Environmental Science

The Fundamental Units of Measurements

Lecture No. 7

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Moustafa S. El-Koliel

Egyptian Russian University, Faculty of Engineering

Cairo, 2023
 References

1. Susan J. Masten and Mackenzie L. Davis,” Principles of Environmental

Engineering and Science”, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn
Plaza, New York, 2020.

2. Gilbert M. Masters and Wendell P. Ela, “Introduction to Environmental

Engineering and Science”, Third Edition, Pearson Education Limited 2014.

3. C. C. Lee, Shun Dar Lin,” Handbook of Environmental Engineering

Calculations ”, 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, May 2007
 Introduction
 Chemical concentration is one of the most important determinants in almost all
aspects of chemical fate; transport, and treatment in both environmental and
engineered systems.

Chemical fate
o Chemical fate describes where a chemical goes when it gets into the environment
and how it might be chemically transformed in the process.

o Chemicals are more likely to end up in lakes, rivers, groundwater, and oceans. The
chemical released might dissolve in the water of a lake, while another quarter might
end up buried in lake sediments, or undergo a chemical reaction that transforms it
into a new chemical altogether.

 Concentrations of chemicals are expressed in a variety of units. The choice of units depends
on the chemical, where it is located e.g., air, water, or soil/sediments), and often on how the
measurement will be used. It is therefore necessary to become familiar with the units used
and methods for converting between different sets of units.
Units of Measurement
• Engineers need to be familiar with both the English units of feet, pounds, hours, and degrees
Fahrenheit as well as the more recommended International System of units (SI units). Both are used in
the practice of environmental engineering.
• In this lecture, we will study the different units used to measure pollutant levels in aqueous (i.e., water),
soil/sediments, and atmospheric systems.

Table 1 lists conversion factors between the SI and the U.S. Customary System
(USCS) systems for some of the most basic units that will be encountered.
• In the study of environmental engineering, it is common to
encounter both extremely large quantities and extremely
small ones. The concentration of some toxic substances may
be measured in parts per billion (ppb), whereas a country’s
rate of energy use may be measured in thousands of
millions of watts (gigawatts).

• To describe quantities that may take on such extreme

values, it is useful to have a system of prefixes that
accompany the units. Some of the most important prefixes
are presented in Table 2.
  Mass concentration units
 Mass/mass concentrations are commonly expressed as parts per million, parts per billion, parts per trillion,
and so on. For example, 1 mg of a solute placed in 1 kg of solvent equals 1 ppmm.

 Parts per million by mass (ppmm) is defined as the number of units of mass of chemical per million units of total
mass. That is,
𝑝𝑝𝑚𝑚 = 1 𝑔 𝑜𝑓 (𝑖) 𝑖𝑛 106 𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
• Concentration units based on chemical mass include mass chemical/total mass or mass chemical/total volume.

• Mass/mass concentrations can be reported with the units explicitly shown (e.g., mg/kg, µg/kg).

• In soils and sediments, 1 ppmm equals 1 mg of pollutant per kg of solid (mg/kg) and 1 ppbm equals 1 µg/kg.

 percent by mass is analogously equal to the number of g pollutant per 100 g total.

• Similar definitions are used for the ppbm , pptm , and % by mass. That 1 ppbm equals 1 part per billion or 1 g
chemical per billion (109 ) g total, so that the number of ppbm in a sample is equal to (𝑚𝑖 Τ𝑚𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 ) × 109 .
This definition is equivalent to the following general formula, which is used to calculate ppmm concentration
from measurements of chemical mass in a sample of total mass:
𝒎𝒊
𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒎 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟔
𝒎𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
Note that the factor 106 is a conversion factor similar to the conversion factor of 102 that is used to
convert fractions to percentages. For example, the expression 0.25 = 25% can be thought of as

0.25 = 0.25 × 100% = 25%

• Example 1: A one-kg sample of soil is analyzed for the chemical solvent trichloroethylene (TCE). The
analysis indicates that the sample contains 5.0 mg of TCE. What is the TCE concentration in ppmm
and ppbm ?

𝟓. 𝟎 𝒎𝒈 𝑻𝑪𝑬 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟓 𝒈 𝑻𝑪𝑬

Solution: 𝑻𝑪𝑬 = =
𝟏. 𝟎 𝒌𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍

𝟓 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝒈 𝑻𝑪𝑬
× 𝟏𝟎𝟔 = 𝟓 ppmm = 𝟓, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 ppbm
𝟏 𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍
 Liquids
• Concentrations of substances dissolved in water are usually expressed in terms of mass per unit
volume of mixture. The units are milligrams (mg), micrograms (g), or moles (mol) of substance per
liter (L) of mixture. They may be expressed in grams per cubic meter (g/m3)
• Alternatively, concentrations in liquids are expressed as mass of substance per mass of mixture, with
the most common units being parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb).
 1 ppm is about the same as 1 drop of pollutant added to 57 liters, whereas 1 ppb is about the same as
one drop of pollutant in a large (70 m3) back-yard swimming pool.
• Since most concentrations of pollutants are very small, In most aqueous systems, ppmm is equivalent to mg/L. this
is because the density of pure water is approximately 1,000 g/L, so for all practical purposes, we can write

1 mg / L = 1 g/ m3 = 1 ppm (by weight) (1)

1 g / L = 1 mg/ m3 = 1 ppb (by weight) (2)

 This equality is strictly true only for “dilute “ solutions, in which any dissolved material does not contribute
significantly to the mass of the water, and the total density remains approximately 1,000 g/L. most
wastewaters and natural waters can be considered dilute, except perhaps seawaters and brines.

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• In unusual circumstances, the concentration of liquid wastes may be so high that the specific gravity of the
mixture is affected, in which case a correction to (1) and (2) may be required:

mg/L = ppm (by weight)  specific gravity of mixture (3)

Example 2: one liter of water is analyzed and found to contain 5.0 mg

TCE. What is the TCE concentration in mg/L and ppmm ?

5.0 𝑚𝑔 𝑇𝐶𝐸
Solution: 𝑇𝐶𝐸 =
1.0 𝐿 𝐻2 𝑂

To convert to ppmm , which is a mass/mass unit, it is necessary to convert the volume of water to
mass of water, by multiplying by the density of water, which is approximately 1,000 g/L:
5.0 𝑚𝑔 𝑇𝐶𝐸 1.0 𝐿 𝐻2 𝑂
𝑇𝐶𝐸 = ×
1.0 𝐿 𝐻2 𝑂 1,000 𝑔 𝐻2 𝑂
5.0 𝑚𝑔 𝑇𝐶𝐸 5.0 𝑔 𝑇𝐶𝐸 6 = 5.0 ppm
= = × 10 m
1,000 𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 106 𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
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EXAMPLE 1: Fluoridation of Water
The fluoride concentration in drinking water may be increased to help prevent tooth decay by adding sodium fluoride;
however, if too much fluoride is added, it can cause discoloring (mottling) of the teeth. The optimum dose of fluoride
in drinking water is about 0.053 mM/L (millimol/liter). If sodium fluoride (NaF) is purchased in 25 kg bags, how many
liters of drinking water would a bag treat? (Assume there is no fluoride already in the water.)

Solution
Note that the mass in the 25 kg bag is the sum of the mass of the sodium and the mass of the fluoride in the
compound. The atomic weight of sodium is 23.0, and fluoride is 19.0, so the molecular weight of NaF is 42.0.
The ratio of sodium to fluoride atoms in NaF is 1:1. Therefore, the mass of fluoride in the bag is
𝟏𝟗. 𝟎 𝒈Τ𝒎 𝒐𝒍
𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝑭 = 𝟐𝟓 𝒌𝒈 × = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟑𝟏 𝒌𝒈 (4)
𝟒𝟐. 𝟎 𝒈Τ𝒎 𝒐𝒍
Converting the molar concentration to a mass concentration, the
optimum concentration of fluoride in water is
𝟎. 𝟎𝟓𝟑 𝒎𝒎𝐨𝐥/𝐋 × 𝟏𝟗. 𝟎 𝐠/𝐦𝐨𝐥 × 𝟏, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒎𝐠/𝐠 𝒎𝐠
𝑭= = 𝟏. 𝟎𝟎𝟕 (5)
𝟏, 𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒍/𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝑳
The mass concentration (C ) of a substance in a fluid is generically
𝒎
𝑪= (6)
𝑽
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where m is the mass of the substance and V is the volume of the fluid. Using Equation (6) and the results
of the two calculations above of Equations (4) and (5), the volume of water that can be treated is

𝒎𝒈
𝟏𝟏.𝟑𝟏 𝒌𝒈 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒌𝒈
𝑽= 𝒎𝒈 = 𝟏𝟏. 𝟐𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎𝟔 liters
𝟏.𝟎𝟎𝟕 𝑳
 Gases
For most air pollution work, it is customary to express pollutant concentrations in volumetric terms. For
example, the concentration of a gaseous pollutant in parts per million (ppmv ) is the volume of pollutant per
million volumes of the air mixture:

𝟏 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕

= 𝟏 𝒑𝒑𝒎 𝒃𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆 = 𝟏 ppmv (7)
𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒊𝒓

 To help remind us that this fraction is based on volume, it is common to add a “v” to the ppm,
giving ppmv as suggested in equation (7).
 Also, concentrations may be expressed as mass per unit volume, such as g/m3 or mg/m3.

Example: What is the carbon monoxide (CO) concentration expressed in µg/ m3 of a 10-L gas mixture that
contains 𝟏𝟎−𝟔 mole CO?
In this case, the measured quantities are presented in units of moles chemical/total volume. To convert to mass of
chemical/total volume, convert the moles of chemical to mass of chemical by multiplying by CO’s molecular weight.
Note that: the molecular weight of CO (28 g/mole) is equal to 12 (atomic Weight of C) plus 16 (atomic Weight of O)

𝟏.𝟎 ×𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝑪𝑶 𝟐𝟖 𝒈 𝑪𝑶 𝟐𝟖 ×𝟏𝟎−𝟔 𝒈 𝑪𝑶 𝟏𝟎𝟔 µ𝒈 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝑳 𝟐,𝟖𝟎 µ𝒈

𝑪𝑶 = × = × × = 𝟑
𝟏𝟎 𝑳 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝑪𝑶 𝟏𝟎 𝑳 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒈 𝒎𝟑 𝒎

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 Volume/volume and Mole/Mole Units
• Units of volume fraction or mole fraction are frequently used for gas concentrations.
The most common volume fraction units are 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 (parts per million by volume), which
is used as:
𝑽𝒊
𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 = × 𝟏𝟎𝟔
𝑽𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍
o 𝑉𝑖 /𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 is the volume fraction and the factor 106 is a conversion factor.

• Other common units for gaseous pollutants are 𝒑𝒑𝒃𝒗 (parts per 109 𝑏𝑦 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒).

• The advantages of volume/volume units is that gaseous concentrations reported in these

units do not change as a gas is compressed or expanded.

• Atmospheric concentrations expressed as mass/volume (e.g., µg/ m3) decrease as the gas
expands, since the pollutant mass remains constant but the volume increases.

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 The ideal gas law
• The ideal gas law can be used to convert gaseous concentrations between mass/volume and
volume/volume. The relationship between 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 and mg/m3 depends on the pressure, temperature,
and molecular weight of the pollutant.
• The ideal gas law states that the volume occupied by a given number of molecules of any gas is the same,
no matter what the molecular weight or composition of the gas, as long as the pressure and temperature
are constant.
𝑷𝑽 = 𝒏 𝑹 𝑻 (8)
where
P = absolute pressure (atm)
V = volume (m3)
n = No. of moles
R = ideal gas constant = 0.082056 L . atm . K-1 . mol-1
T = absolute temperature (K)
The mass in (8) is expressed as moles of gas. Also, note the temperature is expressed in kelvins (K), where
K = oC + 273.15 (9)
There are a number of ways to express pressure; in (8), we have used atmospheres. One atmosphere of pressure equals
101.325 kPa (Pa is the abbreviation for Pascals). 100 kPa is called a bar, and 100 Pa is a millibar.
The ideal gas law can be rearranged to show that the volume occupied by n moles of gas is equal to
𝑹𝑻
𝑽=𝒏 (10)
𝑷
• It may be helpful to recall from chemistry that one mole of any substance has Avogadro’s number of molecules,
atoms or ions in it (6.021023 molecules/mol) and has a mass equal to its molecular weight and volume equal to
22.4 L under STP conditions (T = 0 C and P = 1 atm). this volume varies as determined by equation 10.

Example: A gas mixture contains 0.001 mole of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and 0.999 mole of air. What is the SO2
concentration, expressed in units of ppmv?

Solution: the concentration in ppmv is determined using

𝑉𝑆𝑂2
𝑆𝑂2 = × 106
𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙

To solve, convert the number of moles of SO2 to volume using the Ideal Gas Law and the
total number of moles (mixture) to volume. Then divide the two expressions:

𝑅𝑇
𝑉𝑆𝑂2 = 0.001 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑂2 ×
𝑃
𝑅𝑇
𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 0.999 + 0.001 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 ×
𝑃
𝑅𝑇
= (1.0) mole total × 𝑃
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Substitute these volume terms for ppmv, to obtain
 𝑉𝑆𝑂2
𝑝𝑝𝑚𝑣 = × 106 (11)
𝑉𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
𝑅𝑇
0.001 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑂2 ×
= 𝑃 × 106
𝑅𝑇
1.0 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 ×
𝑃
0.001 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑂2
= × 106
1.0 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙
= 1,000 𝑝𝑝𝑚𝑣

Note that for gases, volume ratio and mole ratio are equivalent. This is clear
from the ideal gas law, because at constant temperature and pressure the
volume occupied by a gas is proportional to the number of moles.

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 EXAMPLE 2 Volume of an Ideal Gas
Find the volume that 1 mole of an ideal gas would occupy at standard temperature and
pressure (STP) conditions of 1 atmosphere of pressure and 0C temperature. Repeat the
calculation for 1 atm and 25 oC.

o Solution

Using (8) at a temperature of 0 oC (273.15 K) gives 𝑷𝑽 = 𝒏 𝑹 𝑻 𝒏𝑹𝑻

𝑽=
𝑷
𝟏 𝒎𝒐𝒍 × 𝟎. 𝟎𝟖𝟐𝟎𝟓𝟔 𝑳 . 𝒂𝒕𝒎 . 𝑲−𝟏 . 𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏 × 𝟐𝟕𝟑. 𝟏𝟓 𝑲
𝑽= = 𝟐𝟐. 𝟒𝟏𝟒 𝑳
𝟏 𝒂𝒕𝒎

and at 25°C (298.15 K)

𝟏 𝒎𝒐𝒍 × 𝟎. 𝟎𝟖𝟐𝟎𝟓𝟔 𝑳 . 𝒂𝒕𝒎 . 𝑲−𝟏 . 𝒎𝒐𝒍−𝟏 × 𝟐𝟗𝟖. 𝟏𝟓 𝑲

𝑽= = 𝟐𝟒. 𝟒𝟔𝟓 𝑳
𝟏 𝒂𝒕𝒎

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From Example 2, 1 mole of an ideal gas at 0 oC and 1 atm occupies a volume of 22.414 L (22.414 10-3 m3).
Thus, we can write
𝟏 𝒎𝟑 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕/𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒎𝟑 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒕 (𝒈/𝒎𝒐𝒍)
𝒎𝒈ൗ𝒎𝟑 = 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 × × × 𝟏𝟎𝟑 𝒎𝒈/𝒈
𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 𝟐𝟐.𝟒𝟏𝟒 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 𝒎𝟑 /𝒎𝒐𝒍

or, more simply,

𝒎𝒈 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 × 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒕 (𝑎𝑡 0 °𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 1 𝑎𝑡𝑚) (10)

=
𝒎𝟑 𝟐𝟐. 𝟒𝟏𝟒
𝒎𝒈
𝒎 3 × 𝟐𝟐. 𝟒𝟏𝟒
Molecular Weight 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 =
Similarly, at 25 °𝐶 and 1 atm, 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒕

𝒎𝒈 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 × 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒕 (𝑎𝑡 25 °𝐶 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑡 1 𝑎𝑡𝑚) (11)

=
𝒎𝟑 𝟐𝟒. 𝟒𝟔𝟓
In general, the conversion from ppm to mg/m3 is given by

𝒎𝒈 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 × 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒘𝒕 𝟐𝟕𝟑. 𝟏𝟓 𝑲 𝑷 (𝒂𝒕𝒎)

= × × (12)
𝒎𝟑 𝟐𝟐. 𝟒𝟏𝟒 𝑻 (𝑲) 𝟏 𝒂𝒕𝒎
EXAMPLE 3: Converting ppmv to mg/m3
The Air Quality Standard for carbon monoxide, CO (based on an 8-hour measurement) is 9.0 ppmv.
Express this standard as a percent by volume as well as in mg/m3 at 1 atm and 25 oC.
o Solution

Within a million volumes of this air there are 9.0 volumes of CO, no matter what the temperature
or pressure (this is the advantage of the ppmv units). Hence, the percentage by volume is simply
𝟗. 𝟎
𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝐂𝐎 = 𝟔
× 𝟏𝟎𝟎% = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟗 %
𝟏 × 𝟏𝟎

To find the concentration in mg/m3 we need the molecular weight of CO, which is 28 (the
atomic weights of C and O are 12 and 16, respectively). Using (11) gives

𝟗. 𝟎 × 𝟐𝟖
𝐂𝐎 = = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑 𝒎 𝒈Τ𝒎𝟑
𝟐𝟒. 𝟒𝟔𝟓

Actually, the standard for CO is usually rounded and listed as 10 mg/𝑚3 .

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• 1 ppmv is 1 volume of pollutant per million volumes of air, which is equivalent
to saying 1 mole of pollutant per million moles of air.

• Similarly, since each mole contains the same number of molecules, 1 ppmv also
corresponds to 1 molecule of pollutant per million molecules of air.

𝟏 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝟏 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕

𝟏 𝒑𝒑𝒎𝒗 = = (13)
𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒊𝒓

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 ‫تستخدم آالت إعادة تسطيح الجليد محركات االحتراق‬
‫الداخلي التي تنبعث منها عادم يحتوي على ثاني أكسيد‬
‫الكربون وأكاسيد النيتروجين‪ .‬تم اإلبالغ عن أن متوسط‬
‫تركيزات ثاني أكسيد الكربون المقاسة في حلبات التزلج‬
‫على الجليد المحلية تصل إلى ‪ 107‬جزء في المليون‬
‫ومنخفضة تصل إلى ‪ 36‬جزء في المليون‪ .‬كيف يمكن‬
‫مقارنة هذه التركيزات بمعيار جودة الهواء الخارجي لمدة‬
‫ساعة والذي يبلغ ‪ 35‬ملغم‪/‬م‪3‬؟ افترض أن درجة الحرارة‬
‫تساوي ‪ 20‬درجة مئوية‪.‬‬

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