CIRCULAR AND SUSTAINABLE PLANTS FOR THE RECOVERY OF WATER AND WASTE

Knowledge and Understanding

The course aims to provide students with the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary for the design and operation of treatment, recovery, valorisation, and disposal facilities for solid waste and wastewater.

In particular, the following SDGs of the 2030 Agenda will be addressed:

Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation: achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all (6.1); achieve adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all (6.2); improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating uncontrolled discharges and minimizing the release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally (6.3); protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes (6.6); substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and significantly reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity (6.4); support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management (6.b).

Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities: reduce the environmental impact of cities, particularly with regard to air quality and waste management (11.6).

Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production: halve per capita global food waste (12.3); achieve the environmentally sound management of waste in order to minimize its adverse impacts on human health and the environment (12.4); substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse (12.5).

Goal 13: Climate Action: strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries (13.1); integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning (13.2); improve education, awareness, and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning (13.3).

Goal 14: Life Below Water: prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, particularly from land-based activities, including marine debris and nutrient pollution (14.1).

Applying Knowledge and Understanding

Through a combination of theoretical lectures, guided exercises, technical visits to real facilities, case study analyses, and insights into the latest technological innovations, students will acquire the ability to apply theoretical and practical knowledge to the design and operation of treatment, recovery, valorisation, and disposal facilities for solid waste and wastewater, evaluating the application of conventional and innovative processes according to sustainability, efficiency, and resource recovery objectives.

Making Judgements

Students will be able to identify and critically evaluate different design solutions for solid waste and wastewater management based on criteria of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, process efficiency, material and energy recovery, resource circularity, and regulatory compliance.

Communication Skills

By the end of the course, students will be able to correctly use the technical and scientific terminology of the field and clearly and effectively describe issues related to solid waste and wastewater management, conventional treatment processes, and the most advanced engineering solutions for resource recovery and valorisation. They will also be able to interact with professionals in the field, discussing aspects related to the design, operation, and optimisation of treatment facilities.

Learning Skills

Students will develop the ability to independently update their knowledge through the consultation of scientific literature, regulatory sources, and national and international guidelines, acquiring the tools necessary to critically explore the most advanced technological developments in the field of sustainable resource recovery from solid waste and wastewater.

Lectures. Discussion on the content of the lectures. Classroom exercises on sizing of reactors for wastewater and solid waste with the aid of IT tools.

Should the course be delivered in a blended or fully online format, the necessary adjustments may be made to the arrangements described above in order to comply with the planned syllabus and course content.

Students who have been officially recognized as working students, student-athletes, students in vulnerable situations, students with disabilities, or incarcerated students, pursuant to Article 30 of the University Academic Regulations, may take examinations during the extraordinary examination sessions reserved for students who are behind schedule with their studies and will have access to specific academic support activities (video lectures, where available).

Attendance at lectures is strongly recommended, as it is consistent with the proposed teaching approach, which aims to promote gradual learning, active student participation in class, and dialogue between the instructor and students.

Environmental regulation.

Waste treatment. Waste classification. Solid waste characterization. Product analysis. Liquid waste. Case Study. Integrated management of municipal solid waste (MSW). ATO. Recycling. Ecological points and CCR. Plant localization. Selection plants. Composting. Controlled landfill facility. Leachate collection and treatment systems. . Exercise: Sizing of waste treatment plants. Case Study. Waste treatment plant. Innovative models of MSW management. Recovery of Etnean volcanic ash.

Wastewater treatment. Fundamentals of water treatment. Characteristics of waste water, standards, Exercise. Advanced characterization of wastewater and biological kinetics. Case Study. Preliminary treatments: screen, coarse solids removal. Equalization. Exercise: sizing of preliminary and primary treatments. Secondary treatments. Suspended and attached biomass. Microbial metabolism. Tertiary treatments for nutrient removal: biological nitrogen removal; Biological and chemical-physical removal of phosphorus. Combined systems for nutrient removal. Exercise: sizing of biological units with suspended biomass. Exercise: sizing of biological units. Exercise: sizing of advanced chemical-physical units. Disinfection of wastewater. Exercise: disinfection sizing. Treatment of waste materials. Sludge line. Exercise: Sizing of the sludge line. Membrane Bioreactors (MBR). Conventional and innovative processes with attached biomass (trickling filters, Rotating biological contactors, BAF, MBBR). Case Study. SBR. Granular aerobic sludges. Reuse of sludge. Decentralized systems for the recovery and use of rainwater and gray water. Case Study. Case studies on emerging contaminants in wastewater treatment plants plants and in receiving water bodies.

De Feo, De Gisi, Galasso. Rifiuti solidi. Progettazione e gestione di impianti per il trattamento e lo smaltimento. Flaccovio Ed.

Ingegneria delle acque reflue, trattamento e riuso, METCALF & EDDY.

Masotti, Depurazione delle acque, CALDERINI, Bologna 2012.

Dispense e strumenti didattici innovativi e digitali. 

Oral examination. Discussion of the design project for a wastewater treatment plant, carried out largely during class. Additional questions may concern: wastewater treatment technologies and processes; management, treatment, and disposal of municipal solid waste; treatment of gaseous emissions. The project (in Word and Excel formats) must be submitted to the instructor one week before the examination.
An in-course assessment on Solid Waste Treatment Plants is also scheduled. Passing the in-course assessment allows students to take the oral examination described above while excluding the topics for which they have already received a positive assessment; this assessment will contribute to the final grade. Students may, however, choose to take the examination on the entire syllabus even if they have received a positive result in the in-course assessment.
The assessment of learning outcomes may also be conducted remotely, should circumstances require it.

Criteria and management systems for municipal solid waste.

Composting plant.

Sorting plant.

Design criteria for the units of the water and sludge treatment lines.

Nutrient removal processes.

Innovative processes and technologies for wastewater treatment.

Disinfection and control of by-products.

Removal of emerging contaminants.

Wastewater reuse.