University of Mauritius

UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS
DECEMBER 2007
PROGRAMME MSc Industrial Engineering and Management - 2

MSc Project Management – Level 1
MSc Quality Management - Level 2
MODULE NAME Environmental Management I
Thursday 20
DATE MODULE CODE CIVE 6102
December 2007
TIME 9:30 – 12:30 Hours DURATION 3 Hours
NO. OF NO. OF QUESTIONS

5 3
QUESTIONS SET TO BE ATTEMPTED
INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B.
Section A consists of 3 questions. Question 1 is COMPULSORY. Answer ANY

OTHER 1 Question from Section A.
Section B consists of 2 questions. Answer ANY 1 Question from Section B.
Use separate answer books for each Section.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT I – CIVE 6102
SECTION A
Question 1 is COMPULSORY.
Answer any other ONE (1) Question from this Section.
Question 1
A soft drink company utilizes a large quantity of water and caustic soda for bottle
washing and rinsing operations. As a Cleaner Production option, a certain percentage
of the caustic soda is to be recovered from the resulting caustic solution, through the
use of a membrane filtration (MF) system. The recovered caustic will then be resold at
the prevailing market price.
The following data are available:
• Volume of caustic soda used yearly = 1000 m3

• Overall caustic recovered from the MF system is 65% by volume
• Concentration of caustic by weight is 2.5% or 25 Kg/m3
• Cost of 1 kg of pure caustic solution is $ 0.3
The installation cost for the MF system (membrane, pumps, cartridges, pipes, valves,
etc) is $8,000. The annual operating cost (power, cartridge) = $500. In addition to the
initial investment, the manufacturer states that the membrane for the MF system will
need to be replaced once in 2 years. The associated cost for this will work out to be
$2,000. The total life of the MF system is 6 years.
(a) Is the Cleaner Production option financially viable. Assume a discount rate
of 10%.
[25 marks]
(b) Determine the internal rate of return (IRR). Compare this to the discount rate
of 10%.
[15 marks]
(c) What is the limitation of the concept of payback period? How can this be
overcome?
[10 marks]
Page 1 of 4
Question 2
(a) Explain the concept of Cleaner Production. [5 marks]
(b) Is the concept of Cleaner Production limited only to a facility, that is a

manufacturing location? Is the concept applicable on a collective basis that is for
a cluster of manufacturing industries? How?
[7 marks]
(c) Draw a step-wise process of conducting Cleaner Production Assessment or a

Waste Audit.
[7 marks]
(d) Can Cleaner Production be integrated with Environmental Management System

(EMS) per ISO 14001 Standard? How?
[6 marks]
Question 3
(a) Explain the concept of sustainable development, as applied to business.

[5 marks]
(b) Individual businesses interact with a number of stakeholders. Traditionally the

main focus of stakeholder interest has been on financial performance of the
company. Increasingly, however, stakeholder pressure is concentrating on the
triple bottom line. Discuss briefly the interactions of these various stakeholders
with business.
[10 marks]
(c) Environmental protection programs are frequently designed to require all

polluters to cut back emissions to the same standard. What are the perverse
incentives built into this type of program?
[10 marks]
Page 2 of 4
SECTION B
Answer ANY 1 Question from this Section.

Question 4
(a) Give benefits of the ISO 14000 series of standards to industry from an
international point of view.
[7 marks]
(b) Briefly describe the method used to evaluate significant environmental aspects
in the Planning phase of the ISO 14000 series.
[6 marks]
(c) Write an environmental policy for one of the following organizations based in
Mauritius and justify the elements you have included.
(i) food processing company

(ii) developer of a housing estate
(iii) software/hardware company
(iv) research institution
[8 marks]
(d) Give one Operational Performance Indicator, OPI (specify unit used) and
one Environmental Condition Indicator, ECI for the organization you have
chosen in (c).
[4 marks]
Page 3 of 4
Question 5
(a) List the main differences between solid waste generation rate and composition
between an island state like Mauritius and high-income countries such as USA or
Japan.
[5 marks]
(b) Discuss advantages and disadvantages of implementing an Integrated Solid

Wastes Management (ISWM) in the Mauritian context.
[8 marks]
(c) Government has decided to set up a 20 MWe Waste to Energy plant in Mauritius
as from 2009. Briefly describe the risk issues for incineration.
[7 marks]
(d) Give major factors to take into consideration while siting a landfill in an island
context.
[5 marks]
END OF QUESTION PAPER

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UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

PROGRAMME MSc Industrial Engineering and Management - 2

MODULE NAME Environmental Management I

TIME 9:30 – 12:30 Hours DURATION 3 Hours

NO. OF NO. OF QUESTIONS

There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B.

Section A consists of 3 questions. Question 1 is COMPULSORY. Answer ANY

Section B consists of 2 questions. Answer ANY 1 Question from Section B.

Use separate answer books for each Section.

The following data are available:

• Volume of caustic soda used yearly = 1000 m3

(a) Explain the concept of Cleaner Production. [5 marks]

(b) Is the concept of Cleaner Production limited only to a facility, that is a

(c) Draw a step-wise process of conducting Cleaner Production Assessment or a

(d) Can Cleaner Production be integrated with Environmental Management System

(a) Explain the concept of sustainable development, as applied to business.

(b) Individual businesses interact with a number of stakeholders. Traditionally the

(c) Environmental protection programs are frequently designed to require all

Answer ANY 1 Question from this Section.

(i) food processing company

(b) Discuss advantages and disadvantages of implementing an Integrated Solid

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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