Experimental and numerical analysis of metal leaching from fly ash-amended highway bases

A study was conducted to evaluate the leaching potential of unpaved road materials (URM) mixed with lime activated high carbon fly ashes and to evaluate groundwater impacts of barium, boron, copper, and zinc leaching. This objective was met by a combination of batch water leach tests, column leach tests, and computer modeling. The laboratory tests were conducted on soil alone, fly ash alone, and URM-fly ash-lime kiln dust mixtures. The results indicated that an increase in fly ash and lime content has significant effects on leaching behavior of heavy metals from URM-fly ash mixture. An increase in fly ash content and a decrease in lime content promoted leaching of Ba, B and Cu whereas Zn leaching was primarily affected by the fly ash content. Numerically predicted field metal concentrations were significantly lower than the peak metal concentrations obtained in laboratory column leach tests, and field concentrations decreased with time and distance due to dispersion in soil vadose zone.     

Groundwater quality assessment for different uses using various water quality indices in semi-arid region of central Tunisia

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The Hajeb Layoun-Jelma basin, located in the central Tunisia, is the principal source of water supply for Sidi Bouzid and Sfax region. The...     

Developing of a pricing model for Turkish lignite used in thermal plants

The objective of this paper is to develop a general pricing model for Turkish Lignite, which is mainly sold to thermal plants. This model will contribute to the development of coal mining within the scope of privatization efforts of the Turkish energy market. The paper consists of two stages. First, data of 10 thermal plants have been evaluated by using hedonic pricing analysis to determine influential price parameters. The results of hedonic regression analysis indicate the effect and importance of calorific value and electricity price on lignite prices. Second, a general coal-pricing model has been developed by taking into account the results of hedonic analysis. Comparison of the coal prices estimated by the developed pricing model and the coal prices obtained from thermal plants indicates an acceptable relation.     

Expert system application for prioritizing preventive actions for shift work: shift expert

Introduction. Shift patterns, work hours, work arrangements and worker motivations have increasingly become key factors for job performance. The main objective of this article is to design an expert system that identifies the negative effects of shift work and prioritizes mitigation efforts according to their importance in preventing these negative effects. The proposed expert system will be referred to as the shift expert. Methods. A thorough literature review is conducted to determine the effects of shift work on workers. Our work indicates that shift work is linked to demographic variables, sleepiness and fatigue, health and well-being, and social and domestic conditions. These parameters constitute the sections of a questionnaire designed to focus on 26 important issues related to shift work. The shift expert is then constructed to provide prevention advice at the individual and organizational levels, and it prioritizes this advice using a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process model, which considers comparison matrices provided by users during the prioritization process. An empirical study of 61 workers working on three rotating shifts is performed. After administering the questionnaires, the collected data are analyzed statistically, and then the shift expert produces individual and organizational recommendations for these workers.     

Accumulation of heavy metals in Typha angustifolia (L.) and Potamogeton pectinatus (L.) living in Sultan Marsh (Kayseri, Turkey)

Concentrations of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Zn and Cu) were measured in bottom sediments, water and Typha angustifolia and Potamogeton pectinatus in Sultan Marsh. Sultan Marsh is one of the largest and most important wetlands in Turkey, Middle East and Europe, embodying saline and fresh water ecosystems and providing a shelter for 426 bird species. The organs of T. angustifolia have a larger quantity of the measured elements than the P. pectinatus. Considerably higher contents of Cd were found rather than in helophytes (P. pectinatus) in submerged plant (= emergent, T. angustifolia) species. The percentage of Cd in plant tissues points to a certain degree of water pollution in Sultan Mash. Analyses of water, bottom sediments and plant samples indicated that the Marsh were polluted with Pb, Cd, and partly with Cu and Zn. All sampling sites in the study area basin are generally more or less polluted when compared with the control values. Strong positive correlation was found between concentrations of Pb in water and in plants. Ni and Pb were accumulated by plants at a higher rate from bottom sediments than from water. Leaves of T. angustifolia accumulated less heavy metal than the corresponding roots. There was a significant relationship between Cd concentration in samples of plants and water pH value. It has been found that the tissues of T. angustifolia accumulate more heavy metals than the tissues of P. pectinatus. Therefore, all plants can be used as a biological indicator while determining environmental pressures; however, T. angustifolia is proved more appropriate for such studies.     

Biodegradability oriented treatability studies on high strength segregated wastewater of a woolen textile dyeing plant

Textile dyeing and finishing industry involves considerable amount of water usage as well as polluted and highly colored wastewater discharges. Biological treatability by means of mineralization, nitrification and denitrification of high strength woolen textile dye bathes, first- and second-rinses is presented. COD fractionation study was carried out and kinetic parameters were determined. Biodegradability of organic compounds in highly loaded composite wastewater after segregation and the effluent of applied biological treatment of high strength composite wastewater were measured by determining oxygen consumption rates. The results were used in terms of assessing an alternative method for inert COD fractionation. The study implied that about 80% soluble COD, 50% color and 75% toxicity reduction were possible by single sludge biological processes. Sixteen per cent of total COD was found to be initially inert. Inert fraction was increased to 22% by production of soluble and particulate microbial products through biological treatment.     

Assessing water quality in the Ceyhan River basin (Turkey) with the use of aquatic macrophytes

As a major biotic component of many lotic ecosystems, macrophytes consist a major component of running waters are often used as indicators within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to establish ecological quality. In this study, we investigated macrophyte community structure (e.g. composition, abundance and diversity) in Ceyhan River Basin located in the Southeastern Anatolian Region in Turkey. Data was collected during 2014–2015 from river sites located throughout the basin to evaluate the relationship between aquatic vegetation and river physico-chemical factors. The ecological status of the river basin was also calculated based on Macrophyte Biological Index for River (IBMR). In total, 33 macrophyta taxa were observed. According to their biological classification (life form), filamentous algae (FA), free floating (FF), floating leaved (FL) and submersed (S) macrophytes reached their maximum abundance value in summer, while emergent (E) macrophytes were at their maximum abundance in both summer and autumn. The ecological status of the Ceyhan River basin ranged from moderate to bad. The values found are reasonably comparable to IBMR scores recorded in rivers of other Mediterranean countries. IBMR index may be suitable to some extent to establish a basis for ecological quality assessment in Turkish River systems.     

Mapping water chemical variables with spatially correlated errors

One of the most important considerations in many environmental studies is need to allow for correlations among the variables. Monitoring and analyzing relationships between chemical environmental parameters using spatial correlation based regression modelling is the main motivation of this applied study. For this purpose, some noticeable environmental parameters of data sets obtained from two lakes have been considered and the concentrations of chemical variables such as cadmium and nitrate have been appraised by a regression-based geostatistical methodology. The modelling procedure consists of two stages. In the first stage, spatial variables are analyzed via multi-linear regression and some relationships are provided. Next, by using the spatial auto-correlations of the residuals, a type of regression-based kriging procedure is applied. The capacity of the model for appraising the water chemical variables is also tested and performance comparisons with ordinary kriging are conducted. Finally, the applications showed that analyzing water chemical variables with spatially correlated errors is a convenient and applicable approach for assessing the environmental systems.     

Impacts of land use conversion on soil properties and soil erodibility

Land use conversion can affect natural ecological processes such as surface runoff and erosion. Therefore, it has potential to change soil stability To investigate this process in depth, Iskalan creek catchment in the Black sea region, where excessive land use applications and erosion events have often occured, was selected as the study area. The objective was to determine the effects of land use conversion on soil properties, soil erodibility and the relationships among soil properties and some erodibility indices. Duplicate topsoil samples were taken by using steel cylinders at 100 different sampling points from three different land use types; 34 of them are in farmlands, 34 in rangelands and 32 in forestlands. Soil particle size distribution, loss of ignition, pH, electrical conductivity skeleton percentage and three erodibility indices were determined. Data were analysed by using Pearson correlation analysis (at 95% and 99% significance level), ANOVA and Tukey's test at 95 % significance level. According to study results, land use conversion affects some properties of soils significantly Loss of ignition of soils in forests was significantly higher than soils in farmlands and rangelands. Soil skeleton percentage in rangelands and farmlands were significantly different. The study results showed that there was significant difference between pH of soils in forests and farmlands (p < 0.05). Pearson correlation analysis results showed significant correlations among erodibility indices and certain soil properties such as clay and sand fraction of soils (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). Topsoils of the study area were sensitive to erosion according to all three erodibility indices. The most sensitive soils were in farmlands.     

Influence of synoptic and mesoscale meteorology on ozone pollution potential for San Joaquin Valley of California

The distribution of historical ozone levels for a region is tabulated as a function of its prevailing synoptic and mesoscale influences. Meteorological patterns are determined sequentially from extended records of hourly surface wind measurements sampling relevant low-level flows. A visualization method is presented to readily indicate the likelihoods for exceedances to occur under a variety of meteorological conditions. The study domain is San Joaquin Valley (SJV) of California, which is divided into three subregions (North, Central, and South). Each day from May–October of 1996–2004 is labeled using synoptic (single-day) and mesoscale (intra-day) patterns. Emissions levels are assumed roughly constant for this period following the introduction of reformulated gasoline to California. Synoptic motions largely control the regional SJV ozone pollution potential; the same single-day patterns are identified for all three SJV subregions. Additionally, a unique mesoscale flow feature is identified in each subregion that strongly affects its ozone levels: flows through minor Coast Range gaps for N-SJV, the Fresno Eddy for C-SJV, and flows through Mojave Pass for S-SJV. The strength of each mesoscale feature is characterized using 1-h surface u or v wind components that explain local ozone pollution potentials.