Assessing Environmental and Economic Sustainability: Valorizing Grape Stems for Animal Feed Production.

This study evaluated an innovative strategy for valorizing grape stems (GS) from the winery industry as an animal feed ingredient from both environmental life-cycle and economic perspectives. Two processes for GS-based feed ingredient production were compared: one using hydrolyzed GS and the other using nonhydrolyzed GS, alongside the conventional animal feed production process. Using primary pilot-scale data for GS-based feed ingredient production and secondary data for animal feed production, life-cycle assessments, and economic analyses were conducted.

Resource utilization in the sub-sectors of the textile industry: opportunities for sustainability.

It was aimed to determine the specific resource use and reduction potential profiles in various textile sub-sectors (cotton woven fabric dyeing-finishing, wool woven fabric dyeing-finishing, synthetic woven fabric dyeing-finishing, cotton knitted fabric, synthetic knit fabric dyeing-finishing, non-woven fabric, dyeing-finishing of knitted fabric). The main focus was to elucidate opportunities for sustainability in terms of decreasing resource utilization in the textile sector. On-site surveys and detailed data collection studies were carried out at 150 textile facilities.

Seasonal monitoring of microbial activity using conventional approaches in a full-scale urban biological wastewater treatment plant.

Activated sludge processes contain various groups of microorganisms with different metabolic properties, which are responsible for contaminants removal. Therefore, it is important to elucidate the general structure and functional properties of biomass in activated sludge processes. For this purpose, a full-scale domestic biological wastewater treatment plant in Tunceli (Turkey), Tunceli WWTP (wastewater treatment plant), was monitored to observe seasonal variations in process performance and biomass properties for a year.

Removal of pesticides from secondary treated urban wastewater by reverse osmosis.

The residues of pesticides that reach water resources from agricultural activities in several ways contaminate drinking water resources and threaten aquatic life. This study aimed to investigate the performance of three reverse osmosis (RO) membranes (BW30-LE, SW30-XLE, and GE-AD) in rejecting four different pesticides (tributyl phosphate, flutriafol, dicofol, and irgarol) from secondary treated urban wastewater and also to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the rejection of these pesticides. RO experiments were conducted using pesticide-spiked wastewater samples under 10 and 20 bar transmembrane pressures (TMP) and membrane performances were evaluated.

Formation of nitrogen functionalities in biochar materials and their role in the mitigation of hazardous emerging organic pollutants from wastewater.

Emerging organic pollutants (EOPs) are serious environmental concerns known for their prominent adverse and hazardous ecological effects, and persistence in nature. Their detrimental impacts have inspired researchers to develop the strategic tools that reduce and overcome the challenges caused by EOPs' rising concentration. As such, biochar becomes as a promising class of biomass-derived functional materials that can be used as low-cost and environmentally-friendly emerging catalysts to remove EOPs.

Spatial distribution and source identification of persistent organic pollutants in the sediments of the Yeşilırmak River and coastal area in the Black Sea.

Surface sediments from the Yeşilırmak River and the near coastal area in the Black Sea were collected using sediment traps to assess the spatial distributions of persistent organic pollutants and find their potential sources. Analyses were carried out to determine the concentrations of the persistent organic pollutants of seventeen polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, seven polychlorinated biphenyls, and eight organochlorine pesticides using high-resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry systems. Analysis showed that the three main components of persistent organic pollutants (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and organochlorine pesticides) primary sources are industrial activities.

A practical approach for the determination of environmental quality standards-based discharge limits: the case of Tersakan sub-basin of Yeşilırmak River in Turkey.

The control of point source discharges to rivers has become more significant since the establishment of environmental quality standards (EQSs). Many countries, including Turkey, have set EQS values for various contaminants. One important challenge regarding these EQSs is to reconcile the effluent limits that are technically and economically achievable with the ones that are required to accomplish the EQSs.

Occurrence of micropollutants in the Yesilirmak River Basin, Turkey.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) is the most visionary piece of European environmental legislation that aims to achieve good water status of both surface water and groundwater bodies. The Directive provides a fundamental basis for surface water monitoring activities in the European Member States. The objective of this study is to investigate the occurrence of micropollutants in the Yesilirmak River and to develop a cost-effective monitoring strategy based on spatiotemporal data.

A strategy for the implementation of water-quality-based discharge limits for the regulation of hazardous substances.

Many developing countries apply technology-based discharge standards that set quantitative limits on pollutant discharges. These standards do not inherently consider ambient constraints and, therefore, cannot guarantee to protect aquatic life from hazardous pollutants. It is a challenge for developing countries to enforce water-quality-based limits for wastewater discharges and guarantee the intended use of water.

Imidacloprid elimination by O and O/UV: kinetics study, matrix effect, and mechanism insight.

The removal of imidacloprid (IMI) from water by ozonation (O) and photo-ozonation (O/UV) was comparatively studied, paying particular attention to the kinetics, matrix effect, and mechanistic aspects of the processes. The IMI removal by O was considerably enhanced at alkaline pHs, leading to almost complete removal under 20 min with a pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.2374 min at pH 8.

A new screening index for pesticides leachability to groundwater.

Given the fact that pesticides exist in the aquatic environment at very low concentrations, it is clear that their analysis require expensive analytical techniques. Water authorities in Turkey are in need of assessing the likelihood of pesticide occurrence in groundwater in order to identify minimum number of pesticides that would be included in monitoring programs. To this purpose, the pesticides used in Turkey are ranked and those having higher leaching potentials are identified using pesticide screening leaching indexes.

Identification of waste management strategies and waste generation factors for thermal power plant sector wastes in Turkey.

Thermal power plants are of great environmental importance in terms of the huge amounts of wastes that they produce. Although there are process-wise differences among these energy production systems, they all depend on the logic of burning out a fuel and obtaining thermal energy to rotate the turbines. Depending on the process modification and the type of fuel burned, the wastes produced in each step of the overall process may change.

Identification of management strategies and generation factors for spent lead acid battery recovery plant wastes in Turkey.

The recovery of spent or waste lead acid batteries is important both for the management of lead input to the environment and to meet the lead demand of the market in a more energy and cost effective manner than primary production. As an important producer of lead acid batteries for the Middle Eastern and Eastern European market, Turkey seems to meet 22%-52% of its total lead demand by waste lead acid battery recovery. In this study, the wastes from Turkish waste lead acid battery recovery plants are identified and management strategies that are both technically sufficient and economically feasible for each of these wastes are complied.

Triclosan removal from surface water by ozonation - Kinetics and by-products formation.

Removal of triclosan from surface water by ozonation was investigated. The results showed that complete elimination of triclosan from a surface water bearing 1-5 mg/L triclosan via continuous ozonation at 5 mg/L, require an ozonation time of 20-30 min depending on pH. Triclosan oxidation followed pseudo-first order kinetics with an apparent reaction rate constant varying from 0.

Fate of triclosan in laboratory-scale activated sludge reactors - Effect of culture acclimation.

Triclosan (TCS); a widely used antimicrobial biocide, exists in several pharmaceutical and personal care products. Due to its wide usage, TCS is detected in wastewater at varying concentrations. Biological treatability of TCS and its effect on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency were investigated running laboratory-scale pulse-fed sequencing batch reactors with acclimated and non-acclimated cultures.

Hazardous waste management system design under population and environmental impact considerations.

This paper presents a multi objective mixed integer location/routing model that aims to minimize transportation cost and risks for large-scale hazardous waste management systems (HWMSs). Risks induced by hazardous wastes (HWs) on both public and the environment are addressed. For this purpose, a new environmental impact definition is proposed that considers the environmentally vulnerable elements including water bodies, agricultural areas, coastal regions and forestlands located within a certain bandwidth around transportation routes.

Solid waste management scenarios for Cetinje in Montenegro.

This study presents the options for source-segregation and selective collection of recyclable waste fractions for Cetinje, Montenegro, with the aim of meeting the European Union 50% waste recycling target in 2023, and extending collection and disposal system that builds on the existing strengths of the city. To this end, three options were considered: (1) source separation and separate collection of dry recyclable materials and central sorting of residual waste; (2) source separation and collection of co-mingled dry recyclable materials, and central sorting in a clean material recovery facility of comingled recyclables and central sorting of residual waste; (3) collection of mixed waste (current situation) and subsequent central sorting. Scenarios 1 and 2 were found to meet the European Union 50% recycling target in 2023, provided that a fast implementation of the new separate collection schemes to fine sort the co-mingled collected recyclable materials is available.

Substance flow analysis of mercury in Turkey for policy decision support.

Identification and quantification of mercury flows in Turkey are essential for better policy development regarding to the implementation of water-related legislation. To this end, substance flow analysis (SFA) of mercury in Turkey was conducted in order to identify and quantify mercury releases to different environmental compartments and help policy decision makers to better understand their options to reduce mercury flows. For the quantification of mercury flows, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Mercury Toolkit, which is develop by UNEP Chemicals Branch with the aim of assisting countries to develop their own mercury inventory, was used.

Use of theoretical waste inventories in planning and monitoring of hazardous waste management systems.

Hazardous waste (HW) generation information is an absolute necessity for ensuring the proper planning, implementation, and monitoring of any waste management system. Unfortunately, environmental agencies in developing countries face difficulties in gathering data directly from the creators of such wastes. It is possible, however, to construct theoretical HW inventories using the waste generation factors (WGFs).

Challenges in development and implementation of health-risk-based soil quality guidelines: Turkey's experience.

Management of contaminated sites is a critical environmental issue around the world due to the human health risk involved for many sites and scarcity of funding. Moreover, clean-up costs of all contaminated sites to their background levels with existing engineering technologies may be financially infeasible and demand extended periods of operation time. Given these constraints, to achieve optimal utilization of available funds and prioritization of contaminated sites that need immediate attention, health-risk-based soil quality guidelines should be preferred over the traditional soil quality standards.

Application of the contingent valuation method in a developing country: a case study of the Yusufeli dam in northeast Turkey.

Hydroelectric power plants and dams often play an important role in developing countries in terms of their contribution to economy. In accordance with the energy policies of Turkish Republic, Yusufeli Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant in Northeastern Turkey have been initiated. In this study, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was conducted in Yusufeli Village to determine the environmental costs of the Yusufeli Project.

Assessment of the best available wastewater management techniques for a textile mill: cost and benefit analysis.

In the present study, several water recovery and end-of-pipe wastewater treatment alternatives were evaluated towards the evaluation of Best Available Techniques (BATs) for the management of wastewaters from a denim textile mill in accordance with the European Union's Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. For this purpose, an assessment that translates the key environmental aspects into a quantitative measure of environmental performance and also financial analysis was performed for each of the alternatives. The alternatives considered for water recovery from dyeing wastewaters were nanofiltration (NF) with coagulation and/or microfiltration (MF) pre-treatment, ozonation or peroxone and Fenton oxidation.

Adoption of European Union's IPPC Directive to a textile mill: analysis of water and energy consumption.

The present study was undertaken as part of the first application and evaluation of the BREF (Best Available Techniques; BAT Reference Document) Textile Document within the context of the European Union's Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive to a large scale textile mill in Turkey. The BAT requirements for the denim manufacturing textile mill were selected in cooperation with the factory management. Detailed mass balance calculations were conducted to evaluate the overall effect of the selected BAT options.

Implementation of the European Union's Bathing Water Directive in Turkey.

The European Union (EU) Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) sets out standards for designated bathing waters which should be complied with by all Member States. Turkey, being a candidate country to the EU, requires heavy-cost investments in achieving approximation with the EU Environmental Acquis. This paper provides a description of the technical measures and investment and operational cost assessment related to the implementation of the Bathing Water Directive in Turkey.

Biological treatment and nanofiltration of denim textile wastewater for reuse.

This study aims at coupling of activated sludge treatment with nanofiltration to improve denim textile wastewater quality to reuse criteria. In the activated sludge reactor, the COD removal efficiency was quite high as it was 91+/-2% and 84+/-4% on the basis of total and soluble feed COD, respectively. The color removal efficiency was 75+/-10%, and around 50-70% of removed color was adsorbed on biomass or precipitated within the reactor.