CHE323

Chapter 1 -Introduction

Prepared by : Muhammad Firdaus Bin Husin

 COURSE OUTCOME

By the end of this chapter,

student should be able to :
CO1 : Develop an awareness
of professional responsibility
towards protecting the environment.
 CONTENT
Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Environmental Chemical Processes

Environmental Chemicals

Unit of Concentration

Environmental Policy
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
is the application of
engineering principles to the
protection and
enhancement of the
• quality of the environment
• public health and welfare.
• Environmental Science
• the study of the
environment, its biotic and
abiotic components and their
inter relationships.
 Environmental Chemical Processes
Definition
• Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and
biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places.

• Environmental chemistry is the study of chemical processes occurring in

the environment which are impacted by humankind's activities. These
impacts may be felt on a local scale, through the presence of urban air
pollutants or toxic substances arising from a chemical waste site, or on a
global scale, through depletion of stratospheric ozone or global
warming.
 URBAN AIR POLLUTANTS OT
TOXIC SUBSTANCES

GLOBAL
WARNING
Examples of
natural chemical CARBON &
process and NITROGEN
phenomena in CYCLE
environment
 Carbon Cycle
• All living things are made of carbon. Carbon is also
a part of the ocean, air, and even rocks.
• In the atmosphere, carbon is attached to some
oxygen in a gas called carbon dioxide.
• Plants use carbon dioxide and sunlight to make
their own food and grow. The carbon becomes
part of the plant. Plants that die and are buried
may turn into fossil fuels made of carbon like coal
and oil over millions of years. When humans burn
fossil fuels, most of the carbon quickly enters the
atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
 Carbon Cycle
• Carbon enters plants, etc., as CO2
• Bacteria process carbon in a fashion that allows it to be recycled.
• Obtain energy from the molecules, and convert carbohydrates to
carbon dioxide as a result of respiration.
• Photosynthesis removes carbon from the abiotic environment
(fixes carbon into organic molecules)
• Carbon moves through food chain through consumption of
one organisms by another
• Cellular respiration, combustion, and erosion of limestone
return carbon to the atmosphere, water and abiotic
environment.
Carbon Cycle

Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon

dioxide from respiration and combustion.

Carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers

to make carbohydrates in
photosynthesis.
 Nitrogen Cycle
• 80% of the air in the atmosphere is made of nitrogen.
Your body does not use the nitrogen that you inhale
with each breath. But, like all living things, your body
needs nitrogen. Your body gets the nitrogen it needs to
grow from food.
• Most plants get the nitrogen they need from soil. Many
farmers use fertilizers to add nitrogen to the soil to help
plants grow larger and faster. Both nitrogen fertilizers
and forest fires add huge amounts of nitrogen into the
soil and nearby lakes and rivers. Water full of nitrogen
causes plants and algae to grow very fast and then die
all at once when there are too many for the
environment to support.
Nitrogen Cycle
1) Nitrogen Fixation
• Conversion of N2 → NH3
• Combustion, volcanic action, Lightning, Industrial processes (making fertilizer).
Bacteria (Azotobactor, Clostridium, Nostoc etc.)
2) Nitrification
• Conversion of NH3 → NO3
• Soil bacteria convert in a two step process.
3) Assimilation
• Roots absorb NH3, NH4, or NO3 and incorporate them into nucleic acids and protein.
4) Ammonification
• When an organism excretes waste or dies, the nitrogen in its tissues is in the form of
organic nitrogen (e.g. amino acids, DNA)
• Various fungi and prokaryotes then decompose the tissue and release inorganic
nitrogen back into the ecosystem as ammonia in the process known as
ammonification
5) Denitrification
• The reduction of NO3 to N2 .Denitrifying bacteria return some of the nitrogen to the
atmosphere
o “Environmental chemicals refer
to a chemical compound or
chemical element present in air,
water, food, soil, dust, or other
environmental media such as
consumer products.”

o The example of environmental

chemical in :

➢Water
i. Hydrogen
ii. Oxygen
Continued…
i. Nitrogen
ii. Oxygen
➢ Air iii. Water vapor
iv. Argon
v. Carbon dioxide

i. Potassium
ii. Calcium
iii. Magnesium
➢Soil iv. Phosphorus
v. Iron
vi. Manganese
vii. Zinc
viii. Copper
ix. Aluminium
x. Lead
 Harmful Chemicals in our Environment
• Chemicals enter air as emissions and water as effluent. Industrial
and motor vehicle emissions of nitrogen and sulphur oxides cause
acid rain, which poisons fish and other aquatic organisms in rivers
and lakes and affects the ability of soil to support plants.
• Carbon dioxide causes greenhouse effect and climate change.
• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) cause the destruction of ozone in the
stratosphere and create the possibility of serious environmental
damage from ultraviolet radiation.
• Chemical fertilisers and nutrients run-off from farms and gardens
cause build up of toxic algae in rivers, making them uninhabitable to
aquatic organisms and unpleasant for humans.
• Some toxic chemicals find their way from landfill waste sites into our
groundwater, rivers and oceans and induce genetic changes that
compromise the ability of life to reproduce and survive.
Objective of the Policy

❖ A clean, safe, healthy and productive environment for present and future generations.

❖ Conservation of the country’s uniques and diverse cultural and natural heritage with effective participation
by all sectors of society.

❖ Sustainable lifestyles and patterns of consumption and production.

Policy’s Strengths
T H A N K YO U FO R YO U R
AT T E N T I O N .

LET’S START OUR GAME!!