Developing a Decision-Support System for Waste Management in Aluminum Production

Industrial enterprises constitute a major portion of the world’s economy, as well as a large proportion of a country’s businesses and total employment. In Turkey, industrial enterprises are underdeveloped in terms of knowledge, skill, capital, and particularly accessing and benefiting from the advantages provided by modern information and communication technologies. Aluminum manufacturing has been reported to be the largest industry in Turkey with respect to production volumes and application fields. However, aluminum production is known to be an important contributor to environmental pollution, and the relative contribution of other related enterprises to the total industrial environmental impact is unknown. Environmental pollution sources can typically be classified into three categories: gaseous emissions, solid wastes, and wastewaters. The types of wastes produced by aluminum production vary based on the process line used, the variety of target products produced, and the production capacity of a given plant. As the capacities of facilities grow, the type and amount of waste become more variable. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to determine the priority of each waste type in aluminum manufacturing industries. This study was conducted in the Industrial Zone of Kayseri in Turkey. Three different facilities that range in size from large to small based on their production volume, plant capacity, and variety of production are selected for this study. The priority of waste types was determined by combining the AHP and PROMETHEE II multicriteria decision methods. While wastewater was categorized as having the highest priority in large facilities, solid waste was determined to be the highest priority in medium and small facilities.     

Afforestation areas defined by GIS in Gölbaşı specially protected area Ankara/Turkey

This paper concentrates on determining the areas for afforestation and the development of conservation strategies and actions in the case where there is high demand for the conservation of a particular land area. The analysis of hydrological landscape structure and of erodibility was prerequisite in the methodological design considering the site-specific natural landscape characteristics of the study area. The Gölba?? Specially Protected Area (SPA) being the case area has many local environmental disturbances, especially with respect to its hydrological system, and the area is beset by increasing demands for its use by the burgeoning human population. It is obviously clear that the present intensive demand for recreational use will be forecasted further increase in the future. The count of rural residences is estimated to increase by 50% over the next decade. This intensive demand shall further strain the carrying capacity of the ecological milieu, which has already suffered to a significant degree because of the present urban and rural activities. The Gölba?? district is located only 20 km from the city center of Ankara, and its surroundings were legally designated to be a Specially Protected Area primarily for the existence of lacustral and fluvial systems where two interconnected lakes exist: Mogan and E?mir Lakes. Essentially, the continuity of the lacustral and fluvial system of Lakes Mogan and E?mir depends on the preservation and improvement of the water sources. However, interconnected surface water bodies of these lakes are actually quite contaminated, and a decline in the water flow from Mogan to E?mir has been observed. For the elaboration of the present method, required conventional maps (at 1/25,000 scale) of topography (for slope analysis) and geology (for erodibility and permeability analysis) were transferred to computer media using AutoCAD® R.14 software. The rectification of the transferred data was done using ERDAS® Imagine 8.3. All data were then transferred into a GIS engine (Arcview® 3.2). This software provided the ability to create, manipulate, analyze and display topologically correct geographic data in digital form. The method proceeded according to the following phases: 1. Analysis of the hydrologic landscape structure; 2. Permeability of the soil structure; 3. Permeability of the geological structure; 4. Conservation zones.     

The trace metal levels in milk and dairy products consumed in middle Anatolia—Turkey

In this study, aluminium (Al), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se) and arsenic (As) contents in milk and different dairy product samples were measured. Pb, Cd, As, Al and Se contents in the milk and different dairy products ranged from 0.054 mg/kg (milk powder)?1.100 mg/kg (Ka?ar cheese), 0.009 mg/kg (whey powder and yogurt)?1.051 mg/kg (Tulum cheese), 0.010 mg/kg (whey powder)?0.146 mg/kg (butter), 2.848 mg/kg (ice cream)?8.778 (drained yogurt) and n.d. (ice cream, milk and whey powder, yogurt, ayran and Lor cheese)?0.434 mg/kg (Tulum cheese), respectively. The 75% of White and Ka?ar cheeses, 50% of Lor and 12.5% of Tulum cheese samples contained higher Pb according to the legal limits established by the Turkish Food Codex and European Communities regulation and 12.5% of Tulum cheese sample contained Cd. It was concluded that Pb contents of milk and dairy products from this region might be highly hazardous to human     

An assessment of metal pollution in surface sediments of Seyhan dam by using enrichment factor, geoaccumulation index and statistical analyses

The aim of this study was to determine if high concentrations of any heavy metals exist in the sediment of Seyhan Dam reservoir to be considered toxic to the aquatic environment. Surface sediment samples from five stations in the Seyhan dam were collected quarterly from 2004 to 2005 and examined for metal content (Cr, Zn Cu, Mn, Cd, Fe, Ca, K, and Na), organic matter, and grain size. Correlation analyses showed that metal content of Seyhan dam sediment was affected by organic matter and grain size. The results have been compared with values given in the literature. The evaluation of the metal pollution status of the dam was carried out by using the enrichment factor and the geoaccumulation index. A comparison with sediment quality guideline values has also been made. Based on the enrichment factor, dam sediments were treated as a moderately severe enrichment with Cd and minor enrichment with Cr and Mn. The results of geoaccumulation index reveal that sediments of Seyhan Dam were strongly polluted in stations 1, 2, 4, and 5, and were moderately polluted in station 3 with Cd. Moreover, Cd and Cr concentrations in the sediments were above TECs except ERL for Cd.     

Ground temperature estimations for Bolu,Turkey

The approximation of the soil temperature profile may be considered for many energy, environmental, and agriculture applications. In this study, temperature approximation model of ground in Bolu is developed. Unsteady state one-dimensional semi-infinite solid model is used to calculate temperature variation in ground. The results of the temperature equation which are obtained by using analytical method are compared with experimental data obtained from The Turkish State Meteorological Service. Developed model to predict soil temperature variation for Bolu has been solved by using MATLAB computer program. Satisfactory agreement is observed between them.     

A novel liquid-liquid extraction for the determination of naphthalene by GC-MS with deuterated anthracene as internal standard

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are known for their carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on human health. This therefore calls for the regulation of their concentrations in air, water, and soil. Naphthalene as the simplest in structure of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is mainly used as a starter material for other chemicals but also has impacts on human health. A method is therefore proposed for the determination of naphthalene in water samples by gas chromatography mass spectrometry after liquid-liquid extraction. The extraction method was optimized to improve the extraction output, thereby lowering the limit of detection. The limits of detection and quantification obtained for naphthalene were 4.4 and 14.6 ng mL^?1, respectively. Deuterated anthracene was used as internal standard to enhance the precision of the method, for which a relative standard deviation of 4.3% was obtained. The percent recovery of naphthalene obtained from tap water was ranged between 93.8 and 102.2.     

Speciative determination of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) in dyeing waste water of Dil Creek discharge to Izmit Gulf (Izmit-Kocaeli, Turkey) by ICP-AES

Wastewater pollution in industrial areas is one of the most important environmental problems. Heavy metal pollution, especially chromium pollution in wastewater sources from dyeing and tannery has affected the life on earth. This pollution can affect all ecosystems and human health directly or by food chain. Therefore, the determination of chromium in this study is of great importance. Dil Creek is located in the eastern Marmara region and discharges into the Izmit Gulf. This water source is used for irrigation in agriculture and as drinking water for animals. In this study, a rapid, sensitive and selective method for the speciative direct determination of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) in dyeing waste water samples collected from the nearest station to Izmit Gulf of Dil Creek in May 2006 by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) has been developed. An analysis of a given sample is completed in about 15 min for ICP-AES the method. As the result of the chromium analysis, the limit of quantification (LOQ) for the Cr (III), Cr (VI) and total Cr were founded as 0.0111 ± 0.0002 mg/l (RSD, 1.80%), 0.0592 ± 0.0010 mg/l (RSD, 1.70%) and 0.0703 ± 0.0020 mg/l (RSD, 2.84%) respectively. In addition, the general mathematical formula has been developed to calculate the concentration of Cr(III), which can be applied to any other metal species. The result of Cr (VI) analysis indicated that water quality of Creek was IV. class quality according to the inland water classification. In order to validate the applied method, recovery studies were performed.     

Biomonitoring of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb using lichens and mosses around coal-fired power plants in Western Turkey

Mosses and lichens are useful biological indicators of environmental contamination for a variety of metals and radionuclides of both natural and artificial origin. These plants lack a well-developed root system and rely largely on atmospheric deposition for nourishment. Therefore in the study, different lichens (Cladonia convoluta, Cladonia foliacea) and mosses (Homalothecium sericeum, Hypnum lacunosum, Hypnum cupressiforme, Tortella tortuosa, Didymodon acutus, Syntrichia ruralis, Syntrichia intermedia, Pterogonium graciale, Isothecium alopecuroides, Pleurochatae squarrosa) were collected around the Yata?an (Mu?la), Soma (Manisa), Seyitömer - Tunçbilek (Kütahya) coal-fired power plants and investigated for potential use as biomonitors for ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb deposition. While the activity concentrations of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb in lichens are in the ranges of 151 ± 7-593 ± 21 and 97 ± 5-364 ± 13 Bq kg⁻¹, for mosses the ranges for ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb are 124 ± 5-1125 ± 38 and 113 ± 4-490 ± 17 Bq kg⁻¹, respectively. In the study, the moss samples were observed to accumulate more ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb compared to lichens. While the most suitable biomonitor was a moss species (H. lacunosum) for Yata?an (Mu?la), it was another moss species (S. intermedia) for Soma (Manisa) and Seyitömer - Tunçbilek (Kütahya) sites. ²¹⁰Po concentrations were found higher than ²¹⁰Pb concentrations at the all sampling stations.