Teach Me in 10: Environmental Pollutants

This talk focuses on how we detect the emissions of particles from road vehicles and other sources, and how the changes to the vehicle fleet are impacting the environment now and are predicted to in the future. Affiliation/title: Senior Research Fellow, Imperial College London Biography: Dr David Green is a Senior Research Fellow in the Environmental Research Group where he leads the Aerosol Science Team. Research interests focus on the measurement of particles and gases, and their use in source apportionment and health studies, to improve our understanding in both the urban and global environment. Source apportionment methodologies are used to interpret the high time resolution chemical composition measurements and quantify the contribution of different emission sources in complex urban environments. In these environments a wide variety of sources, both local (such as traffic) and distant (such as that from agricultural sources), contribute to the total particle load in the atmosphere. Affiliation/title: Jamie Mitri / Founder and CEO of Moss Pure Biography: Jamie Mitri is an Entrepreneur with degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biology. Jamie spent her career developing and manufacturing medical devices and biotechnology products used in the ICU of hospitals, overseeing environmental compliance, including air pollution and wastewater, and more recently as a project manager focusing on business strategy and marketing. Jamie founded her company, Moss Pure, at a startup competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where it won First Place Startup (MIT Lebanon Challenge). Jamie then participated in the United Nations Development Programme, where Moss Pure won Top 10 Startup. Most moss companies use preserved or dried moss which is no longer living. Moss Pure is the world's only live moss air filter and stress relief device, while acting as an aesthetically pleasing decor piece in your home and office. No watering, sunlight, or maintenance is needed as Moss Pure's proprietary engineering sustains the live moss with the product itself, working in synergy to allow moss to obtain its nutrients from the air and become an air filter. Jamie uses both her engineering and science skills in the upstream process of the assembly of each piece, where the multi-layered air filter is built, and then uses her love and skill in fashion and interior design in the downstream process to produce a unique, aesthetically pleasing art piece for your space. For more information, feel free to contact Jamie and visit www.mosspure.com. Talk abstract: Jamie Mitri, Chemical and Environmental Engineer, talks about the environmental pollutants in our everyday space, from pollutants in air to pollutants in stormwater and wastewater – and what the differences are. Jamie shares a scientific and practical approach to sharing her knowledge on the everyday pollutants that are among us, their sources, how they impact us, and how they are treated by different methods. Affiliation/title: EFASIG The BMSS, Dr Biography: Peter J Baugh, BSc, PhD, FRSC BSc (Hons., 1961) and PhD (1964), University of Wales, retired from the University of Salford, Department of Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, 1967 – 2000. Currently, co-leader of the environmental and food analysis special interest of the BMSS, past visiting professor at the University of Chester, life member of the BMSS for services to mass spectrometry. The integrity of sample preparation for the analysis of environmental pollutants is of paramount importance and has to be addressed seriously with the utmost care and attention to the methodology and its quality. The environmental sample residue presented for analysis by GC or LC and in combination with mass spectrometry must reflect the original sample matrix in terms of the concentration present. Hazardous pollutants need to be detected and quantified at ultra-low levels approaching the limits of detection of the instrumentation. This talk will consider the methodology involved progressing from the environmental sample matrix to the environmental pollutant residue, ultimately to be analysed and quantified. Affiliation/title: Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island Professor of Oceanography, Director of the URI Superfund Center on PFAS Biography: Dr. Rainer Lohmann is a Professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. He obtained a degree in Chemical Engineering and a Doctorate in Environmental Science. He is Director of the URI-led Superfund Research Program Center on the Sources, Transport, Exposure and Effects of PFAS (STEEP). His research focuses on the detection, bioaccumulation, transport and fate of anthropogenic pollutants in the environment, often relying on passive samplers in the process. Since 2000, he has published > 180 publications and book chapters. Dr. Lohmann was member of the U.S. EPA’s Board of Scientific Counselors (2017-2023) and serves as Editor of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship as part of the Fulbright Arctic Initiative III in 2020, and an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellowship in 2011. Several poly- and perfluorinated alkyl substance (PFAS) have become a global concern due to their persistence, long-range transport, bioaccumulation and adverse effects, and PFOS and PFOA are being included in the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants, POPs. Recent regulatory decisions have resulted in maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in drinking water range from 2 ng/L in Denmark to tens of ng/L for several PFAS combined in several states in the US. Beyond drinking water, the consumption of fish is of primary concern, with additional uptake pathways from air, dust and consumer products. PFAS also pose risks in the remote Arctic environment. The available evidence suggests that atmospheric transport is still more important than water mass transport, though we detected first signs of PFAS in Atlantic water masses reaching the Arctic Ocean. Affiliation/title: University of York/Professor of Environmental Science Biography: Alistair Boxall is Professor in Environmental Science in the Environment Department and Director of the NERC-funded ECORISC Centre for Doctoral Training. Alistair’s research focuses on understanding emerging and future ecological and health risks posed by chemical contaminants in the natural environment. Perkin Elmer