Evaluation of sustainability in chemical and environmental engineering

Teacher(s)

Debecker Damien; Françoisse Olivier; Luis Alconero Patricia (coordinator); Noiset Olivier;

Language

English

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Main themes

Sustainable development, environmental evaluation of processes, life cycle analysis, economic evaluation of processes, ethics and gender in engineering, intellectual property, legislation in the industry, technology for human development, creative thinking, group management

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Given the AA repository of the program of "Master ingénieur civil en chimie et science des matériaux", this course contributes to the development, acquisition and evaluation of the following learning outcomes: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

Seminars:
The following topics will be addressed in the seminars:

1. Introduction to sustainable development
2. Environmental evaluation of a product/process using life cycle analysis
3. Safety in the industry
4. Economic evaluation of processes – case of chemical processes
5. Ethics and gender in engineering
6. Intellectual property and implication in industry
7. General and specific legislation in the industry (focus on REACH)
8. Technology for human development/ engineering in developing and developed countries
9. Creative thinking: how to develop one's own ideas
10. Group management in industry

Project:
Groups of 4-6 students will evaluate quantitatively the environmental impact of a product/process via a life cycle assessment, perform an economic evaluation and discuss several aspects related to the topics given in the seminars (e.g., ethics, gender issues, intellectual property). The adequate software will be used, if required (e.g., SimaPro for the life cycle assessment). The students will be asked to verify/compare their final results with real examples provided by experts or on-line sources.

Teaching methods

The course will be composed of 10 seminars given by experts in the matter and a project that will focused on the application of aspects taught in the course, such as life cycle assessment, economic evaluation, gender and ethical issues, and intellectual property, on the manufacture of a product.

 

Evaluation methods

The students will be evaluated by means of :

• a written exam with short questions on the aspects seen during the course, which will be a 40% of the final mark;
• a work in groups to be developed during the semester, which will consist of the quantitative evaluation of a product/process from the point of view of sustainability aspects shown in the seminars: environmental analysis, economic study, social aspects, etc. This work will be presented the last day of the course and it will conform the 60% of the final mark (report + oral presentation).   

Other information

All the course material will be available in the Moodle platform. 
It is highly recommended to have attended the LMAPR2647 (Sustainable treatment of industrial and domestic waste) course.

Online resources

Site Moodle du cours : https://moodleucl.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=9064

Bibliography

Des notes de cours, diapositives

Faculty or entity

FYKI