The Environment in a Magnet : Applications of NMR Techniques to Environmental Problems

Global climate change is the most important challenge humankind is facing in the modern era. One of the main scientific concerns is the monitoring of contaminants in the environment, which require the right environmental remediation strategies. In this context, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques have a very important role in enabling the discovery of how pollutants are transformed, how they can move and how they can affect human health. This book discusses the present and the future perspectives of NMR techniques for environmental evaluations. It covers, amongst other topics, the importance of NMR as a contamination discovery tool, how to improve sensitivity in environmental NMR, and multiphase NMR for measurement of samples in their natural state. Samples include lubricant oils, soils and porous media. Due to the direct relationship between the environment and human health, there is information dedicated to the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to monitor human health as related to environmental pollution. There is also a chapter on how NMR is used in cultural heritage to measure artefacts directly affected by environmental pollution. Filling a gap in the literature, the book is for researchers explaining how to apply their knowledge of NMR techniques to solve environmental problems, and for students who want to deepen their understanding of this topic.