Malte PosseltAssistant Professor

About me

I am an environmental chemist with a background in analytical chemistry, biology and ecotoxicology. My research focuses on organic pollutants in the aquatic environment. This includes pesticides, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals and many more. We develop new high-resolution methods to trace them down and try to understand where they come from and how they behave in the environment. We identify substances or breakdown products that are particularly problematic and look for solutions to counteract the risks.

We combine elements of environmental analytical chemistry, microbiology, biogeochemistry, hydrology and scientific modelling in our projects.

Some of our current research questions:

• Why are some rivers better than others at removing pollutants?
• How will the climate breakdown affect the quality of our drinking water resources and how can we prepare for that?
• Under what conditions do pollutant-degrading microorganisms work most effectively?
• Which factors control the removal efficiency of household chemicals in wastewater treatment plants?
• What is the best way to measure and compare biotransformation in the environment?

Research projects

Ongoing

Completed

Biodegradation of Organic Micropollutants in Rivers

The self-purification capacity of rivers is an important ecosystem service (ES). Dominated by microbial biodegradation it eliminates stable and mobile contaminants from the water cycle. The project aims for a first systematic assessment of the ES in 20 rivers for hundreds of micropollutants.

A test to assess chemical persistence in the natural environment

We will optimize a simple laboratory test that measures chemical persistence in water-sediment suspensions and apply this test in diverse aquatic environments with the overarching objective of developing guidance for its use in regulation.

Environmental relevance in biotransformation

We aim to move biotransformation assessment from a non-relevant half-life applied undifferentiated across space and time to an environmentally relevant test result that can be extrapolated using a sound scientific framework.