| Semester 1, 2020 On-campus Toowoomba | |
| Short Description: | Environmental Technology |
| Units : | 1 |
| Faculty or Section : | Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences |
| School or Department : | School of Civil Engineering and Surveying |
| Student contribution band : | Band 2 |
| ASCED code : | 039901 - Environmental Engineering |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
Staffing
Examiner:
Requisites
Pre-requisite: ENV2105 or Students must be enrolled in one of the following Programs: PDEV or GCEN or METC or MEPR or GCNS or GDNS or MENS
Rationale
This course provides students with the knowledge and skills to evaluate and design treatment options for pollution aspects ranging from solid wastes, air and noise pollution, brackish waters and seawater, membrane technologies for wastewater and desalination, industrial wastes and soil degradation by mining activities.
Synopsis
This course is designed to allow students to design and evaluate the technologies available to solid waste management, advanced water treatment using membrane, industrial wastewater treatment, air and noise pollution mitigation and evaluate the range of soil treatments available for mine sites.
Objectives
On completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Define the objectives of solid waste management, the sources of municipal solid wastes, the composition and quantity of solid waste generated and treatment options.
- Design an effective solid waste collection system, landfill systems and leachate treatment.
- Design membrane systems for advanced water purification and desalination.
- Evaluate treatment options for air pollution and noise and design them.
- Analyse the factors governing the occurrence of acid sulphate soils, acid mine drainage and evaluate the range of soil treatments available for mine site rehabilitation.
- Evaluate the industrial wastewater treatment options by case studies.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Solid waste management including characterization, legislation, collection, transfer, disposal and treatment. | 10.00 |
| 2. | Solid waste treatment technologies including incineration, pyrolysis, refused derived fuel and landfill. | 10.00 |
| 3. | Design of landfill, leachate collection and treatment options. | 10.00 |
| 4. | Introduction to membrane technologies: theory and design of systems. | 10.00 |
| 5. | Application of membrane technologies to treat unconventional water sources such as seawater/wastewater effluent. | 10.00 |
| 6. | Industrial wastewater treatment: case studies. | 10.00 |
| 7. | Mining waste management including acid mine drainage, acid sulphate soils. | 10.00 |
| 8. | Soil remediation and rehabilitation of mine sites. | 10.00 |
| 9. | Air pollution treatment and mitigation. | 10.00 |
| 10. | Noise pollution mitigation techniques. | 10.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2020&sem=01&subject1=ENV4204)
Please for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)
Davis, ML & Cornwell, DA 2013, Introduction to environmental engineering, 5th edn, McGraw Hill, Dubuque, IA.
Metcalf & Eddy AECOM 2014, Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Resource recovery, 5th edn, McGraw Hill, New York (ISBN: 978-0-07-340118-8).
Reference materials
Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.
Davis, ML & Cornwell, DA 2013, Introduction to environmental engineering, 5th edn, McGraw Hill, (ISBN: 978-0-07-340118-0).
McDougall, FR 2001, Integrated solid waste management, A life cycle inventory, 2nd edn, Blackwell Science, Malden, MA.
Metcalf & Eddy AECOM 2014, Wastewater Engineering, Treatment and Resource recovery, 5th edn, McGraw Hill, New York (ISBN: 978-0-07-340118-8).
Tchobanglous, G, Theisen, H & Vigil, SA 1993, Integrated solid waste management engineering, Principles and management issues, McGraw Hill, New York.
Student workload expectations
| Activity | Hours |
|---|---|
| Assessments | 40.00 |
| Lectures | 26.00 |
| Private Study | 63.00 |
| Tutorials | 26.00 |
Assessment details
| Description | Marks out of | Wtg (%) | Due Date | Objectives Assessed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASSIGNMENT 1 | 200 | 20 | 06 Apr 2020 | 1,2 | |
| ASSIGNMENT 2 | 200 | 20 | 20 May 2020 | 3,6 | |
| Online Exam | 600 | 60 | End S1 | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | (see note 1) |
Notes
- This will be an open examination. Students will be provided further instruction regarding the exam by their course examiner via StudyDesk. The examination date will be available via UConnect when the official examination timetable has been released.
Important assessment information
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Attendance requirements:
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. -
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
To satisfactorily complete an assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks or a grade of at least C-. Students do not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to be awarded a passing grade in this course. Refer to Statement 4 below for the requirements to receive a passing grade in this course. -
Penalties for late submission of required work:
Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4) -
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2020 are: To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
Requirements after S1 2020:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade in a course a student must obtain at least 50% of the total weighted marks for the course (i.e. the Primary Hurdle), and have satisfied the Secondary Hurdle (Supervised), i.e. the end of semester examination by achieving at least 40% of the marks available for that assessment item. Supplementary assessment may be offered where a student has undertaken all of the required summative assessment items and has passed the Primary Hurdle but hailed to satisfy the Secondary Hurdle (Supervised), or has satisfied the Secondary Hurdle (Supervised) but failed to achieve a passing Final Grade by 5% or less of the total weighted Marks. To be awarded a passing grade for a supplementary assessment item (if applicalble), a student must achieve at least 50% of the available marks for the supplementary assessment item as per the Assessment Procedure (point 4.4.2) -
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the weighted aggregate of the marks (or grades) obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course. -
Examination information:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2020 are: An Open Examination is one in which candidates may have access to any printed or written material and a calculator during the examination.
Requirements after S1 2020:
RESTRICTED: Candidates are allowed access only to specific materials during a Restricted Examination. The only materials that candidates may use in the restricted examination for this course are:- writing materials (non-electronic and free from material which could give the student an unfair advantage in the examination);
- calculators which cannot hold textual information
- Students whose first language is not English, may, take an appropriate unmarked non electronic translation dictionary (but not technical dictionary) into the examination.
- Dictionaries with any handwritten notes will not be permitted. Translation dictionaries will be subject to perusal and may be removed from the candidate's possession until appropriate disciplinary action is completed if found to contain material that could give the candidate an unfair advantage.
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Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2020 are: The details regarding deferred/supplementary examinations will be communicated at a later date.
Requirements after S1 2020:
Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period. -
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at .
Assessment notes
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Students must familiarise themselves with the USQ Assessment Procedures (.
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Referencing in Assignments must comply with the Harvard (AGPS) referencing system. This system should be used by students to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (APGS) style to be used is defined by the USQ library鈥檚 referencing guide. These policies can be found at
Evaluation and benchmarking
In meeting the University鈥檚 aims to establish quality learning and teaching for all programs, this course monitors and ensures quality assurance and improvements in at least two ways. This course:
1. conforms to the USQ Policy on Evaluation of Teaching, Courses and Programs to ensure ongoing monitoring and systematic improvement.
2. forms part of the Bachelor of Engineering Honours program and is benchmarked against the professional accreditation standards of Engineers Australia