Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Syracuse University
CIE 651 PHYSICAL-CHEMICAL PROCESSES
Fall 2008
Instructor:
Raymond D. Letterman
361 Link Hall
Telephone - 443-3307
Email - rdletter@syr.edu
Course Description: This is an intermediate course on the engineering principles used to
design, operate and control the physical/chemical processes of water and
wastewater treatment systems. While design and operating practice is
discussed the main emphasis is on the principles that guide (or should
guide) the design and operation of treatment systems.
Course Prerequisites: Calculus, fluid mechanics and environmental chemistry (environmental
chemistry can be a co-requisite).
Textbook:
Prepublication copy of Water Quality Engineering: Physical-Chemical Processes,
by D. Lawler and M. Benjamin, to be published by McGraw-Hill (2008?).
List of Topics:
Introduction
(0.5 week)
Reactor design
Flow in reactors
Modeling reactor performance
(0.5 week)
(1 week)
Mixing of liquids
(1 week)
Interfacial mass transfer
(1 week)
Solid-liquid separations
Acid Neutralization
Metals Precipitation
Particle Destabilization/Flocculation
Sedimentation
Flotation
Filtration
(0.5 weeks)
(2 weeks)
(1 week)
(0.5 weeks)
(0.5 weeks)
(1.5 weeks)
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Solute-liquid separations
Adsorption and Ion exchange
Membrane separations
Stripping
Analysis of example treatment systems
Potable water treatment
Acid Mine Drainage Treatment
Groundwater decontamination
(1.5 weeks)
(0.5 weeks)
(0.5 weeks)
(1 week)
Handouts:
Handouts will be distributed and reserve reading will be assigned. A good
reference book for many of the topics covered in the course is Water Quality and
Treatment, McGraw-Hill (1999).
Grading:
Homework - 22%, two class exams - 48%, final exam - 30%.
There will be 8-10 homework assignments. Assignment sheets will be posted on
the Blackboard web site https://blackboard.syr.edu and I will distribute hard
copies in class.
Other References:
Weber, W. J., Jr. and DiGiano, F. A., Process Dynamics n Environmental Systems,
Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1996.
Montgomery, Watson, Harza, Inc., Water Treatment, Principles and Design, 2nd eidition,
Wiley – Interscience, New York, 2005.
Weber, W. J., Jr., Physicochemical Processes for Water Quality Control, WileyInterscience, New York, 1972.
Benefield, L. D., Judkins, J. F., and Weand, B. L., Process Chemistry for Water and
Wastewater Treatment, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1982.
Levenspiel, O., Chemical Reaction Engineering, 3rd edition, Wiley, New York, 1997.
Morel, F. M. M., and Hering, J. G., Principles and Applications of Aquatic Chemistry,
Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1993.
Snoeyink, V. L. and Jenkins, D., Water Chemistry, Wiley, New York, 1980.
Benjamin, M. M., Water Chemistry, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2002.
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