My Research: Environmental Chemistry

This page shows the activities that I was involved in as a student and as well as at the different work environments with focus on environment and pollution.

In 2013, my colleagues and I conducted a study of the pollutants in free flowing water around Cranfield University - Shrivenham. This was part of a research study leading to completion of my MSc. It involved sampling simulated point sources of pollution in order to identify pollutants that were affecting crop yield on farms around the downstream side of the water stream. It was a wonderful experience and I gained skills of sampling point sources, sample pre-treatment, analysis and interpretation of results from GC/MS. This boosted my out-put as an employee when I worked as a Forensic Chemist.

PolyBrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are a group of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) used as flame retardants in polyurethane (PUR) foam and plastics mainly in transport sector (cars, buses and trucks) and polymers which were used in the cathode ray tube (CRT) computer and TV castings. This is true for vehicles and Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) produced before 2005. To update the National Implementation Plan (NIP) in Uganda under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, a team of scientists was hired to screen for POP-PBDEs in 2014. My role was to operate the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrument that screened for all Brominated materials in vehicle foam, CRT Tvs and computers and interpret data for the team. The findings were published in 2016 by UNIDO (Ugandan report, pg41-50) under chapter 2.3.3 here.

In 2014, my colleagues and I under HYPA consortium a research group within the Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory - Ministry of Internal Affairs - Uganda, received a part funding from Black Smith Institute to aid us complete a research we had started. The research was about practices by farmers of fruits and vegetables and effectiveness in using herbicides and fungicides. We focused on Mancozeb, a common fungicide used on tomatoes. Our findings were published in 2015 and can be accessed here.