A laboratory worker handling test tubes

Analytical equipment for water analysis

Location: Burnaby Building

Environmental technology is the application of scientific knowledge, engineering and policy to protect the environment and address sustainability.

Our Environmental Technology Laboratory has all the analytical equipment needed for simple water tests – from biochemical oxygen demand to suspended solids, nutrient analysis, pH and conductivity.

The lab is mainly used for teaching and projects by students on engineering courses including BEng / MEng Civil EngineeringBEng Construction Project Management and MSc Civil Engineering. Students from other departments, including the School of the Environment, Geography and Geosciences and the School of Mechanical and Design Engineering, use the lab equipment for projects on an ad hoc basis.

Explore our Environmental Technology Laboratory

Equipment and amenities

  • pH meter
  • Conductivity meter
  • Field kits for nutrient analysis
  • Dissolved oxygen meter
  • Chemical oxygen demand digester and meter
  • Fume cupboard
  • Field microbiology kit for coliform testing
  • Drying ovens, fridges and incubators
  • Vacuum filtration equipment
  • High temperature furnace for heat stress tests and loss on ignition
  • Calorimeter
  • UV/Vis scanning spectrophotometer

Research

Our researchers are currently using the lab to investigate microplastics in wastewater and as indoor air pollutants, using nano technology to remove herbicides from wetlands, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination in harbours, and recycling ash waste from incineration in Energy Recovery Facilities.

Related facilities

Environmental Technology Field Station

Conduct tests and analyse samples currently in the ecosystem in a fully-operational waterworks in nearby Petersfield complete with microbiology and environmental chemistry labs.

Aerial view of the environmental technology field station
Explore Station

Geotechnics Laboratory

Our Geotechnics Laboratory – or Soils Lab – has equipment for analysing fine- and coarse-grained soils.

Geotechnics Lab
Explore lab

Geochemistry Laboratory

Trace Earth and environmental processes in this lab, using techniques including palynology processing – the study of strewn particles – for acid dissolutions of rock matrices, sample sieving and heavy liquid separation.

A river delta
Explore the lab

Where to find us

Environmental Technology Laboratory
Burnaby Building 0.16
Burnaby Road
Portsmouth
PO1 3QL