Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Environmental Engineering
& Management
Dr Bandunee Athapattu
What is Environmental Science?
• Science can be differentiated into the
social sciences and natural sciences.
• Natural sciences include
– core sciences chemistry, biology, and physics
– numerous applied sciences such as geology,
meteorology, forestry, and zoology
– environmental science is an integrative
applied science that draws upon nearly all of
the natural sciences to address environmental
quality and health issues
What is Environmental
Engineering?
• Environmental engineering uses
environmental science principles, along
with engineering concepts and techniques,
to assess the impacts of societal activities
on the environment, of the environment on
people, and to protect both human and
environmental health
• Environmental engineering requires a
sound foundation in the environmental
sciences
The Interdisciplinary Nature of
Environmental Science and
Engineering
• Groundwater contamination by leaking
gasoline storage tanks – material science,
hydrogeology, geochemistry, microbiology,
hydraulics AND environmental engineering
• Urban air pollution – chemical/mechanical/
automotive engineering, meteorology,
chemistry, AND environmental
engineering
What is Environmental
Management?
An Ecological Perspective
What is Ecology?
• Ecology is a branch of science that
systematically studies the relationships
between living organisms and the physical
and chemical environment in which they
live.
Why Study Ecology?
1 Autotrophs
2 Herbivores
(chemotrophs)
Carnivores
3
(chemotrophs)
Food Webs
Bioaccumulation
• Many organic compounds are highly
hydrophobic (water hating)
• Hydrophobic compounds partition to other
phases, such as the plankton, in aquatic
systems
• The partition coefficient is the equilibrium
constant for reaction
chemicalwater == chemicalother phase
Cother phase
K
Cwater
Biomagnification
• When partitioning concentrates a chemical in
one phase that is the food for a higher phase,
the chemical can further concentrate as we
move up the food chain
Biomagnification
• While partitioning is primarily a chemical
process, biomagnification is a complex
biological process
• Biomagnification factors are empirical
Air, Water and Soil
Air
• Low molecular interaction
• Gas-phase and photochemical reactions
• Ideal Gas Law
PV=nRT
• Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures
Pt = P1 + P2 + … + Pn
• UNITS!
volume/volume
Air
Nonvariable Gases
Nitrogen 78.08%
Oxygen 20.95%
Argon 0.93%
Neon 0.002%
Variable Gases
Water Vapor 0.1 - 5.0%
Carbon Dioxide 0.035%
Ozone 0.000006%
Water
• Takes a lot of added heat to change temperature
• Absorbs or releases more heat than many substances for each
degree of temperature increase or decrease
Steam
Boiling
Water
Melting
Ice
Water Cycle
Nitrate concentrations in
water
• typical U.S. surface waters: 0.2–2.0
mg/L
• European Union: 50 mg/L NO3
• SLS –Potable water
– 10 mg/L NO3-N and
Soil
• Mixture
– includes water and air
• Surface reactions
• Partitioning reactions
• Classify soils
• Units
mass/mass
Soil Mixture
Organic
3%
Air
25%
Minerals Water
47% 25%
Classifying Soil
Elemental composition of
earth outer-surface layer
Si
O
Al
P, Mn, Si, Cl, Fe
C Ti K Na Mg Ca
The Rock Cycle
Mineral Deposits
• Igneous Activity – as magma cools, elements
crystalize and settle out differently, e.g.
diamonds, chromium, nickel, platinum
• Weathering – extraction, e.g. aluminum from
clays, or purification, e.g. removal of Si from Fe
deposits
• Sedimentation – concentrated in stream
channel, e.g. gold and tin
• Precipitation – dissolved materials come out of
solution, e.g. limestone, phosphate rock