2026 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fundamental Chemistry for Civil Engineering

Academic unit or major: Undergraduate major in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Instructor(s): Manabu Fujii / Chihiro Yoshimura / Chiaki Oguchi
Class Format: Lecture
Media-enhanced courses: -
Day of week/Period (Classrooms)
Class: -
Course Code: CVE.M204
Number of credits: 200
Course offered: 2026
Offered quarter: 3Q
Syllabus updated: Mar 5, 2026
Language: Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

" This lecture provides the knowledge and tools necessary to understand a range of environmental aqueous processes in natural waters (river, lake, ocean and so forth) and engineered waters (water and wastewater treatment systems). In the first 5 classes, students learn fundamentals in chemical reaction including themodynamics, kinetics and environmental organic chemistry. The next 5 classes introduce specific reactions that occur in natural and engineered waters including acid-base, complexation and redox reactions. The last 5 classes provide some examples (e.g., nutrient cycles in watershed, disinfection in drinking water treatment, fate and behavior of organic contaminants, etc) to which the aforementioned chemical theory can be applied in natural and engineered systems.
All over the world, the aquatic environment is expected to be the place which serve a good quality of water resource to human society and accommodate fruitful ecosystem and this can be achieved by properly managing and preserving water quality. This lecture aims to cultivate the ability of students, by using chemical reaction theory, to quantitatively assess the influence of human activities to the water quality and ecosystems including impact of wastewater discharge and climate changes to the water quality formation in watershed and transformation of water quality in treatment processes.

Course description and aims

"By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• Understand fundamental concept and theory that govern aqueous environmental processes including thermodynamics, kinetics and non-ideal system modeling.
• Understand a range of aqueous processes including acid-base equilibrium, oxidation-reduction reactions, elementary and complex reactions, mass balance and transport, multiphase reaction modelling (solid/water/air interface processes).
• Apply problem-solving algebraical, geometric and computational tools for the quantitative characterization and prediction of water quality composition in the engineered water and also natural waters.
• Understand the impact of human activities (e.g., wastewater discharge and climate change) to the water quality in river, lake, coastal and oceanic waters"

Keywords

Stoichiometry, Chemical equilibrium, Acid–base equilibrium, Carbonate system (carbonate equilibria), Chemical kinetics / Reaction kinetics, Fundamentals of quantum chemistry, Minerals, Concrete, Geomaterials (geotechnical materials), Soil chemistry, Weathering and alteration, Cement hydration reactions, Water–rock interactions, Intercalation, Adsorption, Solid–liquid interface, Aquatic chemistry / Water chemistry, Analytical chemistry, Redox reactions (oxidation–reduction reactions), Complexation (complex formation), Photochemistry, Contaminant fate and transport (pollutant dynamics), Environmental waters, Water treatment processes, Deterioration of civil engineering materials, Geoenvironment (geosphere environment), Water quality formation processes, Biogeochemical cycling / Material cycles, Environmental impact assessment

Competencies

Specialist skills
Intercultural skills
Communication skills
Critical thinking skills
Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

At the end of each class, we will give a short quiz. In addition, assignments will be given during class and should be submitted as written reports. There will also be three exams to assess your level of achievement.

Course schedule/Objectives

	Course schedule	Objectives
Class 1	Introduction and Fundamentals of Thermodynamics	Understand the role of chemistry in civil and environmental engineering and the overall structure of the course. Learn the relationships among amount of substance, concentration, energy, and equilibrium reactions.
Class 2	Chemical Equilibrium, pH, and Carbonate Equilibrium	Understand the concepts of acid–base equilibrium, the carbonate system, and alkalinity, and consider their applications to aquatic environments.
Class 3	Fundamentals of Reaction Kinetics	Learn first- and second-order rate laws and their solutions, and understand their applications in environmental systems.
Class 4	Fundamentals of Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Structure	Study the concept of electronic states based on the Schrödinger equation and apply this knowledge to understanding molecular structure and chemical reactivity.
Class 5	Quiz 1 and Review	Review and consolidate understanding of the first four lectures to ensure mastery of fundamental concepts.
Class 6	Water Quality Analysis and Basic Chemistry	Understand basic analytical methods for environmental and treated waters, and acquire the foundation for quantitatively evaluating water quality formation.
Class 7	Fundamentals of Chemistry for Water Treatment	Understand the chemical mechanisms of coagulation reactions, including colloidal stability, charge neutralization, and bridging effects, and learn their relationship with pH conditions.
Class 8	Fundamentals of Chemistry for Wastewater and Environmental Waters	Chemically understand dissolved oxygen equilibrium, oxygen consumption reactions, and their relationship to BOD, and learn their application to water quality assessment.
Class 9	Chemistry of Pollutants and Their Environmental Fate and Transport	Understand the environmental behavior of organic pollutants and trace metals, and study photochemical reactions and degradation processes.
Class 10	Quiz 2 and Review	Review and consolidate understanding of the middle four lectures to ensure mastery of fundamental concepts.
Class 11	Analytical Methods for Solid Materials	Regarding the chemical evaluation of solid materials, understand the fundamentals of analytical methods from the perspectives of bulk and local analyses, and recognize their applications and limitations for civil engineering materials (soil, rock, concrete, etc.).
Class 12	Solid-State Reactions and Mineral Chemistry	Understand solid–liquid interactions (water–rock reactions), including mineral dissolution equilibrium, precipitation, ion exchange, intercalation, and adsorption, and consider their impacts on the environment and material deterioration.
Class 13	Chemistry of Clay Formation and Cementation	Understand secondary minerals (such as clay minerals and various cements) formed through water–rock reactions, a major process of chemical weathering, as well as the hydration reactions of Portland cement and the formation of C–S–H gel, and learn the chemical alteration processes involved in natural and artificial cementation.
Class 14	Deterioration Mechanisms of Geomaterials and Concrete Materials	Learn from case studies how mineralogical and chemical changes in geomaterials and concrete materials affect their physical and mechanical properties, and understand the mechanisms of material deterioration.
Class 15	Quiz 3 and Review	Review and consolidate understanding of the final four lectures to ensure mastery of fundamental concepts.

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to references and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Handouts/materials will be distributed during class.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Atkins’ Physical Chemistry, Fundamentals of Water Environmental Science (Isao Somiya and Hiroshi Tsuno, Corona Publishing), etc.

Evaluation methods and criteria

Course grades will be determined based on in-class quizzes (20%), reports (30%), and the final examination (50%).

Related courses

CVE.G402 ： Environmental Statistics
CVE.G401 ： Aquatic Environmental Science
GEG.E412 ： Hydrology and Water Resources Conservation
GEG.E502 ： Environmental Hydraulics
GEG.E511 ： Socio-ecological systems in changing global and local environments
CVE.C311 ： Geotechnical Engineering in Practice
CVE.B311 ： River Engineering
CVE.G310 ： Water Environmental Engineering

Prerequisites

no requirements