Environmental Quantitative Risk Analysis

Code:

M.EA015

Acronym:

AQRA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Technological Sciences - Technology-Environmental Technology

Instance: 2021/2022 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Mining Engineering Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Master in Environmental Engineering

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
M.EA	7	Syllabus	1	-	6	45,5	162
M.EQ	2	Syllabus	1	-	6	45,5	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

To understand the mechanisms of transport and fate of contaminants in multi-compartment environments; Apply the concepts to quantitative analyses of environmental risk.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

Application: Select in paradigmatic situations the main mechanisms of release of contaminants, their transport, their
multi-compartmental transfer, and the exposure of populations and associated environmental (toxicological) risk.
Development of solutions using Matlab tools.
Analysis: Develop quantitative risk analysis.
Synthesis: Establish an appropriate methodology for transient and permanent contamination situations in various
environmental compartments by analyzing the mechanisms of release, transport, transfer, exposure, and risk.
Comprehension: Identify, recognize, and quantitatively characterize situations of environmental risk resulting from
releases or emanations of conEtaminants.

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Environmental chemistry; Multi-phase equilibrium; environmental toxicology.

Program

- Ecotoxicology and risk analysis; Pharmacokinetics; Dose-Response Relationships.
- Geometry of environmental compartments: Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Soil and Terrestrial Biota.
Concepts about multiphase balances: Fugacity; Multi-compartmental models.
- Atmospheric transport models: Atmospheric stability; Gaussian models.
- Contamination in lakes and reservoirs; Water-Sediment exchange model.
- Contamination in surface watercourses: Convective and diffusional transport equation (1D, 2D and 3D) for continuous
and point sources.
Effects of organic waste on streams: OD and BOD on watercourses; Streeter Phelps models.
- Subsoil Transport and Destination: Advective-Dispersive Transport Model (uni, bi and 3D) for continuous and point
sources.
- Transfer models for the flora and food chain.
- Exposure Assessment; Toxicity assessment; General toxicological data and basic risk concentrations.

Mandatory literature

António Fiúza & Cristina Vila; Risco Ambiental - Análise sistémica estruturada, Almedina, 2020. ISBN: 9789724086903
António Fiúza; Quimodinâmica e Análise de Risco Ambiental, FEUP, 2010

Complementary Bibliography

S Trapp, Michael Matthies, Stefan Trapp ; Chemodynamics and Environmental Modeling, Springer, 1997. ISBN: 3540630961
Louis J. Thibodeaux; Environmental chemodynamics: Movement of chemicals in air, water and soil (2nd edition). , John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1996. ISBN: 0-471-61295-2
Donald Mackay ; Multimedia Environmental Models: The Fugacity Approach, Lewis Publishers, 2nd Edition, 2001

Teaching methods and learning activities

Classes include lectures and practical applications made using simple computer tools. Theoretical expositions deal
with the mathematical models of release, transport, fate and environmental transference of contaminants, deducing
them from properly stated assumptions. For paradigmatic situations students will develop the algorithmic
implementation of the models studied. At an advanced stage standard population exposure scenario will be added and
the quantitative risk calculated on a toxicological basis.
Distributed assessment with final exam.
The distributed evaluation component consists of a work dealing with a specific contamination situation. The models
to be applied focus on paradigmatic multi-compartmental situations and require for their resolution that the student
make a program in Matlab. Final Grade: Final Exam - 60% Distributed Evaluation - 40%.

Software

octave
Matlab

keywords

Natural sciences > Environmental science
Technological sciences > Technology > Environmental technology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	15,00
Exame	60,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	25,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	64,00
Frequência das aulas	45,50
Trabalho de investigação	37,50
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	7,00
Trabalho escrito	8,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Students are obligied to attend at least 75% of the lectures and also perform the specific work.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final Grade: Final Exam - 60% Distributed Evaluation - 40%.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not Applicable.

Internship work/project

Not Applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Special students have the same system as ordinary students.

Classification improvement

Only through the final exam component.

Observations

Not Applicable.