Environmental Process Engineering

Code

Course teacher

Associate teachers

Status of the course

Course objectives

Students are introduced to the theoretical concepts and the application of unit operations in environmental engineering that are necessary in a systematic problem solving of procedures related to the waste treatment. Acquired knowledge allows them to evaluate and select the optimal separation process and introduces them to equipment designing with a special emphasis on optimizing the process operating conditions.

Course enrolment requirements and entry competences required for the course

Learning outcomes expected at the level of the course (4 to 10 learning outcomes)

After passing the exam, the student are expected to:
understand the concept of sustainable development and to know how to connect the causes of pollution in the environment to the possibilities of its reduction by applying a certain specific environmental engineering process operations,
acquire the basic theoretical knowledge of an advanced separation processes that are applied in environmental engineering,
know how to apply a basic methodology of chemical engineering necessary in a selection of an appropriate processes and devices used in environmental engineering and to define and optimize the process parameters to increase process efficiency,
develop a critical approach towards a certain procedures in environmental engineering in terms of their selection, advantages, disadvantages and applications,
adopt a methodological approach in device designing that are used in environmental engineering.

Course content broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (syllabus)

1st. week: Interaction between human and environment. Natural and anthropogenic factors causing land pollution. The role of environmental engineering. Principles of sustainable development.
2nd. week: Separation processes in environmental engineering. Elementary principles of separation operations. Mechanical separations processes. Separation processes which include mass and heat transfer.
3rd. week: Structure and properties of dispersed systems. Working principles of separators. Effectiveness of separation. Product purity and yield.
4th. week: Separation based on the motion of particles through fluids. Gravity settling processes. Batch sedimentation. Rate of sedimentation. Equipment for gravity sedimentation. Sedimentation zones in continuous thickeners. Clarifier and thickener design.
5th. week: Aerated and non-aerated grit chambers. Design of grit chambers. Bar screens - types and applications. The removal of oil from wastewater by natural and by air flotation.
6th. week: Centrifugal settling processes. Principles of centrifugal sedimentation. Equipments for centrifugal sedimentation. Centrifugal decanters (tubular centrifuge, disk centrifuge, helical-conveyor centrifuge). Hydrocyclone. Centrifugal filters. Choice of centrifuge.
7th. week: Oil spill removal from aquatic environments. Behavior and effects of oil spills on the water. Spread prevention of oil spills. Booms (floating barriers) - types and application.
8th. week: Mechanical, physical and chemical methods for oil spills removal from aquatic environments. Oil skimmers.
9th. week: Aeration - principles and practice. Interphase mass transfer. Application of oxygen transfer in wastewater engineering. Equalization.
10th. week: Aerated biofilters. Aeration in biological wastewater treatment systems. Design and optimization of aeration.
11th. week: Fundamentals of solid-gas separation. Separation by rotating flow (cyclone). Flow field in a cyclone. Collection efficiency and design of cyclones. Solid-gas filtration and types of filters. Electrostatic precipitation. Mechanism of an electrostatic precipitator. Mechanisms of scrubbing and types of scrubbers
12th. week: Basic concepts of adsorption. Engineered adsorption processes in water treatment. Adsorption kinetics. Adsorber design.
13th. week: Crystallization - elementary principles. Nucleation. Crystal growth theories. Influence of process parameters on final product of crystallization. Crystallizer equipments.
14th. week: Membrane separation processes. Advantage and disadvantage of the membrane separation. Membrane types. Membrane selectivity. Mechanism of mass transfer across the membrane. Product purity and yield.
15th. week: Membrane structure. Flow patterns in membrane separators. Concentration polarization. Elementary principles of ultrafiltration, electrodialysis and reverse osmosis.
Exercises:
Laboratory exercises:
Granulometric characterization of dispersed systems by analytical functions. Gravity settling processes - determination of sedimentation rate of suspension. Geometric characteristics determination of gravity settling separator. Aeration - interphase mass transfer rate. Impact of process parameters on final product of crystallization. Membrane separation process - reverse osmosis water demineralization.
Field exercises:
Optimization of operating conditions of aerated oil and grit chambers (wastewater treatment plant Stupe - Stobreč). Determination of the suspension flow in a centrifuge with a helical-conveyor (treatment plant oily water Cian - Solin). Oil removal from water surface (oily water treatment plant Cian - Solin). Equipment for gravity sedimentation (wastewater treatment plants Sinj and Trilj). Aeration and its application in biological wastewater treatment (wastewater treatment plant Trilj). Solid-gas filtration: process parameters control of the bag filters (CEMEX - Kastel Sućurac)

Format of instruction:

Student responsibilities

Optional literature (at the time of submission of study programme proposal)

S. Tedeschi, Zaštita voda, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 1997.;
V. Koharić, Mehaničke operacije, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Zagreb, 1996.;
E. Beer, Priručnik za dimenzioniranje uređaja kemijske procesne industrije, HDKI/Kemija u industriji, Zagreb, 1994.

Quality assurance methods that ensure the acquisition of exit competences

Quality assurance will be performed at three levels:
(1) University Level;
(2) Faculty Level by Quality Control Committee;
(3) Lecturer’s Level.

Other (as the proposer wishes to add)