CE 574 Reactive Transport Processes in the Subsurface

This syllabus is divided into several sections. You can read it sequentially by scrolling down the length of the document or by clicking on any of the links below to “jump” to a specific section. It is essential that you read the entire document as well as material covered in the Course Orientation. Together these serve as our course "contract."

• Instructors
• Teaching Assistant
• Class Support Services (if applicable)
• Course Overview
• Required Course Materials
• Assignments and Grading
• Course Schedule
• Course Policies

Instructor

Name: Li Li [1]
Title: Professor in Environmental Engineering
201A Sackett Bldg.
College of Engineering, Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University

• Phone: 814-867-0151
• E-mail: lili@engr.psu.edu [2]

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Teaching Assistant

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Class Support Services

Penn State Online [3] offers online tutoring to World Campus students in math, writing, and some business classes. Tutoring and guided study groups for residential students are available through Penn State Learning [4].

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Course Overview

Description:

This course targets graduate students from various disciplines that work with chemical and physical processes in natural subsurface. This includes, for example, petroleum and natural gas engineering, geosciences, environmental engineering, agricultural engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, and applied mathematics. The course teaches fundamental concepts that are important in understanding subsurface reactive transport processes, as well as their quantitative representation and application. Covered topics include, for example, (bio)geochemical thermodynamics and kinetics, contaminant transport, and reactive transport coupling. Depending on the students’ interests, the course will discuss the applications of the principles in understanding and quantifying chemical weathering processes, environmental (bio)remediation, geological carbon sequestration, and reservoir souring. 

Prerequisites and concurrent courses:

Some chemistry and hydrogeology background would help however are not required. No experiences on numerical methods are required. This course teaches how to use a reactive transport code CrunchFlow, instead of solving for reactive transport equations.

Students who do not meet these prerequisites may be dis-enrolled during the first 10-day free add-drop period after being informed in writing by the instructor (see Senate policy 34-60, Prerequisites and Concurent Courses [5]). If you have not completed the listed prerequisites, then promptly consult with the instructor if you have not done so already. Students who re-enroll after being dis-enrolled according to this policy are in violation of Item 15 on the Student Code of Conduct [6].

Course Objectives

The learning outcomes for the students are to:

1. understand the reaction thermodynamics and kinetic of important geochemical reactions, including mineral dissolution and precipitation, aqueous complexation, surface complexation, and ion exchange;
2. understand concepts of advective and dispersive/diffusive transport;
3. understand the concept of spatial heterogeneity and how they affect reactive transport processes;
4. acquire skills to model coupled flow, transport, and reactions using the reactive transport code CrunchFlow;
5. develop the ability to communicate and collaborate within interdisciplinary teams.

The course will be taught through a combination of online lectures that discuss general principles and reactive transport equations, video demos, discussion forums, homework assignment, and a final project that requires the use of CrunchFlow. Students decide the content of the final project. Ideally the student will be able to integrate the project as part of their research.

Expectations

On average, most students spend eight to ten hours per week working on course assignments. Your workload may be more or less depending on your study habits.

I have worked hard to make this the most effective and convenient educational experience possible. The Internet may still be a novel learning environment for you, but in one sense it is no different from a traditional college class: how much and how well you learn is ultimately up to you. You will succeed if you are diligent about keeping up with the class schedule and if you take advantage of opportunities to communicate with me as well as with your fellow students.

Specific learning objectives for each lesson and project are detailed within each lesson. The class schedule is published in the Calendar in Canvas (the course management system used for this course).

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Required Course Materials

Required textbook: None

Online lesson content (not required, all are available in EMS library):

1. Geochemistry, groundwater, and pollution, by C. A. J. Appelo and D. Postma, 2nd edition, 2005.
2. Reactive transport in porous media, edited by P. C. Lichtner, C. I. Steefel, and E. H. Oelkers, 1996.
3. Principles and applications of aquatic chemistry. By F. M. M. Morel and J. G. Hering, 1993.
4. Aqueous environmental geochemistry, by D. Langmuir, 1997.
5. Contaminant hydrogeology, by C. W. Fetter, 2nd edition, 1999 / 2008
6. The geochemistry of natural waters: surface and groundwater environments. 3rd edition. By J. I. Drever. 1997.
7. Applied contaminant transport modeling. 2nd ed. Chunmiao Zheng. 2002.
8. Additional reading materials posted in Canvas

All other materials needed for this course are presented online through our course website and in Canvas. In order to access the online materials, you need to have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password (used to access the online course resources). If you have any questions about obtaining or activating your Penn State Access Account, please contact the World Campus Helpdesk [7].

Reserve materials
This course uses library Electronic Reserves (E-Reserves). More information about how to access this content is available in the course orientation.

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Assignments

This course will rely on a variety of methods to assess and evaluate student learning, including:

• Homework: There will be approximately 9 homework assignments, one of which is optional. Students are required to submit homework via Canvas.
• Exams: There will be one final exam in the final week.
• Project: Each student will work on a research project that uses CrunchFlow. Ideally, this would be a topic that would be relevant to your thesis. An abstract of the project (3 pages, single space) will be due in the mid of the semester. An abstract template will be handed out in early February. Students are welcome to discuss ideas with the instructor before the abstract is due.
• Presentation: At the end of the semester, each student will give a 15 minutes presentation to classmates and will submit a project report.

It is important that your work is submitted in the proper format to the appropriate Canvas assignment drop-box or Discussion Forum and by the designated due date. I strongly advise that you not wait until the last minute to complete these assignments—give yourself time to ask questions, think things over, and chat with others. You'll learn more, do better...and be happier!

Due dates for all assignments are posted on the course calendar in Canvas.

Grading

Breakdown of each assignment's value as a percentage of total course grade.

Assignment	Percent of Grade
Homework	40%
Final exam	20%
Project	40%

I will use the Canvas gradebook to keep track of your grades. You can see your grades in the gradebook, too, by clicking "Grades" in Canvas. Overall course grades will be determined as follows. Percentages refer to the proportion of all possible points earned.

Letter Grade and Corresponding Percentage

Letter Grade	Percentages
A	93 - 100 %
A-	90 - 92.9 %
B+	87 - 89.9 %
B	83 - 86.9 %
B-	80 - 82.9%
C+	77 - 79.9 %
C	70 - 76.9 %
D	60 - 69.9 %
F	< 60 %
X	Unsatisfactory (student did not participate)

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Course Policies

Late Policy

I do not accept any "late work." In exceptional circumstances, you should contact me. The earlier you contact me to request a late submission, the better. Requests will be considered on a case by case basis. Generally, late assignments will be assessed a penalty of at least 10% and will not be accepted more than one week after the original due date.