Reaction Mechanisms in Environmental Engineering

Reaction Mechanisms in Environmental Engineering: Analysis and Prediction describes the principles that govern chemical reactivity and demonstrates how these principles are used to yield more accurate predictions. The book will help users increase accuracy in analyzing and predicting the speed of pollutant conversion in engineered systems, such as water and wastewater treatment plants, or in natural systems, such as lakes and aquifers receiving industrial pollution. Using examples from air, water and soil, the book begins with a clear exposition of the properties of environmental and inorganic organic chemicals that is followed by partitioning and sorption processes and sorption and transformation processes. Kinetic principles are used to calculate or estimate the pollutants' half-lives, while physical-chemical properties of organic pollutants are used to estimate transformation mechanisms and rates. The book emphasizes how to develop an understanding of how physico-chemical and structural properties relate to transformations of organic pollutants.