SANITARY & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- PAOLA VERLICCHI
- Credits
- 9
- Curriculum
- AMBIENTALE
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- ICAR/03
Training objectives
- The course of Environmental & Sanitary Engineering aims to provide the students the principles of the treatment of wastewater, water and gaseous emissions and choice criteria in case of design of treatment lines.
The different topics addressed in the course will be presented with the aim of favoring in the student the awareness that when a treatment plant has to be designed, upgraded or revamped, an in-depth knowledge of treatment principles is necessary, and final choices have to be economically and technically convenient and rely on different constraints, including technical, economic, legal, logistic ones.
The critical analysis of case studies will allow the student to focus on the adopted choices in the specific situations and also to find potential alternatives economically and technically feasible.
Students who will have attended and passed the exam will be able to verify and design treatment plant for wastewater, drinking water as well as gaseous emissions. In particolar he will be able to:
1) carefully and critically analyze if a proposed treatment line for water, wastewater and gaseous effluents is adequate to fulfill legal requirements in case of direct discharge in surface water body or directly reused;
2) propose a rough design of treatment stages for wastewater, drinking water or gaseous emission
3) verify the purification capacity with regard to flow rate and characteristics of the feeding,
4) carry out simple technical and economic feasibility evaluations. Prerequisites
- Knowledge of basic and applied chemistry and modelling are required.
Course programme
- The course consists of 9 CFU and lasts 90 hours including lessons and training. Addressed topics refer to four main spheres:
Wastewater (70 % of the hours): characterization, flow rate evaluation and variation, pollutant concentration and load in the discharge. Principles of the biological treatment: kinetics of growth and of organic substrate degradation. Legal constraints in force for discharge and direct reuse. Preliminary, primary, secondary and polishing treatments, focus on disinfection options and potential disinfection byproducts generated. Sludge management and treatments. Disposal of wastewater treatment plant residues and potential impacts on the surface water and in the environment. Examples of treatment lines for wastewater in case of discharge and direct reuse. Lifespan of civil and electro-mechanics equipments.Depreciation. Investment costs, operation and maintenance costs. Discussion of case studies including technical and economic issues. Cost-benefit analysis of a reuse project.
Drinkable waters (20 %): specific request, water consumption, drinkable sources and related water characteristics. Legislation referring to drinkable water. Treatments for the removal of the main pollutants (Fe, Mn, microorganisms, viruses, micropollutants). Safety treatments and safety measures. Online chlorination. Measures to be taken in case of contamination by arsenic, hydrocarbons, asbestos.
Gaseous emission treatment (10 %): types of pollutants (particulate, aerosol, gas/vapors). Dry and wet treatments. Principles of operation and removal efficiencies of gravity chambers, cyclones, multi-cyclones, electrofilters, baghouses; scrubbers, absorption columns, adsorption beds, condensation systems; oxidation and incineration. Torches as a safety equipment. Treatment for odor removal. The case of a wastewater treatment plant: air collection (quantification), biological treatments by insufflations in the aeration tank, biofiltration, activated carbon adsorption. Discussion of case studies. Analysis of investment and operational and maintenance costs for the main kinds of treatment.
Lessons will include training hours in which design of simple parts of a wastewater or gas emission treatment plant will be developed as well as applications of risk analysis techniques in case of a release of a toxic compound, a fire or an explosion occurs in a facility or a malfunction may happen in a wastewater treatment plant. Didactic methods
- Lessons will be held in classroom (if possible) or via Google meet (due to sanitary emergency related to COVID-19). In this last case, the link to which connect to follow the lessons will be promptly provided. Slides will be shown and discussed for the different issues covered during the course, simple designs of treatment stage will be solved and verification of the functioning of existing plant in case of changes in the plant influent.
Wastewater treatment plant catalogues will be presented and discussed. If possible, technical visits to wastewater treatment plants and water works will be organized.
Finally, if possible a seminar will be held by an expert in the sector of urban water cycle in order to discuss a specific theme. Learning assessment procedures
- Final examination is oral. The student will demonstrate to have acquired knowledge and critically analyzed the concepts and the theory developed during the course. The examination consists of:
1. knowledge testing through questions pertinent to the program topics also including a discussion of a case study referring to wastewater treatment plant (analysis of the treatment train, strengths and weaknesses of the selected treatment, expected removal efficiencies for the main pollutants, potential impact on the receiving water body. Changes to the treatment train in case the effluent should be directly reused for agricultural or industrial needs) (max 10 points).
2. Resolution of a simple case of design of a treatment step of a polluted stream (max 10 points)
3. In addition a “minor research” on a specific topic selected by the student completes the examination. Students have the possibility to present this topic in Italian or in English (Knowledge of English language and in particular of technical and scientific English will not be considered in the final evaluation).
To help and facilitate the topic choice, students will receive additional materials and information on useful reports, papers, and web sites regarding issues addressed during lessons. Students can prepare a track that is a short powerpoint presentation to be discussed during the examination (max 10 points).
The score for each of the listed issues will be assigned on the basis of:
a. acquired knowledge: the student is oriented themselves in the context of reference of the questions, responding promptly and in an appropriate manner.
b. skills- in particular processing ability (that is the ability to make connections between topics, references to incidents of pollution/clean-up occurred and also to recent events, not necessarily discussed in the classroom);
c. critical skills in dealing with the discussed topics (the student demonstrates that he/she have grasped potentialities and criticisms for the different treatment of wastewater, drinking water and gas streams, including advantages and disadvantages),
d. analysis and synthesis abilities in dealing with a topic.
The student will pass the examination if the score for each point is at least 6 out of 10. The final score will be defined as the average among the three assigned scores. Reference texts
- Reference texts:
Masotti L., Verlicchi P., Depurazione delle acque di piccole comunità, Hoepli, ISBN 88-203-2963-8, 2005
Vismara R., Depurazione biologica, Hoepli, 1998, ISBN 88-203-2545-4
Bianucci G., Ribaldoni Bianucci E., Il trattamento delle acque residue industriali e agricole, Hoepli, 1992
Metcalf and Eddy, Wastewater Engineering, Treatment disposal reuse, McGraw Hill International Editions, 1991
Mazzali P., Inquinamento atmosferico Origine, prevenzione e controllo, Pitagora editrice, Bologna, 1989.
Collivignarelli C., Bertanza G., Ingegneria Sanitaria e Ambientale, CittàStudiEdizioni, 2012
CCPS, Guidelines for Hazardous Procedures, 3ed Ed., Wiley, 2008
SLides given during the course on the topics addressed.
To deepen knowledge:
Metcalf & Eddy (1991) Wastewater Engineering- Treatment Disposal Reuse . McGraw – Hill.
During the course I will provide additional references (and websites) of interest to students of subjects at their request (technical manuals, books, magazine articles, reports).
