88384 - Technology for Energy and Environmental Depollution

Learning outcomes

Integral balance of matter and energy, transport of heat and matter and their application to thermochemical and catalytic processes. Technologies for the treatment of gaseous emissions, liquid effluents and contaminated sites. Separation operations with low environmental impact. Operating principles, construction features and equipment equations.

Course contents

Module 1 – Dr. Francesco Maluta (35 hours)

- Material and energy balances: nonreactive and reactive processes, continuous and batch operations. Applications to the design of sustainable processes and chemical plants.

- Computational laboratory on selected problems.

- Heat and mass transfer in chemical and biochemical processes.

- Design and scale-up of chemical reactors, gas-liquid bioreactors and slurry bioreactors to optimize the operations and to increase the process efficiency.

- Design of traditional and innovative equipment for process intensification based on integrated (bio-)reactors and separation units.

- Membrane separation processes: working principles, module design, focus on reverse osmosis.

Module 2 – Prof. Giuseppina Montante (15 hours)

- Traditional and innovative technologies for wastewater treatments, including bio-based operations. Technological aspects and case studies.

- Traditional and innovative unit operations for polluted gas treatments. Technological aspects and case studies.

Readings/Bibliography

Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes, 4th Edition.

Authors: Richard M. Felder, Ronald W. Rousseau, Lisa G. Bullard

ISBN: 978-1-118-43122-1, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2015.

Sustainable Development in Practice: Case Studies for Engineers and Scientists, 2nd Edition. Editors: Adisa Azapagic Slobodan Perdan. ISBN:9780470718711 (print), 9780470972847 (online), DOI:10.1002/9780470972847. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 2011.

[The books are warmly recommended to the students for widening their knowledge of the main topics of the course. They are not followed in a detailed way].

Teaching methods

The lessons are given in class in the standard format.

During the lectures, the students will be involved in the solution of exercises and in the analysis of case studies individually or in small groups. In this way, they are guided to gradually acquire the skills to apply the knowledge gained in the course, to improved their capability to work in group and to be prepared to the final examination.

The laboratory will be based on computer-aided methods.

Lecture notes and exercises presented in class will be available in the UNIBO platform Virtuale.

 

“As concerns the teaching methods of this course unit, all students must attend Module 1, 2 [https://www.unibo.it/en/services-and-opportunities/health-and-assistance/health-and-safety/online-course-on-health-and-safety-in-study-and-internship-areas] on Health and Safety online”.

Assessment methods

The aim of the final examination is to evaluate the achievement of the main goals of the course, specifically:

- the capability to adopt suitable analysis and calculation techniques, which are presented during the course, in order to understand the working principles of the equipment and the basis design rules, in addition to the understanding of the chemical and physical phenomena occurring in equipment and processes of the (bio-)chemical industry;

- the capability to use the outcomes obtained by the above analysis to improve the equipment performances.

The final assessment will be via an oral exam of about 40 minutes. It is aimed at ascertaining the full understanding of both the basic principles and the design rules of equipment considered during the course.

A short presentation (~10 mins MAX) on a relevant topic of choice must be presented at the beginning of the exam.

The knowledge level acquired by the student on the topics covered in the class, his/her ability to present them clearly and with command of language and to discuss them critically will result in:

- higher grades, if the student demonstrates full and deep understanding of the subject, critical analysis of applications and command of language in presentation.

- passing grade, if the student demonstrates basic knowledge of the main topics of the course, sufficient critical analysis and acquisition of basic technical language.

- failing grade, if the student demonstrates gaps in fundamental concepts of the subject and consequently insufficient capability to analyse case studies.

Teaching tools

Blackboard and power point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Maluta

See the website of Giuseppina Montante