73317 - INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course introduces the student to the connection between technological, environmental, economic and social impacts of industrial production processes, in the light of sustainable development and circular economy. The student will gain knowledge on the evaluation of the life-cycle environmental impacts from industrial activities, on the EU environmental policy and on the main pollution prevention and control techniques applicable to energy production.

Contenuti

Requirements/Prior knowledge

A prior knowledge and understanding of the fundamental concepts used to describe a production process and its material and energy input/outputs is required to attend with profit this course. This implies basic knowelge of physics, chemistry and thermodynamics.

Fluent spoken and written English is a necessary pre-requisite: all lectures and tutorials, and all study material will be in English.

 

Course Contents

Sustainability, Circular Economy and Environmental protection

- Sustainable Development: basic elements and open questions.

- Industrial Ecology and Circular Economy; industrial symbiosis.

- The environmental policy of the European Union

- Voluntary programs: Environmental Management Systems (EMAS/ISO14001); Environmental Labels (Ecolabel/EPD)

- Permitting procedures: Environmental Impact Assessment; Strategic Environmental Assessment; Industrial Emission Directive

- Environmental protection through product policies: Integrated Product Policies; Design for the Environment; Extended Product Responsibility

The main environmental concerns from industrial activities

- Resouce use and sustanability conditions; material flow analysis

- Global warming: a phenomenological approach

- Actions to reduce anthropic emissions of green-house gases

- Ozone depletion: a phenomenological approach and reduction strategies

- Photochemical smog: phenomenology and reduction strategies

- Dispersion of toxic pollutants: phenomenology and case studies

Life cycle Assessment

The life-cycle approach: perspective, application and limits

The LCA methodology (ISO14040 family)

Environmental indexes and indicators

Case Study on LCA

 

NOTE: for students taking the 9ETCS course (integrated course) the course content also include topics reported in the webpage of “Laboratory of Industrial Safety”.

Testi/Bibliografia

Course references:

• T.E. Graedel and B.R. Allenby. Industrial Ecology, (2nd ed.). 2003, Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River.
• E.S. Rubin. Introduction to engineering & the environment. 2001, McGrow-Hill: New York.
• Lesson handouts
• Websites suggested at lesson

Further readings suggested:

• D.T. Allen and D.R. Shonnard. Green Engineering. 2002, Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River.
• T.E. Graedel and J.A. Howard-Grenville. Greening the industrial facility. 2005, Springer: New York.
• G. Jonker and J. Harmsen. Engineering for sustainability. 2012, Elsevier.

Metodi didattici

In-class/online lessons

Tutorials

Individual Case Study

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Achievements will be assessed by the means of a final exam. This is based on an analytical assessment of the "expected learning outcomes" described above.

In final exam is composed of different activities:

• Written test (80% of the final grade). The written test consist of open questions (3 to 9 questions) and true/false questions (10 to 20 questions)
• Assignments (20% of the final grade). Two assignments will be proposed during classes. They will be accounted in the grade if submitted before the date chosen for the written test

During the classes some homework tasks will be proposed. If submitted according to the agreed deadlines, these may contribute up to 1.5 extra points on the grade.

The final exam is set to evaluate the students' knowledge-level, analyzing and synthesizing abilities, and technical communication skills.

Higher grades (from 25/30 to 30/30) will be awarded to students who demonstrate an organic understanding of the subject, a high ability for critical application, a clear and concise presentation of their ideas and an appropiate use of technical language.

To obtain a passing grade (from 18/30 to 24/30), students are required to at least demonstrate a knowledge of the key concepts of the subject, some ability for critical application, and a comprehensible use of technical language.

A failing grade will be awarded if the student shows knowledge gaps in key-concepts of the subject, inappropriate use of language, and/or logic failures in the analysis of the subject.

NOTE: for students taking the 9 ETCS course (integrated course) the written test for “Laboratory of Industrial Ecology” (3 ETCS component) must be taken together (same day) as the written test of the 6 ETCS component. Overall grade will be calculated by credit weighted combination of the grades of the two components; severe insufficiencies on one component can not be compensated by good performance on the other.

 

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

Lecture slides and integrative supporting material will be available on-line on the e-learing service (virtuale.unibo.it). UniBo credentials and a specific password are required for access. The password will be comunicated on the first day of the course.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Alessandro Tugnoli

Consulta il sito web di Alessandro Dal Pozzo