ENEN 603: Principles of

Environmental Engineering

Sathish Ponnurangam
Fall 2017

Lecture - 1:
(Reading: Chapter-1 from Introduction to Environmental Engineering by Mines and
Lackey)
• What is environmental engineering?
• Cambridge dictionary: ’the work or study of using science and
technology to improve and protect the environment and
people's health’
• What do Environmental Engineers do?
• Prevent or mitigate the release of harmful chemicals
• Detect, and quantify the harmful chemicals in the ecosystems
and trace back to its source
• Fate and transport

• First environmental engineer?

• Joseph Bazalgette – first large-scale municipal sanitary sewer
system (mid 19th century London)
Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering

Social-cultural and legal

Environmental Science Environmental Technology
constraints
Consider the example of
Hurricane Katrina
• 1833 deaths, millions homeless,
$108 billions in damages
• From preventative point of view?
• Storm surges (10 – 28 ft) caused havocs
• Engineering mistakes in levees and floodwalls; http://levees.org/myth-busters-by-levees-org/

• Emergency management and communication failures

• Global warming

https://www.livescience.com/22522-hurricane-katrina-facts.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/us/hurricane-katrina-statistics-fast-facts/
Global warming vs. tropical cyclones

Knutson et. al, Nature Geoscience 3, 157 - 163 (2010)

https://www.gfdl.noaa.gov/global-warming-and-hurricanes/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ClimateStorms/page2.php
Consider the example of Katrina
• Post-disaster studies?
• Coastal chemistry and habitat
• Elevated concentrations of lead, arsenic and other chemicals
• sediment deposition or flooded building materials
• Airborne contaminants
• Demolition projects
• Disease control
• drinking water and food safety
• Wastewater and solid waste management
• Vector control
https://archive.epa.gov/katrina/web/html/summary.html
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/etc.213/epdf
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100513212429.htm
Complexity of environmental engineering

• Consider discharge of a fossil fuel power plant

• CO2 and particulate matter. What else?
• SOx and NOx
• combustion chemistry and physics, Boiler engineering,
mass & heat transfer, solubility and reaction engineering
Type of jobs Environmental Engineer do?
• Industry
• Government
• Regulatory agencies
• Consulting firms
• Academia
Nobel prizes in the environmental field
• Environmental chemistry, 1995: Paul J. Crutzen,
Mario J. Molina, F. Sherwood Rowland
• "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly
concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone“
• Peace price, 2007: Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1995/
Learning outcomes
• Understand the vocabulary of an environmental
engineer
• Understand the principles of air and water
pollution control as well as waste management
• Principles of risk assessment and sustainable
development
Tentative Schedule
Weeks 1-3: Chemical Principles
• Stoichiometry and Kinetics, Equilibrium, Acid-base chemistry; pH, Solubility of solids, Alkalinity; hardness, Henry’s
law; equilibrium partitioning of pollutants

Weeks 4-5: Biological Principles

• Microbial growth kinetics, Ecological systems, Nutrient cycles

Weeks 6: Risk Assessment

• Toxicology, Bioconcentration, Exposure

Weeks 7-9: Water Quality

• Water pollutants, BOD, Other water quality measures: COD, DO TSS, etc., Reaeration; Streeter-Phelps model,
Eutrophication, Ground water movement; Darcy’s law; contaminant transport, Wastewater treatment: clarification;
activated sludge process, nutrient removal; sludge treatment, Drinking water production: filtration; disinfection;
softening

Weeks 10-11: Air quality

• Air pollutants, PM2.5 and PM; particle size distribution, Air pollution meteorology and dispersion, Deposition,
Photochemical smog, Global environmental change, Particulate control, Vehicle emission and control

Weeks 12: Waste Management

• Landfill, Composting, Recycling, Combustion

Week 13: Group Presentations

Textbook
Title: Introduction to Environmental Engineering
Author(s): Mines R.O. and Lackey L.W.
Edition, Year: 2010
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Lecture:

Office hours:
Wednesdays: 2-3 PM (B-block, ENB 204L)
Final Grade Determination

• Group project: 3 students/group

• Selection of the topic and group partners by 29th September
• Mid-term exam: Date to be determined
• Final Exam: Fixed by the registrar
• Group project - presentation: Last week of classes
• Group project - paper submission: Date to be determined
Group project
• 3 students/group
• It can on any aspect of environmental engineering
• Case study (designing a engineering system to rectify an
environmental problem)
• Literature review with critical analysis
• One of the key component needed
• link with the fundamentals of environmental engineering
• (i.e., calculations that reflect your gained knowledge on the fundamentals of
environmental engineering that is covered)

• 15 pages (appendix is additional)

Why do civilizations & societies collapse?

• Conflict (internal and external) – religious,

political and ethnic
• Exhaustion of resources
• Degradation of environment
Mayan Civilization

• Classical Mayan civilization: Reached its peak ~700 AD and collapsed ~ 900 AD
• During its peak, it supported 10 million people – ( several times greater current
population in the regions)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization
https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/achieving-sustainable-societies-lessons-from-modelling-the-ancient-maya/
Collapse of Mayan civilization
• Drought exacerbated by human activities
• Wholesale felling of forest cover and excessive farming
rendered topsoil less fertile
• In combination with severe droughts, less fertile soil led
to collapse of Mayan civilization
https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/achieving-
sustainable-societies-lessons-from-modelling-the-ancient-
maya/
Easter Island moai statues
• Moai statues had strong social value for the clans
• Competition to erect
more statues
• Trees were used to
transport statues
• Deforestation led to
infertile soil and decline in
agricultural output and
collapse of the society
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island
Sustainability Problems in Present Societies
• Western world vs. rest (Africa, Asia, South and
Latin America and Eastern Europe)
• Resource exhaustion
• Pollution
• Environmental degradation
• Toxic political/economic ideologies
• 20% of population consume 80% of all resources
extracted and processed.
Basis of sustainability
• Minimize resource consumption
• Close the cycles of consumption
• Chose renewable materials and energy
• Manage and evolve social and cultural traits that
support sustainable human activities
Five-step method to solve engineering problems
1. Identify and define problem clearly and concisely
• List all the data, known and unknown parameters in appropriate units
2. Make a sketch or diagram of the system and label all the
parts (with data, known or unknown)
3. Select appropriate theory and equation, check for missing
data and ways to find them. If not, think about simplifying
assumptions
• Energy and materials balances forms basis of most problems
4. Solve the problem using exact solutions, numerical
solutions, graphical procedures or trial-and-error methods
5. Always check the reasonableness of solutions. If possible to
verify with alternative methods, give it a try
Environmental Management and Standards
• Goal – managing the human impact on abiotic
and biotic environments
• ISO-14000
• Helps companies minimize adverse effects on
environment
• Before getting approval for a company, what
environment-related document is needed?
• Environmental impact statement (EIS)