Resource Recovery Engineering Curriculum

Increasing demands on natural resources and scarcity of environmentally acceptable solid waste disposal alternatives are forcing many municipalities to consider resource recovery as an alternative. As this trend continues, an expanding market in resource recovery technology will be created, and advanced, technical training of engineers in the recovery of resources (materials and energy) will soon become a necessary component of an environmental engineering education. With the assistance of the National Science Foundation, a curriculum option in resource recovery engineering has been established. This pilot program consists of three courses: (1)Recovery processes, which includes a resource recovery laboratory; (2) systems analysis, emphasizing economics and administrative problems and including extensive computer simulation gaming; and (3)materials science relative to resource recovery and materials conservation. Education materials, including slides and laboratory experiments, have been made available to other institutions.