INTROUDCTION To

Environmental Engineering
Why Do We Care?
Current Issues of Concern
 Global warming & climate change
 Ozone layer depletion
 Soil degradation and loss of wetlands & agricultural land
 Species extinction
 Concentration of toxics
 Depletion & degradation of resources
Ecology
 The study of living organisms in the natural environment
How they interact with one another
How the interact with their non-living environment
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
ENVIRONMENT?

The environment is made up of two components:

 Biotic components- all living organisms inhabiting the Earth
 Abiotic components- nonliving parts of the environment (i.e.
temperature, soil, light, moisture, air currents)
WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
ENVIRONMENT?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN
BY ENVIRONMENT?

Organism - any unicellular or multicellular form exhibiting all

of the characteristics of life, an individual.
•The lowest level of organization
 WHAT DO YOU MEAN
BY ENVIRONMENT?

Population
 a group of organisms of one species living in the same
place at the same time that interbreed
Produce fertile offspring
Compete with each other for resources (food, mates, shelter,
etc.)
WHAT DO YOU MEAN
BY ENVIRONMENT?
Community - several interacting populations that inhabit
a common environment and are interdependent.

Ecosystem - populations in a community and the abiotic

factors with which they interact (ex. marine, terrestrial)
WHAT DO YOU MEAN
BY ENVIRONMENT?

Biosphere - life supporting portions of Earth composed of air,

land, fresh water, and salt water.
•The highest level of organization
Industrial ecology

Industrial ecology is the name of a rapidly evolving field of research,

public policy and industrial practice that is primarily aimed at achieving
symbiosis between industrial production and consumption and the
natural ecosystem on which life on Earth ultimately depends.

The field originated from taking a systems perspective

of waste generation and resource consumption in the design,
manufacturing, use and disposal of industrial processes, products and
services
Industrial ecology

industrial ecology was first put profoundly on the

environmental technology map by Frosh and Gallopoulos’ (1989)

These authors reviewed environmental innovations Such as

• Extensive use of plastics for light-weighting and
• The use of platinum in catalytic exhaust converters.

They hypothesized the benefits of adopting a holistic, systems

view of manufacturing, which dictates that
‘wastes from one industrial process can serve as the raw
materials for another, thereby reducing the impact of industry
on the environment’
 Industrial ecology

□ Thecombination of industry and ecology is both provocative

and oxymoronic

Industrial
Ecological
 Industrial ecology

Industrial
Focuses on product design and manufacturing processes

is therefore viewed as the primary agent for environmental

improvement as industry possesses the technological
expertise, management capability and financial and other
resources necessary for successful execution of
environmentally informed design of products and processes.
Industrial ecology

Ecological
Biological analogy – non human natural ecosystems as models for
industrial activity
Places technological activity in the context of the larger ecosystems
that support it

All organisms must consume resources in order to live and go

about their daily functions

Thus industrial ecology examines the sources of resources used in

industrial activity as well as the sinks that absorb and detoxify the
wastes discharged by society.

Industrial ecology is inspired by biological ecology.

System Applications

System Applications
Use the ecosystem metaphor

To assess and improve industrial food chains, or the

industrial metabolism

Networks of material and energy transfer that take place

between the producers, consumers and recyclers of
industrial society
System Applications : Industrial Metabolism

‘The word metabolism as used in its original biological

context connotes the internal processes of a living organism.

Based on this metaphor industrial metabolism is the whole

integrated collection of physical processes that convert raw
materials and energy, plus labour, into finished products and
wastes in a (more or less) steady state

The key implication of adopting industrial metabolism is that

the long-run fate of materials in the industrial materials
cycles is much more important than efficiency of their use in
the materials cycles.
System Applications : Industrial Metabolism

If materials dissipate from the industrial materials cycles

they will start to interfere with the bio-geo-chemical cycles,

leading to:
• Disturbances in the natural ecosystem and,
• The risk of impairing the natural ecosystem’s ability to
deliver vital resources and ecosystem services

The industrial materials cycles need to be ‘consistent’ (or

compatible) with the natural metabolism through bio-geo-
chemical cycles.
Industrial Ecosystem
 Product and process applications

Product and process applications in industrial ecology use the

natural analogy to develop products and processes that are
more efficient and compatible with nature.
 Assignment

Discuss one of this Environmental Disaster in two paper

Explain causes and Environmental Effects

• Minamata Disease Disaster

• Jilin Chemical Plant Explosions
• Exxon Valdez oil spill Disaster
• The Three Mile Island Nuclear Explosion
• The Al-Mishraq Fire
• The Love Canal Disaster
THNAKS