About the Book
It is a well-known fact that the environment is continuously and consistently polluted by each passing day both by natural process and man-made sources. The natural processes include forest fires, natural organic or inorganic decays, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes etc. The man-made sources include rapid population explosion, deforestation and modern technology. In fact, rapid industrial and technological developments all over the world have resulted in release of poisonous matter (gases and other byproducts) into air, water and land. The manufacturing units engaged in the production of drugs, antibiotics, dyes and agrochemicals have added to the environmental pollution. Excessive use of agrochemicals has added to the problem of soil pollution. All these pollutants have hazardous effect on human health. Besides, some of the pollutants are also responsible for Global warming, Ozone layer depletion and Acid rain.
In view of the hazardous effects of various pollutants, as a first step it is important to test the presence or absence of these pollutants and subsequently their estimation. This requires the use of highly sensitive and accurate but complex instruments. The present book deals with analysis of such pollutants in air, water and land.
Air pollutants include the gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and solid pollutants like particulate matter, metallic pollutants etc. Besides, noise and radioactivity are other pollutants in the air.
The water analysis include determination of water quality parameters, including total dissolved solids in water, determination of alkalinity and concentration of ammonia, nitrogen, soluble chloride, soluble sulphates and nitrates. The pH of water, its conductance, hardness, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) are other parameters which must be determined. Metallic pollutants in water include- trace elements, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead, selenium, beryllium, chromium, copper, iron. Other pollutants include fluoride, pesticides and radioactivity. Methods of estimation of all the water pollutants have been described.
Soil analysis includes determination of its pH, conductance, amount of organic matter, available nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, manganese, calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, potassium, pesticides and water soluble cations and anions. Methods for the detection and estimation of all the pollutants in soil have been described.
It is hoped that this book will be extremely helpful for all studying Environment.
Contents
1. Air Analysis 2. Water Analysis 3. Soil Analysis, Appendices, Index
About the Author
V.K. Ahluwalia has worked as Professor of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi for more than three decades and taught Graduate, Postgraduate and M.Phil. students. He has guided about 70 students for M.Phil./Ph.D. degrees and has published more than 250 research papers in National and International Journals. He has delivered a number of invited lectures in India and Abroad.
Prof. Ahluwalia worked as Post-doctoral Fellow for two years (1960–1962) and worked with Prof. Harold Shechter at the Department of Chemistry, Ohio State University, Ohio, USA and for one year (1980–81) with Professor Herbert C. Brown, Nobel Laureate at the Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, USA.
He has also been a Visiting Professor at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centre for Biomedical Research University of Delhi, Delhi.
Prof. Ahluwalia is author of a number of books on Reaction Mechanism, Green Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry and Organic Synthesis.
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