Course Unit E-U1 Environmental sustainability
Course Unit E-U2 Global concerns
Course Unit E-U3 Environmental Assessment
The concept of persistence and lifetime of an organic compound into the environment will be outlined. Main degradation pathways of organic compounds in the atmosphere, water and soil will be introduced. Concerning the atmospheric compartment, this module will deal with the main oxidation reactions occurring to organic pollutants in the troposphere and with radicalic mechanisms leading to stratospheric ozone depletion. Then the main degradation mechanisms of organic compounds in water and sediments will be discussed: hydrolysis, reduction and microbiologic degradations.
The course will describe the structural features and sources of main classes of organic pollutants. Concerning the atmospheric compartment we will take into consideration volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds i.e. aliphatic, aromatic and polyaromatic hydrocarbons and the role of atmospheric particulate matter in non-volatile organic compounds distribution. Then we will consider halogenated compounds and other solvents, chlorofluorocarbon compounds, chlorinated solvents, polichlorodibenzofurans, polichlorodibenzodioxins and polichlorodiphenyls. The influence of organic pollutants in greenhouse effect will also be briefly outlined.
Main classes of pollutants of water and sediments will be then analyzed, in particular hydrocarbons from oil spills, pesticides, herbicides, surfactants, organometallic compounds.
- Lecturer: Paola Galletti
Course Unit E-U1 Environmental sustainability
Course Unit E-U3 Environmental Assessment
The course will deal with the relationship between plastics and the environment.
1) The main characteristics of polymers/plastics and their history will be presented, together with the main processes for recycling
2) Some representative examples of bio-based and biodegradable polymers will be explained (starch, polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates).The differences between bio-based polymers and biodegradable polymers will be examined
3) The environmental fate of plastic materials will be analyzed according to various environmental spheres (water bodies, oceans, soil and sediments, biota)
4) The adverse effects of plastic materials will be presented, analyzing the existing knowledge about the toxicity towards different biological endpoints- Lecturer: Chiara Samori
Course Unit E-U1 Environmental sustainability
1. To discuss the importance of (organic) chemical properties on their behaviour and fate in the environment
2. To teach the approaches and processes involved in site investigation and environmental chemical (contaminant) analysis
3. To introduce key contaminated land, waste and remediation regulation
4. To illustrate how financial, regulatory/legal and technical aspects affect remediation techniques selection when dealing with chemical contaminants in soil and groundwater environments
- Lecturer: Clara Costa
Course Unit E-U2 Global concerns
To introduce the concept of Ecological Transition and Global Change
To summarize the path of sustainable development concept during the last 50 years, from the Club to UN Agenda 2030 and COP26
To show the International agreements and commitments on climate change and the other environment topics- Lecturer: Alessandra Bonoli
Course Unit E-U2 Global concerns
1) To know the main legal instruments, at constitutional, supra-national and international level, that regulate the climate and the environment
2) To be able to connect the legal framework with the sustainable development paradigm
3) To acquire a critical perspective on the current global legal paradigm
4) To be able to compare and classify cases applying both the traditional and critical perspectives
- Lecturer: Silvia Bagni
Course Unit E-U3 Environmental Assessment
The course intends to enable students to face critically how to carry out an environmental investigation, preventing analytical artifacts while handling samples as well as the outcome of false positives when dealing with environmental conditions in which natural background can be relevant. Use of tracers and or proxies to assess the environmental fate of pollutants and contaminants will be also described.
- Lecturer: Laura Tositti