Waste Treatment Technologies
Theory: 2 hours/week | Tutorials: 4 hours/week | ECTS Units: 4
Tutoring in the English language is offered to Erasmus students
Learning Outcomes
- Good knowledge of the legislation framework that applies to the treatment and handling of wastes
- Good understanding of the basic technologies and processes used for the treatment of wastewaters and wastes
- Understanding of the biological processes that take place during the treatment of wastewaters and solid wastes and the factors that control their efficiency
- Good understanding of the physicochemical and mechanical processes that are used complementary or alternatively to the biological processes for the treatment of waste streams
- Support the analytical thinking of the students to be able to design strategies and processes for the effective treatment of waste streams
Analytical Description of the Course
- INTRODUCTION INTO THE TREATMENT OF WASTEWATERS: Preliminary description of the three basic stages in all treatment systems: primary, secondary and tertiary treatment.
- PRIMARY TREATMENT: Preliminary treatment (solids and oil removal) Organic solid removal by sedimentation, coagulation, filtration, instrumentation and equipment.
- SECONDARY TREATMENT – SUSPENDED GROWTH SYSTEMS:
Activated Sludge Systems: Principals and characteristics, microbial content, advantages and disadvantages, aeration systems, factors affecting operation.
Systems for biological removal of anions: Principals and characteristics, microbial content and biochemical reactions, removal of nitrates, removal of phosphate, combined systems.
Aerobic digestion: Principals and uses.
Anaerobic digestion: Principals and biochemical reactions, microbial content and diversity, reactors used for anaerobic digestion of liquid wastes.
Lagoons: Principals and characteristics, categories of lagoons and microbial content, advantages and disadvantages, applications and uses. - SECONDARY TREATMENT – ATTACHED GROWTH SYSTEMS:
Attached growth bioreactors: types, applications and uses.
Trickling Bed Filters: Operational principals, microbial content and diversity, application and uses, advantages and disadvantages, factors controlling operation and efficacy.
Rotating Biological Contactors: Principals, microbial content and diversity, uses, advantages and disadvantages, factors controlling operation and efficacy. - TERTIARY TREATMENT: Chemical precipitation of metals and anions
Ionic Exchange
Membrane filtration – Electrodialysis Adsorption
Disinfection methods - SOLID WASTE TREATMENT:
Land-filling: description and legislation, basic design principals, biochemical reactions – anaerobic digestion and methanogenesis,
Composting: biochemical reactions, composition of microbial biomass, composting systems, application and factors controlling operation and efficacy. - EXAMPLES OF OPERATING WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS IN DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES
- TREATMENT OF AERIAL WASTES: Methods for the removal of aerial contaminants and air suspended solids
- EU LEGISTLATION OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT STREAMS
Student Performance Evaluation
The evaluation of the students is focused on the assessment of their theoretical knowledge acquired during the lectures.
Hence their performance in the course is evaluated by written exams (50%) and with the submission and presentation of an essay (50%) upon completion of the lectures and prior to the written exams. Students are informed about the list of topics of the essays that they will have to submit at least 4 weeks prior to the end of the semester. The students are then asked to select the topic which are going to present. The presentations are performed at the final week of the semester and the students will be asked to answer questions relevant to the topic they presented. Each student is assigned an essay and the criteria of evaluation are α) quality of presentation (30%), β) level of understanding of the problem and the theoretical background (40%), γ) Response to questions (30%).
Students that have not attended the lectures or they have attended in less that 70% of the lectures will be evaluated only through written exams at the end of the semester.
Suggested Bibliography
- Environmental Engineering, Pollution and Environmental Protection, Koungolos Α., Tziola Publishers, Thessaloniki, 2016. ISBN: 978-960-418-651-8
- Pollution and Technologies of Environmental Protection, Albanis T., Tziola Publishers, Thessaloniki 2009, ISBN: 978-960-418-206-0
- Wastewater treatment, Lyberatos G., Vayenas D., Tziola Publishers, Thessaloniki 2011, ISBN: 978-960-418-346-3
Teaching Material / E-class
Lecturers
