The area of "Norra Hamnstaden" in Lidköping has been used for several different industires for more than 100 years and porcelain has been produced there since 1912. The sub-area studied in this thesis has been used as a landfill for industrial waste including waste from the local porcelain factory, Rörstrand. Lead is a common contaminant in ceramic waste since the favorable properties of lead(II) oxide has made it a common component in porcelain glazes. Previous surveys have shown severe contamination with levels of lead up to 20 g/kg in the area, but they have been performed to get an overview. Since there are plans for housing and parks on the site, the risk for future inhabitants needs to be assessed more thoroughly. When the theoretical environmental impact of an element in the soil environment is evaluated, only its total concentration in the fine (<2 mm) fraction of the matrix is considered and the availability is assumed to be 100%. For a better understanding of the environmental impact from the soil in the area, a sequential leaching was performed to reveal the chemical speciation and availability of the elements. Analyses of water soluble elements, inorganic anions and total concentrations were also performed. Since the area contains a large amount of porcelain residues and other industrial waste which do not pass through a 2 mm sieve, the coarse fraction was crushed and analyzed as well. The sampling revealed that the main filling of a part of the area was porcelain and porcelain related waste. The lead contamination was severe at those sampling points where porcelain was found, and remediation is needed in that area. The water leachable lead was up to 521 μg/L or 6.2 mg/kg. The total concentration of lead exceeded the limit value for hazardous waste at five sampling points where it reached 52 g/kg. The sequential leaching showed that the total concentration of lead was a good estimate for its bioavailable concentration. For the risk controlling elements almost 50 % of the results showed a significant statistical difference between the bioavailable and the total concentration. The coarse fraction contained lower lead concentration than the fines and the total concentrations therefore overestimate the risk. Moving the porcelain masses could be the best option for remediation unless it can be motivated to leave them in the area. / Norra Hamnstaden är ett område i Lidköping som under mer än 100 år huserat flertalet olika industrier, bland annat har porslin producerats där sedan 1912. Den del av området som undersökts i denna avhandling har använts för att dumpa industriavfall bland annat från den närliggande porslinsfabriken Rörstrand. Det är vanligt att hitta bly i porslinsavfall då blyoxid har använts i stor utsträckning i glasyr eftersom det har många eftertraktade egenskaper. Området har undersökts tidigare för att få en överblick av eventuella föroreningar och då har blyhalter upp till 20 g/kg hittats. Då det nu finns planer för att bygga bostäder och parker i området måste det undersökas mer grundligt. Då man bedömer ett grundämnes teoretiska påverkan av miljön tar man endast hänsyn till totalhalten i finfraktionen (<2 mm) och antar att dess biotillgänglighet är 100%. För att få en bättre förståelse av grundämnenas påverkan på miljön så gjordes en sekventiell lakning som visar deras speciering och tillgänglighet. Utöver detta utfördes analyser av oorganiska anjoner och grundämnenas lakbarhet i vatten och syra. Eftersom det finns en stor andel porslinskross och annat industriavfall som är större än 2 mm så krossades den grövre fraktionen och analyserades. Under provtagningen konstaterades att porslinskross och annat avfall från porslinstillverkning var den huvudsakliga fyllningen inom en del av området. I det delområdet var blyföroreningen som allvarligast och där finns ett behov av sanering. Halten av vattenlakbart bly var upp till 521 μg/L motsvarande 6.2 mg/kg. Totalkoncentrationen av bly överskred gränsvärdet för farligt avfall i fem prover och nådde som mest upp till 52 g/kg. Den sekventiella lakningen visade att totalhalten av bly fungerade bra för att uppskatta den biotillgängliga halten. För de riskstyrande ämnena så visade nästan hälften av resultaten en statistiskt signifikant skillnad mellan den biotillgängliga och den totala koncentrationen. Den grövre fraktionen visade lägre blyhalter än finfraktionen vilket innebär att totalkoncentrationerna överskattar risken. Det bästa alternativet för sanering vore att flytta på avfallet om det inte kan motiveras att lämna kvar det.

Previously, styrene oxide has been used as starting material in the reaction cascade for obtaining 2-hydroxyacetophenone. If the path could be extended to instead start with styrene as substrate, it would be an advantage financially. The aim of this degree project was to produce two monooxygenase components needed for the epoxidation of styrene. The coding sequence for styrene monooxygenase component StyA had in an earlier project been inserted in a plasmid which in this project was used for inserting the gene coding for the styrene monooxygenase component StyB. The transformation of the ligated plasmid became problematic and did not result in the expected outcome. When doing an transformation directly on the ligation mixture, the result of the experiment was successful. Consequently, the problem was likely due to the poor condition of the cells used.

The enzyme ADH-A and one of its mutants ADH-A C1B1 from ​ Rhodococcus ruber,​ have in previous studies been proved to act as proper biocatalysts, fully capable of performing redox reactions. Two redox reactions were studied during this project, were those enzymes act as catalysts. For that matter, ADH-A wild type and ADH-A C1B1 genes were expressed in ​ E. coli​ and the encoded enzymes were purified and used for kinetic studies with a final goal on studying the kinetic isotope effect that is generated between them and the molecules that contain deuterium. HPLC analysis on these products showed that the reactions were not thermodynamically favored and conclusions on the best reaction conditions for both enzymes as well as for further improvements are discussed.

Knowledge of fate and transport of chemical contaminants in the environment is essential for reducing their adverse effects to humans and wildlife. Surface and ground waters serve as drinking water which helps to sustain life. It is undeniably true that the understanding of chemical contaminants behavior in the environment is important to better prevent their negative effects. This study was conducted for understanding the distribution of a persistent organic pollutant (POP), the perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) including its isomers between aqueous and solid phases and to understand the mechanisms affecting its distribution in surface and groundwater. Different sorbents with geo-environmental significance were selected. Variation of aqueous chemistry was done in order to understand the effect of different environmental conditions on PFOS sorption behavior. To perform this study, suspension of goethite (38.54g/L), fine soils and peat with particle size less than 0.5 mm and mm respectively, two fractions of steel slag (i.e., size of >0.9 mm and between 0.9 and 2 mm) and white powder of Al(OH)3 were used. The levels of total and PFOS isomers were quantified using an Ultra-Performance Liquid chromatograph coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer XEVO-TQS. Results showed that sorption of PFOS was mostly depending on pH; sorption decreased as pH increased. The electrostatics interaction was suggested to be the main mechanism that controls the sorption. Results of this study showed that goethite, peat, Al(OH)3 and soil can sorb PFOS with respective maximum log Kd up to 2.31, 2.12, 1.98 and 1.89 at pH around 4.50. The addition of humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) affected the sorption capacity depending on pH range and sorbent. The HA which has a high molecular weight showed an enhanced sorption, implying the existence of hydrophobic interactions. The addition of Na2SO4 to the system increased the sorption at high pH, when the sorbent surface bears less average positive charge. However, the sulfate competed with sorption at low pH. The influence of Na2SO4 to enhance the sorption, was understood in term of changing the solution ionic strength and salt-out effect which affected the sorption of PFOS. In this study, it is revealed that PFOS isomers had different sorption affinity to different sorbents depending on solution chemistry and nature of sorbent. Regarding the sorption capability of slag, the silica reduced slag sorbed more than the aluminum reduced slag. The small slag size-fraction demonstrated a lower sorption capacity for PFOS sorption. The present of HA and SO42- demonstrated the capability to enhance the PFOS sorption to slags. iii The PFOS sorption to slag needs to be further explored for understanding well the sorption kinetics and mechanism controlling the sorption. Furthermore, more studies of influence of sulfate could be important, since their influence on PFOS sorption was not well documented.

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