Caricamento in corso...
Environmental Engineering
01DRSTR
A.A. 2024/25
Course Language
Inglese
Degree programme(s)
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Civil And Environmental Engineering - Torino
Course structure
| Teaching | Hours |
|---|---|
| Lezioni | 80 |
| Esercitazioni in aula | 20 |
Lecturers
| Teacher | Status | SSD | h.Les | h.Ex | h.Lab | h.Tut | Years teaching |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casasso Alessandro | Professore Associato | CEAR-02/A | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Co-lectures
Context
| SSD | CFU | Activities | Area context | ICAR/03 | 10 | B - Caratterizzanti | Ingegneria ambientale e del territorio |
|---|
2023/24
The aim of the course is to build the basic knowledge concerning organic and inorganic pollutants and the related possible interaction with the environment due to physical and chemical properties. The main sources of pollutants will be examined too. Applied treatments concerning waste, waters and gaseous emissions will be presented with the objective to increase the environmental sustainability of activities and processes involving environmental and civil engineers.
Environmental engineering addresses the interaction between anthropogenic activities and the environment, focusing on the avoidance, the mitigation, and the remediation of negative impacts.
This course aims at providing with basic knowledge and skills in some of the main sectors of environmental engineering, namely: pollutants and their dispersion, wastewater treatment, air pollution control, solid waste management, and subsurface remediation.
The focus of the course will be on wastewater treatment and waste management, stressing the relationship between quantities and parameters, and providing students with basic skills on sizing and design of plants and systems.
The course is composed of theoretical lectures with several practical examples, exercise classes, and a guided technical tour at a wastewater treatment plant and a municipal solid waste incinerator.
The students will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to understand and evaluate the criticalities deriving from the interaction between anthropic activities and environmental matrices and to select the proper treatment technologies in order to avoid any environmental damages. He/she will be able to perform preliminary dimensioning concerning waste, wastewater and gaseous emissions plants.
The students will achieve a basic knowledge of:
- pollutants and main pollution phenomena; contaminant dispersion mechanisms in the subsurface, in surface waters, and in the air.
- wastewater treatment plants, with a focus on civil wastewater treatment and hints on industrial wastewater treatment and innovative (membrane, advanced oxidation) and nature-based solutions (wetlands, lagoons).
- air pollution control for the abatement of dust (cyclones, electrostatic precipitators, scrubbers, and bag filters), pollutant gases (absorption, adsorption and thermal/catalytic conversion, NOx and SOx abatement), and odours (biofilters).
- solid waste management(prevention, reuse, material recycling, energy recycling, final disposal in landfill).
- soil and groundwater remediation (physical, chemical and biological processes)
The students will achieve basic skills on:
- calculating and converting concentrations, degradation kinetics, mass and energy balances.
- sizing single sections of a wastewater treatment plant and, overall, a civil wastewater treatment plant.
- sizing waste treatment systems.
Fundamental knowledge of chemistry and physics are compulsory.
Fundamental knowledge of chemistry and physics is required.
Introduction: Organic and inorganic pollutants and related properties. Interaction with soil, water and air. Main pollutants sources (1,5 cfu);
Measure units, reaction kinetics, mass balances, concentration balances, energy balances, ideal reactors (1,5 cfu);
Water and wastewater treatment (2 cfu)
• primary treatments: equalization, separation of coarse solids, sedimentation, flotation;
• biological treatments: aerobic fermentation, anaerobic fermentation, suspended and adhered
biomass systems;
• tertiary treatments: nitrification, denitrification, dephosphating, adsorption, disinfection, filtration, chemical and membrane treatment.
Gaseous effluents (0.5 cfu):
• particulate removal: cyclones, mechanical filters, electrofilters, washing towers; - gas removal: absorption, adsorption, oxidation, biofiltration; - chemical treatments: catalytic conversion, combustion.
Solid effluents and waste (1,5 cfu):
• material recovery: material recycling, conditioning, leaching;
• energy recovery: incineration; inertization;
• biological processes: composting, anaerobic fermentation.
Polluted soil (1 cfu):
• Characterization and risk analysis
• Remediation technologies
Applied cases and preliminary dimensioning (2 cfu)
1) Environmental pollution (6 hours):
a. Introduction to environmental pollution in soil, water, and air.
b. Chemical classification of main pollutants.
c. Main pollutants sources: point and non-point, urban, agricultural, and industrial, source apportionment of pollutants.
2) Basic quantities (6 hours): Measure units, reaction kinetics, mass balances, concentration balances, energy balances, ideal reactors.
3) Basics of pollutant dispersion (12 hours):
a. Soil: molecular diffusion, advection, kinematic dispersion, sorption, degradation.
b. Water: pollutant diffusion in river, lake dynamics.
c. Air: Gaussian plumes and Pasquill classes.
4) Water and wastewater treatment (24 hours):
a. Introduction to wastewater treatment: civil and industrial plants, basic regulation, typical schemes of civil WWTP.
b. Wastewater parameters (BOD, COD…)
c. Primary treatments: equalization, separation of coarse solids, sedimentation, flotation.
d. Biological treatments: aerobic fermentation, nitrification and denitrification, phosphorous removal, suspended and adhered biomass systems.
e. Tertiary treatments: adsorption, filtration, coagulation and precipitation, disinfection.
f. Membrane separation.
g. Advanced oxidation processes.
h. Constructed wetlands and lagoons.
5) Air pollution control (6 hours):
a. Particulate removal: cyclones, electrostatic precipitators (ESP), scrubbers, bag filters.
b. Gas removal: absorption, adsorption, thermal and catalytic oxidation, NOx abatement with SNCR and SCR, biofiltration.
6) Solid waste management (21 hours):
a. Solid waste production and management in the EU countries (in account with the EU Directive)
b. Solid wastes reuse and material recovery: separate collection and material recycling,
c. Energy recovery, with thermal treatment (incineration, gasification, pyrolysis)and with biological processes (composting, anaerobic fermentation)
d. Final disposal in landfill
7) Contaminated site management (12 hours):
a. Soil and groundwater characterization
b. Environmental health risk assessment and risk-based correction actions
c. Soil and groundwater remediation techniques (in-situ, on-site and ex-situ approaches)
8) One-day (6 hours) trip for technical visits at a MSW incinerator and a wastewater treatment plant.
9) Exercises (7 hours): sizing of the wastewater treatment plant of Turin – Castiglione Torinese., sizing of the Turin MSW treatment. The other exercise classes are distributed among the other course topics.
The course is 100 hours long and it is organised as follows: about 70 hours are dedicated to lectures about fundamental and technical knowledges. During lectures students are often involved with questions and exercises carried out individually but discussed with the whole group of students to assess the comprehension of principles and theory. Around 15 hours are dedicated to applied cases that will be presented and discussed all together but will be developed and solved in groups working also outside the class hours. This activity has the task of developing students competence and solving capability of real environmental problems. About 5 hours are dedicated to seminars performed by enteprises working in environmental field and presenting applied cases.
A total of 100 hours of classes is foreseen, with about 70 hours of theoretical lectures, 20 hours of exercises, and a one-day trip for technical guided tours.
Material available on the web (portale della didattica): lecture slides, limited portions of reference books; scientific papers as further readings.
Material available on the web (portale della didattica): lecture slides, freely available reports, and scientific papers.
Slides; Esercizi; Esercizi risolti;
Lecture slides; Exercises; Exercise with solutions ;
E' possibile sostenere l’esame in anticipo rispetto all’acquisizione della frequenza
You can take this exam before attending the course
Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula);
Exam: Written test;
...
In order to verify the apprehension of the presented topics and the capacity to deal with practical applications, a traditional exam in written and oral form is used. In general to the student in the written exam two main arguments are proposed, and as concerns these arguments some questions concerning theoretical basis for the technologies or possibilities of application are asked in order to check the maturity level that has been obtained by students. The written exam lasts 75 minutes and the maximum mark is 30. The oral is facultative and consists in one question on the topics examined during the lectures. By means of the oral it is possible to add/decrease up to 3 points. The final mark takes into account also the group works performed during the lesson period. An excellent judgement in the group works may add until 2 points to the final mark. Without the existence of the group works it is not possible to give the exam.
The final evaluation is based on the apprehension capacity that has been demonstrated, on the quality of presentation, on the demonstration of the acquired capacity to apply to specific practical cases .
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.
Exam: Written test;
The exam will be written with an overall of 32 points, and composed of:
- One exercise on the sizing of one or more sections of a wastewater treatment plant (6 points)
- One exercise on basic sizing of solid waste treatment (6 points)
- 4 multiple-answer questions (2 points each, 8 points overall)
- 3 open questions (4 points each, 12 points overall)
The students will be allowed to bring a non-programmable calculator. Of course, no further electronical devices are admitted at the exam.
The exercises will be similar to those performed in the classes and will cover only wastewater treatment and solid waste management. On the other hand, multiple-answer and open questions will cover all topics, unless diversely specified by the main course teacher.
No oral exam is foreseen.
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.