Environmental Technology

Students get to know the basics of the structure and classification of materials, the most important properties of materials (mechanical, thermal, electrical, optical, chemical) and their interaction in multi-component systems. They learn how to classify and characterise materials based on their physical and chemical properties and to recognise correlations. The transfer of the theoretical learning objectives takes place in an application-oriented manner through practical units on site in companies as well as internal and external internship units.

The students know the basic concepts and essential laws of heat and mass transfer in technical systems, including the link of thermodynamics and applied fluid dynamics. They have the ability to determine changes in heat and mass transport processes and calculate them quantitatively within the framework of technical tasks. The students are able to carry out relevant calculations, for example for the design of heat transfer devices. The students carry out experiments in the field of thermodynamics as well as simple technical applications of thermodynamics independently, document them and evaluate and interpret the results. At the end of the module, students are able to qualitatively and quantitatively work on combinations of heat transfer and fluid dynamics phenomena in technical applications.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to Environmental Technology and topics such as environmental engineering, sustainability, circular economy & climate. Students get to know the technical, legal, regulatory and political aspects in the context of climate and environmental protection, and learn about the basics of environmental technology based on selected examples, e.g. from the fields of air pollution control, water and wastewater, waste recycling and the chemical industry. The basics, methods, evaluation of circular economy and recycling, as well as climate & climate protection will also be dealt with.

The students have knowledge and skills in the field of inorganic chemistry. After successfully completing the module, students are able to use the basics and models they have acquired to solve chemical problems and explain them both in a scientifically abstract way and its meaning. They can identify and understand chemical processes. The students have an overview of inorganic chemistry and are able to independently acquire further knowledge about the occurrence, production and application of elements and inorganic compounds.

Students learn to analyze the properties of materials, their application and further processing in theory and practice. In addition, they will be taught chemical, physical and mechanical relationships of glasses, ceramics, plastics/polymers, metals/alloys and composite materials, as well as how to differentiate between various manufacturing processes, common material/material testing, and how to present  the contents using practical examples from various areas of application.

The students learn about the anthropogenic impacts on water bodies and soils and the legal framework applicable in Germany. On the basis of water chemistry and soil science principles, they learn how to describe the mechanisms and effects of human interventions, the complex interactions between water, soil and pollutant properties as well as the pollutant transport mechanisms. The students get to know technologies for the treatment of waste water, how they work, and how to select suitable process steps for given problems and calculate the expected elimination performance under defined boundary conditions. In practical experiments, the students independently work out the influence of water and soil properties on transport processes in the soil as well as the efficiency of selected water treatment technologies on the elimination of model substances.

Students will be given an introduction to the general principles of chemical engineering, as well as its basic operations, the fundamentals of reaction technology (stoichiometry of reactions, reaction networks, quantities for the quantitative description of reactions, systematics of reactions and reactors), and an overview of material, energy and momentum balances in systems with chemical reactions and kinetic approaches.

The aim of the module is to teach the essential basic operations of thermal process engineering, the underlying physical-chemical relationships and the corresponding technical apparatus. Students will be able to carry out process engineering experiments on experimental plants of different scales, to evaluate the data and results obtained and to interpret them with reference to common models.

The students learn the basics of mechanical process engineering, the characterisation of disperse systems, solid-liquid-separation such as centrifuges, filters, sedimentation and hydrocyclones. They conduct practical experiments on selected contents of the lecture with particle size analysis (agglomeration in the fluidised bed, cutting via grinding, fluidisation).

The students will be introduced to the elementary mechanisms of organic chemistry. They will acquire initial skills for analytical-scientific problem solving and, with the help of the acquired basic knowledge of the reactivity of functional groups. They will be able to work on new problems and independently develop solution approaches. The practical course enables the students to set up and operate simple reaction apparatus correctly in terms of craftsmanship and safety. They can produce simple preparations according to given recipes and assess their quality analytically.

The students are able to design measurement systems. After completing this module, students have a basic understanding of the concepts of measurement technology, which is regularly used in process engineering.

The students know how to deal with national laws, regulations and technical rules as well as with EU law as the basis for the requirements for operational safety. They know primary and secondary measures to increase the safety of procedures and preventive measures to improve operational safety with regard to technical safety devices and operational safety organization as well as technical and operational measures to avert danger. They have mastered the rules for dealing with dangerous substances and, if necessary, biological agents. They are able to develop solutions for implementing security requirements in operational practice and know basic aspects of safety management.

The students know the strength hypothesis. They know Mohr's shear stress circle. They know normal, bending and shear stresses and compound stresses. Students will be able to read and create technical drawings and P&ID drawings. They can design and calculate pressure vessels and their peripherals.

Students get to know the basics of fluid mechanics and rheology. They learn how to calculate flow in general as well as in pipelines and fittings. They are taught the basics of turbomachinery, compressors and displacement pumps and the basics of plant design and planning.

The students learn the objectives of the circular economy and recycling at federal and European level, and how to analyse waste materials and name their properties.

They get to know which technologies are used in the recycling of different groups of materials, and the common recycling technologies and their functional principle and assign the relevant processes and plants to the stages of the process chain. They learn how to plan, analyse and evaluate a recycling process for selected examples.

The students are introduced to the basic processes of mechanical process engineering. They learn how to analytically solve problems and how to independently carry out process engineering experiments. They get to know different interparticle interactions and their influence on the behaviour of particles, as well as the special features of nanoparticles and their use. The flowability of powders, the agglomeration processes, fluidised bed processes and pneumatic conveying will be dealt with. Students learn the basics in comminution via grinding, and get to know industrial mixing and stirring and its scaling. 

The aim of the module is to introduce students to environmental analytics, e.g getting to know properties and components relevant for water, soil and air characterisation, distinguishing between sum parameters, substance groups and individual substances and assessing the value of the respective analyses for a problem. The topic of environmental measurement technology will be dealt with as well. The students learn about different sensors, their connection and the signals of the sensors. They get to know different transmission types and their advantages and disadvantages and can thus select the suitable transmission for an application.

The students learn methodological competence and the basics of scientific work with regard to the practical semester and later professional activity. They get the methodological competence to prepare their knowledge and the results of their work in writing and in the form of presentations depending on the target group.

If possible, the student should work on subtasks according to his or her chosen focus or take them on independently. The degree of difficulty should be appropriate to the level of training and the later tasks as an environmental technologist.

UT33.1 FWPM Career Fair - 'IKORO Burghausen'

The entire IKORO fair is planned and elaborated in the project team, including the conceptual design, budgeting & controlling, marketing, company support, specialist lectures, IT & infrastructure, and logistics. Tasks and responsibilities are coordinated in the project team in different groups.

UT33.2 Introduction to Business Studies for Engineers

UT33.3 Production Logistics

The module introduces elementary business administration knowledge that engineers need in a practical way, and gives students an introduction to production logistics.

UT33.4 Project management (= vhb course Fundamentals of Project Management)

The course introduces students to the main concepts, standards, methods and approaches relevant to project management from a manager perspective. The course requires no specific prerequisites. Examples are directed towards IT and business projects. Apart from covering the fundamental concepts, the courses focuses on the most important activities in project management as illustrated in the syllabus from chapter 3 to 13.

Students learn the formulation of material, including material made from renewable sources such as lumber and plants, and how to create materials like polymer in a resource-efficient way

Students learn about air pollutants and their sources. They get familiar with the most important regulations in the EU and in Germany. They learn about methods to avoid air pollution e.g. by flue gas treatment.

Students learn life cycle assessment of new products, they learn how to create products in a way which allows the reuse or recycling of materials. They learn to model the complete life cycle. The learn environmental impacts of different materials and how to treat toxic substances to avoid release.

Students learn basics of green chemistry, process intensification and sustainability in chemical production, including recycling technologies. They get to know NMR spectroscopy and gain an overview of already known analytical methods.

Students learn the basics of circular economy, i.e. the complete chain of products from production, use to recycling from a material and energy point of view.

UT 34.1 Flow simulation in process engineering

The students get to know the basics of flow simulation (CFD) in theory starting from the mathematical approaches, to setting up a grid and numerical solution. They learn how to simulate challenges in process engineering, e.g.how to simulate flow processes and heat transport phenomena. They learn the differences to other simulation approaches such as the finite element method and the use of the discrete element method for the simulation of bulk materials. In practicals the application to challenges from process engineering is done in flow simulation programs.

UT34.2 Modern synthesis methods in (metal)organic chemistry

The students are introduced to selected modern methods of chemistry. They learn how to recognise and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different modern and classical methods.

UT34.3 Visualisation with virtual and augmented reality

The students get to know different possible additive groups, their areas of application and effects in the polymer in theory. The knowledge is deepened in practice with the help of some examples.

UT34.4 Additives in polymers

The students get to know different possible additive groups, their areas of application and effects in the polymer in theory. The knowledge is deepened in practice with the help of some examples.

Students learn to use simulation methods in the context of environmental technology.

Students learn product design of materials in a sustainable way to allow production from basic materials and to allow reuse after the end of the life cycle.

Students learn the basic legislation of environmental law and its consequences in liability, and the consequences in industry and production processes. They learn granting of licenses for products and production process is done.

The Bachelor's thesis is an independent, application-oriented, scientific final thesis on a new task or an innovative topic. In the Bachelor's thesis, students should demonstrate the ability to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the course of study in a scientific context to complex tasks in business practice and to prepare the findings in a written thesis that meets the usual scientific criteria. A critical examination of existing approaches from the specialist literature is expected, a constructive application and further development of such approaches or new problem solutions.