COURSE OBJECTIVE:
Introducing students to the basic chemical processes in natural waters and the environment.
COURSE IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAM:
Week 1: Introduction to water chemistry. The importance of water for life on earth. Croatian regulations related to water. Chemical structure of water molecule. Dipole character of water. Hydrogen bonding.
Week 2: Mineral dissolution. Salt dissociation process. Solubility product constant. Consequences of the dissolution process: hydrolysis.
Week 3: Mineral dissolution. Dissolution mechanisms: chemical and physico-chemical dissolution factors (hydrolysis, hydration). Water hardness. Water softening procedures.
Week 4: Nucleation. Physico-chemical aspect of nucleus formation. Sedimentation and sediment properties. Turbidimetry.
Week 5: Crystal growth. Kinetics of crystal growth. Crystal lattice contamination: occlusion and inclusion.
Week 6: Regulation of the chemical composition of natural waters. Maintaining constant pH value: buffer systems. Masking of undesirable factors (inactivation by translation into a complex or by precipitation).
Week 7: Ion chromatography. Ion exchange process. Quantitative and qualitative aspects of chromatography.
Week 8: Ion chromatography. Cation analysis. Anion analysis. Background signal attenuation.
Week 9: First partial test
Week 10: Redox processes and balance. Redox conditions and redox potential in natural waters. pE-pH diagrams. Influence of complex species on redox potential. Measurement of redox potential in natural waters.
Week 11: Geochemical cycle of metal traces. Toxicity in rivers, lakes and oceans. Distribution of dissolved metals in surface waters. Metal passage into groundwater. Equilibrium phenomena on the solid-liquid interface. Formation of surface complexes on surfaces of hydrated oxides.
Week 12: Empirical and mechanistic model of adsorption. Charge distribution at the phase boundary. Quantitative and surface charge as a function of pH. Zero-charge point. Intrinsic equilibrium constants. Surface charge and potential in an electric dual-layer.
Week 13: Surface complexation models. Diffusion layer model. Constant capacitance model. Triple layer model.
Week 14: Photochemical processes in water. Photo reactions. Photoredox reactions. Photolysis of transition metal complexes. The role of dissolved iron forms. Heterogeneous photochemistry.
Week 15: Second partial test
Laboratory exercises:
1. Physico-chemical characterization of raw water.
2. Testing the influence of FeCl3 coagulant on turbidity removal.
3. Testing the influence of Al2(SO4)3 coagulant on turbidity removal.
4. Determining the optimal conditions of coagulation and flocculation processes by the response surface method
5. Determination of chemical and physical parameters of treated water.
6. Modeling of the coagulation process by using VisualMINTEQ software and comparison with experimental data
7. Scale-up of the optimized coagulation and flocculation processes to the flow system
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
1. Distinguish the factors that regulate the chemical composition of water
2. Present coordination chemistry in aquatic medium in relation to chemical separation, bioavailability and toxicity of metals
3. Predict redox processes in an aquatic medium
4. Estimate: the interactions of the aquatic medium with the solid surface, adsorption phenomena, and colloid chemistry.
5. Develop the ability to perceive and solve complex problems that actually occur in the environment
LEARNING OUTCOMES AT PROGRAM LEVEL:
1. Apply more complex chemical principles that supplement the basic chemistry knowledge acquired during undergraduate study
2. Connect basic facts, concepts, chemical principles and theories related to advanced areas of chemistry and chemical technologies
3. Integrate the knowledge needed to process complex ideas
4. Objectively estimate the results of the work in order to present them concisely
5. Use advanced laboratory procedures and instrumentation for chemical synthesis and analysis
TEACHING UNITS WITH ASSOCIATED LEARNING OUTCOMES AND EVALUATION CRITERIA
Teaching unit
1. Regulation of the chemical composition of water.
Learning outcomes
- Distinguish the factors that regulate the chemical composition of water.
Evaluation criteria
- explain the hydrological cycle and water-air interactions
- define the sources and transport of atmospheric pollutants
- explain dissolution of minerals and rocks
- explain the isothermal evaporation of natural waters that leads to the precipitation of calcium carbonate
- explain carbonate balance, alkalinity, acidity, and water buffering capacity
- explain the characteristics, composition and differences of surface water, groundwater and sea water
Teaching unit
2. Coordination chemistry in an aqueous medium.
Learning outcomes
- Present coordination chemistry in aquatic medium in relation to chemical separation, bioavailability and metal toxicity.
Evaluation criteria
- explain the hydrolysis of metal ions in water, the formation of polynuclear hydroxy complexes, and the complex stability
- explain the formation of chelated complex species and their stability
- explain the carbonate complexes that occur in natural waters and their interaction with organic acids
- explain the complexation of humic acids
- be able to draw the distribution of polynuclear, chelate and carbonate species
Teaching unit
3. Redox processes in an aquatic medium.
Learning outcomes
- Predict redox processes in an aquatic medium.
Evaluation criteria
- define activity of electrons in an aquatic medium and provide the analogy to pH
- set the redox equations and, for a given system, and calculate the equilibrium activity of electrons (including partial pressures of dissolved gases); present graphically and interpret distribution of redox species in equilibrium
- define the electrode potential and explain the thermodynamic relationship between the redox potential and the composition of the solution
- define redox conditions in natural waters and their influence on photosynthesis and biochemical cycle (carbon, sulfur, nitrogen cycle)
- explain and understand the mechanisms of redox conversion in aerobic and anaerobic conditions
- explain the influence of complex formation on redox potential
- measurement of redox potential in natural waters
- explain the oxidation kinetics in natural waters
Teaching unit
4. Interactions of an aquatic medium with a solid phase.
Learning outcomes
- Estimate: the interactions of the aquatic medium with the solid surface, adsorption phenomena and colloid chemistry.
Evaluation criteria
- distinguish specific adsorption from physical and adopt mechanistic model approach
- demonstrate the knowledge of the theory of surface complexation
- set the adsorption equations of reactions that occur at the solid/liquid interface (adsorption of water molecules on the surface, protonation and deprotonation of the surface, surface hydrolysis, formation of surface complexes by metal binding and ligand exchange); distinguish outer-spherical surface complexes from inner-spherical surface complexes
- define terms and calculate the surface charge, quantitative charge, zero-charge point, and intrinsic (true) equilibrium constant of reactions; calculate the density of surface adsorption sites of surface complexation from a specific surface data,
- propose surface complexation models based on the electrochemical dual-layer model (diffuse layer model, constant capacitance model and triple layer model)
- simulate the process from the environment using the Visual Minteq software; interpret the obtained results and their meaning
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1. D.A. Skoog, D.M. West, F.J. Holler: Osnove analitičke kemije, 1. izd., Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 1999.
2. V.L. Snoeyink, D. Jenkins, Water Chemistry, Wiley, New York, 1980.
3. H. Small, Ion Chromatography, Plenum Press, New York, 1989.,
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1. W. Stumm, J.J. Morgan, Aquatic Chemistry, Chemical Equillibria and Rates in Natural Waters, 3. izd., Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1996.,
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