Evaluation of bioplastics biodegradation under simulated landfill conditions.

Bioplastics that are generated from renewable sources have been regarded as an alternative to conventional plastics. Polylactic acid (PLA) is one of the mostly produced bioplastics because of its long shelf life for various applications. Even though bioplastics have drawn attention recently, their ultimate fate in landfills is still unknown.

Impacts of coal-fired power plants for energy generation on environment and future implications of energy policy for Turkey.

Turkish government aimed to increase the installed capacities of coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) according to several policies and strategic plans published in recent years. Energy production from CFPPs and subsidizing the coal sector were selected for reducing the import dependency as a cheaper option. CFPPs with gaseous emissions as well as fly ash and fine dust, along with ash storage, coal storage, and coal mining operations and water use for cooling of the plants, affect the environmental quality.

Evaluation of microplastics removal efficiency at a wastewater treatment plant discharging to the Sea of Marmara.

Levels, composition and fate of microplastics (MPs) were investigated along different compartments of a secondary wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) with nutrient removal on the northern Sea of Marmara coast (Istanbul, Turkey). When all samples were combined, fibers were found to be the most dominant particles, followed by hard fragments. 500-1000 μm and 1000-2000 μm were the most common size ranges for wastewater and sludge, respectively.

Linking nano-ZnO contamination to microbial community profiling in sanitary landfill simulations.

Nanomaterials (NMs) commercially used for various activities mostly end up in landfills. Reduced biogas productions reported in landfill reactors create a need for more comprehensive research on these greatly-diverse microbial pools. In order to evaluate the impact of one of the most widely-used NMs, namely nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO), simulated bioreactor and conventional landfills were operated using real municipal solid waste (MSW) for 300 days with addition nano-ZnO.

Determination of Metal Content of Waste Mobile Phones and Estimation of Their Recovery Potential in Turkey.

Waste mobile phones constitute one of the fastest growing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) types all over the world due to technological innovations and shortening of their life span. They contain a complex mix of various materials, such as basic metals, precious metals and rare earth elements and represent an important secondary raw metal source. The main objectives of this study were to characterize the metal concentration of waste mobile phones by optimizing the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) operation parameters and estimate the metal recovery potential of waste mobile phones in Turkey.

Methods of ammonia removal in anaerobic digestion: a review.

The anaerobic digestion of substrates with high ammonia content has always been a bottleneck in the methanisation process of biomasses. Since microbial communities in anaerobic digesters are sensitive to free ammonia at certain conditions, the digestion of nitrogen-rich substrates such as livestock wastes may result in inhibition/toxicity eventually leading to process failures, unless appropriate engineering precautions are taken. There are many different options reported in literature to remove ammonia from anaerobic digesters to achieve a safe and stable process so that along with high methane yields, a good quality of effluents can also be obtained.

Effect of nano-ZnO on biogas generation from simulated landfills.

Extensive use of nanomaterials in commercial consumer products and industrial applications eventually leads to their release to the waste streams and the environment. Nano-ZnO is one of the most widely-used nanomaterials (NMs) due to its unique properties. It is also known to impact biological processes adversely.

Biodegradation of bioplastics in natural environments.

The extensive production of conventional plastics and their use in different commercial applications poses a significant threat to both the fossil fuels sources and the environment. Alternatives called bioplastics evolved during development of renewable resources. Utilizing renewable resources like agricultural wastes (instead of petroleum sources) and their biodegradability in different environments enabled these polymers to be more easily acceptable than the conventional plastics.

The impact of Ni, Co and Mo supplementation on methane yield from anaerobic mono-digestion of maize silage.

The objective of this experimental study was to demonstrate the impact of trace metal supplementation, namely nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and molybdenum (Mo), on the methane yields obtained from batch mesophilic anaerobic digestion of maize silage as mono-substrate. The maize silage used in this experimental work initially lacked Ni and Co. Trace metal concentration selected was 0.

Recovery of biogas as a source of renewable energy from ice-cream production residues and wastewater.

Proper management of waste streams and residues from agro-industry is very important to prevent environmental pollution. In particular, the anaerobic co-digestion process can be used as an important tool for safe disposal and energy recovery from agro-industry waste streams and residues. The primary objective of this laboratory-scale study was to determine whether it was possible to recover energy (biogas) from ice-cream production residues and wastewater, through a mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion process.

Determination of biogas generation potential as a renewable energy source from supermarket wastes.

Fruit, vegetable, flower waste (FVFW), dairy products waste (DPW), meat waste (MW) and sugar waste (SW) obtained from a supermarket chain were anaerobically digested, in order to recover methane as a source of renewable energy. Batch mesophilic anaerobic reactors were run at total solids (TS) ratios of 5%, 8% and 10%. The highest methane yield of 0.

Impact of food waste fraction in municipal solid waste on sorption of heavy metals.

The presence of organic materials plays an important role in the fate of heavy metals that are co-disposed together with municipal solid wastes. As a part of an on-going research project, which aims to find out the most effective attenuation mechanism of heavy metal removal in landfills, sorption batch experiments were performed to assess the sorption behaviour of iron, copper, nickel and zinc on synthetic solid wastes containing 76% (W1) and 45% (W2) food waste percentages and waste-to-solution ratios ranging from 1:4 to 1:16. The analysis of sorption data suggested that the data fit a Freundlich equilibrium isotherm.

Changes in microbial ecology in an anaerobic reactor.

This study examined the behaviour of the microbial population in an anaerobic reactor, in terms of changes in numbers of total bacterial community, autofluorescent methanogens, non-methanogens and morphology of the autofluorescent methanogens, using epifluorescence microscopy and microbiological enumeration techniques. A laboratory-scale, continuous flow-completely mixed anaerobic reactor, coupled with a conventional gravity settling tank and a continuous recycling system, was operated at an HRT range between 24 and 12 h, using dairy wastewater as the substrate. The numbers of the total bacterial community and autofluorescent methanogens both decreased during start-up.