Environmental engineering

This course provides an introduction to environmental engineering from a civil engineering perspective, emphasizing the understanding, analysis, and solution of environmental problems affecting water, air, and soil systems. The course integrates principles of sustainability, environmental chemistry, and biological and physical processes with mass and energy balance approaches. Students will develop the ability to assess environmental impacts, evaluate pollution control strategies, and understand regulatory frameworks relevant to environmental management, particularly in the Chilean context.

Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Analyze environmental systems using fundamental chemical, physical, and biological principles.
• Formulate and solve mass and energy balances for environmental processes involving conservative and non-conservative substances.
• Identify and evaluate strategies for the prevention, control, and remediation of pollution in water, air, and soils.
• Perform preliminary environmental and human health risk assessments associated with contaminant exposure.
• Interpret and apply Chilean environmental legislation and sustainability criteria in engineering decision-making.

Contents

Unit I: Sustainability criteria

1. Environmental sustainability
2. Principles of sustainable design
3. Environmental ethics

Unit II: Environmental analysis

4. Mass balances
5. Energy balances
6. Environmental chemistry
7. Risk assessment

Unit III: Environmental management

8. Water pollution
9. Air pollution
10. Management of solid and hazardous residues
11. Environmental legislation

Resources