Conference/ Workshop

Conference/Workshops organized

Additional Conference Organizations (Dr. P. Jeetah)

International Conference on Technology Transfer and Renewable Energy (ICTTRE) 2012
International Conference on Renewable Energy and Sustainability (RESUS 2014)
International Conference on Energy, Environment and Climate Change (ICEECC) 2015
2nd International Conference on Energy, Environment and Climate Change (ICEECC) 2017

Conference/Workshops Participated in

International Society for Industrial Ecology Biennial Conference
June 25-28, 2013, Ulsan, South Korea

Performance management and industrial symbiosis in the sugar industry in Mauritius

 Vimi Dookhun

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract          Companies are seeking to be more efficient and sustainable and in trying to build competitive advantage, they have to effect major changes in their industrial processes. The challenges arise in attempting to meet the different expectations both from the operational as well as from the management point of view. This problem is particularly critical in the sugar industry which is currently adapting to a massive fall in revenue due to reforms of the EU sugar regime required by the WTO. This study presents the case of an integrated Mauritian sugar factory which is a good example of industrial symbiosis. The integrated sugar factory produces end-product like refined sugar and the by-products are used by other plants which operate within the same cluster of companies. Over the last ten years, the main company has experienced several phases of restructuring and diversification of its products and services. The aim of the project was to make an assessment of the environmental performance management system within the organization and to identify common indicators for sustainability reporting   .Although environmental, operational and management indicators are useful to inform public of how green the companies are, a standardized methodology of identification of the indicators can serve as a mode to share best practices and informing of the risks and liabilities. The study consisted of reviewing environmental practice and performance of the sugar company’s annual operations, focusing on its material flow and environmental risks at each operation over one year. The report generated allows for top management to acknowledge positive steps taken to improve company’s performance and reputation, other than just   for penalizing noncompliance. The analysis encompasses the main features that are considered important for a well-planned performance management system including: reviewing the organizational goals and the linkages to individual objective of environmental staff who have important roles in providing continuity and consistency of good environmental practice. The adoption of standardized performance standards provides a good opportunity for cross-pollination of information and ideas across the business units in an industrial ecology set up. By encouraging knowledge-sharing, staff, on the other hand ,can benefit   from fresh perspectives on what are, all too often, on-going problems. The main outcomes of the study show that there exist linkages for common grounds of reporting between material flow analysis method and environmental performance evaluation standard method. Improvement areas were identified for communication between employees and senior management and for training and development. Although a company can have a well-established environmental policy which states its intentions, the challenge is always in the implementation because a lot of environmental issues present long-term liabilities and it is imperative to identify those risks as well as to ensure that they are properly managed.

1^st International Conference on “Technologies for Sustainable Waste Management in Developing Countries”– ICTW 2013
August, 23-24, 2013, Vignan University, Vadlamudi - 522 213, Guntur Dist., Andhra Pradesh, India

Microwave pretreatment for anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge: Process parameter variations and biogas production

Ackmez Mudhoo^a,*, Fadiilah B. Bodheea ^a, Sunil Kumar^b

^a Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

^b Kolkata Zonal Laboratory, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Kolkata, 700107, India

* Corresponding Author. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract          In this work, the effects of microwave (MW) irradiation pretreatments on the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assays were studied. Low solids systems with total solids (TS) contents of 5.4±0.3% were analyzed. BMP assays were runs with a WAS:inoculum ratio of 1.25. Pretreatment conditions were as follows: control (no MW irradiation), two runs with 136 W and 528 W irradiations for 15 and 30 minutes each. On day 11, the cumulative biogas production were 620 ml and 890 ml for 15min/136 W and 30min/136 W MW irradiation conditions, respectively, and 645 ml and 810 ml biogas for 15min/528 W and 30min/528 W, respectively, as compared to the control giving 379 ml biogas. Both an increase in exposure time of irradiation and power of MW had increased the rate and yield of biogas production when compared to the controls. Except for cumulative biogas production, single–factor ANOVA tests (p

Keywords: waste activated sludge, microwave pretreatment, biogas, process enhancement.

Sonochemical Degradation of Reactive Red 158 in Presence of Chemical Additives

Ackmez Mudhoo^a,*, Priyadarshini Mukshada Ramphul^a, Sanjay K. Sharma^b

^a Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius

^b Department of Chemistry, JECRC University, Jaipur-303905, Rajasthan, India

* Corresponding Author. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract          The degradation of Reactive Red 158 (RR158) in single-dye component synthetic aqueous solutions by means of ultrasonic cavitation was investigated. Results indicate that degradation of RR158 in aqueous solution follows pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics and the degradation rate is dependent on the initial concentration of RR158. The effects of Fe²⁺(aq), Fenton reagent (Fe²⁺/H₂O₂) and NaCl addition on the sonochemical degradation of RR158 were also investigated. The results obtained presently show that the degradation rate of RR158 in aqueous solution is increased with 10 mg L⁻¹ Fe²⁺(aq), 0.5 and 1.0 mol L⁻¹NaCl and Fenton reagent additions when compared to the respective ‘no additive’ cases.

Keywords: Dye degradation; Reactive Red 158; sonication; Fe²⁺; Fe²⁺/H₂O₂; NaCl; kinetics