The course focuses on the remediation of contaminated sites and is intended for students of the Master program in Environment and Land Engineering. The topics covered in the course are related to how contaminants may be released, migrate, and be removed from a contaminated site, with a specific focus on industrial contaminations. The remediation approaches suitable for the reclamation of a contaminated area are strictly related to how the contaminants interact with the environmental matrices (in particular, soil and groundwater); this is the topic of the introductory part of the course. Human health risk assessment tools are used to quantify potential risks associated to a contaminated site, and to identify the remediation targets: part of the course will focus on risk assessment approaches and available tools for their application. The second part of the course will be dedicated to the remediation technologies nowadays available for the reclamation of soil and groundwater, including the main characteristics of the technologies, the design approaches, the applicability constraints, and the criteria to select the most appropriate remediation technologies for specific contaminated sites.

The course aims at providing the knowledge and skills needed to identify the best remediation approaches for a contaminated site, and to perform a preliminary design of the remediation. In particular, the student will learn how to identify the source of contamination, the potential migration pathways, and ultimately on how to develop a conceptual model of the site; the procedures to be followed to identify whether a site is contaminated, and to define the remediation targets (human health risk assessment); how the site characteristics may affect the contaminant migration and the applicability of the different remediation technologies; the characteristics, applicability conditions, advantages and disadvantages of the available remediation technologies. At the end of the course, the students will be able to select the most appropriate technologies for a specific case; to apply the design criteria for the different remediation technologies; to use common modeling tools for risk assessment and groundwater remediation design.

The course is intended for students in the second year of the Master program in Environment and Land Engineering. As a consequence, students are expected to have basic knowledge in chemistry, geology/hydrogeology, groundwater engineering.

The course will focus on the following topics: - Introduction (9 hours): properties of pollutants, soil and groundwater; contaminant transport in the subsoil, degradation mechanisms; mass balances. - Law procedures for contaminated sites and risk assessment (10 h): procedures for the characterization and remediation activities of a contaminated site; human health risk assessment procedures. - Basic principles of remediation technologies (3 h): physical, biological and chemical remediation approaches; classification of remediation treatments: in situ, on site, off site; conceptual models. - Remediation technologies for soil and groundwater (23 h), including technology description and design criteria: technologies based on gas-liquid exchange and physical removal of contaminated matrices: air sparging, soil venting, soil vapour extraction, dual phase extraction, bioslurping, pump and treat; technologies based on chemical degradation or immobilization of the contaminants: permeable reactive barriers, oxidation/reduction via in situ injection of reactants, chemical washing; physical-chemical technologies: soil washing, solidification and stabilization, incineration, impermeable barriers. - Numerical models as a support for remediation design (12 h): introduction to groundwater numerical modeling; use of numerical models for the design of Pump and Treat and permeable/impermeable barriers. -Criteria for the selection of the most appropriate remediation techniques (3 h), based on site and contaminant properties and remediation targets.

The course include classes and exercises. Classes discuss the theory of the abovementioned topics, including examples of real cases, for a total of 40 hours. Exercises (20 hours in total) will include: - exercises guided by the lecturer, including mass balances, contaminant degradation, preliminary design of a permeable reactive barrier, preliminary design of in situ injection of reactants; - use of a software for human health risk assessment; - use of the software Visual Modflow for groundwater flow problems, applied to the design of Pump and Treat and permeable/impermeable barriers.

The course material necessary for the preparation of the exam will be provided directly on the student portal, and includes slides of all classes and tutorial of Visual Modflow. Additional material (not compulsory for the final exam) will also be provided, concerning description, design criteria and application guidelines of the remediation technologies discussed during the course, further readings on selected case studies. For further studies, the students can also refer to the following books concerning prerequisites and the course topics (not compulsory readings): Di Molfetta A. and Sethi R. (2012), Ingegneria degli Acquiferi. Springer. Fetter C. W. (2014), Applied Hydrogeology. Fourth Edition. Pearson Ed. Suthersan S. et al.. (2017) Remediation engineering: design concepts. Second Edition. CRC Press.

Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula); Elaborato scritto individuale;

Exam: Written test; Individual essay;

... The exam aims at verify whether the student has learnt and understood the topics of the course, and how to use information and quantitative tools acquired during the course to contaminated sites remediation, with specific reference to the expected learning outcomes described above. The exam consists in a written test, with maximum score of 30/30, and in the evaluation of an individual report on the exercises carried out during the course using the modeling tools discussed above (maximum score for the report: 2). The final score is calculated as the sum of the written test and individual report results (so the maximum can be 32/30; scores equal to 30.5 or higher result in 30 cum laude). The written test consist in 6 questions, to be answered in 1.5 hours. The questions include: - 1 or 2 written exercises, where the student is requested to solve a simple problem, applying the equations and concepts discussed during the exercises performed during the year (esercitazioni in aula), or simple equations/concept discussed during theoretical classes; - 2 or 3 questions concerning the theory discussed during the course; - 1 "real case" exercise, where basic information on a contaminated site is provided (characteristics of the site and of the contamination), and the student is requested to propose one or more remediation approaches. During the exam the students cannot use personal notes, books, or any written material. They can use only a calculator. The report on the modeling exercises can be individual, or prepared jointly by a maximum of 2 students. The report includes the results and a brief discussion of selected exercises performed during the course with the support of the professor. The students can take the written exam only if the report have been submitted before the exam (deadline: 5 working days before the written exam).

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.