10584 - Environmental Physical Chemistry

Academic Year 2019/2020

  • Docente: Alberto Modelli
  • Credits: 3
  • SSD: CHIM/02
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Ravenna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Environmental Sciences (cod. 8011)

Learning outcomes

Comprehension of the fundamental principles of mass and energy balances involved in transport processes, knowledge of environmentally important physico-chemical processes.

Course contents

Mass balance. Liquid emptying times from containers, liquid phase pollutant removal. Molecular diffusion, Fick's laws, factors determining the diffusivity coefficient. Turbulent diffusion, atmospheric stability, Pasquill's model for the dispersion of gaseous pollutants emitted from a stack, pollutant concentration at ground level downwind. Computer simulations to evaluate the effects of important parameters on the ground-level concentrations. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and Fujimoto's method. Urban wastewater treatment, biological reactor with microorganism recycle in an activated sludge system, mass balance under  steady-state conditions. Overall energy balance, Bernoulli equation. Rarefaction of air with altitude, pressure increase with depth in water. Air cooling with increasing altitude. Vertical distribution of gaseous components in the atmosphere. Thermal energy, transport by conduction, convection, irradiation. Greenhouse effect. Problems of ozone and photochemical smog. Air pollutants from combustion processes, efficiency of petrol and diesel engines. Thermal pollution, efficiency of heat engines and temperature increases in water courses from the cooling stages of power stations.    

Readings/Bibliography

- R. Francesconi, Appunti di Chimica Fisica Ambientale , CLUEB, BO, 2002.

- P.A. Vesilind, J.J. Pierce and R.F. Weine, Environmental Engineering , 3^ Ediz., Butterworth- Heinemann, Boston, 1994.

Teaching methods

Lectures, tutorials, numerical exercises.

Assessment methods

Oral and single exam for the two parts (chim/02 and ing-ind/27) of the course.

Teaching tools

Slides used for lectures. The pdf file can be downloaded from the web (Alma Campus). A visit to the HERA polyfunctional plant in Ravenna is also scheduled.

Office hours

See the website of Alberto Modelli

SDGs

Climate Action

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.