A research focus area in the department is chemical and biological transformation of chemical compounds. We focus in particular on the remediation of man-made pollutants and their effects on living organisms in water and soil. It is an area with increasing importance due to the increasing number of chemicals, the growing size of the population and the increased pressure on land and water resources.

At the institute, we work with themes such as:

• Pollutants and their transformation products in groundwater
• Microbial degradation and biotechnology solutions for purification of pollutants in drinking water.
• The role of microbial communities in degradation of pollutant in wastewater, soil, groundwater and drinking water
• Investigation of the degradation potential of individual microbial species
• Isolation of degradation bacteria or fungi for use in e.g. bioremediation
• Microbial degradation pathways, enzymatic 'tools' and genes.
• Degradation of micro-pollutants in wastewater

Research into the removal of pollutants as well as technologies for this requires collaboration across disciplines to obtain adequate knowledge and holistic solutions. Department of Environmental Science has over the years developed a strong scientific environment in the decomposition of pollutants in wastewater, surface water and groundwater as well as soil.