UEMX 3613 ENVIRONMENTAL

SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Dr Gulnaziya Issabayeva (Dr Gulnaz), SA 5 th floor West wing
Email: gulnaziya@utar.edu.my
Dr Thiam Hui San, SA 1st floor (SA 129)
Email: thiamhs@utar.edu.my
3 lecture hours a week
6 tutorials (conducted by Dr Lee KM)
2 experiments: 2 group laboratory reports (c/w 10%)
2 tests (c/w 10% x 2 =20%)
1 assignment (c/w 10 %)
Coursework - 40 %; Examination 60 %.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE LABORATORY SD001 (Dr Lee Zhi Hua)

(lab. manual is available on WBLE)

Outcome Based Education

(OBE)
Unit Learning Outcomes for UEMX
3613:

Upon completion of this course, a student shall be able to:

a) Estimate basic parameters of environmental risk

assessment.
b)Evaluate water quality in terms of criteria pollutants
and describe applicable treatment processes.
c) Evaluate air quality and compare applicable
technologies
d)Prepare laboratory report based on the conducted
experiments.
e) Compare and discuss various aspects of sustainable
engineering and development

UEMX 3613 Syllables:

Topic 1: Introduction
Global environmental issues. Basic concepts and
mechanisms of pollutants transport in air, water and soil
Topic 2: Water Quality Management: criteria pollutants,
surface water treatment, sewage / wastewater treatment
Topic 3: Population growth: logistic and exponential,
carrying capacity
Topic 4: Environmental Risk Assessment: Chronic Daily
Intake, Hazard Quotient, Reference Dose, etc.
Topic 5: Air Quality Management: criteria pollutants,
point & non-point pollution sources, Gaussian model, precombustion, combustion & post-combustion technologies
Topic 6: Solid Waste Management
Topic 7: Hazardous Waste/Industrial Management
Topic 8: Environmental Management development
Textbooks:
1. Mines, R.O. and Lackey, L.W. (2009). Introduction to Environmental

Engineering. Prentice Hall. ISBN 10: 0-13-234747-4.

2. Masters, G.M. (2008). Introduction to environmental engineering & science. (3rd
ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 10: 0-13-233934-X

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

AND ENGINEERING, definitions
THE ENVIRONMENT:

The environment is the entirety of Earth minus

the set of human activities. It includes
various interacting systems called spheres:
The atmosphere (air layer); the hydrosphere (surface
water in rivers, lakes, oceans; subsurface water);
the lithosphere (land and rocks below); the
biosphere (all living matter); the cryosphere (ice in
glaciers and on the sea), etc.
Likewise, the set of human activities can be called the
anthrosphere.

Environmental Engineering
A pristine environment is a natural
setting
that
has
not
been
significantly impacted by human
activities. Returning the environment
to a pristine condition is NOT the
goal of environmental engineering, a
healthy environment is.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING:

Environmental Engineering is a discipline of engineering

devoted to the development and application of
scientific knowledge through technology to eliminate
or minimize adverse effects associated with human
activities.
It operates at four different levels:
1. remediation of contaminated sites,
2. treatment of effluents,
3. pollution prevention, and
4. care for future generations.

Environmental engineering is fundamentally objectfocused, rather than tool-based. It therefore draws

from all other engineering disciplines that are apt to
bear on the desired objectives.
Pursuit of pollution prevention and sustainability further
implicate social, cultural and economic
considerations, bringing the environmental engineer
to collaborate with policy makers and other nonengineers.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER:
The environmental engineer is a professional
trained in the art of applying scientific
principles and technological means to avoid
or reduce forms of pollution by human
activities.
This includes possessing knowledge of past and
current engineering practice and an ability to
innovate.

Environmental science is a group of

sciences that attempt to explain how life on
our planet is sustained, what leads to
environmental problems, and how these
problems can be evaluated and solved.
Environmental Science is interdisciplinary
in nature.

Current trends:
1. Population growth
2. Generation of wastewater, solid wastes,
hazardous waste grows
3. Living standards improved (medicine,
technology, nutrition, property
developments, etc)
4. Demand for various technological devices
grows
and yet
5. Poverty and associated with it problems

Sustainable global economy means careful

management of the planets resources.
Attributes:
harmony cohabitation of living organisms in the
natural systems
energy consumption/production that does not
pollute/damage the environment
a working plan to sustain natural resources
a working plan for renewable energy resources
social, legal, and political systems dedicated to
such economy

Precautionary principle basically says

that if there is a threat of serious,
irreversible environmental damage,
we should not wait for scientific proof
to take steps to prevent potential
harm to the environment

Ecosystems and Biodiversity

Ecosystem: two parts: living and nonliving.

Two main processes: a cycling of chemical
elements and a flow of energy.
An ecosystem changes over time and can
undergo development through a process
called succession.
Primary succession is the initial
establishment and development of an
ecosystem where one did not exist.
Secondary succession is reestablishment of
an ecosystem after disturbances

Food chain involves a transfer of

energy, chemical elements and some
compounds within an ecosystem.

Usable energy flows

from the external
environment (sun)
to the plants, then
to the herbivores,
and top carnivores.
Death at each level
transfers energy to
decomposers.
Energy lost as heat is
returned to the
external
environment.

The law of entropy

relates to energy
changes in forms.
Energy always
changes from a
more useful, highly
organized form to a
less useful,
disorganized form.
Whenever useful
work is done, heat
is released to the
environment, and
the energy in that
heat can never be
recycled. The
amount of usable
energy gets less
and less.

Does it work?

Factors promoting biodiversity:

a physically diverse habitat
moderate amount of
disturbance (fire, storm,
flood, etc)
a small variation in
environmental conditions
(temp, precipitation, nutrient
supply, etc)
high diversity at one trophic
level increase diversity at
another trophic level
an environment highly
modified by life
middle stages of succession
evolution

Factors suppressing
biodiversity:
environmental stress
extreme environments
severe limitations in
supplies
extreme amounts of
disturbance
recent introduction of exotic
species
geographic isolation

Biogeochemical cycles

A biogeochemical cycle is the complete path a

chemical takes through the four components,
or reservoirs, of Earths system: atmosphere,
hydrosphere (oceans, rivers, lakes,
groundwater, and glaciers), lithosphere (rocks
and soils), and biosphere (plants and animals).

A highly simplified systems diagram of the water cycle

Pathways for cycling of chemicals in an

ecosystem

Geologic cycle
Biosphere is a dynamic system. The
processes responsible for formation and
change of Earth materials are referred to
as the geologic cycle.
Group of cycles
Tectonic cycle
Hydrologic cycle
Rock cycle
Biogeochemical cycle

Tectonic Cycle

Hydrologic cycle

The rock (minerals) cycle

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE: THE CARBON CYCLE

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE: THE NITROGEN CYCLE

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE: THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

Ozone depletion
In 1985, ground-based measurements
first identified ozone depletion over
the Antarctic.
Ozone hole
Ozone depletion damages some food
chains on land and in the oceans and
is dangerous to people, increasing the
incidence of skin cancers and
cataracts and suppressing immune
systems.

Climate change and global

warming
Earths atmosphere is a dynamic
system (changing continuously),
chemically active system, fueled by
sunlight, affected by high-energy
compounds emitted by living things
(for example oxygen, methane, and
carbon dioxide) and by our industrial
and agricultural activities.

 Major greenhouse gases: CFC (15-25%), CH 4

(12-20%), N2O (5%), O3(8%), CO2 (50-60%)
A doubling of carbon dioxide concentration
in the atmosphere could rise the mean
global temperature 1o-2oC in the next few
decades and 1.5o-4.5oC by the end of this
century.
Global warming is leading to changes in
climate patterns, rise in sea level, melting
of glaciers, and changes in the biosphere
(biological diversity, agricultural
productivity).

CATASTROPHE:
A large scale
disaster.
An unmanageable
from the
magnitude of
destruction and
the depth of
rupture.
Natural or ManMade.

CALAMITY:
An event that brings
terrible loss,
lasting distress, or
severe affliction; a
disaster: A
hurricane would be
a calamity

HOW DOES IT AFFECTS THE

ECOSYSTEM?
1. Critical Habitats:
Support sensitive species and
ecological process that cannot be
sustained in others.
i.e. China is the only country which
pandas live in the wild.
Impact, 80% of panda habitat was
damaged.

2. Pattern and Connectivity of

Habitat Patches:
Cause habitat fragmentation.
Process of natural landscape is
broken up into small patches of
natural ecosystem.
Affect the soil fertility on the quality
plant parts.

3. Nutrient Cycling:

Affect the resiliency of the

ecosystem

Earthquake causes the loss of

nutrients, disrupt the natural
cycling of nutrients, and limit
ecosystem productivity.

4. Hydrologic Patterns
Tends to fragment or isolate
populations species living up
and downstream.
Potentially, endangering lives
of million of people and causes
flooding.

5. Treatment and Purification

Services:
Changes of the magnitude,
frequency, duration, timing and
rate of change of water flow.
Affect the hydrological cycle which
provides water for organisms and
habitats.

6. Epidemics of infectious diseases

Cholera spread
AIDS/HIV increases
Water quality related diseases

SERIOUS ENVIROMENTAL ISSUE:

Eradication of Poverty in the World
Nearly three billion people live on less
than two dollars a day.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st
century unable to read a book or sign their
names.
1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2
children in the world).
640 million live without adequate shelter,
almost a billion of people have no access to
safe water, a half million have no access to
health services.
About 15 million died in 2012 before they

Causes of poverty:
Overpopulation
Global distribution of
resources
High standards of
living and costs of
living
Inadequate education
and employment
Environmental
degradation
Economic and
demographic trends
Individual
responsibility and
welfare dependency

Effects of poverty:
Shorter life expectancy
Malnutrition
Slower physical and
mental development
Number of homeless
people increase
Spread of infectious
diseases
Violence, criminal
cases increase
Unemployment
Social isolation, etc

Is eradication of poverty possible?

Poverty eradication is not feasible

(matter of opinion)
Few factors:
1. Corruption
2. War, weapon trade
3. Natural disasters: drought, flood,
volcanic eruptions, earthquake,
tsunami, etc.

Corruption
Direct consequences on economic
and governance factors,
intermediately result in poverty.
The corruption impedes the
economic and social growths of a
country.
Uneven distribution of the budget,
funds result in the inadequate
infrastructure, education and
employment systems

War

People lose their home, families,

jobs
Destruction of infrastructures
such as road, energy resources
and water resources
Destruction of crop fields:
1. Decrease the agriculture output
2. Decrease the income or lost their
jobs
3. Affects the income of a country

Natural disasters
The consequences:
reduced crop yields
shortage of water
war over natural resources, including
water and food
reduced electricity production
death of livestock
crime rate
access to education