedures as well as for the determination and quantification of chemical substances, especially organic compounds, such as pesticides, and trace elements at trace concentration, in environmental samples.

 

OUR EXPERIENCE

retardant de flama
infiltració

Flame retardants are organophosphorus compounds present in airborne particulate matter in enclosed dwellings, such as cars and home environments. A research group from the Department of Chemistry of the UIB has determined the amount of these emerging organophosphorus contaminants present in the domestic dust that can occur in the digestive system of adults and children through breathing. The conditions of gastrointestinal digestion have been reproduced in vitro to determine the actual dangerous fraction of flame retardants that can be released into the stomach and small intestine under physiological conditions.

The UIB has extensive experience in the detection of herbicide residues in fields of cultivation and in the evaluation of the bioaccessible fraction (dangerous for living beings) in agricultural soils by means of automatic techniques and chromatographic systems. A research group from the Department of Chemistry of the UIB has automatically determined the fraction of persistent organic pesticides in agricultural soils that can enter the trophic chain by solubilisation in irrigation water. These compounds represent a danger to ecosystems and to human health, due to their ability to infiltrate aquifers, and thus, automatic and portable methods that simulate environmental leaching conditions have been developed at the UIB.

In collaboration with:

Logotipus del Ministeri de Ciència, Innovació i Universitats