Environmental Foundations

Mass balances and environmental chemistry. The scope of environmental engineering, mass balances and reactor models, and the chemistry of pH, oxygen, BOD and gas transfer.

• Introduction to Environmental Engineering & Mass Balances — What environmental engineers do and the single most important tool they use. Learn the field's scope (water, wastewater, air, solid waste, soil, climate), environmental systems and pollutant pathways, units (mg/L, ppm, µg/m³), the control-volume mass balance, mixing of streams, first-order reactions, completely mixed (CSTR) and plug-flow systems, residence time, and sustainability principles — with Python for river mixing and lake decay.
• Environmental Chemistry: pH, Oxygen, BOD & Equilibria — The chemistry behind water and air quality. Learn concentration units, pH and acid–base equilibria, the carbonate system and alkalinity, hardness, dissolved oxygen and temperature, BOD, COD and TOC, first-order BOD kinetics, nitrogen and phosphorus, Henry's law and gas transfer, and natural rain pH — with Python for BOD, DO saturation and rainwater pH.