A new process of combined pretreatment and dyeing: REST

Use of enzymes in textile processes has many advantages as far as the environmentally friendly processes are concerned. These advantages include water and energy savings, less chemical use, less fabric damage, mild and environmentally friendly process conditions. In this work, C.I. Reactive Yellow 15, C.I. Reactive Red 21 and C.I. Reactive Blue 19 were used to dye untreated woven cotton fabric in a laboratory scale dyeing machine, on a pilot scale jig and on a pilot scale winch by using a single bath combined process, in which various enzymes, namely, amylase, pectinase, and catalase were employed. This new process was named as the “Rapid Enzymatic Single-bath Treatment” (REST), since it was completed almost in half of the conventional dyeing time, and all of the stages, namely, desizing, scouring, bleaching and dyeing were carried out in a single bath without replacing the process water with fresh water until the end of the dyeing. In the REST process, the untreated, starch-sized fabric was first desized by amylase enzyme, and this was followed by a pectinase treatment in the same bath. The fabric was then bleached by H₂O₂ in the same bath, and after the hydrogen peroxide bleaching; the catalase enzyme was added to the bath to remove H₂O₂ residues before reactive dyeing. Without carrying out intermediate washings/rinsings between these processes, the reactive dyeing was carried out in a conventional way in the same bath, and finally, the fabric was taken from the bath and washed out. The colour yield was compared with the dyeings which were carried out conventionally in separate baths. Finally, the REST has many benefits in terms of water saving, reduced process time and energy consumptions compared to the conventional preparatory and dyeing process of cotton fabrics.     

Heavy Metal Concentrations in Water, Sediment, Fish and Some Benthic Organisms from Tigris River, Turkey

In this study concentrations of heavy metals, such as Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn were determined in water, sediment, muscle, liver and gill of fish (Silurus triostegus, Mastacembelus simack, Mystus halepensis, Orthrias euphraticus) the muscle and liver of crab (Potamon fluviatilis), the internal organs of fresh water snail (Physa acuta), and mussel (Unio elongatulus), and in whole biomass of green algae (Spirogyra sp.) examples collected seasonally from three selected sites (I, II, and III) of Tigris River and from a reference site on Resan Creek. In general, the average Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn, and Fe values in Sites I, II, and III were found to be high in spring and summer. The concentrations of heavy metals in the Tigris River are compared with previous studies in the same sites. The results showed that Cu levels have gradually decreased during recent years. In Tigris River, among the living organisms, i.e., those which are living in benthic region and showing biomonitor characteristic, crab, snail, green algae, mussel and fish are seen to be formed in sequence. Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn values obtained from the muscle of fish and from the mass of internal organs of mussel and snail were found to be under the acceptable values suggested.     

Solid phase extraction of Cu(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II) ions with 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol loaded Amberlite XAD-1180

A new method for separation and preconcentration of trace amounts of Cu(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II) ions in various matrices was proposed. The method is based on the adsorption and chelation of the metal ions on a column containing Amberlite XAD-1180 resin impregnated with 1-(2-thiazolylazo)-2-naphthol (TAN) reagent prior to their determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The effect of pH, type, concentration and volume of eluent, sample volume, flow rates of sample and elution solutions, and interfering ions have been investigated. The optimum pH for simultaneous retention of all the metal ions was 9. Eluent for quantitative elution was 20 ml of 2 mol l(-1) HNO(3). The optimum sample and eluent flow rates were found as 4 ml min(-1), and also sample volume was 500 ml, except for Mn (87% recovery). The sorption capacity of the resin was found to be 0.77, 0.41, 0.57, and 0.30 mg g(-1) for Cu(II), Ni(II), Cd(II), and Mn(II), respectively. The preconcentration factor of the method was 200 for Cu(II), 150 for Pb(II), 100 for Cd(II) and Ni(II), and 50 for Mn(II). The recovery values for all of the metal ions were > or = 95% and relative standard deviations (RSDs) were < or = 5.1%. The detection limit values were in the range of 0.03 and 1.19 microg l(-1). The accuracy of the method was confirmed by analysing the certified reference materials (TMDA 54.4 fortified lake water and GBW 07605 tea samples) and the recovery studies. This procedure was applied to the determination of Cu(II), Ni(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II) in waste water and lake water samples.     

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration in rivers using acoustic methods

Acoustic Doppler current meters (ADV, ADCP, and ADP) are widely used in water systems to measure flow velocities and velocity profiles. Although these meters are designed for flow velocity measurements, they can also provide information defining the quantity of particulate matter in the water, after appropriate calibration. When an acoustic instrument is calibrated for a water system, no additional sensor is needed to measure suspended sediment concentration (SSC). This provides the simultaneous measurements of velocity and concentration required for most sediment transport studies. The performance of acoustic Doppler current meters for measuring SSC was investigated in different studies where signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and suspended sediment concentration were related using different formulations. However, these studies were each limited to a single study site where neither the effect of particle size nor the effect of temperature was investigated. In this study, different parameters that affect the performance of an ADV for the prediction of SSC are investigated. In order to investigate the reliability of an ADV for SSC measurements in different environments, flow and SSC measurements were made in different streams located in the Aegean region of Turkey having different soil types. Soil samples were collected from all measuring stations and particle size analysis was conducted by mechanical means. Multivariate analysis was utilized to investigate the effect of soil type and water temperature on the measurements. Statistical analysis indicates that SNR readings ob tained from the ADV are affected by water temperature and particle size distribution of the soil, as expected, and a prediction model is presented relating SNR readings to SSC mea surements where both water temperature and sediment characteristics type are incorporated into the model. The coefficients of the suggested model were obtained using the multivariate anal ysis. Effect of high turbidity conditions on ADV performance was also investigated during and after rain events.     

Interactions between metals accumulated in the narrow-clawed crayfish Astacus leptodactylus (Eschscholtz, 1823) in Dikilitaş Lake,Turkey

The accumulations of Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn in the exoskeleton, gills, hepatopancreas and abdominal muscles of crayfish Astacus leptodactylus (Eschscholtz, 1823) were determined. The strongest correlation observed was between Cr and Ni in the gills (r?=?0.904); moderate to strong correlations between Al, Cr, Fe, Ni and Cu were also observed in gill tissue. Disregarding the gills, the strongest correlation was found between Cu and Zn in the hepatopancreas (r?=?0.808); the correlation between these two metals might have been a result of metallothionein activity. The accumulation of Pb was found to correlate with that of Cd in the exoskeleton, Cd and Zn in the gills, Zn and Cu in the hepatopancreas and Cu in the abdominal muscle. None of these correlations were present in lakewater and sediment samples, suggesting that the crayfish metabolism may be responsible for the co-accumulation of metal–metal pairs. As all correlations in non-gill tissues are observed between divalent metals, a shared transporter such as divalent metal transporter 1 might be involved in the accumulation of these metals.     

Diel vertical migration of Sagitta setosa as inferred acoustically in the Black Sea

Swimming trajectories of chaetognaths Sagitta setosa Müller in the Black Sea were studied using an echosounder operating at 120 and 200 kHz and an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) operating at 150 kHz. S. setosa were acoustically discriminated with respect to vertical migration and swimming speed, according to dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and the timing of migrations. S. setosa formed a concentration layer thicker than Calanus euxinus did (1–3 m). The migration was completed in about 2.5–4 h, upward migration starting before C. euxinus and downward migration after C. euxinus. Adult Sagitta swam fast only in the well-oxygenated layer (subsurface maximum DO). The DO was found to be a significant (p<0.05) variable by partial correlation between the speed and hydrographical parameters. This feature constituted an oxygen-dependent influence on S. setosa’s vertical swimming and distinguished S. setosa from C. euxinus. Chaetognaths migrated daily between the nearsurface and the oxycline or the suboxic zone (OMZ, see Fig. 3b for the layers characterized by DO). Whether the deepest depth limit of migration was the oxycline or the OMZ depended on the relative abundance of adult and immature (young) individuals in the concentration layer. In July and September, individuals belonging to a new generation did not migrate but stayed in subsurface water day and night.     

Removal and pre-concentration of phenolic species onto beta-cyclodextrin modified poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate-ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate) microbeads

Poly(Hydroxyethylmethacrylate-Ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate), poly(HEMA-EGDMA), microbeads with 150-200 microm in size, was prepared by suspension polymerization. Beta-cyclodextrin was modified onto the polymeric microbeads using glutaraldahyde activation in an acidic medium at pH=2.5. FT-IR and TGA were used for the characterization of modified polymers and the determination of the nature of the interaction between phenolic compounds and the modified polymeric microbeads. Plain and beta-cyclodextrin modified microbeads were used in adsorption-desorption studies of phenolic species in single solution. Adsorption capacities of the phenolic species onto the plain microbeads were found to be 28.2, 17.0, 14.3, 9.8, and 1.92 mg/g polymer for o-chloro phenol, p-nitro phenol, p-chloro phenol, o-nitro phenol, and phenol, respectively. However, for beta-cyclodextrin modified microbeads, adsorption capacity of phenolic species was determined as 274, 365, 128, 182, and 87 mg/g for phenol, o-nitro phenol, p-nitro phenol, o-chloro phenol, and p-chloro phenol, respectively. Desorption ratio for the phenolic species was more than 90%, except for o-nitro phenol. Detection limits of the phenolic species were improved at least 500-fold for UV-Vis spectrophotometric detection, after the pre-concentration of all phenolic species used in this study. Adsorption time for the phenolic species onto beta-cyclodextrin-modified poly(HEMA-EGDMA) microbeads was found to be reasonable short (10-60 min) and suitable for the applications. Also, synthesized microbeads were useful for the repeated use for the removal and pre-concentration of phenolic species.     

Cadmium accumulation by green algae Cladophora glomerata (L.) Kutz. (Chlorophyta) in presence of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.)

Accumulation of metals by aquatic organisms is mostly affected by other biological components in environments. In this study, cadmium (Cd) accumulation in green algae, Cladophora glomerata (L.) Kutz., exposed to 0.1 and 1.0 mg L^?1 of Cd for 15 and 30 days was examined in laboratory conditions in the presence of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.). The green algae C. glomerata accumulated Cd concentrations as 690 ± 70 and 3430 ± 470 mg kg^?1 on day 15, and 1130 ± 180 and 6830 ± 1540 mg kg^?1 on day 30. There were significant increases (p < 0.05) in metal accumulation by green algae as the exposure time and metal concentration increased. The results also indicated that the presence of Nile tilapia in the medium led to a significant Cd accumulation in the green algae compared to control (p < 0.05).