Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

END-OF-SEMESTER EXAMINATION
SEMESTER I 2009/2010 SESSION

KULLIYYAH OF ENGINEERING

Program : ENGINEERING Level of Study : UG 3

Time : 2:30 – 5:30 pm Date : 16/11/2009

Duration : 3 Hrs

Course Code : BTE 3620 Sections :1

Course Title : Environmental Engineering

This Question Paper Consists of Five (5) Pages (including Cover Page) with Six (6) Questions.

INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CANDIDATES

DO NOT OPEN UNTIL YOU ARE ASKED TO DO SO

• There are Two (2) Sections in this question paper,

• Section A is Compulsory,
• Answer Any Four (4) questions from Section B,
• Answers should be clear and intelligible.
• Useful Equations, Table and Figure are attached.

Any form of Cheating or Attempt to Cheat is a Serious Offence

which may Lead to Dismissal.

1
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

Section A: Compulsory.
Q1. [20 Marks]

a) Write abbreviation of the following terms commonly used in Environmental

Engineering: (6 Marks)

CSTR, PE, DOE, NPS, ASP and DAF

b) What is LC50? What is the use of this parameter? (3 Marks)

c) Mention the merits and demerits of anaerobic bioprocess. (5 Marks)

d) Mention four methods that can be used to minimize the generation of sludge from (6 Marks)
a drinking water treatment plant.

Section B: Answer Any Four (4) Questions from this Section .

Q2. [20 Marks]

a) Why is “Global Warming” linked to Green House Effect? Justify your answer (4 Marks)
with reference to the function of an actual Green House that is used to grow
plants and trees.

b) The management of a centralized wastewater treatment plant of a City is directed

by the Authority to upgrade its activated sludge process to achieve the new
revised target of 25 mg/L BOD5 and 30 mg/L suspended solids in the effluent. A
completely mixed activated sludge system is to be employed to achieve this
objective. The following data is available for the plant:

Waste inflow rate = 0.029 m3/s

Influent BOD5 = 240 mg/L
MLVSS = 3000 mg/L
BOD5 in the suspended solids = 70%
Ks = 100 mg/L BOD5
μm= 10 d-1
kd = 0.025 d-1
Y = 0.8 mg VSS/mg BOD5 removed
Amount of soluble substrate (BOD5) released from the system = 0

Determine the following:

i) Allowable concentration of soluble substrate (4 Marks)

ii) SRT (3 Marks)
iii) HRT (3 Marks)
iv) Volume of the aerobic reactor (3 Marks)
v) Show the dimensions of the reactor in a drawing (Not to Scale) (3 Marks)

2
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

Q3. [20 Marks]

a) Briefly discuss the basic properties that a good disinfectant should have. (6 Marks)

b) Explain why residual disinfectant is necessary in a drinking water distribution (2 Marks)

network.

c) Draw a schematic diagram to show various unit operations necessary for the (6 Marks)
complete treatment of domestic wastewater from an urban area.

d) A rectangular area of 50 m length and 8 m width is available to construct a rapid (6 Marks)

sand filter which is required to upgrade an old water treatment plant. Determine
the effective surface area of the rapid sand filter and draw the plan of the filter to
suit the shape of the available land. Following data is available:

Surface loading rate = 200 m3/d.m2

Treated water supply rate = 0.30 m3/s

Q4. [20 Marks]

a) Write four main properties of leachate generated from a landfill site? (4 Marks)

b) Draw a flowchart to show various components of an integrated solid waste (4 Marks)

management (ISWM).

c) Classify the bacteria used for wastewater treatment according to their adaption to (3 Marks)
suitable temperature by mentioning the ranges of the temperatures.

d) Discuss various methods that can be used to manage hazardous wastes. (9 Marks)

Q5. [20 Marks]

a) Being a plant engineer you are advised to make a presentation on the removal of (10 Marks)
air pollutants from the stack (chimney) of a wood processing industry by using an
adsorption process. With the help of a schematic diagram discuss about the
process that you would recommend.

b) State various methods to reduce the generation and release of NOx from (6 marks)
anthropogenic sources.
c) Briefly explain how acid rain occurs due to human activities. (4 marks)

Q6. [20 marks]

a) Discuss various types of technology that can be used for “Resource Conservation (5 marks)
and Recovery” in urban solid waste management.

3
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

b) A settling tank is required to be designed to treat water from a river. The design
flow rate of the tank is 0.50 m3/s and the expected efficiency is 65%. Settling test
using a 2 m column resulted in the iso-concentration lines shown in Figure 1.
Additional data based on the settling column test, which is required to design the
actual size of the settling tank (to be constructed at site) is given in Table 1.
Scale-up factors for detention time and overflow rate are proposed as 1.7 and 0.6.

i) Calculate the overflow rate for the time when the iso-concentration line of
(2 marks)
30% intersects the bottom of the column.
ii) Calculate the overall suspended solids removal efficiency in the column at
35 minutes. (4 marks)
iii) Plot the data of Table 1 on the attached graph papers to determine the
detention time and overflow rate of the proposed settling tank. (5 marks)
iv) Determine the actual detention time and overflow rate of the new settling
tank to be constructed at site. (4 marks)

Figure 1: Iso-concentration Lines Based on Settling Column Data for Q6(b)

Table 1: Data for Settling Tank Design for Q6(b)

No. Detention SS Removal Overflow SS Removal

Time (hr) Efficiency (%) Rate (m/d) Efficiency (%)
1 0.38 55 32 72
2 0.75 63 37 67
3 1.25 67 63 63
4 1.60 72 108 55

4
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

SOME USEFUL FORMULAE

H1 H
RTO = Ra + ( Rb − Ra ) + 2 ( Rc − Rb ) + ...
H H

µm S
µ=
Ks + S

K S (1 + k d θC )
S=
θC ( µm − k d ) −1

θC Y ( S O − S )
X =
θ (1 + k dθC )

5
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620

Note: Those who are answering Question 6(b), must attach the graphs to the Answer Book

6
Environmental Engineering BTE 3620