Environmental engineering  Endocrine-disrupting chemicals

Origin of environmental engineering

 Engineers of antiquity

 Providers of adequate water supply for

settlements

 Builders of wells and aqueducts are the same

people who built the city walls and moats, and
other engines of war

 In mid 1700’s: Engineers who built facilities for

the civilian population

  “civil engineering” was born

 18th – 19th century: Industrialization

 Unsanitary conditions in cities because of

 Global transport of persistent pollutants
lack of water and waste management
 Challenges to individual environmental media
 Public health became an integral concern
must be managed at the ecosystem level to avoid
 19th century: Elimination of waterborne diseases shifting pollution concerns from one
became a major objective environmental medium to another.

 Public health engineers  Legislation is passed addressing the public’s desire

for clean environment
 Sanitary engineers
 Objectives in spending resources
Environmental engineering today
 Protection of wildlife habitat
 Acute concerns replaced by more complex and
chronic problems  Preservation of species

 Climate change  Health of ecosystems

 Depleting aquifers  Environmental ethics

 Indoor air pollution Environmental engineering on the horizon

 In the 21st century

 Preserving health, economic, and social well-

being of people depends on

 preserving and maintaining the integrity of

the ecosystem and ecosystem services they
provide

 Goal of sustainable development

 “development that meets the needs of the

present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their needs”

Areas of environmental engineering

 Water supply and treatment

  Wastewater treatment ECOLOGY

 Air quality and control  Study of ecosystems, and how energy and
materials behave in ecosystems
 Solid wastes
ECOSYSTEM
 Hazardous wastes
 A biological community of interacting organisms
Water supply and treatment
and their physical environment
 Environmental engineers protect water quality
 Energy flow is in only one direction while material
 Environmental engineers create and protect flow is cyclical
drinking water sources and provide safe drinking
 Photosynthesis
water.
sunlight
 Typical water treatment plant  nutrients   CO2  O2   high  energy _ molecules 

 Respiration

 high  energy _ molecules   O2  CO2  nutrients 

Groups of organisms

 Producers

 Plants; manufacture high-energy molecules

 Consumers
Wastewater treatment
 Animals that use the molecules produced by
 Environmental engineers clean used water to plants as source of energy
allow its discharge into the environment—
 Decomposers
protecting the inhabitants and users of
waterways.  Organisms that use detritus, a pool of dead
organic matter
Air quality control
Energy flow in ecosystem
 Environmental engineers keep the air fit for
ourselves as well as animals and plants

Solid waste

 Environmental engineers design systems to

manage solid waste properly

Prevention

Reduction

Recycling
Treatmen
t
Disposa
l

Hazardous waste

 Environmental engineers design systems to

manage hazardous waste properly
NUTRIENT FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM  Process by which ecosystem remains in
steady-state

Kelp/Urchin/Sea Otter Ecological Homeostasis

 Environmental engineers provide not only

warnings of danger but light to lead the way
towards a sustainable standard of living to
protect the human health and the environment.

 Environmental engineers need to be aware of the

lessons of the past—how problems came about
and how to solve them.

 What influences does humans have on the

ecosystems?

 Origin of environmental engineering

 Providing clean water and managing wastes

became necessary whenever people
congregated in organized settlements
Types of microbial decomposers
 The builders of wells and aqueducts also built
 Classified according to whether or not they have the city walls and moats, as well as other
the ability to use dissolved O2 as an electron engines of war.
acceptor in the decomposition reaction
 Mid 1700s , “civil engineering was born”
 Obligate aerobes needs oxygen to survive
 Industrialization brought unbelievably
 Detritus   O2  CO2  H 2O   Nutrients  unsanitary conditions in the cities due to lack of
water and waste management
 Obligate anaerobes  dissolved O2 is toxic
 Public health became an integral concern and
 Detritus   CO2  CH 4  H 2 S  NH3  ...   Nutrients  the elimination of waterborne disease became
the major objective in the late 19th century.
 Facultative microorganisms
 public health engineers (in Britain) and
 Use oxygen when available but can use sanitary engineers (in the United States)
anaerobic reactions when it is not available
 Environmental engineering today

 Acute effects have been eliminated

 Replaced by more complex and chronic

 Climate change,

 depleting aquifers,

 indoor air pollution

 Global transport of
bioaccumulating & toxic
chemicals

 Endocrine-disrupting chemicals
 Homeostasis
*We need to understand environment, cities, and Theoretical Oxygen Demand
industry as interacting systems
ThOD = C-ThOD + N-ThOD
 Ecology
0 C-ThOD : due to decomposition of carbonaceous
 Study of plants, animals and their physical (organic) material
environment
0 N-ThOD : due to the stabilization of nitrogenous
 The study of ecosystems and how energy and material (NH3 to NO3-)
materials behave in ecosystems
What is the theoretical oxygen demand in liters of air for a
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES 300 mg/L solution of methylamine, CH3NH2, to
decompose completely?
Water cycle

Carbon cycle

Nitrogen cycle

Oxygen cycle

Environmental engineering

Measures of water quality

Solids
Oxygen
Nitrogen
demand

Dissolved WATER Infectious

oxygen QUALITY bacteria

Dissolved oxygen

0 Measured with an oxygen probe and meter Biochemical oxygen demand

0 Electricity is recorded is proportional to the 0 Rate at which microorganisms use oxygen

concentration of oxygen in the electrolyte
solution
0 Major determinant of water quality in water
sources
Oxygen demand
0 Rate at which oxygen is used for decomposing
organic and inorganic matter
0 Amount of oxygen required by aerobic bacteria
and other microorganisms to stabilize
decomposable organic matter
0 BOD test is run in the dark for 5 days – BOD5
Chemical oxygen demand
0 Essentially determines the theoretical oxygen
demand

Theoretical oxygen demand 0 Sample is mixed with strong chemical oxidizing

agent (K2Cr2O7) plus a strong acid, H2SO4) and
then heated.
Biochemical oxygen demand
0 COD is determined by measuring the
consumption of K2Cr2O7
Chemical oxygen demand Solids
 0 Total solids: Residue on evaporation at 103degC Nitrogen
𝑊𝑑𝑠 −𝑊𝑑
0 𝑇𝑆 = x 106 0 Kjeldahl nitrogen
𝑉

TS = total solids, mg/L 0 Organic nitrogen (from amino acids and

Wds = weight of dish + dry solids after evaporation, g amines)
Wd = weight of clean dish, g 0 Ammonia nitrogen (indicator of recent
V = volume of sample, mL
pollution)

0 Aerobic decomposition
Total Solids
0 N  NO2-  NO3-
Suspended High nitrate nitrogen with low ammonia nitrogen suggest
solids
that pollution has occurred but quite some time ago
Dissolved
solids Bacteriological Measurements

𝑊𝑑𝑓 −𝑊𝑑 0 Coliforms : presence of these microorganisms

𝑇𝑆𝑆 = x 106 indicate pollution, but not the presence of
𝑉
pathogens
TSS = total suspended solids, mg/L
Wdf = weight of dish + dry filtered solids, g
Wd = weight of clean crucible and filter, g
V = volume of sample, mL

𝑇𝐷𝑆 = 𝑇𝑆 − 𝑇𝑆𝑆
TDS = total dissolved solids, mg/L
𝑊𝑑𝑢 −𝑊𝑑
𝐹𝑆 = x 106
𝑉

SS = suspended solids, mg/L

Wdu = weight of dish + unburned solids, g
Wd = weight of clean crucible and filter, g
V = volume of sample, mL

𝑉𝑆 = 𝑇𝑆 − 𝐹𝑆
VS = volatile solids, mg/L

A laboratory runs a solids test. The weigh of the crucible =

48.6212 g. A 100-mL sample is placed in the crucible and
the water is evaporated. The weight of the crucible and
dry solids = 48.6432 g. The crucible is placed in a 600degC
furnace for 24-hr and cooled in a desiccator. The weight
of the cooled crucible and residue, or unburned solids =
48.6300 g. Find the total, volatile and fixed solids.
Environmental engineers protect water quality

Environmental engineers create and protect drinking

water sources and provide safe drinking water.

WHY IS TREATMENT OF DRINKING WATER NECESSARY?

Typical water treatment plant