Training in the use of gc-ms TECHNIQUES in environmental chemistry

Within the cooperation between the University of Tirana and the University of Zürich the limnology of the Bovilla drinking water reservoir was investigated. To analyze the earthy smell and fouling odors which came up recently, a gas-chromatograph equipped with a MS/MS mass-spectrometric detector could be bought with the support of the Lotteriefonds of the Kanton Zürich. This will allow to analyze qualitatively and quantitatively the nasty volatiles in the drinking water, in cooperation with the drinking water treatment plant.
Loreta Vallja, a Ph.D. student of the Analytical Chemistry of the University of Tirana, has recently obtained her M.Sci. with a thesis on the nutrients in the sediments of the Bovilla reservoir. In her stay in Zürich she will be trained in the technique of GC-MS to be able later to properly run the analyses of volatiles in the water of the reservoir and become furthermore analytical expert for further project in environmental analysis. She will participate in practical lab-work with several specialists in GC-analysis to cover all aspects of the method, in the Institutes of organic Chemistry, of Botany, in the labs of the State Laboratory of Zürich   (Kantonschemiker) and the Water Supply of the town of Zürich.

Contact persons
Prof. Dr. Reinhard Bachofen, Institute for Plant Biology, University of Zurich. Zollikerstr. 107, CH 8008 Zürich. Tel.: ++4144 634 82 80; bachofen@botinst.uzh.ch

Prof. Dr. A. Cullaj, Head of the Section Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences (www.fshn.edu.al), Tirana University, Albania. Tel. + (355) 4 238843;  acullaj@albmail.com

   
Loreta Vallja, working on a boat on Bovilla Lake, the drinking water reservoir of Tirana city (Albania)