This course provides an introduction to the concepts of contaminant fate and transport in the environment. Topics on transport in surface waters, subsurface waters, and the atmosphere are included. The focus is on contaminants in the natural environment. However, concepts also apply to transport within treatment operations and some examples involving treatment operations will also be introduced. Exchanges across phase boundaries are emphasized since these processes often govern movement of contaminants .
Introduction; chemistry and math review; mass balances & control volumes
Physical transport processes
Advection, molecular and turbulent diffusion; dispersion
The mass balance
Chemical distribution among phases
Liquid-vapor partitioning; solubility and vapor pressure; Henry’s law
Solid-liquid partitioning and solid-water partition coefficients
Transport in Subsurface Water
Basics of groundwater flow
Dispersion and retardation in groundwater
Movement of DNAPL’s and LNAPL’s
In situ processes
Transport in surface water
Characteristics of flow in lakes, streams and estuaries
Physical transport mechanisms in lakes, streams, estuaries
Exchange at the sediment water interface
Significance of particles and bubbles in transport processes
Sediments and settling processes
Air/water exchange; thin film models and surface renewal models
Biotic Reactions; BOD and DO
Bioaccummulation in organisms
Transport in the atmosphere
Introduction to the atmosphere; atmospheric stability; circulation of the atmosphere
Local scale outdoor air pollution; urban scale air pollution; transport models
Physical removal of chemicals from the atmosphere; dry and wet deposition
Production of photochemical smog
Acid deposition