About Us

Introduction

The Research Center for Environmental Toxic and Emerging Contaminant was proactively transferred from previous Super Micro Mass Research & Technology Center. Currently, there are about 130 full-time, contract, and part-time employees, with one senior professor as an active director who is in charge of overall development and management of the center. Two deputy directors are responsible for inter-units cooperation and connection on campus, and coordination among working groups, laboratories, and administrative staffs, respectively.

This center combined former Super Micro Mass Research & Technology Center and Biotechnology Research Center which supervises such units as Technology Research, Innovation, and Incubation, Environmental Testing Laboratory, Food, and Drug Laboratory, and supporting administration, all with professional staffs from fields of Environment Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Food Industry. International and young talents are also invited to join the Unit for Technology Research and Innovation and Incubation, or Unit for Advance Technology Research.

Based on the six essential Sustainable Development items out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the United Nations. The University has established Ultra Micro Research Center from 1999, with a continuous commitment to sustainable environment research, including fields as air, waste, water/drinking water, soil, groundwater, environmental impact assessment, health risk assessment, food, and drug test, renewable energy technology. This center is capable of conducting 528 checks for the environment, 32 trials for food, 26 items for the aqua drug test, together with 192 tests from six major categories which are controlled by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) under International Olympic Committee (IOC). The center is proud to be the significant qualified laboratory for Environment Protection Administration (EPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the government, and also for Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF).

Although high-level technology and Biomedical industry have been prosperously developed in Taiwan, we still suffer environmental impact from diversified emerging contaminant immature tests, with the absence of overall capability to assess the environment and health risk. It is needed to enhance consultation, assistance, and improvement to those possible resources of contaminants. Therefore, it is planned to transform this center to be an agent of the Center for Environmental Toxin and Emerging-Contaminant Research (CENTER) with continuous effort to promote cross-campus and cross-fields cooperation to explore most progressive analytical technology to confront emerging issues from environment and food safety.

Advanced and complete laboratory space and equipment
This center is located at 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 10th floor of Administration Building and Green House, all configured with laboratories.

1. Technology Research Unit and Innovation Incubation Unit are configured with one office to accommodate 15 research staff, one meeting room, and all the conference rooms, classrooms, and outer public spaces managed by the school.

2.Environment Test Laboratory: 2 laboratories for Dioxin test, 3 Cleaning Rooms (for Granular contaminants, ICP/MS, and Organic Mercury), two laboratories for Organic Analysis, two laboratories for Inorganic analysis, 2 Preparation rooms for Environmental Sampling.

3.Food and Drug Laboratory: there are two laboratories, one of them is Laboratory for Doping Analysis and Control.

4.Important center equipment as follows:

Comprehensive Professional Services
This center continuously committed to research areas that concerning environmental issues for years, such as persistent contaminants, ecological investigation and impact assessment, soil and groundwater pollution identification, integrated analysis of air pollution traceability and control, Environmental Epidemiology, and health risk assessment, alternative energy and Food Testing Technology. 
Dioxin and persistent contaminants: Dioxin and persistent pollutant testing technologies are the strengths of this center. Annually, this center participates international comparison contest. For example, in 2016 on Accuracy Analysis Contest of Fly Ash Dioxin, this center was ranked 2nd out of 80 international laboratories. And ranked 1st and 2nd on fodder and Bottom mud Dioxin, respectively. After that, build up the internal Dioxin database.

The Comparison result on pertinent organic contaminant detection technology with other international laboratories
From 2012 to 2015, this center acquired important information about the long-distance transmission of contaminants by joining Seven southeast Asian Studies Mission (7-SEAS) of NASA. This center also published research results on top journals, such as Environ. Sci. Technol of its long-term commitment to technology of reducing pertinent contaminant discharge.

●Environmental Surveillance and Impact Assessment：
It includes air quality, noise, vibration, low-frequency noise, sampling analysis of seawater quality and sea bottom, investigation of marine ecology, and terrestrial ecology (includes underwater photography). Also, put efforts on cross-strait large research projects. And together with the Chinese Antarctic Science Office, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, National Dong Hwa University to organize a scientific expedition team onboard Xue Long to undertake exploration research on the Antarctic. Where animal environmental media and Antarctic soil are investigated and destined, the global transmission of the relevant contaminant is also analyzed. Surprisingly, we were able to identify two new species of marine invertebrates.
 

●Integrated analysis for Air and Soil and water pollution：
Methods are designed for air and soil/water pollution on-site investigation, monitor, ingredient comparison, model simulation, and molecular biotechnology, and study of pollution flow distribution and source distribution. We have trained five expertise for soil investigation and assessment. Research results are articles submitted to top international journals, such as Sci. Total Environ.

●Environmental Epidemiology and Health Risk Assessment：
This center studies the influence of contaminant discharge to the health risk in the neighborhood of a specific community by checking the resident’s blood for Dioxin and Polychlorinated Biphenyl and also check urine for heavy metal concentration. And then recommend reducing the discharge of carcinogens according to Health Risk Assessment Technical Specification by the government.

●Alternative Energy Technology：
Study on adding water containing Acetone-Butano1-Ethanol fermented products and recycled solvent-containing wastewater to diesel and heavy oil, not only can reduce purification cost and particle material (PM), but also lower the discharge of Nitrogen oxides (NOx) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) therefore effectively improve the problem of NOx-PM trade-off. The result of this study was published in top international journals, such as Appl. Energy.
 

●Multiple control technology of Air pollutants：
Integrating catalyst redox and filtration technology through catalyst carrier wick modification, catalyst formulation improvement, and optimization of operating parameters to obtain processing module for multiple contaminants in the hope of removing Dioxin, PM2.5, NOx, SO2 and VOCs in smoke flow to acquire the better result of Dioxin and PM remove.

●Food and Doping Detection Technology：
Develop detection technology for eight nutrition facts, preservative, sweetener, illegal additives (Methyl yellow, DMAD,.etc), microorganisms, and heavy metals. Then provide technical services and professional consultation to State-owned businesses, a regional agricultural cooperative, food company, academic institutes, and detection industry.

●Sports Doping and Drug Testing Technology：
This center has developed detection technology for 26 drugs (emerging contaminant), 192 sports doping prohibited by the International Olympic Committee, and animal medicine. This center is the only laboratory in Taiwan that is authorized by IOC for sports doping detection. And, not the less, this center provides consistent support to Judicial unit and Sports Associations for the drug of urine and drug screening.