Theses supervised by Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Pala
10 theses · Dokuz Eylül University
İzmir'deki eğlence yerlerinden kaynaklanan gürültünün ölçümü ve değerlendirilmesi
Today, one of the major polluting sources of noise pollution caused by noise in the entertainment places is becoming increasingly important within the last few years. Especially, not making the city planning well, the music performed in open space and its being performed so close to the residential areas during the summer months in coastal areas, the absence of adequate sound insulation in buildings and workplaces where music is performed deepen this problem.In this study, the entertainment venues in İzmir are examined by being separated into certain categories under the scope of Control and Management of Environmental Noise Regulations Amending the Regulations. The results obtained by the measurements and calculations of these entertainment places, categorized by the noise measurement device taken by Dokuz Eylül University numbered 201125 as part of scientific research project support unit, have been analyzed and evaluated under this regulation.Consequently, the results obtained from the categorized entertainment places in terms of Control and Management of Environmental Noise Regulations Amending and again they have been compared with the limit values determined on the scope of Control and Management of Environmental Noise Regulations Amending the Regulations, precautions and recommendations for those entertainment venues not providing this have accounted for the result of this thesis.
Planning of Manisa city environmental management with in the framework of Gediz basin protection action plan
The purpose of this study, the activities within the framework of the Gediz River Basin Conservation Action Plan is being addressed within the case of Manisa. Wastewater treatment plants within the province of Manisa, environmental management, solid waste, dangerous waste and special waste disposal activities, Provincial Agriculture Directorates, Provincial Directorates of Environment and Forestry and the State Water Management II Regional Directorate should be examined in the scope of environmental management. Accordingly, the final status of these study and whether or not have reached its goals, evaluated and described with the reasons.In the first part, the meaning and the importance of the study, purpose and the scope of the study are explained. In the second part, Gediz Basin?s general situation has been discussed. In the third part, Gediz Basin Conservation Action Plan has been examined. In the fourth part, within the framework of Gediz Basin Conservation Action Plan, Manisa province?s environmental management has been discussed. In the fifth part, the basis of the Gediz Basin Action Plan has been described including laws, regulations and guidelines. In the sixth part, according to Gediz Basin Action Plan, it is checked whether the targets have been realized or not, if not, the reasons behind it are discussed. Furthermore, in this part, suggestions have been made for unrealized targets. In the seventh part, according to Gediz Basin Action Plan, the results have been drawn from the studies have been conducted and the problems have been detected.Keywords: Water, basin, action plan, wastewater, environment, solid waste, Gediz Basin
Photocatalytic oxidation of pollutants
The major objectives of this thesis are to produce thin films (potassium lanthanum titanium oxide - KLTO) via sol-gel and spin coating method and to observe the photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of the persistent compounds in wastewater under the influence of pH and light intensity. The production of advanced nanomaterials and coatings are improving day by day. Thin film photocatalysts are generated since they are more environmentalist than the particulate catalysts which are difficult to separate from water. In order to generate thin film structure; material characterization, phase analyses, elemental analyses, microstructure and film characterization were performed to evaluate structural and morphological characterization processes of the photocatalysts (KLTO). Phenol (organic matter), methylene blue (azo dye) and cyanide (inorganic matter) photocatalytic performance experiments with different pH, initial concentration, reaction time and light intensity levels were carried out in a solar box ATLAS SUNTEST CPS+ which is simulating natural solar radiation. As a result of the studies, 13 different thin films were examined and the most effective thin film photocatalysts were determined as K2La1.5Sm0.5Ti3O10. In this respect, three main parts were composed. First, pH and light intensity are selected as variables and their effects on degradation are investigated. 75.3% of degradation of phenol was achieved at pH of 7 and 750 W/m2 of light intensity. 97% of methylene blue was degraded after three hours of radiation. And, cyanide was degraded 80.2% under alkali condition. As a second step, the kinetic of methylene blue degradation was investigated and it is fitted to a first order reaction law. Finally, ANOVA test was performed for methylene blue and according to the findings; pH and light intensity were found as the significant factors for degradation of methylene blue.
Production and application of photocatalysts for detoxification of contaminated water
The main objective of this study is to produce potassium lanthanium titanates (KLTO) photocatalysts on silicon substrates via sol-gel method by spin coating to photooxidize of cyanide and methylene-blue compounds in the water. Acute Toxicity test with Daphnia magna were performed to evaluate toxicity of methylene-blue (MB) and cyanide. Different thermal analysis - Thermogravimetry (DTA-TG), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses were carried out to see phase identification and surface morphology of the KLTO, respectively. Photocatalytic degredation tests were investigated in a Suntest CPS solar simulator. The measurement of an absorbance values were carried out with the help of Schmadzu UV-mini 1240 spectrometer. Batch- reactor was designed and produced for application and testing of thin films. KLTO thin films were successfully coated on silicon substrates. Photocatalytic degredation tests, SUVA toxicity tests and Acute toxicity tests were investigated. It was found that KLTO thin films exhibited less toxic effect on Daphnia magna acute toxicity test of methylene blue azo-dye and cyanide. Photocatalytic degradation tests were more successful with KLTO thin films. With the prototype reactor, KLTO thin films were collected in a designed reactor and achieved maximum efficiency.
Organize sanayi bölgelerinde çevre yönetimi
Industrial Parks and Eco-industrial Parks which are formed as part of sustainable and planned development are important for the national economy and preventing environmental effects of industrialization. Because of industrial parks constitute central administration, application of environmental management system on them can be realized more planned and easily.The goal of an Industrial Park is to improve the economic performances of the participating companies while minimizing their environmental impacts.İzmir Atatürk Industrial (IAIP) was chosen as a study area. In this region, present situation of the environmental problems have been investigated to determine how wastes are removed currently and to evaluate whether these methods are appropriate for environmental laws by applying questionnaire.In this study, EMS consisting of the management of environmental impact assessment, wastewaters, wastewater infrastructure facilities, solid wastes, air quality, hazardous and medical wastes, chemical substances and products, noise and fire defense system in Industrial Parks has been developed with the help of computer program. Objectives have been improved according to the EMS. Then, precautionary measures, necessary actions are clarified and their usages for this study have been taken into consideration in detail.Keywords: Environmental management system, industrial parks.
Arsenic removal from drinking waters by electrocoagulation and filtration
Arsenic removal from drinking waters was investigated using Electrocoagulation (EC) process followed by filtration process in this study. Batch electrocoagulation experiments were performed in the laboratory scale using iron electrodes, which were placed horizontal in the electrocoagulation reactor and connected to a power supply in monopolar, parallel arrangement.Non-toxic and readily available iron plate was used as electrode material because of its strong adsorption affinity for arsenic. Moreover, when iron electrodes are used in EC process, depending on range of pH, it can generate by-products such as iron hydroxides, hematite, maghemite, magnetite, goethite, lepidocrocite, rust, which are widely used in arsenic removal from drinking waters.The experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of initial arsenic concentration, residence time, current, presence of salt, surface area of electrodes and oxidation states of arsenic (As(V) and As(III)) at pH 6-8.The sand filter was used to remove flocs, which were generated in EC. During the filtration process air was injected with the aquarium pump through air diffuser (air stone) to remove excessive iron species (ferric, ferrous) occurred in EC depending on pH changing and other factors.The initial arsenic concentration and the electrode surface area had no significant effect on arsenic removal. It was observed that the changing of current and residence time are significant for optimizing and controlling of EC performance. When natural contaminated groundwater (As(III) ) in Sasali-Izmir was investigated and compared with arsenate (As(V) ) contaminated solutions, slower removal then arsenate removal was observed due to oxidation As(III) to As(V).As well, with addition of salt, bigger and dense flocs (green rust) formation was obtained. The residual arsenic and iron concentrations were determined by ICP-OES. The ninety nine percentage of arsenic removal was achieved in the EC experiments.
Anaerobic digestion of phosphorus rich sludge
In this study, the main purpose was to investigate the behavior of phosphorus during anaerobic digestion process of İzmir Wastewater Treatment Plant?s (İzmir W.W.T.P.) sludge, which tends to have higher phosphorus concentrations than conventional activated sludge processes because of the mechanism of biological phosphorus removal.The stabilization and gas production potential of İzmir W.W.T.P.?s sludge were investigated. The best anaerobic digestion process parameters and the solids and phosphorus balance during the anaerobic digestion process were determined. According to the determined parameters the anaerobic digesters were designed and the energy productions were determined.The studies were carried out in three stages:In the first stage, the characteristics of primary, excess and mixed sludge were determined.In the second stage the methane production potentials, the COD contents that can be anaerobically converted to methane, of the primary, excess and mixed sludge were determined by using biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay.In the third stage, an anaerobic digester model with five reactors was used. Three of the reactors were used for primary, excess and mixed sludge. The inoculum sludge was taken from Ankara W.W.T.P. anaerobic digester. The dry solids and volatile solids reductions, gas productions and the behavior of phosphorus were monitored.When the volatile solids and COD reductions, the gas production and the methane content of the gas are evaluated, the optimum hydraulic retention time was determined as 15 days for İzmir W.W.T.P primary, excess and mixed sludges. At this HTR the electricity production of the plant would be 112.875 kWh/d which is more than the consumption of the whole treatment plant as 100.000 kWh/d.It can be concluded that, 25 % of the phosphorus was released from the structure of both the excess and mixed sludges during the anaerobic digestion process which adds a 20 % phosphorus load to the influent phosphorus load.
Management of phosphorus removal in municipal wastewater treatment plants
As a result of uncontrolled discharge of wastewaters containing high levels of phosphorus to the receiving bodies could create adverse effects on water quality. Therefore phosphorus should be eliminated prior to discharging into aquatic environment together with carbon and nitrogen to reduce eutrophication risk. Control of effluent phosphorus level by enhanced biological methods became a standard wastewater treatment application due to its high wastewater purification efficiency and its enhancing effect on overall biological treatment stages. In enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) processes, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus could be removed simultaneously with higher efficiencies as compared to the conventional biological treatment methods.Another common method applied in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for removal of phosphorus is chemical precipitation method in which aluminum and ferrous salts, lime were used as coagulants. Although these methods are not able to remove phosphorus completely from the theoretical aspect, significant phosphorus removal efficiencies could also be achieved. However chemical phosphorus removal methods could increase sludge production rate significantly in WWTPs. Investigations indicated that characteristics of this chemical sludge are very different from typical activated sludge. It was also reported that sludge treatment applications including thickening ? dewatering, anaerobic digestion, thermal drying and incineration could be more complex and costly as compared to the non-chemical sludge.In this study, fundamental characteristics of EBPR were investigated in a large wastewater treatment plant by full-scale and laboratory scale methods. The process configuration in which investigations were carried out was very similar to 5-Stage Modified Bardenpho process. To obtain accurate results mass balances were established around biological treatment units performing detailed influent and effluent characterization. In addition to the wastewater characterization, phosphorus content of both activated sludge and phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) were examined under variable nutrient loading ratios and variable operational conditions. Anaerobic phosphorus release rate, soluble substrate utilization rate, anoxic phosphorus uptake rate, simultaneous denitrification rate and aerobic phosphorus uptake rate were also determined by laboratory-scaled batch tests in addition to the full-scale investigations. Importance of particulate substrate forms in EBPR was also studied using both full-scale and batch-scale methods.Results of the investigations proposed that EBPR method could be the main phosphorus management method in WWTPs. However it was also observed that the stability of the EBPR processes could not be maintained continuously since the process influences by several wastewater and operational parameters. Therefore EBPR processes could be supported by chemical phosphorus removal methods to achieve target effluent phosphorus level.It was also demonstrated that COD/TP ratio of the influent is very important for the optimization of the EBPR processes. Obtained results indicated that COD/TP ratio of 65 could be required for the domination of phosphorus accumulating microorganisms (PAOs) that are perquisites EBPR processes in the scale of İzmir WWTP. Serious adverse effects of electron acceptors, present in both influent and return sludge line, on EBPR performance were also determined. In the scope of this thesis, several operational strategies for the optimization of the EBPR plant were also developed.
Arsenic removal from drinking water
Arsenate removal from drinking water was investigated using precipitation coprecipitation, lime softening, and adsorption methods. For precipitation coprecipitation method, Box-Behnken experimental design method was used to investigate the influence of major operating variables such as initial arsenic concentration, pH, and coagulant dose on arsenate removal efficiency and to find the combination of variables resulting in maximum arsenate removal efficiency. Ferric chloride, ferric sulfate, ferrous sulfate, and aluminum sulfate were used as a coagulant. Ferric chloride was found as effective and reliable coagulant considering required concentration and residual arsenate and iron concentration after sedimentation and filtration in the effluent. Although all types of polymers increased the removal efficiency of the treatment method, application of cationic polyelectrolyte was more effective than anionic and nonionic ones. Box?Behnken statistical experiment design and response surface methodology offer an efficient and feasible approach for arsenate removal and it could be employed to determine the optimum conditions for arsenate removal while minimising the number of experiments required.Lime softening for arsenate removal was required larger amount of coagulant doses and higher operating pH than iron and aluminium salts and consequently a large volume of sludge is produced and strong acids would probably be needed to adjust the pH after treatment.Clinoptilolite was used for arsenate removal from drinking water by adsorption. The iron modified zeolites were found as effective adsorbent for the arsenate removal from aqueous solution. According to the isotherm studies, GCFeA has larger capacities of adsorption and adsorption bond between the As(V) ion and adsorbent is the strongest. The pseudo second-order kinetic model provided a good correlation for the adsorption of arsenate by GCFeA and GCFeB in contrast to the pseudo first-order model. The GCFeA could treat approximately 3600 bed volumes of arsenate before column exhaustion.Removal of arsenic from real groundwater in Sasalı-İzmir was investigated using obtained optimum conditions from coagulation and flocculation, lime softening, and adsorption method in order to compare arsenic treatment results of synthetic and natural arsenic contaminated water. The obtained results from natural arsenic contaminated water are consistent with the previous studies on arsenate removal from synthetic contaminated tap water.
Compositing of municipal sewage sludge using semifermented solid waste and grass cuttings
Composting is more beneficial compared to that of other disposal methods likeincineration, land filling ? dumping because the sludge volume decrease by 40 ? 50 % andis sterile due to reductions in pathogenic microorganisms.The objective of this study was to examine the capability (and possibility) of sewagesludge and further its agricultural use. Aerobic composting of the sewage sludge wasinvestigated by two different mechanisms in three different experiments. In the regard,grass cuttings from university gardens, sewage sludge from zmir ? Çigli WastewaterTreatment Plant, and semi fermented solid waste which were taken from zmir ? UzundereCompost Plant were used. In 1st and 3rd studies, semi fermented solid waste and sewagesludge were mixed in different rates and systems. In 2nd study, sewage sludge, semifermented solid waste and grass cutting were mixed.During the study, moisture, organic matter, temperatures, C/N ratio, pHs were determined.Primary macro (P, K), and secondary plant nutrients (Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn), heavy metals (Cr,Ni) were also measured to investigate for agricultural use of final product.Results revealed that the method used in Experiment 1 did not end with the expectedcompost product. However, Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 resulted with a better compostwhile Experiment 2 being the best in this respect. Effect grass cuttings used in Experiment2 on composting was positive. Heavy metal contents of the final products were also belowthe standard values given in the Turkish Regulation of Soil Pollution Control.