Column Transport Experiments for Dissolved Pollutants and Colloids

Abstract

Engineering education is experiencing an important transition in which broader societal implications of engineering knowledge and practice are becoming incorporated into the curriculum.  Focusing on the environmental impacts of engineering practice is an important strategy for including many of these societal concerns.  In this article we outline laboratory experiments that could be integrated into the chemical engineering senior laboratory or into a laboratory component of a transport phenomena course.  The experiments and associated engineering analysis materials are designed to increase the environmental literacy of chemical engineering students for organic pollutant and colloid migration in groundwater, a topic of great concern for water quality and resource conservation.