Working Group "Pollutant sink"
Green roofs as a pollutant sink
(Author: Xiao Liu)
The “Pollution Sink Working Group” involves scientists of UFZ’s Departments Isotope Biogeochemistry (ISOBIO), Environmental Engineering (TUCHEM) and Environmental Microbiology (UMB).
The research activities of the working group focus on uptake, transport, and transformation/degradation processes of typical air- and waterborne urban environmental pollutants; in order to evaluate green roofs’ potentials for pollutant removal. Biological degradation and transformation processes catalyzed by plants, fungi and bacteria on green roofs, and related interactions among these groups of organisms are of special interest.
The elucidation of pollutant uptake, transport, and metabolisation processes is aided by the application of high-resolution imaging and mass spectrometry techniques in combination with stable isotope analytics, and involves the research platform ProVIS - Centre for Chemical Microscopy – and Stable Isotope Lab. With regard to the possible retention of environmental pollutants on green roofs, a particular field of research addresses the development of tailor-made adsorber materials and related possibilities of application.
The research activities of the working group are further supported by offering academic qualification works, the involvement of guest scientists, and the acquisition of third-party funding.
persons involved:
D. Schlosser & L. Wick -- UMB
H.-H. Richnow & S. Kümmel & Xiao Liu -- ISOBIO
K. Mackenzie & A. Georgi -- TUCHEM