..

THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

B.Sc.(ENG.) EXAMINATION

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

. Environmental Engineering CIVL 1005

May 18,2006 9:30- 11:30 am (2 hours)

Answer ALL questions (list all answers in sequence in one sheet);

All questions carry equal marks;
Only one answer allowed for each question. One mark will be deducted for each wrong
answer.

Use of Electronic Calculators:

Candidates may use any calculator which fulfils the following criteria:
(a) it should be self-contained, silent, battery-operated and pocket-sized; and
(b) it should have numeral-display facilities only and should be used only for the purpose
of calculation.

It is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that the calculator operates satisfactorily and the
candidate must record the name and type of the calculator on the front page of the
examination scripts. Lists of permitted/prohibited calculators will not be made available to
candidates for reference, and the onus will be on the candidate to ensure that the calculator .
used will not be in violation of the criteria listed above.

1. According to the following figure, which shows the absorptivity as a function of

wavelength for various gases in the atmosphere, which gas has little effect on the
absorption of radiation from the sun: (a) H20, (b) C02, (c) 02, and (d) 03.

page 1 of 3
 2. The planet Earth was formed about how many years ago? (a) 5.5 billion, (b) 5.0 billion,
(c) 4.5 billion, or (d) 4.0 billion.
3.. Which of the following statement is incorrect: Concentration of dissolved oxygen in a
surface water is dependent on (a) salinity, (b) content of heavy metals, (c) altitude, or (d)
temperature.
4. Living organisms in nature store food in cells in the form of polysaccharides, of which
starch is the most abundant in plants and glycogen in animals. Polysaccharides have the
chemical formula of (C6Hl00s)n, where n is the number of repeated units. Based on this

~
chemical formula, what is the closest estimate of theoretical oxygen demand for each
j; fe1) trO tgr of starch: (a) 100 g, (b) 150 g, (c) 200 g, or (d) 250 g.
{ 5. c of the following statements is false? Fossil fuel power plants in the Pearl River
Delta region are the common source of (a) thermal pollution, (b) PMIO, (c) acid rain, or
(d) BTX.
6. The following chemical reaction is often used to describe the effect of C02 and HC03- in
water: Ca2+ + 2 HC03- ~-7 CaC03 +C02 + H20 Which of the following may not be
explained from this chemical equation: (a) the relative abundance of C02 and HC03- at
different pH, (b) formation of limestone cavern, (c) scaling on boiler surface, or (d) the
temporary hardness nature of CaCOJ.
7. Which of the following pollutants is strictly anthropogenic: (a) radon, (b) ozone, (c)
methane, or (d) chlorinated herbicides.
8. Which of the following types of groundwater is potentially most contaminated: (a) vadose
water, (b) artesian well water, (c) piezometric surface water, or (d) perched-water-table
water.
9. Which of the following statement about Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) is incorrect:
(a) the most commonly found contaminants in groundwater, (b) many of them are
suspected carcinogens or mutagens, (c) highly soluble in water, or (d) many may react
with NOx in the presence of sunlight forming photochemical smogs.
10. Cryptosporidium was on the headline of newspapers all over the world in 2000. It was
found in Sydney's drinking water supply a few months before the 2000 Olympics Games,
causing a serious concern worldwide. Cryptosporidium is a: (a) protozoan, (b) virus, (c)
bacterium, or (d) helminth.
11. A sample of groundwater has 100 mg/L of Ca2+ and 10 mg/L of Mg2+. (Atomic weights:
Ca 40.1; Mg 24.3; C 12; 0 16). What are the hardness expressed in meq/L and mg!L as
CaC03 : (a) 5.8 meq/L and 291 mg/L; (b) 2.9 meq/L and 291 mg/L; (c) 5.8 meq/L and 146
mg/L; (b) 2.9 meq/L and 146 mg/L.
12. Which of the following statement is false? Reverse osmosis is an effective water
treatment process for the removal of (a) viruses, or (b) bacteria; it has become a
commercially viable water process after scientists had developed membranes which (c)
have reasonable water permeation flux, or (d) is physically strong enough to stand the
osmotic pressure of the water.
13. Coagulation is a process in which chemicals are added to promote the size increase of
colloidal particles/floes in water. Which one of the following has little effect on
coagulation: (a) dissolved oxygen, (b) pH, (c) multi-valent salts, and (d) polyelectrolytes.
14. Chlorine is the most common disinfectant for drinking water. Which one of the following

'7
description of residual chlorine is false: (a) it may prevent further bacterial growth, (b) it
includes chloramines, (c) it may leave a slight undesirable taste, and (d) its presence in
water should be prevented. ~ 1 r- Jr
15. PAHs is a group of (a) virus, (b) pathogens, (c) air pollutants, d) coagW ts sed in the
wastewater treatment plants at Stonecutters Island. "
16. Which of the following description of dioxins is false: (a) containing two oxygen atoms,
(b) incineration byproducts, (c) chlorinated compounds, or (d) emitted by cigarette
smoking.
page 2 of 3
..
17. Skies are generally clear when a high pressure zone arrives. Which of the following
statement is false in the interpretation of such phenomenon: (a) temperature tends to
increase as high pressure air sink to the land surface, (b) relative humidity tends to
increase as high pressure air sink to the land surface, (c) strong wind created by the arrival
of high pressure tends to clean up the surface air, or (d) the arrival of high pressure cause
vertical air movement.
18. Which one of the following description is a false description of carbon monoxide: (a)
colorless and odorless gas, (b) higher affinity to hemoglobin than oxygen, (c) effect to
brain is cumulative, and (d) damage to brain can be fatal.
19. Which of the following statements is most likely to be false: (a) building ventilation and
air conditioning are two different indoor environment engineering systems, (b) indoor air
quality can be more significant than outdoor air quality in terms of impact on our health,
(c) ventilation is just about supplying fresh outdoor air into a building, or (d) indoor air
quality in offices affects to the productivity of workers.
20. The pandemic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 resulted in hundreds
of death in Hong Kong and hundreds of billion dollar loss to the local economy. Which of
the following statement is false? SARS is a disease (a) caused by virus, (b) caused by
bacteria, (c) which may potentially become a plague spreading worldwide, or (d) the
transmission pathway is still not fully understood.
21. Electrostatic precipitators use very high negative voltage normally in the range of (a)
1000-10,000 V, (b) 10,000-100,000 V, (c) 100,000-1,000,000 V or (d) higher than
1,000,000 V.
22. Which of the following statement is false? The thermal efficiency of coal-fired power
plants has been substantially improved over the past century due to (a) the introduction of
coal pulverization process, (b) pre-combustion washing, (c) installation of supercritical
boiler, or (d) fluidized-bed combustion.
23. The most commonly used systems for treatment of exhaust gases from motor vehicles are
thermal reactors, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems, and three-way catalytic
converters. Which one of the following statements is incorrect for a thermal reactor: (a)
its purpose is to increase the engine combustion temperature, (b) it may improve the
combustion of carbon monoxide, (c) it may improve the combustion of hydrocarbons, or
(d) it requires extra supply of oxygen to continue the combustion outside the engine.
24. NOx is a crucial air pollutant resulting mainly from the combustion of fossil fuel. Which
of the following statements about NOx is false? The formation ofNOx may be affected by
(a) theN content in fossil fuel, (b) the combustion temperature, (c) the air-fuel ratio, or
(d) the size of combustion chamber.
25. Which of the following statement is false: (a) Over 90% of :fresh water in HK is from the
East River in Guangdong Province, (b) A golf driving range in HK is built on top of
restored landfill site, (c) Sludge from HK wastewater treatment plants has to be dewatered
to a moisture content of below 70% before it can be disposed of by landfilling, or (d) HK
has an annual rainfall of about 2300 mm.

-END OF PAPER-

page 3 of 3