Postgraduate Chemistry 2019-2020

In this course, you will learn about the importance of cement and polymer materials in the oil and gas industry.  The chemistry of cements, including oil well cements and the role they play in decommissioning are discussed.   The chemistry underlying the durability of polymers in the service environment is discussed in terms of composition-property relationships. The course is supported by practical classes, in which you will investigate properties of polymers and cements. The associated planning and report writing provides you with a set of valuable transferrable skills.

Oil and gas exploration has often proven to be an intrinsic threat to the environment. In this course, you will learn how to assess and prevent risks, and recognise components of risk assessment. You will learn concepts of chemical and biological processes for environmental remediation, and how to critically compare and select remediation strategies for particular types of contamination, as for example oil spills in the sea or on land. Environmental toxicology topics will be covered. The course is supported by practical classes which will develop skills used in assessing and reducing the impact of chemicals.

Oil and Gas resources are limited, and modern techniques for oil extraction must provide high production efficiency.  The chemistry happening at interfaces play a vital role in both corrosion and enhanced oil recovery. The principles of corrosion and of corrosion protection and prevention will be covered in detail. You will also learn about the principles of enhanced oil recovery, which covers solid-gas interfaces and gas adsorption, thermodynamics of surface interactions and how surface chemistry can be applied to this task. The course is supported by practical classes to deepen your understanding the chemistry of interfaces.

Chemical analysis is essential in the production of oil and gas; it provides critical information for the full life cycle in the extraction of oil and gas. It provides critical data for assessing the quality of crude oil, monitoring the environment and provides information on the performance of production chemicals. In this course you will learn fundamental principles of instrumental analytical methods used in the oil and gas industry, such as infrared and UV-visible spectroscopy, chromatography, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis and X-ray powder diffraction. The course includes practical classes, in which you will get hands-on experience with relevant analytical techniques.

The discovery of novel compounds e.g. for cancer or antibacterial research and treatment is a major task in the life sciences. The key to successful characterisation of novel compounds is structure elucidation, which can be achieved by modern, advanced analytical techniques. In this course, you will learn about the background theory of analytical techniques with a focus on structural identification to gain in-depth knowledge with methods like elemental & molecular mass spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for qualitative and quantitative determinations. The course will contain lectures, tutorials and invited lectures by experts in the field.

Metals are ubiquitous in the environment and in living things. They can be essential or toxic, and can occur in traces in biota and environmental samples. For the determination of trace levels of elements, advanced analytical methods can be used, based on atomic spectrometry. This course will provide in-depth knowledge of atomic emission, absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies, and mass spectrometry, featuring qualitative and quantitative aspects. Chromatography, combined with atomic spectrometry, is featured for trace element speciation, which allows distinguishing different metal compounds with varying toxicity. The course will contain lectures, tutorials and invited lectures by experts in the field.

In this course, you will learn how to perform instrumental analysis on modern analytical equipment. The course comprises a variety of experiments with modern instrumentation including atomic absorption/emission spectrometry, mass spectrometric methods, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, gas and liquid chromatography and atomic fluorescence spectrometry in practical lab sessions. It provides experience in data collection and data handling from modern instrumentation through practical experience in environmental and life science applications. Students learn about research dissemination, funding mechanisms, quality assurance and ethical issues.

An individual research mini-project is performed in the second term within the Environmental Analytical Chemistry program. This mini-project is performed within one of the research groups in the chemistry department involved in environmental and analytical research. This can comprise a range of topics, from method development e.g. for mercury analysis, to determination of new compounds in plants. You will build on the knowledge you have acquired in the first term. The work will be mainly carried out in research groups e.g. the trace element speciation laboratory Aberdeen, TESLA, or the Marine Biodiscovery Center, MBC.

This course is tailored to provide you with research skills with a focus on problem solving and team working experience. A PPME project (Project Planning and Management Exercise) is performed, which asks for planning, managing and results delivery for teams of 2-3 students. Project topics revolve around environmental and analytical work. Workshop style assignments are held; information prioritising, (short notice briefing on an analytical problem) and writing a grant proposal for a long term investigation. The course contains laboratory classes and workshops. Oral presentations and scientific writing are part of the course assessment.

An extended research project is the last part of the Environmental Analytical Chemistry course. An individual research project topic is given to each student within the field of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry. This can comprise a range of scenarios, e.g. the life sciences, archaeology etc. You will build on the topics taught in the first parts of the degree. We aim to provide project placements in related research groups at the University of Aberdeen, or in research institutes (e.g. the Hutton Institute, Marine Lab) locally in and around Aberdeen. Projects are supervised by both a University supervisor and placement supervisor.