91��ý

Almaty, situated at the foot of the Zailiysky Alatau mountains, is one of the most polluted areas in Kazakhstan. With a population exceeding 2.2 million, rapid urbanization is driving increased emissions of both anthropogenic and biogenic pollutants, yet research in this field remains limited.

Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) account for 75-90% of global VOC emissions and directly contribute to ozone formation and secondary organic aerosols. Heavy metals likewise pose serious risks to ecosystems and human health. A combined study of both pollutant groups has not previously been conducted in Kazakhstan.

To develop methods for analyzing BVOCs and inorganic elements in environmental samples based on dynamic headspace sampling (DHS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES).

The project will be one of the first attempts to study BVOCs from natural water bodies (Big Almaty Lake, Esentai River, Sairan Lake) and soils in Kazakhstan. Combining DHS and ICP-OES enables comprehensive, simultaneous assessment of organic and inorganic pollutants.

• Develop a DHS-GC/MS method for BVOC analysis (2-pentanone, dibromomethane, α-pinene, Δ3-carene, nonanal);
• Develop an ICP-OES method for heavy metal analysis;
• Validate the methods on real water and soil samples;
• Assess matrix effects on the accuracy of DHS methods.

The study uses DHS sorbent tube sampling, GC-MS for desorption and detection, and ICP-OES for elemental analysis. Data will be processed using Agilent's ChemStation, MassHunter, and ICP Expert software.

The project is carried out in partnership with the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University, Denmark. Results will be presented at the ExTech2025 (Mülheim, Germany) and European Sample Preparation Conference (Barcelona, Spain).

The developed methods will help public and private organizations reduce pollution-monitoring costs and improve the environmental efficiency of industrial processes, while strengthening Kazakhstan's contribution to international climate initiatives such as the Paris Agreement.

The project will produce two articles published in journals ranked Q1-Q3 in Web of Science or with a CiteScore percentile of at least 50 in Scopus (e.g., Microchemical Journal, Analytica Chimica Acta).

Spanning 36 months (2025-2027), the project will enhance environmental monitoring in the Almaty region and generate new scientific data on BVOCs and heavy metals.