Objectives and competences
- Understand the concept of circular economy and understand the principles of industrial ecology for the development of products and processes;
- Extending the understanding of circularity models in wastewater and waste management, emissions, and soil management systems.
- To know current and emerging technologies, with emphasis on biotechnology, for the treatment and management of wastewater, emissions, waste, from a circular economy perspective and biorefineries;
- To know innovative technology to increase the value of industrial by-products in the concept of circular economy systems;
- To Know the potential of nature-based solutions for environmental quality recovery, namely soil functionality management and wastewater treatment and runoff.
- To be prepared to contribute to the implementation of the circular economy concept in the environmental technologies sector.
Teaching Methodologies
This unit consists of lectures, tutorials, seminars and fieldwork (visits). During the lectures, the different themes are approached critically with stduents and they can deepen work on a specific issues in the tutorials. At the beginning of the semester students organize themselves in groups of 2 to 3, choose a specific topic related to the content of the course and explore it during the tutorials, preparing a presentation for the class at the end of the semester.
Experts from different industrial and R&D sectors are invited to Seminars to detail the environmental aspects explained during the UC. Two visits to facilities are foreseen that complement the UC.
Syllabus
- Circular Economy
- Principles of industrial ecology
- Circular model concept and closed cycles
- Biorefineries as a circularity model
- The circular economy in the context of environmental technologies
- Current technologies for wastewater, waste, emissions, and soil treatment and management in the context of circularity
- Industrial and urban wastewater - energy production and resource recovery
- Emissions
- Industrial and urban waste - energy production and resource recovery
- By-product valorization - circular design
- Nature-based solutions as an integral part of environmental technologies.
- Soil treatment and rehabilitation - phytomanagement and soil functionality
- Wastewater management (punctual and diffuse pollution)
- Successful cases of environmental technology and circular economy
