During her PhD studies, Anna Magdalene Brun Hansen did research on how to perform aquatic toxicity tests of cationic polymers in a standardized matter appropriate for regulation – and researched the behind laying toxic mechanisms of these “non-standard compounds”. Polymers, e.g. used in wastewater treatment and consumerproducts, will most likely be included in European chemical regulation “REACH”, such as registration and evaluation, with the upcoming revision of REACH. Anna Magdalene Brun Hansen studied testing subset of the widely used polyquaterniums, a group of cationic polymers, that previously have shown to be toxic to aquatic organisms but also difficult to test due to their sorptive nature. Furthermore, Anna Magdalene Brun Hansen studied the relatively unknown behind laying toxic mechanisms of these polymers.

The findings of this PhD contribute to the knowledge on appropriate testing of these compound supporting regulatory inclusion and cast light upon how polyquaterniums may act toxic to aquatic organisms.

The PhD study was completed at Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Monday, 19 June 2023 at 10.00
Place: Room D1.46, Risø Campus, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus Universitet, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde
Title of PhD thesis: Aquatic toxicity testing of cationic polymers

Contact information: Anna Magdalene Brun Hansen, e-mail: annamagdalene@hotmail.com, tel.: +45 20 73 19 78

Members of the assessment committee:
Group Leader Ksenia Groh, Departments Environmental Toxicology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland 

Senior researcher Nanna B. Hartmann, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering

Professor Kai Bester (Chair), Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark

Main supervisor:
Senior researcher Hans Sanderson, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark

Co-supervisors:
Associate professor Martin Hansen, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark

Scientist Kristin Connors, Global Product Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Organization at the Procter & Gamble Company, USA

Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defense is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS,

Jens Baggesens Vej 53, building 5221, 8200 Aarhus N.