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Noise barriers are one of the common solutions to control road traffic noise. Many studies have also shown that noise barriers cause reductions in near-road air pollutant concentrations. In this study, the simultaneous effects of a specific noise barrier application on near-road noise and air pollution at a specific location were investigated. In this context, air pollution, noise, and meteorological parameters were measured simultaneously at two points, road and receptor sides of a 50 m long, 4 m high glass fiber reinforced concrete noise barrier on a highway section. Results indicated that the noise barrier has an average 23 % reduction effect on the NOx concentration in addition to the noise level reduction at the receptor side. Besides, bi-weekly average passive sampler measurement results for BTEX pollutants indicate lower values at the receptor side of the barrier compared to the free field measurement results. In addition to real-time and passive sampler measurements, NOx and noise dispersions were modeled using RLINE and SoundPLAN 8.2 software, respectively. Comparisons of the measurement results with the model results indicated strong correlations. Model-calculated NOx and noise values under the free field conditions are highly compatible with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.78. Although the noise barrier has a reduction effect on both parameters, it has been observed that their dispersion mechanisms are different. This study showed that noise barriers considerably affect the dispersion of road-sourced air pollutants at the receptor side. Further studies are needed to optimize noise barrier designs with different physical and material properties and application scenarios considering noise and air pollutants together.

The management of waste with minimum cost and the environmental burden has recently gained importance in the circular economy. In this study, alternatives for the transportation of wastes by rail and road were compared in terms of cost, environment and personnel requirement benchmarks by using the multi-criteria decision-making software - Right Choice (2.0). The transportation of waste by road is shown with Alternative 1, while the transportation by rail is represented by Alternative 2 (by loading waste-carrying trucks and trailers on the train), Alternative 3 (by loading only trailers on the train) and Alternative 4 (by loading only wastes on the train). As a result, it was determined that the optimum option to transfer the wastes is as specified in Alternative 4, to load only the wastes on the wagons. Importantly, the low operation-maintenance cost of Alternative 4, in other words, its high performance on this benchmark and the high relative importance of the operation-maintenance cost attributed by the stakeholders play a vital role. According to the sensitivity analysis results, Alternative 3 appears as another option close to Alternative 4 while Alternatives 1 and 2, however, remain as options to be evaluated where Alternatives 3 and 4 are not included in decision-making at all. The results of this study show that, depending on the scoring of the criteria in the decision tree, Alternative 4 or 3 could be a better option than the other alternatives, by reducing the number of alternatives and highlighting the good performers., Son zamanlarda, atıkların minimum maliyet ve çevresel yük ile yönetimi döngüsel ekonomi açısından önem kazanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, çok kriterli karar verme yazılımı - Right Choice (2.0), kullanılarak, atıkların demiryolu ve karayolu ile taşınması alternatifleri, maliyet, çevre ve personel ihtiyacı ölçütleri açısından karşılaştırılmıştır. Atıkların karayolu ile taşınması, Alternatif 1 ile gösterilirken, demiryolu ile taşıma, Alternatif 2 (atık kamyonu ve treylerin trene yüklenmesi), Alternatif 3 (sadece treylerin trene yüklenmesi) ve Alternatif 4 (sadece atıkların trene yüklenmesi) ile temsil edilmektedir. Sonuç olarak atıkların taşınması için en uygun seçeneğin Alternatif 4'te belirtildiği gibi sadece atıkların vagonlara yüklenmesi olduğu belirlenmiştir. Bu kapsamda, Alternatif 4'ün düşük işletme-bakım maliyeti, diğer bir deyişle, bu kıyaslamadaki yüksek performansı ve paydaşlar tarafından atfedilen işletme-bakım maliyetinin yüksek göreceli önemi rol oynamaktadır. Hassasiyet analizi sonuçlarına göre, Alternatif 3, Alternatif 4'e yakın bir başka seçenek olarak ortaya çıkarken, Alternatif 1 ve 2, Alternatif 3 ve 4'ün karar vermede hiç yer almadığı durumlarda değerlendirilecek seçenekler olarak kalmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın sonuçları, alternatiflerin sayısının azaltılarak iyi performans gösterenlerin öne çıkartılmasıyla, karar ağacındaki ölçütlerin puanlanmasına bağlı olarak Alternatif 4 veya 3'ün diğer alternatiflere göre daha iyi birer seçenek olabileceğini göstermektedir.

This study reports new data for 1028 non-fatal occupational accidents dated between January 2010and April 2015 by applying the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique. A comprehensive surveywas conducted at four shipyards in Tuzla, Istanbul and Yalova regions in Turkey and a workplacequestionnaire appropriate for the AHP technique was carried out. The obtained results indicated thatinadequate safety equipment and protective clothing, unsuitable usage of machines and tools, and disobeyingoccupational health and safety (OHS) procedures were the most common risk factors for theaccidents. Hence the preventive measures could be identified by analyzing non-fatal accident data.After the identification of the descriptive measures, the priority order of these measures was asked ofthe occupational safety professionals in the shipbuilding industry, and we used the AHP method toevaluate the results.

In this study, we investigated ways by which to optimize metals and nutrients solubilization from sewage sludge using alkaline–thermal hydrolysis and the Box–Behnken design. We also examined through struvite crystallization the recovery of solubilized nutrients from hydrolyzed liquid and determined the effect of NaOH concentration, the liquid/solid ratio, and temperature on the hydrolysis process. Nutrients solubilization was positively affected by decreasing liquid/sludge ratio and increasing NaOH concentration. Ca, Al, and Zn solubilization increased with increasing temperature. The optimum condition for solubilization of nutrients and metals was 0.7 M NaOH and a 5/1 mL/g liquid/solid ratio at 35 °C. EDS analyses of hydrolyzed sludge obtained under optimum conditions showed that the mass percentage of C, P, Fe, Al, and K decreased compared to that of the digested sludge. Under optimum conditions, the removal efficiencies of NH4+ and PO43- from hydrolyzed liquid by struvite precipitation were 57.43 and 79.22% at a N:Mg:P molar ratio of 1:1:1, and 73.31 and 99.02% at a N:Mg:P molar ratio of 1:1.5:1, respectively. XRD analyses of the dry precipitate showed hazenite in addition to struvite formation at a molar ratio of N:Mg:P of 1:1:1., Bu çalışmada, alkali–termal hidroliz ve Box–Behnken dizaynı kullanılarak arıtma çamurundan metallerin ve nütrientlerin çözündürülmesinin optimizasyonu araştırılmıştır. Çözündürülmüş nütrientlerin, hidroliz sıvısından geri kazanımı da strüvit kristalizasyonu ile araştırılmış ve hidroliz prosesi üzerine NaOH konsantrasyonu, sıvı/katı oranı ve sıcaklığın etkileri belirlenmiştir. Nütrientlerin çözündürülmesi, azalan sıvı/katı oranı ve artan NaOH konsantrasyonu ile pozitif olarak etkilenmiştir. Ca, Al ve Zn çözündürülmesi sıcaklık artışı ile artmıştır. Nütrientlerin ve metallerin çözündürülmesi için optimum koşullar 0,7 M NaOH, 5/1 mL/g sıvı/katı oranı ve 35 °C’de olmuştur. Optimum koşullar altında elde edilen hidrolize edilmiş çamurun EDS analiz sonuçları, C, P, Fe, Al ve K kütle yüzde değerlerinin çürütülmüş çamurunkine kıyasla azaldığını göstermiştir. Optimum koşullar altında, strüvit çöktürmesi ile hidroliz sıvısından NH4+ ve PO43- giderim verimleri sırasıyla N:Mg:P molar oranı 1:1:1 iken %57,43 ve %79,22 ve N:Mg:P molar oranı 1:1.5:1 iken %73,31 ve %99.02 olmuştur. Kuru çökeltinin XRD analizleri, N:Mg:P molar oranı 1:1:1 iken strüvit oluşumuna ek olarak hazenit oluşumunu da göstermiştir.

Climate change, which is caused by the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by humans, disrupting the temperature, rainfall, and humidity balance on the earth, makes itself felt more and more every day. The effects of climate change are seen in oceans, habitats, briefly all over the world, from the equator to the poles. As a result of these effects, the polar glaciers are melting, the seawater level rises and soil losses increase in the coastal areas, while the severity and number of hurricanes, and floods increase in some parts of the world, while long-term droughts and desertification have started in some other regions. Climate change also affects water resources greatly, and it occurs as a decrease in water resources, forest fires, and related ecological deterioration. As a result of the decrease in the water flow in the river basins, water shortage started in the cities, agricultural production decreased and caused the expansion of arid or semi-arid areas. In this study, the impacts of climate change on Turkish basins were investigated and the measures to be taken were examined. Possible problems to be encountered in the future were mentioned and suggestions were made about what to do in the basins.

This study, it was aimed to investigate the nutritional status and heavy metal contents of Liquidambar orientalis Mill., an endemic species naturally distributed in Marmaris, Koycegiz, and Fethiye districts of Mugla province. When the soil heavy metal contents are examined, it has been determined that the Cr and Ni values are quite high in the Koycegiz and Marmaris samples. Cd, Co, Cr, Ni and Pb contents in the leaves, respectively; it was determined to be in the range of 0.04-0.09 ppm, 0.4-1.80 ppm, 2.85-6.87 ppm, 9.28-40.49 ppm and 0.52-2.15 ppm. Although some heavy metals were found to be above the limit values, no physical evidence was found that the plants in the study were adversely affected by these high values metabolically.

Günümüzde artan enerji maliyetleri tüm sektörlerde olduğu gibi tekstil sektöründe de enerjinin verimli kullanımını gündeme getirmektedir. Üretim sürecinde yenilenebilir enerji kaynakları kullanımıgeleneksel yakıtlara kıyasla düşük maliyet değerlerine sahip, tükenmez ve yerli enerji kaynağı olması dolayısıyla enerji üretiminde önemli bir yer tutmaya devam edecektir. Güneş enerjisi, barındırdığı yüksek potansiyel dolayısıyla evsel ve endüstriyel kullanım için en çok tercih edilen yenilenebilir enerji kaynağı olarak önemini korumaktadır. Bu çalışmada Bursa Demirtaş Organize Sanayi Bölgesinde (DOSAB) bulunan bir tekstil fabrikasının elektrik ihtiyacının karşılanması amacıyla HOMER Pro programı kullanılarak şebekeye bağlı ve şebekeden bağımsız fotovoltaik sistem tasarımları gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yapılan çalışma sonucunda şebekeden bağımsız fotovoltaik sistemin fabrika için en uygun sistem olduğuna karar verilmiş olup, kurulacak sistemin net bugünkü maliyeti 2.625.139.000 TL (151.654.477,2 $), basit geri dönüş süresi ise 14,04 yıl olarak belirlenmiştir., Today, increasing energy costs bring the efficient use of energy to the agenda in the textile sector as well as in all sectors. The use of renewable energy sources in the production process willcontinue to occupy an important place in energy production as it is an inexhaustible and domestic energy source with low cost values compared to traditional fuels. Solar energy maintains its importance as the most preferred renewable energy source for domestic and industrial use due to its high potential. In this study, grid-connected and off-grid photovoltaic system designs were carried out using the HOMER Pro program in order to meet the electricity needs of a textile factory located in Bursa Demirtaş Organized Industrial District (DOID). As a result of the study, it was decided that the off-grid photovoltaic system was the most suitable system for the factory, and the net present cost of the system to be installed was determined as 2,625,139,000 TL ($ 151,654,477.2) and the simple payback period was determined as 14.04 years.

Since the industrial revolution, the modes of production and consumption that were incompatible with the environment has led to several environmental problems due to global population growth and welfare demands. In this process, the composition of the atmosphere has changed due to the gradual increase in greenhouse gas emissions by human activities, leading to global climate change due to the greenhouse effect and global warming.Greenhouse gases induced by human activities (transportation, power generation, water consumption, heating, fuel consumption, etc.) are generally measured in CO2 emissions and carbon footprint. Global climate change, a significant global problem, entails the changes in climate due to the greenhouse effect induced by the gases released into the atmosphere by human activities, and this impact is expressed as carbon footprint (CO2 equivalent).The present study aims to investigate the current status of greenhouse gases in terms of carbon footprint and the climate change due to global warming in Turkey, and monthly precipitation, soil temperature, sea water temperature and changes in air temperature were investigated in Muğla province, Bodrum district in Turkey, which is a significant tourist destination. The results showed that global climate change has started to occur in Bodrum district.

Heavy metal contamination is a primary concern worldwide and it is discharged from the industrial wastewater to a large amount of heavy metal receiving environments. In recent years, the effective use of agricultural by-products is definitely a major challenge in waste management. The fact that agricultural residues are more easily obtained and cheaper than commercial adsorbents makes it attractive. In this study, removal of zinc from industrial wastewater using natural and thermally modified (biochar) walnut shells as biosorbent was investigated. It was tried to remove zinc in aqueous solutions with different concentrations by using walnut shells at different rates. The effects of initial concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage. In addition, adsorption isotherms and kinetics were also studied. With the modified form of the walnut shell, up to 98% zinc removal efficiency was obtained. Also, adsorption was observed to be consistent with pseudo-second kinetics and Freundlich isotherm. The results showed that the modified walnut shell in zinc removal was a potential adsorbent. The adsorption of zinc, onto walnut shells was found to fit Freundlich isotherm. The results obtained in the tests with wastewater showed the potential use of walnut shells for the removal of zinc., Ağır metal kirliliği dünya çapında endişe kaynağıdır ve endüstriyel atık sulardan büyük miktarda ağır metal alıcı ortamlara deşarj edilmektedir. Son yıllarda, tarımsal yan ürünlerin etkin kullanımı, atık yönetiminde kesinlikle büyük bir zorluktur. Tarımsal kalıntıların ticari adsorbentlere göre daha kolay elde edilmesi ve daha ucuz olması onları cazip kılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, biyosorbent olarak doğal ve biyokömür haline getirilmiş ceviz kabukları kullanılarak endüstriyel atık sudan çinkonun giderimi araştırılmıştır. Ceviz kabukları farklı oranlarda kullanılarak farklı konsantrasyonlardaki sulu çözeltilerdeki çinko giderilmeye çalışılmıştır. Başlangıç konsantrasyonunun etkileri, temas süresi, adsorbent dozu araştırılmıştır. Ayrıca adsorpsiyon izotermleri ve kinetiği de incelenmiştir. Ceviz kabuğunun modifiye edilmiş şekli ile %98'e varan çinko giderimi elde edilmiştir. Ayrıca the pseudo-second kinetiği ve Freundlich izotermiyle uyumlu olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. Sonuçlar, çinko gideriminde modifiye edilen ceviz kabuğunun potansiyel bir adsorban olduğunu göstermiştir. Ceviz kabukları üzerine çinko adsorpsiyonunun Freundlich izotermine uyduğu bulunmuştur. Atık su ile yapılan testlerde elde edilen sonuçlar, çinkonun giderilmesi için ceviz kabuklarının potansiyel kullanımının uygun olduğunu göstermiştir.

The moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has proven to be an effective system for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater. The main operating mechanism of moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) is the growth of attached biomass in biofilm carriers in the bioreactor with mixing provided by diffusers in aerobic bioreactors or mechanical stirrers in anoxic/anaerobic bioreactors. Biofilm formation is a complex process affected by microbial composition and properties. In this study, biofilm formation performance on Kaldnes K1 was investigated in two moving bed biofilm reactors (AnMBBR1 and AnMBBR2) using textile wastewater. Both MBBRs with a 40% fill rate were operated with a 6-hour hydraulic retention time (HRT). AnMBBR1 was operated under anaerobic conditions while AnMBBR2 was operated at different aeration rates (0.001-0.004 m3 air/m3reactor). The highest biomass concentration was observed in AnMBBR2 with a reactor aeration ratio of 0.004 m3air/m3reactor, corresponding to 4062 mg/L. The results showed that limited aeration improved biofilm formation on biofilm carriers rather than anaerobic conditions., Hareketli yataklı biyofilm reaktörünün (HYBR), belediye ve endüstriyel atık suların arıtılması için etkili bir sistem olduğu kanıtlanmıştır. Hareketli yataklı biyofilm reaktörlerinin (HYBR) ana çalışma mekanizması, aerobik biyoreaktörlerde difüzörler veya anoksik/anaerobik biyoreaktörlerde mekanik karıştırıcılar tarafından sağlanan karıştırma ile biyoreaktördeki biyofilm taşıyıcılarında bağlı biyokütlenin büyümesidir. Biyofilm oluşumu, mikrobiyal bileşim ve özelliklerden etkilenen karmaşık bir süreçtir.Bu çalışmada, tekstil atıksu kullanılarak iki hareketli yataklı biyofilm reaktöründe (AnHYBR1 ve AnHYBR2) Kaldnes K1 üzerinde biyofilm oluşturma performansı araştırılmıştır. %40 doluluk oranına sahip her iki MBBR de 6 saatlik hidrolik tutma süresi (HRT) ile çalıştırılmıştır. AnHYBR1 anaerobik koşullar altında çalıştırılırken, AnHYBR2 farklı havalandırma oranlarında (0,001-0,004 m3hava/m3rektör) çalıştırılmıştır. En yüksek biyokütle konsantrasyonu, 4062 mg/L'ye karşılık gelen 0,004 m3hava/m3reaktör havalandırma oranıyla AnHYBR2'de gözlenmiştir. Sonuçlar, sınırlı havalandırmanın anaerobik koşullardan ziyade biyofilm taşıyıcıları üzerinde biyofilm oluşumunu iyileştirdiğini göstermiştir.

Halophilic organisms are a novel attractive option as cell factories for the production of industrially valuable bioproducts. Halomonas elongata is the cell factory of choice for ectoine production, but its levan production has not been well researched. Based on this scientifc motivation, in this study, we evaluated the chemical and biological properties of levan produced by the halophilic extremophile Halomonas elongata 153B (HeL). First, the central composite design was used to determine the optimal process variables for maximum levan biosynthesis. Then, the levan produced from HeL was purifed, quantifed, and chemically characterized with FTIR, 1 H-NMR, and GPC analyses. This was followed by antioxidant, anti-infammatory, antibioflm, and antimicrobial activity tests to assess its biological activities as well as a cytotoxcity assay. Maximum levan yields of 5.13±0.38 g/L were achieved after dialysis at the optimum levels of process variables. The 1 H-NMR spectrum of HeL revealed characteristic signals. It showed a strong antioxidant activity of 67.88% and the best radical scavenger. At a concentration of 400 µg/mL, HeL showed the most anti-infammatory efcacy. Also, at all indicated concentrations (250, 500, 750, and 1000 μg/mL) HeL, acted against bioflms formed by Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 11778, Candida albicans ATCC 10231. Furthermore, HeL displayed antimicrobial activities against all strains tested. Finally, HeL showed high Cell viability in all dosages and no cytotoxicity was observed. In light of these results, HeL may have high potential in the medical, pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmetics industries.

Modern yaşamın ilgi çekici unsurlarından biri de renktir. Başta tekstil endüstrileri olmak üzere bir çok endüstri, farklı konsantrasyonlarda çeşitli boyalar içeren yüksek miktarda renkli atık su üretmektedir. Sağlık ve ekolojik kaygılara yol açan sentetik boyaların alıcı ortama verilmeden önce atıksulardan uzaklaştırılması gerekmektedir. Düşük maliyetli adsorbanlar elde edebilmek için atık malzemelerin kullanımı, atıksu arıtma maliyetlerinin azaltılmasına ve çevrenin korunmasına katkıda bulunduğu için araştırmalara konu olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, kolayca temin edilebilen ve toksik olmayan organik üretilen aktive edilmiş kompozit bir biyokömür hazırlanarak Safranin T boyasının gideriminde adsorbent olarak kullanılmıştır. Kesikli sistemde gerçekleştirilen deneylerde adsorban miktarı (0,1-1 g/L), boya konsantrasyonu (10-50 mg/L), pH (5-9) ve temas süresi (0-360 dk) gibi en temel parametreler incelenmiştir. Dört farklı İzoterm ve dört farklı kinetik tartışılmıştır. Elde edilen verilerle Langmuir izoterm modeli ve sözde ikinci derece kinetik model daha iyi uyum sağlamıştır.

Günümüzde enerji kaynakları hızla artmakta ve yenilenebilir enerji üzerinde yoğunlaşan ülkeler gelişen teknoloji ile birlikte mevcut yönetim mekanizmalarından destek alarak çalışmalarını devam etmektedir. Bu teknolojilerin temelinde anaeorobik çürütme ve deponi gazı üretimi bulunmaktadır. Bu yöntemler kullanılarak biyogaz üretiminin yapılması oldukça yaygındır. Çöp gazındaki enerjiyi mekanik enerjiye dönüştürerek elektrik enerjisi üretimi oluşturma ilkesine dayanmaktadır. Çöpte oluşan kötü kokunun oluşması doğal çevrenin ve insan sağlığı açısından ciddi riskler oluşturmaktadır. Adıyaman ilinde katı atıkların elektrik potansiyelinin araştırılması ve enerji üretimi ile 9-10 bin haneye günlük 36 Megawatt elektrik enerjisi sağlanması amaçlanmaktadır. Günlük 380-400 ton katı atıkların içerisinde %45-55 oranında bulunan organik atıklardan yıllık 4.160,440 m3 biyogaz üretilmesi hedeflenmiştir. Depolama alanına gelen yıllık katı atık miktarı 138.700-146.000 ton arasında olup çıkan enerji miktarı 32.956,035 kwh olması beklenmektedir. Bu anlamda katı atıkların geri kazanılması çevresel ve ekonomik açıdan önemli bir konudur. Bu projede Adıyaman ilindeki katı atıkların elektrik potansiyelin araştırılması konu edilmiştir.

Our need for portable energy is increased day by day. Batteries, which are indispensable for modern life, gain more importance in the communication time. Therefore, batteries with the ability to storage a lot of energy in a short time are need. This need is met by Lithium-ion batteries. Of course, the increasing use of batteries with the formation of a fast consumer society poses a potential danger to the environment and human health.Indiscriminate release end of life batteriesto the environment causes serious metal pollution, but there are also serious economic losses due to the materials that have economic value.In this study, 12 waste battery collection points were determined within the boundaries of Namik Kemal neighborhood of Umraniye district in Istanbul, and the "end-of-life batteries" collected at these points within a three-month period were classified and their components were examined. The average composition of 110 Li-ion batteries collected during this period was determined as 20% Cu (Copper), 8% Al (Aluminum), 10% plastic, 55% battery paste (LiCoO2) and 7% others. The reusability of the metal and plastic parts obtained in the study was observed, and some spectroscopic analyzes were carried out for the reusability of the battery paste. As can be seen from the SEM-EDX analyzes supported by XRD and XRF analyzes, the morphological structure of the compound is disrupt during the application of charging and discharging many times to the Li-metal oxide compounds used as cathode material. It does not appear possible to reuse the battery paste of used (depleted) Li-ion batteries directly and/or by applying some simple operations. Multi-step chemical processes are needed to ensure the reusability of the battery paste. An economic value study was carried out for the collected Li-ion batteries and the importance of collecting the waste batteries and bringing them into the economy was emphasized., Her geçen gün taşınabilir enerjiye olan ihtiyacımız artmaktadır. Modern hayatın vazgeçilmezi olan piller iletişim çağında çok daha fazla önem kazanmaktadır. Dolayısıyla kısa sürede çok fazla enerji depolama özelliğine sahip pillere ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Bu ihtiyacımız ise Li-iyon piller ile karşılanmaktadır. Elbette hızlı bir tüketim toplumunun oluşması ile artan pil kullanımı çevre ve insan sağlığı için potansiyel bir tehlike oluşturmaktadır. Kullanım ömrünü doldurmuş pillerin çevreye gelişi güzel bırakılması ciddi metal kirliliklerine sebep olmakla birlikte içeriğindeki ekonomik değeri olan malzemelerden dolayı da ciddi ekonomik kayıplar mevcuttur Bu çalışmada, İstanbul ili Ümraniye ilçesi Namık Kemal mahallesi sınırları içerisinde 12 atık pil toplama noktası belirlenmiş ve üç aylık süre içerisinde bu noktalarda toplanan kullanım ömrünü doldurmuş piller’ sınıflandırılmış ve bileşenleri incelenmiştir. Bu süre içerisinde toplanan 110 adet Li-iyon pillinin ortalama kompozisyonu %20 Cu (Bakır), %8 Al (Alüminyum), %10 plastik, %55 pil pastası (LiCoO2) ve %7 diğerleri olarak belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada elde edilen metal ve plastik parçaların geri dönüşümde kullanılabilirliği görülmüş olup pil pastasının ise tekrardan kullanılabilirliği için bir takım spektroskopik analizler yapılmıştır. XRD ve XRF analizleri ile desteklenen SEM-EDX analizlerinden görüldüğü üzere katot malzemesi olarak kullanılan Li-metal oksit bileşiklerine birçok defa şarj ve deşarj işleminin uygulanması sırasında, bu bileşiğin katotdan anoda ve tam tersi olarak sürekli göç etmesi sırasında bileşikteki morfolojik yapı bozulmaktadır. Kullanılmış (bitmiş) Li-iyon pillere ait pil pastasının doğrudan ve/veya bir takım basit işlemler uygulanarak tekrardan kullanılabilmesi mümkün görünmemektedir. Pil pastasının tekrardan kullanılabilirliğini sağlanması için çok basamaklı kimyasal süreçlere ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Toplanan Li-iyon piller için ekonomik değer çalışması yapılmış ve atık bitmiş pillerin toplanarak ekonomiye kazandırılmasının önemi belirtilmiştir.

Arsenic, which is widespread in receiving environments through natural and anthropogenic sources, is one of the most important problems encountered in ground and surface waters in terms of public health in recent years due to its toxic and carcinogenic properties. In this study, the adsorptive removal of arsenic was investigated by using low cost and environmentally-benign adsorbents obtained from natural and waste materials. For this purpose, pumice was chosen as natural material, red mud and steel slag were chosen as waste material. The influence of contact time and adsorbent dosage was investigated using batch tests. 50-95% arsenic removal was achieved with tested adsorbents. Modified Freundlich isotherm was found to provide the best fits to experimental data. Experimental studies have shown that steel slag is the most effective adsorbent in arsenic removal and has a maximum adsorption capacity of 3.058 mgAs g-1. The high arsenic adsorption capacity of the steel slag can be attributed to the high content of iron and calcium oxide. The present study results show that steel slag can be good alternative to commercial activated carbons for the adsorptive removal of arsenic. Moreover, the reuse of this waste material will also provide a double-side environmental benefit in an inexpensive and effective way., Doğal ve antropojenik kaynaklar yoluyla alıcı ortamlarda yaygın halde bulunan arsenik, toksik ve kanserojen özelliklerinden dolayı halk sağlığı açısından son yıllarda yer altı ve yer üstü sularında karşılaşılan en önemli sorunlardan biridir. Bu çalışmada, doğal ve atık materyallerden elde edilen düşük maliyetli ve çevre dostu adsorbentler kullanılarak arseniğin adsorptif giderimi araştırılmıştır. Bu amaçla doğal malzeme olarak pomza, atık malzeme olarak kırmızı çamur ve çelikhane cürufu seçilmiştir. Temas süresinin ve adsorbent dozunun etkisi kesikli deneyler yapılarak araştırılmıştır. Test edilen adsorbetler ile %50-95 arasında arsenik giderimleri sağlanmıştır. Deneysel dataların modifiye Freundlich izoterm modeline uyduğu belirlenmiştir. Deneysel çalışmalar, çelikhane cürufunun arsenik gideriminde en etkili adsorbent olduğunu ve 3.058 mgAs g-1 maksimum adsorpsiyon kapasitesine sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Çelikhane cürufunun yüksek arsenik adsorpsiyon kapasitesi, içerisinde yüksek oranlarda bulunan demir oksit ve kalsiyum oksite bağlanabilir. Mevcut çalışma sonuçları, çelikhane cürufunun arsenik gideriminde ticari aktif karbonlara iyi bir alternatif adsorbent olabileceğini göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte bu atık materyallerin tekrar kullanılması ile atık bertaraf probleminin önüne geçilecek ve ucuz ve etkili bir şekilde çevresel olarak çift taraflı fayda sağlanmış olacaktır.

Antropojenik faaliyetlere bağlı hava kirliliği dünya çapında karşılaşılan en önemli sorunlardan biridir. Bu çalışma, bir yandan hava stres indeksi (ASI) ve günlük hava kalitesi (DAQx) ölçeğini kullanarak hava kalitesini değerlendirirken diğer yandan hava kalitesi ile mekansal, meteorolojik ve antropojenik faktörler arasındaki ilişkileri belirlemeyi amaçlamıştır. Bölgedeki yıllık ortalama CO, NOx, O3, PM2.5, PM10 ve SO2 seviyeleri sırasıyla 718.6, 39.5, 44.4, 25.5, 51.3 ve 9.9 µg/m3'tür. Antropojenik değişkenlerin en çok NOx (r=0,56 ila 0,64) ve O3 (r=-0,34 ila 0,64) kirleticilerini etkilerken, meteorolojik (r=-0,38 ila 0,45) ve mekansal faktörler ise (r=-0,41 ila -0,65) en çok partiküler madde miktarını etkilemiştir. CO ve SO2 ise her türlü değişkenden farklı oranlarda etkilenmiştir. ASI ve DAQx değerleri ortalama 2.1 ve 4.3 olarak bulunmuş ve bölgedeki hava kalitesinin sırasıyla belirgin hava stresi ve yeterli hava kalitesi sergilediğini göstermiştir. Bu çalışmanın bulgu ve sonuçları, bölgedeki hava kalitesinin daha iyi anlaşılıp değerlendirilmesine katkı sağlayabilir ve ileride yapılacak çalışmalar için bir temel oluşturabilir., Air pollution due to anthropogenic activities is currently one of the most important problems faced worldwide. This study aimed to determine the associations between air quality and spatial, meteorological, and anthropogenic factors while evaluating air quality using the air stress index (ASI) and the daily air quality (DAQx) scale. The annual mean levels of CO, NOx, O3, PM 2.5, PM10 and SO2 in the region were 718.6, 39.5, 44.4, 25.5, 51.3, and 9.9 μg/m3, respectively. While anthropogenic variables mostly affected NOx (r=0.56 to 0.64) and O3 (r=-0.34 to 0.64), meteorological (r=-0.38 to 0.45) and spatial factors (r=-0.41 to -0.65) mostly affected particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10). CO and SO2, on the other hand, were affected by all types of variables at varying directions and rates. The mean ASI and DAQx values of 2.1 and 4.3 indicated that the air quality in the region exhibited distinct air stress and sufficient air quality, respectively. The findings and outcomes could contribute to understanding and evaluating the air quality in the region and could be used as a base for further studies.

Cationic dye (Methylene blue) was extract from waste water by using emulsified liquid membrane process. The membrane composed of two phases: organic and aqueous. D2EHPA, SPAN 80 and acid are the composition of aqueous phase, however the fuel oil represent the organic phase. The effect of different parameters such as the initial concentration of cationic dye (MB), the addition of salt (KCl/ NaCl/ Na2SO4), acid (HCl/ H2SO4/H3PO4) and the extractant concentration (10, 30 and 50 ppm) was examined using Box-Behnken design. The optimization of the extraction has been showed that the extraction efficiency reach100% for the following optimum operating conditions: 30 ppm for the initial concentration of [BM]0, 10%w for the extracting (D2EHPA) with the presence of Na2SO4 and H2SO4. It can be said that the ELM method is efficient for the removal of methylene bleu.

Bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) use electrochemically active microorganisms to convert the chemical energy of organic matter into electrical energy, hydrogen, or other useful products through redox reactions. Microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) is one of the most common BESs which are able to convert organic substrate into energy (such as hydrogen and methane) through the catalytic action of electrochemically active bacteria in the presence of electric current and absence of oxygen. In the past decades, BESs have gained growing attention because of their potential, but there is still a limited amount of research is done for the environmental effects of BESs. This study initially provides an update review for MECs including general historical advancement, design properties, and operation mechanisms. Later, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study was conducted using a midpoint approach, which is TRACI methodology with EIO-LCA model to identify the potential impacts to the environment whether adverse or beneficial using the MECs to produce hydrogen with domestic wastewater as a substrate. The results show that the cumulative negative impacts were substantially larger than the positive impacts by contrast with the expectations, and the cumulative output data show that human health non-cancer impact provides the highest environmental effects than others mainly because of the inorganic chemicals, pumping and wastewater recycling equipment step. In addition, global warming potential and smog creation potential are also elevated mainly due to electricity usage, inorganic chemical and glassware reactor production. Later we are externally normalized each impact category to compare the results at the normalization level, and we again found that human health (cancer or non-cancer) potential provides the most negative impact on the environment in the MEC system originates on human health indicators.

Water treatment is essential in the provision of potable drinking water to communities. However, studies have shown that many local conventional drinking water treatment plants in Nigeria are ineffective in removing contaminants. This study evaluated the efficiency of drinking water from Wukari-Ibi plant by assessing water samples before and after treatment and comparing results to national and international drinking water standards. Forty water samples were collected and selected physical and biological parameters were determined according to standard laboratory procedures. The results indicated that after treatment, turbidity (6.74 NTU) and coliform count (17 cfu/100 mL) were still significantly greater than standard guidelines, which suggest that the treatment plant is unable to reduce the concentration of these contaminants to a safe level for consumption. Furthermore, assessing water at consumer taps indicated that broken distribution system is likely serving as a potential pathway for contamination. The plant removal efficiency of colour, turbidity, Total Dissolved Solids, hardness, and coliform count was computed as 74.7%, 66.57%, 32.58%, 30.11%, and 59.88% respectively. Overall, the removal efficiency was 52.77% which is considered unacceptable for the supply of potable drinking water. The study concludes that cost and poor skilled personnel are the major factors in the inefficient treatment and therefore we suggest a low-cost treatment using activated carbon from locally sourced plants to be incorporated for effective removal of contaminants. There is also a need for government to invest in infrastructure and equipment so as to upgrade the treatment plant.

The utilization of powdered photocatalysts can cause problems such as agglomeration and difficulty in separation in conventional applications. In this work, deposition of photocatalyst particles on a co-polymeric network was suggested to solve this issue. For this purpose, ferrite type perovskite BiFeO3 particles were immobilized on the sulphonated polystyrene-divinyl benzene seeds via a facile impregnation process and the heterostructured catalyst (BFO@co-STR/DVB) exhibited boosted removal performance towards tetracycline antibiotic. The co-polymer itself showed attractive adsorption (93% removal) towards tetracycline due to the robust π–π stacking or hydrophobic relationship. The photocatalytic performance of optimal BFO@co-STR/DVB catalyst had the greatest value of apparent rate constant (0.037 min-1), which was 6.16 times higher than that for bare BiFeO3 (0.006 min-1). Moreover, the heterostructured photocatalyst displayed the highest catalytic efficiency as 98.5% which was mainly assigned to the synergetic effect of adsorption and photocatalysis. Therefore, detailed adsorption mechanism was examined by applying three kinetic models and the pseudo-second order model (qe=88.9 mg/g; R2=0.993) was fitted well describing well the adsorption. The impact of perovskite amount on the polymer structure was also investigated. Apart from tetracycline molecule, the photocatalytic activity of the heterostructured catalyst with respect to different pharmaceutical (isoniazid) was also investigated and the adsorptive removal of isoniazid over the co-STR/DVB polymer was calculated as 80.0% while it significantly increased to 98.2% in the BFO@co-STR/DVB photocatalytic system. This study demonstrated the effective utilization of the perovskite deposited co-polymeric network in the field of “photocatalysis”.

In this study, solid waste characterisation of high-income, middle-income, low-income regions and market areas in Tekirdağ Metropolitan Municipality was carried out in winter and summer, 2016. As a result, the amount of organic wastes (kitchen wastes, park and green wastes) and packaging waste (paper, cardboard, bulky cardboard, plastics, glass, metals and bulky metals) in Tekirdağ were determined as 41.02% and 32.4% respectively, by waste sampling. When waste characterisation was analysed based on the districts, it was seen that paper and plastic waste is mostly produced from the Çorlu district. The reason for this could be the high level of welfare of the citizens living in Çorlu and the high number of working people compared to other districts due to the high density of industrial facilities. It was also seen that the ash percentage of waste is high in the districts of Hayrabolu, Şarköy, Muratlı, Marmaraereğlisi, Malkara and Saray, which are the districts not covered by natural gas distribution grid. Waste samples were characterised in the Tubitak Energy Institute Laboratory to determine the moisture content, calorific value and glow loss. The results showed that there is a high moisture and organic matter in the wastes, which makes the incineration method not suitable for the treatment of solid wastes in Tekirdağ. The results of this study highlighted that there is a potential for introducing recycling schemes especially in high income regions in Tekirdağ. To initiate such programmes, collected municipal waste could be separated in two streams in place; organics and co-mingled dry-recyclables.

Bu çalışmada, Antalya ili Akdeniz Üniversitesi Kampüs alanında 2020 yılında toplanan fraksiyonel numunelerdeki suda çözünmeyen partiküllerin morfolojik yapılarının, boyut dağılımlarının ve kimyasal bileşimlerinin karakterize edilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Ayrıca her bir yağmur olayının fraksiyonel (sıralı) örneklerinde majör iyonlar ve bu iyonların fraksiyonel dağılımları, nötralizasyon faktörleri belirlenmiş, bulutla taşınan (rainout) ve bulut altı yıkama (washout) mekanizmaları ile hangi oranlarda alıcı ortama geldikleri hesaplanmıştır. Çalışmada kullanılan üç yağmur olayından birisi olan D-serisi, 07.12.2020 tarihinde örneklenmiş ve bu yağmur olayından 4 adet fraksiyonel örnek toplanmıştır. 10.12.2020 tarihli E-serisine karşılık gelen yağmur olayında ise 8 adet ve 12.12.2020 tarihli F-serisi yağmur olayında da 10 adet fraksiyonel yağmur suyu örnekleri toplanmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar çeşitli istatistiksel programlar ile değerlendirilerek, çıkan sonuçların veri kaliteleri ve kaynak belirleme çalışmaları yapılmıştır. Örneklerde ortalama pH değerleri 6.06-7.13 aralığında gözlemlenmiş ve herhangi bir şekilde asit yağmuru olasılığına rastlanılmamıştır. Yağmur örneklerinde partikül boyut analiz sonuçlarında D-serisi örneklerde en yüksek ölçülen değer 33.339 µm, E-serisi örneklerde 53.714 µm olarak ölçülmüştür ve F serisi örneklerde ölçüm yapılamamıştır. Örneklenen yağmur olaylarının taşınım bölgelerinin belirlenebilmesi için geri yörünge hesaplamaları yapılmış, kaynak bölgeleri, kaynak türleri ve kirletici içerikleri tartışılmıştır., In this study, it was aimed to characterize the morphological structures, size distributions and chemical compositions of the water-insoluble particles in the fractional samples by collecting in the year of 2020 in the Akdeniz University Campus area in Antalya province. In addition, the concentrations of major ions, their fractional distributions and, neutralization factors were determined in the fractional (sequential) samples of each rain event. The effectiveness of in-cloud scavenging (rainout) and the below-cloud scavenging (washout) mechanisms were calculated. D-series, one of the three rain events used in this study, was sampled on July 12, 2020 and 4 fractional samples were collected from this rain event. 8 fractional rainwater samples were collected in the rain event corresponding to the E-series dated on October 12,2020 and 10 in the F-series rain event dated on December 12, 2020. The results obtained were evaluated with various statistical programs, and the data quality of the results and source determination studies were carried out. Average pH values in the sequential rain samples were observed in the range of 6.06-7.13 and an acid rain event was not encountered. In the particle size analysis results of rain samples, the highest value measured in D-series samples was 33,339 µm, and 53.714 µm in E-series samples. Particle size distribution in the F-series samples could not be measured. In order to determine the transport regions of the sampled rain events, backward trajectories were calculated, source regions, source types and pollutant compositions were discussed.

Partikül madde (PM) kirliliği önemli çevresel sorunlara sebep olmaktadır. PM kirliliğinin olumsuz etkileri, canlı sağlığına yönelik riskleri nedeniyle yaygın bir sorun haline gelmiştir. PM kirliliğinin tüm bu olumsuz etkileri ve atmosferdeki karmaşık etkileşimi sebebiyle, daha fazla çalışmaya konu olması önemlidir. Özellikle, PM kirliliğinin izlenmesi ve tahmin edilmesi konusunda yapılacak çalışmalar önemlidir. Son yıllarda meteorolojik faktörler göz önüne alınarak PM kirliliğinin tahmin edilmesi çalışmaları artmıştır. Özellikle makine öğrenme yöntemleri ile PM kirliliği tahmini çalışmaları hız kazanmıştır. Bu çalışmada, meteorolojik faktörler göz önüne alınarak çeşitli makine öğrenme algoritmaları ile PM10 kirliliği tahmin edilmiştir. Çalışmada kullanılan meteoroloji verileri Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü Ankara Bölge istasyonundan (enlem:39,9727, boylam:32,8637, rakım:891 m.) elde edilmiştir. PM10 kirlilik verileri ise Çevre, Şehircilik ve İklim Değişikliği Bakanlığı Ankara Keçiören-Sanatoryum hava kalitesi istasyonundan (enlem: 39,999, boylam: 32,856, rakım: 1009 m.) elde edilmiştir. Makine öğrenme çalışması aşamasında, sıcaklık, çiğ noktası sıcaklığı, yağış, bağıl nem, rüzgar hızı, basınç, bulut kapalılığı ve bir önceki güne ait PM10 ölçümleri göz önüne alınarak, farklı makine öğrenme (karar ağacı regresyonu, destek vektör regresyonu, lasso regresyonu ve yapay sinir ağı) algoritmalarıyla ayrı ayrı çalışma yapılmış ve bu algoritmaların tutarlılıkları karşılaştırılmıştır. Tutarlılıklarının incelenmesi aşamasında çeşitli istatistiksel metrikler kullanılmıştır. Sonuçta, test bölümü göz önüne alındığında, yapay sinir ağı algoritmasının belirleme katsayısı ̴0,6, kök ortalama kare hatası ̴18 ve ortalama mutlak hata ̴12 olarak bulunmuş ve yapay sinir ağı algoritmasının diğer algoritmalara göre daha iyi sonuç verdiği görülmüştür., Particulate matter (PM) pollution causes significant environmental problems. The adverse effects of PM pollution have become a common problem due to its risks to living health. Due to all these negative effects of PM pollution and its complex interaction in the atmosphere, it is important that it be the subject of more studies. In particular, studies on monitoring and estimating PM pollution are important. In recent years, studies on estimating PM pollu-tion have increased by considering meteorological factors. Especially with machine learning methods, PM pollution estimating has accelerated. In this study, PM10 pollution is estimated with various machine learning algorithms considering meteorological factors. The meteorological data used in the study were obtained from the Ankara Regional Station of Turkish State Meteorological Service (latitude: 39,9727, longitude: 32,8637, altitude: 891 m.). PM10 pollution data were obtained from the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Ankara Keçiören-Sanatorium air quality station (latitude: 39,999, longitude: 32,856, altitude: 1009 m.). In the machine learning phase, different machine learning (decision tree regression, support vector regression, lasso regression and neural network) were used, considering temperature, dew point temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed, pressure, cloud cover and PM10 measurements of the previous day. Algorithms were studied separately and the consistencies of these algorithms were compared. Various statistical metrics were used to examine their con-sistency. As a result, considering the test section, the determination coefficient was found to be ̴0,6, root mean square error ̴18, and mean absolute error ̴12 for artificial neural network algorithm, and it was seen that the artifi-cial neural network algorithm gave better results than other algorithms.

In this study, temporal and spatial analyzes of particulate matter (PM10) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations under the influence of meteorological factors were performed in Balikesir that is located in the Southern Marmara region. In this study, long term meteorological conditions and levels of air pollutants were investigated statistically. Analysis results indicated that the correlation between air pollutants and meteorological parameters (temperature, wind speed, humidity, pressure and mixing heights) had peaks especially in the late autumn and in the winter. In downtown Balikesir, the meteorological parameters with the highest correlation coefficients related to the changes in PM10 and SO2 levels were determined as wind speed (r=-0.45) and temperature (r=-0.53), respectively. In the regres-sion analysis performed to explain the PM10 change, it was observed that the humidity (rh) and the mixing height (morning) data had no effect on the model (phumidity=0,60 > 0,05 and pMix.Heihgt-Morning=0,34 > 0,05). Moreover, in the regression model created for SO2 estimation, only the mixing height (noon) data was found to have no effect on the model (pMix.Heihgt-Noon =0,65 > 0,05).Episode periods with PM10 levels above 100 µg/m3 and consisting of a total of 4 different periods were determined between 2017 and 2019. According to the results of the correlation analysis, a positive correlation (r=0.58) was found between the PM10 and the mixing height (noon) in the first period. In other periods, there was no statistically significant correlation between the changes in PM10 and the mixing height (morning-noon) levels., Bu çalışmada, Güney Marmara bölgesinde bulunan Balıkesir şehir merkezinde meteorolojik faktörlerin etkisinde partikül madde (PM10) ve kükürt dioksit (SO2) konsantrasyonlarının zamansal ve mekânsal analizleri yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmada, mevcut meteorolojik koşullar ve hava kirleticilerinin seviyeleri istatiksel olarak incelenmiştir. Çalış-mada, hava kirleticileri ve meteorolojik parametreler (sıcaklık, rüzgar hızı, nem, basınç ve karışım yüksekliği (sabah – öğlen)) arasındaki ilişkinin belirlenmesi amacıyla yapılan analizlerde özellikle sonbaharın sonlarında ve kış aylarında pik yaptığı tespit edilmiştir. Balıkesir şehir merkezinde, PM10 ve SO2 seviyelerindeki değişimler ile ilgili en yüksek korelasyon katsayısına sahip olan meteorolojik parametreler sırasıyla, rüzgar hızı (r=-0,45) ve sıcaklık (r=-0,53) olarak tespit edilmiştir. PM10 değişimini açıklayabilmek için yapılan regresyon analizinde, nem(rh) ve karışım yüksekliği (sabah) verilerinin modelde etkilerinin olmadığı görülmüştür (pnem=0,60 > 0,05 ve pKar. Yük. Sab.=0,34 > 0,05). Yine, SO2 tahmini için oluşturulan regresyon modelinde ise sadece karışım yüksekliği (öğlen) verile-rinin modelde etkisinin olmadığı görülmüştür (pKar. Yük. Öğ.=0,65 > 0,05).PM10 için ölçüm değeri 100 µg/m3’ten büyük olan, 2017-2019 yılları arasında toplam 4 faklı dönemden oluşan epizot dönem tespit edilmiştir. Korelasyon analizi sonuçlarına göre birinci dönemdeki PM10 değerleri ile karışım yüksekliği (öğlen) değerleri ile aralarında pozitif yönde r=0,58 değerinde korelasyon tespit edilmiştir. Diğer dönem-lerde ise PM10 seviyelerindeki değişimlerin karışım yüksekliği (sabah-öğlen) değerleri ile istatistiksel olarak önemli düzeyde ilişki saptanmamıştır.

Ultrasound has been reserced as an alternative technique for color removal methods from water and wastewater. In this study the colar removal from water using sonolysis, Fenton and Sono-Fento was investigated and the effects of power intensity, media ions and nitrojen gas dissolved in water were investigated in model working solution with Basic Red 29 Dye in the continous flow ultasonic reactor. The experimentation was performed at 22 kHz ultrasonic frequency with different power intensity application in the ultrasonic system. The optimum color removal efficiency was achieved with 0.45 W/cm2 power intensity. The color removal efficiency of Basic Red 29 was raised to two times with the coexistent effect of media ions while the media ions and dissolved gas increased four times simultaneusly. To conclude, the color removal efficiency follewed from this order in sonolysis: N2+ SO4-2+ HCO-3+NO3-2 > HCO-3> SO4-2+ HCO-3+NO3-2> SO4-2 >N2> NO3-2. In Fenton process, the effects of Fe+2 and H2O2 concentration on system performance were examined obtaining 89% color removal efficiency by using 20 mg/L Fe+2 and 1000mg/L H2O2. With the hybrid Sono-Fenton process, the required Fe+2 amount decreased by 1/5, when the color removal efficiency increased to 98 % and there is no significant effects of media ions and dissolved gas on Fenton and Sono-Fenton treatment. As a result of toxicity studies, it was seen that the initial toxicity of wastewater decreased with treatment and the Sono-Fenton method was the most effective method on toxicity removal.It was determined that color removal using Sono-Fenton can be accomplished successfully, economicly and environmental friedly.

People spend most of their time in enclosed spaces (e.g., hospital, houses, office buildings, public transportation, and schools). The coronavirus in late 2019 has rapidly spread throughout the world. After the pandemic, people started to spend more time in indoor environments, especially in hospitals. In this study, air quality monitoring was carried out in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Bolu - Turkey. This is the first comprehensive study done in Turkey. In this study, PM2.5, PM10, temperature, and relative humidity parameters affecting indoor air quality were monitored instantly for one month with a Wireless Sensors Network-based system. By the results of the study, the maximum concentration of these parameters except relative humidity was higher than the limited by accepted values parameters by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Climate change phenomena have become a great concern in the context of global change and increased frequency and magnitude of natural disasters throughout the world in the recent time. Natural disasters like floods, cyclones, storm surges etc. often cause significant losses of life, large-scale economic and social impacts, and considerable environmental damages. This paper dealt with study on the overall methodological development to investigate the consequences of climate change extremities particularly, the after effects of cyclone using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. In this connection, individual functional components have been investigated, tested and verified. Time series multi-sensor satellite data particularly of Landsat, World view (from Google origin) have been utilized to infer information on the consequences of Cyclone Aila 2009 hitting part of southwestern Bangladesh as a test case under the present study. Information retrieval mechanism utilized is based on specially designed methodological framework using satellite-based RS technology along with GIS. Developed technical approach consists of a three-fold components – (i) Establishment of input foundation layer with high spatial details to support characterization, recognition and identification of important surface features using high resolution satellite data; (ii) Effective operational procedure to process, analyze, interpret and finally to archive the retrieved information; (iii) Functional computations were made using spatial modeler language (SML) programming environment under ERDAS Imagine image processing software. Satellite image processing, analysis operation together with image-based spectral characterization of surface features under different stressing conditions etc. have been exercised to derive useful surface information. Specially designed geospatial database has been established in GIS using ArcInfo professional software. Varieties of geospatial data from diverse sources have been incorporated categorically as column-based attributes in GIS. Dual spatial data layers have been generated in GIS for two different dates representing the pre-cyclone and post-cyclone time sequences utilizing appropriate high spatial resolution satellite images. Finally, a geospatial image-based combinational technique has been utilized employing high temporal and moderate spatial resolution time series satellite data with low temporal and high spatial resolution satellite data. Such an operation results in an improved spatial and temporal resolution of output products enabling capture of dynamics of surface features in the spatiotemporal domain providing more precision and details in the output. This study has been supplemented with necessary Ground Position System (GPS)-based ground truthing, selected field data collection and field-based group discussions outcomes.

Gürültünün doğrudan etkisi, kısa ve uzun vadeli olumsuzluklara neden olabilmektedir. Gürültü, insan sağlığına ve davranışlarına etkisi bakımından; işitmede fiziksel olarak hasara yol açarken, vücut aktivitesi sürecinde defizyolojik rahatsızlık, sinir hali gibi psikolojik ve iş veriminde düşüşe neden olan işitilen seslerin anlamlandırılamaması gibi performansa etkileri şeklinde sıralanabilir. Gürültünün zararlı etkilerine karşı tedbir almak ve olumsuz etkilerini önlemek ve işitme eyleminin sağlıklı şekilde gerçekleşmesi için bazı çalışmalar yapılmaktadır. Bu konuya yönelik yasal düzenlemelerin mekanlarda yer alması için bazı standartlar ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Dünyada ortaya çıkan bu sorunlara karşı gürültüyle ilgili pek çok çalışma yapılmaktadır. Hazırlanan yasal prosedürlerle ve uygulamalarla gürültü faktörü kontrol altına alınmaya çalışılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada bina dışı gürültü kaynaklarından olan yerleşim yerleri yakınlarında bulunan iş yerlerinden kaynaklanan gürültü düzeyleri ölçülmeye çalışılmış, Ankara İli’nde bulunan bir akaryakıt istasyonun araç yıkama kısmında yer alan gürültü kaynaklarının tespit edilmesi ve gürültünün önlenmesi için çözüm önerilerinin geliştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu nedenle akaryakıt istasyonu incelenerek gürültüden en çok etkilenebilecek yapı olan hastanede gündüz ve akşam saat dilimleri içerisinde olacak şekilde toplam 32 adet gürültü ölçümü yapılmış, yapılan hesaplamalar sonucunda gürültünün akşam saatlerinde rahatsız edici boyutlara ulaştığı tespit edilmiştir. Akaryakıt istasyonunun içerisinde bulunan oto yıkama bölümünde 2 adet bulunan kompresörün 1 tanesinin kullanıma kapatılması ile gürültü seviyesi yasal sınırlar içerisinde kalmaktadır., The direct effect of noise can cause short- and long-term negative effects. Noise, in terms of its effect on human health and behavior; While it causes physical damage to hearing, it can be listed as dephysiological discomfort in the process of body activity, psychological effects such as nervous state and performance effects such as inability to make sense of the sounds heard, which causes a decrease in work efficiency. Some studies are carried out to take precautions against the harmful effects of noise and to prevent its negative effects and to make the act of hearing healthy. Some standards have been developed for the legal regulations on this subject to take place in the venues. There are many studies on noise against these problems emerging in the world. The noise factor is tried to be controlled with the legal procedures and practices prepared. In this study, it was tried to measure the noise levels originating from the workplaces near the settlements, which is one of the external noise sources, and it was aimed to determine the noise sources in the car wash section of a fuel station in Ankara and to develop solution proposals for the prevention of noise. For this reason, a total of 32 noise measurements were made in the daytime and evening time zones in the hospital, which is the structure that can be most affected by noise, by examining the fuel station. The noise level remains within the legal limits, with 1 of the compressors of 2 being shut down in the car wash section of the fuel station.

The adverse health and environmental effects of petroleum-based materials have become a driving force for the fabrication of bio-based monomers. In this study, we synthesized a novel bio-based reactive phosphorus-containing; eugenol-DOPO, which was prepared in one step by the reaction of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) and eugenol via Atherton–Todd reaction. Moreover, a diallyl compound was also prepared by using eugenol and piperazine. All monomers were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass, and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies. Thiol-ene photocured polysulfide thermoset networks were prepared by using these newly synthesized bio-based monomers. Thermal and thermomechanical properties of the thermosets were measured. Photo-crosslinked networks displayed over 88% gel content values. The thermal stability of the networks as well as the resulting char yields were improved as the percentage of eugenol-DOPO was increased in the formulations. The presence of N and P played a synergistic effect and the limiting oxygen index (LOI) values for the thermoset materials were enhanced. We believe eugenol-DOPO is not only a good alternative monomer for the preparation of thermally stable photocurable thermosets, but it is also a suitable bio-based additive for other polymers as well. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].

The main target of this study was to eliminate gas-phase toluene with activated carbon from indoor air. The activated carbons were prepared from Robinia pseudoacacia L. biomass under different conditions. The change in surface functional groups of the produced activated carbon biomass raw material and produced by pyrolysis in the absence of oxygen at 500–900 °C, and activation by potassium hydroxide (KOH). The highest surface area of 1271.3 m2/g which gives reason for its external porous surface. The surface porosity and the graphite properties of the prepared KNxACs were detected by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The amount of adsorbed toluene (C7H8) was determined using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry with a thermal desorber system (TD–GC–MS) on the KNxAC surface. The adsorption capacity of toluene was reached 111 mg/g at 25 °C and for 1000 ppm. As a result, the study revealed that the prepared KN24AC from the Robinia pseudoacacia L. biomass has the best adsorption capacity of gas-phase toluene from indoor air.

Maden sektörü, taş ocağı işletmeleri, cam ve seramik sektörleri gibi birçok sektörde yoğun olarak karşılaşılan ve çalışan sağlığı üzerinde ciddi meslek hastalıklarına sebep olan silika tozu iç ortam hava kalitesini olumsuz bir şekilde etkilemektedir. Bu çalışmada kapalı ortamlarda yapılan çalışmalarda iç ortam hava kalitesine etki eden faktörlerden birisi olan ve maden sektöründe yoğun olarak görülen kristal yapıdaki silika tozunun çalışma ortamında ve çalışanlar üzerindeki maruziyeti analiz edilmiş ve çalışanların sağlığı üzerindeki etkileri incelenmiştir. Elde edilen veriler incelendiğinde, çalışanlara yapılan kişisel silika tozu maruziyet ölçümleri, yasal mevzuatta 2,4 mg(m3)-1 olarak belirlenen eşik sınır değerine yakın olduğu, çalışma ortamlarında alınan silika tozu maruziyet ölçümlerinin ise yasal mevzuatta belirtilen 2,4 mg(m3)-1’ün altında olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. Analiz sonucunda elde edilen bulgular literatür ışığında tartışılmış ve sonuçlandırılmıştır., Silica dust, which is intensely encountered in many sectors such as the mining industry, quarry operations, glass and ceramic industries, and causes serious occupational diseases on employee health, adversely affects indoor air quality. In this study, the exposure of crystalline silica dust, which is one of the factors affecting indoor air quality in indoor studies and which is intensely seen in the mining sector, in the working environment and on the employees was analyzed and its effects on the health of the employees were examined. When the data obtained are examined, it is seen that the personal silica dust exposure measurements made to the employees are close to the threshold limit value determined as 2.4 mg(m3)-1 in the legal legislation, and the silica dust exposure measurements taken in the working environments are observed below the 2.4 mg(m3)-1 specified in the legal legislation. The findings obtained as a result of the analysis were discussed and concluded in the light of the literature.

The scavenging of atmospheric particles from the atmosphere is known to be efficiently carried out by the below-cloud scavenging process. To examine this process, a total of 51 sub-event samplings was carried out in 10 precipitations during a 129-day sampling period. PM2.5 samples were also collected simultaneously. The concentrations of Na, Mg, K, Ca, Al, Cu, Mn, and Fe were determined in the sub-events as well as in PM2.5 samples, and the pH values were also measured. The observed volumeweighted mean pH values of the precipitation sub-events were between 6.58 and 8.32, with an average value of 7.28. It was observed that the element with the highest average volumeweighted mean concentration value in precipitation was Na. Among the elements in PM2.5 particles, K had the highest concentration value. Next, the scavenging ratios of the elements were calculated in the precipitations that occurred. According to the averages of scavenging ratios of precipitations, it was determined that the element with the highest scavenging ratio was Na and the element with the lowest scavenging ratio was Fe. In addition, scavenging indexes were also determined in precipitations events. Variations in the scavenging properties of the elements were observed in each sub-event. The novelty of this study is that it is the first study carried out in Istanbul and even Turkey in terms of calculating scavenging indexes in sub-event sampling. Although this study is local, however, the importance of studies like this should not be ignored in terms of testing different air quality models.

Air transportation has an undisputed speed advantage among all other modes. On the other hand, it is known that the environmental metrics of aviation is quite unsatisfactory compared to other transportation types due to its fuel characteristics and the amount of consumed fuel. However, it would be a wrong choice to rely solely on operational processes to make a true comparison. For this reason, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model should be generated by taking into account processes such as production except the operation process and the calculations should be performed with a comprehensive and holistic perspective. In this study, the environmental impacts of air and rail transport types are compared from the life cycle perspective. For this purpose, first, the emissions in the case of one passenger per one km (pkm) transportation by air and rail were calculated. Then, taking into account the production and disposal processes of the aircraft and passenger trains, the LCA cycle was completed and total emissions were calculated. SimaPro version 9.0.0.49 package program and 1.09 version of ReCiPe 2008 method were used for LCA calculations. With the help of the program, emissions generated during both production and one pkm transportation processes of an aircraft, high-speed and normal train were estimated. Accordingly, the greenhouse gas produced one pkm in air transport was 126.8 g in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq), while CO2eq was 0.3 and 0.31 g for high-speed trains and regular trains, respectively. Considering the production processes, 2072.1, 28.72 and 19.07 t of greenhouse gases are produced, respectively for these three transportation modes.

A large amount of water is used in the textile industry during the finishing and dyeing processes leading to the production of what is known as textile wastewaters. Textile wastewater is highly rich in COD and color and is characterized by relatively low biodegradability. This study aimed to investigate the treatability of reactive red dye-rich textile wastewater with the application of an airlift internal circulation membrane bioreactor (AIC-MBR). Experimental results demonstrated that high removal efficiencies of COD, NH3-N, and reactive red up to 99.70%, 97.83%, and 97.23%, respectively, can be achieved using the AIC-MBR system. Besides, EPS and SMP analyses reflected an SMP polysaccharide (PS) and protein (PN) membrane rejection that reached 88% and 72.6%, respectively. Finally, the capillary suction time measurement highlighted a good dewatering capacity of the sludge with a low membrane fouling tendency at the end of the operating period.

Urbanization has increased rapidly in the world. It uses an intensive resource consumption for urbanization and the expanding economy. The consequences of unconscious consumption of these resources, which constitute the thermodynamic system of cities, are solid wastes, wastewater and air pollution. As a result of improper management of these wastes in cities, it increases the effect of climate change by producing greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly. The most innovative approach in controlling these effects is “low-carbon city” studies. Turkey should give priority to low-carbon city applications that compliance with the European Green Deal and transition to a green economy. In this context, with this study, applications and solutions were examined together to become a low-carbon city in Turkey. Considering policies and commitments, the roadmap is drawn in this way, the study will be a reference for many cities.

In this work, economic, natural, and eco-friendly biosorbent want to be advised instead of traditional methods. For that reason, banana peel-based biosorbents were been done to remove Cu2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ ions from the solution by batch method. Moreover, how their natural assets like density, water intake, solubility, and heavy metal extraction performance were affected by their starch and oil contents had been determined. Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) having been using for the analysis of biosorbents uprooting performance. The density of the biosorbents had worked according to ASTM D 792 standards. As a result, the untreated banana peel-based biosorbents had transported 4.87 mg of Co2+ ions, 4.73 mg of Ni2+ ions, and 4.29 mg of Cu2+ ions from 25 ml 7 ppm of each heavy metal ions solution with 175 rpm agitation speed at 24 °C during half-hour.

Identifying the microbial population and type of them is a crucial measure in the water and wastewater treatment processes, reuse of wastewater, and sludge treatment system. Todays, manual methods are usually used to count and detect the type of bacteria in water and sewage laboratories which mostly suffer from human errors. This study aims at presenting an accurate method based on image analysis through the convolution neural network (CNN) to classify Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Vibrio cholera (V. cholera) bacteria, in wastewater. About 9,000 Red-Green-Blue (RGB) microscopic images of the sewage sample containing the stained bacteria were used as the input datasets. The results showed that the bacteria would be classified and counted with the accuracy of 93.01% and 97.0%, respectively. While CNN performed pretty well in counting the number of bacteria for both RGB and grayscale color models, its classification performance is only satisfactory in the RGB images. The sensitivity analysis of CNN illustrated that the Gaussian noise enhancement caused to the increment in the standard deviation () that proportionally decreased the CNN accuracy.

Lime soil treatment is a chemical process in which lime (quicklime, hydrated lime or lime slurry) is mixed with the in place subgrade soil and a chemical reaction takes place. The lime reacts with the clay particles in the soil to create a cementitious matrix. The design of landfill base liners including a clay layer as a fluid barrier (i.e. water-resistant impervious layer) requires a neat engineering approach considering, in particular, consolidation behavior as well as hydraulic properties of the clay contained. For sake of safe and stable design of such baseliners under the landfills, the reduction of consolidation settlement in clay when subjected to the accumulated waste load (i.e. superposed action) during operation as well as the accomplishment for ensuring the waterproof of those composite base liners (comprised of multiple different layers) not to allow the penetration of the contaminated water - produced as a result of exothermic reactions occurring in the waste body in landfills – by enabling enhanced isolation from the natural ground is of importance. In light of this, in order to address those two most important design concerns (i.e. Consolidation and Hydraulic Properties of Clay) as well as to in an at- tempt to develop an enhanced clay layer system for landfill baseliners that has a greater bearing capacity (i.e. load resistance), and hence, more robust against settlements, and additionally, possessing improved hydraulic properties by being relatively more water-resistant and greatly impermeable, a series of consolidation tests were performed in the laboratory at different lime contents (lime/lime-clay mixture proportions by weight: 0%, 10%, and 20%) on clay specimens to investigate the stabilization and improvement of clayey landfill baseliners. Lime treatment on clay specimens has shown as a result of the experimental program that the strength of clay against loading improves, and further, exhibits less vertical deformation (settlement) under the load owing to an increase in lime content. Moreover, the clay becomes highly impermeable and displays substantially larger water-resistant properties because of increased lime mass proportion in clayey soil. The findings of the experimental program demonstrate that lime stabilization of the clayey soils in landfill baseliners will benefit the bearing capacity and the imperviousness (water tightness) engineering design properties as compared to standard composite multi-layered landfill baseliner systems.

Son zamanlarda artan nüfus, teknolojik gelişmeler, kentleşme gibi sorunlar su kaynakları üzerindeki baskıları da önemli oranda arttırmaktadır. Nüfus artışına paralel olarak hayvansal ürünlere olan talep de artmaktadır. Ancak hayvancılık faaliyetleri sonrası oluşan atıklar uygun olmayan koşullarda biriktirildiğinde oluşan sızıntı suları, su kaynaklarına ulaşarak, bu ortamlarda kirlenmeye hatta kullanılamaz duruma gelmesine neden olabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada Bursa ve ilçelerinde yayılı kirletici kaynakların baskısını değerlendirmek için hayvansal kaynaklı kirlilik yükü hesabı yapılmıştır. Kirlilik yükü hesabında Bursa’nın tüm ilçelerinde mevcut 2020 yılı, büyükbaş (BBH), küçükbaş (KBH) ve kümes hayvanı (KH) sayıları kullanılarak yıllık yayılı toplam azot (TN) ve toplam fosfor (TP) yükleri hesaplanmıştır. Sonuç olarak, TN ve TP yayılı kirlilik yüklerinin en yüksek olduğu ilçeler Karacabey, Mustafakemalpaşa, Yenişehir ilçeleri, en düşük olduğu ilçelerin ise Yıldırım, Gemlik, Gürsu ve Harmancık olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Bursa genelinde toplam azot kaynaklı oluşabilecek toplam yayılı kirlilik yükü 3241,944 ton TN/yıl, toplam fosfor kaynaklı oluşabilecek yayılı kirlilik yükünün 341,327 ton TP/yıl olduğu belirlenmiştir., Increasing population, technological developments, and urbanization significantly increase the pressures on water resources, recently. In parallel with the increase in population, the demand for animal products is also increasing. However, when the wastes generated after livestock activities are accumulated under inappropriate conditions, leachate is formed. This leachate can reach water resources and cause pollution in these environments and even become unusable. In this study, animal origin pollution load calculation was made to evaluate the pressure of diffuse pollutant sources in Bursa. In the pollution load calculation, the annual distributed total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads were calculated by using the number of bovine (BBH), small ruminant (KBH) and poultry (KH) available in all districts of Bursa in 2020. As a result, it has been determined that the districts with the highest TN and TP distributed pollution loads are Karacabey, Mustafakemalpaşa, Yenişehir, and the districts with the lowest are Yıldırım, Gemlik, Gürsu and Harmancık. In addition, the effects of diffuse pollution loads originating from livestock activities on water resources were evaluated.

Tüm dünyada nüfusun hızla artışına paralel olarak enerji arzı da artmaktadır. Enerji kaynaklarının sınırlı olması, enerji maliyetlerinin yüksek olması, enerji üretimi ve tüketimi sırasında ortaya çıkan emisyonların çevresel problemlere neden olması gibi durumlar enerjiyi verimli kullanmayı zorunlu kılmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Bursa’da tekstil sektöründe faaliyet gösteren bir havlu üretimi tesisinde enerji etütleri yapılmış ve başlıca 7 iyileştirmenin uygulanması önerilmiştir. Bu iyileştirmeler; jet makinelerinin izole edilmesi, buhar kazanı su seviyesinin otomatik kontrolü, kondens dönüşlerinin toplanması, kondenslerde seviye kontrol sistemi uygulaması, kazan besi suyu şartlandırma sisteminin kurulması, kompresör emiş havasının düzenlenmesi ile ring hattı ve tesisat revizyonu şeklindedir. Bahsedilen iyileştirmelerden maddi tasarruf miktarı en az (3.141 TL/yıl) olan uygulama kompresör emiş havasının düzenlenmesi iken maddi tasarruf miktarı en fazla olan uygulama 175.583 TL/yıl ile kondens dönüşlerinin toplanmasıdır. CO2 emisyonundaki azalma oranlarının 2,7 ton/yıl ile 186 ton/ yıl arasında değişim göstereceği hesaplanmış olup önerilen iyileştirmelerin hem maliyet hem de çevresel açısından işletmelere fayda sağlayacağı sonucuna varılmıştır., In parallel with the rapid increase in population all over the world, energy supply is also increasing. Situations such as limited energy resources, high energy costs, and environmental problems caused by emissions during energy production and consumption make it necessary to use energy efficiently. In this study, energy studies were carried out in a towel production facility in the textile sector in Bursa and 7 improvements were proposed to be implemented. These improvements are; insulation of jet machines, automatic control of steam boiler water level, collection of condensate returns, application of level control system in condensates, establishment of boiler feed water conditioning system, regulation of compressor suction air, ring line and installation revision. The application with the least amount of financial savings (3.141 TL/year) is the regulation of the compressor suction air and the highest application is the collection of the condensate returns with 175.583 TL/year. It was calculated that the reduction rates in CO2 emissions will vary between 2.7 tons/year and 186 tons/year, and it has been concluded that the proposed improvements will benefit businesses in terms of both cost and environment.

This study was investigation employed the batch adsorption method using Bardakçı Clay/Van as an adsorbent to remove crystal violent, a cationic dye from an aqueous solution. The effects of pH, adsorbent amount, interaction time and concentration were investigated to determine the optimal adsorption conditions. The optimal adsorption conditions were determined to be pH=6, 0.6 g adsorbent amount, and the adsorption reached equilibrium at the 25th minute. The equilibrium isotherm was determined using the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) adsorption equations. It was discovered to conform to the Langmuir isotherm. In the Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model, the E value was calculated to E< 8 kJmol-1, indicating that the adsorption process occurs physically. Thermodynamic parameters such as enthalpy (ΔHo), Gibbs' free energy (ΔGo) and entropy (ΔSo) were calculated. The adsorption of crystal violet with Bardakçı clay demonstrated that the process was endothermic, occurring both physically and spontaneously.

Nanoparticles have an increasing accumulation and effect as day to day in aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric environments, and one of the most basic factors determining these effects is their sizes. As the material size decreases, the distribution and accumulation of particles are facilitated and accelerated. In this study, the possible nanotoxicological effects of nanomagnetite (Fe3O4 NPs), hydroxyapatite (HAp) (synthesized by the recovery of waste eggshells) and Fe3O4-HAp nanocomposite on wheat germination percentage and chlorophyll production were evaluated. It was determined with SEM images that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles was in the size of 22-30 nm, while the Fe3O4-HAp was 90-350 nm. The presence of HAp particles caused a decreasing in the germination percentage compared to presence of only Fe3O4 nanoparticles, as like in the root elongation (20-27 %). The chlorophyll content was determined in the both aged and young leaves on second, third and fourth weeks of wheat plants. Results showed that wheat plants were sensitive in the early stage of plant growth (second week) to the all test chemicals. The presence of HAp in the growth media decreased the chlorophyll content of wheat because of their sizes. The maximum decreasing of chlorophyll content in wheat was observed at the 40 mg L-1 HAp treatment as 86 %. All the test chemicals used in this study uses in many areas, thus it should be detailed evaluated ecotoxicological aspect.

High yields of agricultural produce is reached traditionally by the application of fertilizers and/or pesticides. When agricultural soil is saturated with pesticides, any pesticide addition to the soil leaches and thus reaches the underlying groundwater. Preventing further contamination and remediation of this type of contamination remains to be a challenge. Although monitored natural attenuation has been shown as an ultimate solution for decontamination, additional applications have been introduced to rapidly achieve this goal. One solution that also contains economic benefits to the farmers is to pump and reuse. The study described here evaluates the possibility to use pump and reuse technique for two common pesticides with different chemical properties, namely atrazine and cypermethrin. In this study, six field samples have been evaluated for their pesticide biodegradation capacity. By placing them in sterilized controls and inoculated active columns, field conditions are replicated to study the leaching and biodegradation at the topsoil of agricultural fields. The biodegradation capacities of inoculated active columns ranged between 34 and75 mg/kg/day for atrazine. The results indicated that using the contaminated water for irrigation could eliminate the pesticide contamination from the soil and groundwater. Overall, this method provides a sustainable solution for pesticide use and remediation by minimizing the pesticide use in agricultural fields without affecting the yield of the planted crops.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 340 million infection cases (as of 21 January 2022) and more than 5.57 million deaths globally. In reaction, science, technology and innovation communities across the globe have organised themselves to contribute to national responses to COVID-19 disease. A significant contribution has been from the establishment of wastewater-based epidemiological (WBE) surveillance interventions and programmes for monitoring the spread of COVID-19 in at least 55 countries. Here, we examine and share experiences and lessons learnt in establishing such surveillance programmes. We use case studies to highlight testing methods and logistics considerations associated in scaling the implementing of such programmes in South Africa, the Netherlands, Turkey and England. The four countries were selected to represent different regions of the world and the perspective based on the considerable progress made in establishing and implementing their national WBE programmes. The selected countries also represent different climatic zones, economies, and development stages, which influence the implementation of national programmes of this nature and magnitude. In addition, the four countries' programmes offer good experiences and lessons learnt since they are systematic, and cover extensive areas, disseminate knowledge locally and internationally and partnered with authorities (government). The programmes also strengthened working relations and partnerships between and among local and global organisations. This paper shares these experiences and lessons to encourage others in the water and public health sectors on the benefits and value of WBE in tackling SARS-CoV-2 and related future circumstances.

Membrane-less microbial fuel cell (MLMFC) is one of the most promising technologies for energy generation from organic wastes. The use of biocathode in the MLMFC system reduces the operation cost and provides many benefits. In an algal MLMFC system, the photosynthetic microorganism facilitates the oxygen reduction in the cathode chamber and improves overall cell performance. However, the assessment of the long-term stability of biocathode is a primary concern. In the current study, the electricity generation performance of algal MLMFC using mixed-algae as a biocathode was investigated. The results showed that the electricity generation of algal MLMFC increased during the light cycle because of the photosynthesis of algal cells in the cathode. During the light cycle, the maximum power density and lowest cathode charge transfer resistance of algal MLMFC were 215.71 mW/m2 and 29.73 Ω, respectively. The electrochemical analysis demonstrated that the anode biofilm of algal MLMFC has high bioelectrogenic activity. This study plays a crucial role in determining the applicability of this technology.

Marine pollution has increased in recent decades, largely due to the proliferation of seafood processing plants and the improper disposal of their associated waste streams. The waste streams consist mainly of shells that are composed of chitin, which is the most abundant aminopolysaccharide biopolymer in nature. Recognizing the value of chitin, the potential for the valorization of crustacean waste for chitin production was explored. In this regard, biogenic crab waste was subjected to chemical-only, enzymatic–chemical, and microbial treatments for chitin production. The results were employed as inputs for process simulation as a precursor to undertaking performance assessments. This study subsequently showed that the net present values (NPVs) of the chemical-only, enzyme–chemical, and microbial chitin production pathways were GBP 118.63 million, GBP 115.67 million, and GBP 132.34 million, respectively, indicating that the microbial chitin production pathway constituted the most appropriate technology for future investment. Employing a cost–benefit (CB) analysis, the CB ratios for the chemical-only, enzymatic–chemical, and microbial approaches were determined to be 7.31, 0.45, and 0.23, respectively. These results reinforced the dominant status of the microbial approach for chitin production from crab waste as the preferred valorization strategy. This study was able to provide information regarding the implications of executing alternative scenarios for crustacean waste.

© 2022 Elsevier LtdIn this study, the use of Deep Cascade Forward Neural Network (DCFNN) was investigated to model both linear and non-linear chaotic relationships in co-composting of dewatered sewage sludge and biomass fly ash (BFA). Model results were evaluated in comparison with RSM, Feed Forward Neural Network (FFNN) and Feed Back Neural Network (FBNN), and Cascade Forward Neural Network (CFNN). DCFNN produced predictive results with MAPE values less than 1% for all datasets in all experimental designs except one with 1.99%. Furthermore, the decision variables were optimized by Genetic Algorithm (GA). The desirability level obtained from the optimization results was found to be 100% in a few designs and above 95% in all other designs. The results showed that DCFNN is a reliable and consistent tool for modeling composting process parameters, also GA is a satisfactory tool for determining which outputs the input parameters will produce in an experimental setup.

© 2023 by the authors.The members of the genus Hypericum have great potential to develop functional uses in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications. With this in mind, we aimed to determine the chemical profiling and biological properties of different extracts (ethyl acetate, methanol and water) from two Hypericum species (H. montbretii and H. origanifolium). We combined two approaches (LC-DAD-MS and LC-NMR) to identify and quantify chemical compounds of the extracts. Antioxidant properties (free radical quenching, reducing power and metal chelating) and enzyme inhibitory effects (cholinesterase, tyrosinase, amylase and glucosidase) were determined as biological properties. The tested extracts were rich in caffeic acid derivatives and flavonoids, and among them, 3-caffeoyl quinic acid and myricetin-3-O-rhamnoside were found to be the main compounds. The total phenolic and flavonoid levels were determined to be 50.97–134.99 mg GAE/g and 9.87–82.63 mg RE/g, respectively. With the exception of metal chelating, the methanol and water extracts showed stronger antioxidant properties than the ethyl acetate extracts. However, different results were obtained for each enzyme inhibition assay, and in general, the ethyl acetate extracts present more enzyme-inhibiting properties than the water or methanol extracts. Results from chemical and biological analyses were combined using multivariate analysis, which allowed establishing relationships between composition and observed effects of the Hypericum extracts based on the extraction solvents. To gain more insights between chemical compounds and enzyme-inhibiting effects, we performed molecular docking analysis. We observed favorable interactions between certain compounds and the tested enzymes during our analysis, confirming the data obtained from the multivariate approach. In conclusion, the obtained results may shed light on the road from natural sources to functional applications, and the tested Hypericum species may be considered potential raw materials, with promising chemical constituents and biological activities.

© 2023, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Iranian Society of Environmentalists (IRSEN) and Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University.The aim of this study was to treat dairy wastewater by using an anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor equipped with a 20-µm polyester mesh filter and at organic loading rate of 8.1 ± 1.5 kg COD/(m3 day). The dynamic membrane was formed in 42 d, and the operation was continued for additional 50 days. In order to prevent membrane fouling and to ensure efficient cake layer formation, a wide range of cross flow velocity ranging from 5 m/h to 54 m/h was applied until a stable cake layer was formed. The chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency was 85 ± 9% in the dynamic membrane formation period (Day 0–42). In the stable operational period, the chemical oxygen demand removal improved by more than 10% owing to the well-developed Dynamic Membrane. Carbon, calcium, phosphorus, oxygen, and sulfur elements were detected in selected points of the dynamic membrane layer. Proteins and polysaccharides were detected in the dynamic membrane layer as organic compounds. The inorganic compounds in dynamic membrane layer were detected and found as 1.16% sodium, 1.50% magnesium, 0.76% potassium, 3.34% calcium, and 0.41% iron in mass concentration. The analysis results showed that organic and inorganic materials led to the formation of a strict/dense cake layer.