Environmental Engineering / Çevre Mühendisliği
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/4321
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Article Citation - WoS: 40Citation - Scopus: 47Boron in Geothermal Energy: Sources, Environmental Impacts, and Management in Geothermal Fluid(Elsevier, 2022) Mott, A.; Recepoğlu, Yaşar Kemal; Baba, Alper; Uzelli, Taygun; Hadi Mosleh, Mojgan; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Yüksel Özşen, Aslı; Babaei, Masoud; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Baba, Alper; Feng, C.; Recepoğlu, Yaşar Kemal; Uzelli, Taygun; Uytun, Hüseyin; Morata, Diego; Yüksel Özşen, Aslı; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03.02. Department of Chemical Engineering; 03.03. Department of Civil Engineering; 01.01. Units Affiliated to the Rectorate; 01. Izmir Institute of Technology; 03. Faculty of EngineeringThe problem of hazardous chemicals in geothermal fluid is a critical environmental concern in geothermal energy developments. Boron is among the hazardous contaminants reported to be present at high concentrations in geothermal fluids in various countries. Poor management and inadequate treatment of geothermal fluids can release excessive boron to the environment that has toxic effects on plants, humans, and animals. Despite the importance of boron management in geothermal fluid, limited and fragmented resources exist that provide a comprehensive understanding of its sources, transport and fate, and the treatment strategies in geothermal energy context. This paper presents the first critical review from a systematic and comprehensive review on different aspects of boron in geothermal fluid including its generation, sources, toxicity, ranges and the management approaches and treatment technologies. Our research highlights the origin of boron in geothermal water to be mainly from historical water-rock interactions and magmatic intrusion. Excessive concentrations of boron in geothermal fluids have been reported (over 500 mg/L in some case studies). Our review indicated that possible boron contamination in geothermal sites are mostly due to flawed construction of production/re-injection wells and uncontrolled discharge of geothermal water to surface water. The dominancy of non-ionic H3BO3 species makes the selection of the suitable treatment method for geothermal waters limited. Combining boron selective resins and membrane technologies, hybrid systems have provided effluents suitable for irrigation. However, their high energy consumption and course structure of boron selective resins encourage further research to develop cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternatives.Article Citation - WoS: 7Citation - Scopus: 93d Electrode Use in Mdc for Enhanced Removal of Boron From Geothermal Water(Elsevier, 2022) Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyMicrobial desalination cell (MDC) is a significantly promising technology due to its simultaneous features of electricity production, wastewater treatment and desalination. In this paper, the three-dimensional (3D) sponge with activated carbon-chitosan (AC-CS) was synthesized to enhance the efficiency of the MDC system. Effects of operating parameters (boron concentration, electrode surface area, catholyte solution, and activated sludge volume) on MDC performance were also investigated. The MDC with 3D AC-CS anode provided a higher power density of 970 mW/m2, boron removal efficiency of 75.9%, and COD removal efficiency of >90% under optimized conditions. The maximum boron and COD removal efficiencies were 65.6 and 81.4% with the power density of 866.9 mW/m2 for geothermal brine. Moreover, BET analysis showed that the 3D AC-CS anode presented high surface area (230 m2/g) and pore volume (0.202 cm3/g). As an overall result, not only the production of 3D sponge anode electrodes with AC-CS composite was achieved but also desalination and power generation results that were comparable with the literature were presented.Article Phytoremediation of Boron Containing Synthetic Aqueous Solutions and Real Geothermal Water Using Lemna Minor(2021) Ökten, Hatice Eser; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Ökten, Hatice Eser; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyIn this paper, phytoremediation performance of Lemna minor L. on boron (B) removal from synthetic solution and real geothermal brine was evaluated. Effects of B concentration, initial pH, water height in cell, and initial humic acid concentration were investigated. The maximum removal efficiency was 96.7 % with the experimental run with B concentration of 5 mg L-1, pH 8, and 1.5 cm water depth. Increasing the B concentration from 5 to 30 mg L-1 resulted in a drastic decrease in removal efficiency to 36.6 %, due to the toxic effect of high boron content, which was clearly observed from deterioration of plant’s color and structure. SEM, FTIR, and mass balance analyses revealed that the boron removal mechanism was mainly biosorption. Geothermal water experiments indicated L. minor’s applicability with 59.5% removal efficiency, proving high potential in being used for post-treatment of geothermal waters with high boron content.Article Citation - WoS: 15Citation - Scopus: 18Simultaneous Energy Production, Boron and Cod Removal Using a Novel Microbial Desalination Cell(Elsevier, 2021) Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyThis paper investigates simultaneous boron removal from aqueous solutions, organic matter removal from industrial wastewater and energy production using a Microbial Desalination Cell (MDC). Anode chamber of the conventional MDC cell was modified to include 3D cubic electrodes as a novel design. Effects of operating parameters, including electrode type (3D-electrode and 2D-electrode), anolyte solution temperature (20 °C, 40 °C, and 60 °C), and activated sludge:wastewater volumetric ratio (S:WW = 1:1, 1:2, and 1:5), on MDC performance were studied. Furthermore, real geothermal water treatment was investigated under optimum operating conditions. Boron and organic matter removal efficiencies and the produced power density results were promising for 3D-electrodes under optimum operating conditions. The maximum boron removal efficiency, COD removal efficiency, and power density were 55.5%, 91.5%, and 9.04 mW/m3 treating real geothermal water at optimum operating conditions. The analyses of Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDX) demonstrated biofilm formation and salt deposition on membrane surfaces, which most probably reduced the performance of MDC. Consequently, our results showed that use of 3D-electrodes was a promising improvement to the conventional configurations with 2-D electrodes since removal efficiencies and energy production were comparable for a more compact electrode structure.Article Citation - Scopus: 5Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on Ambient Air Quality and Excess Risk of Particulate Matter in Turkey(2021) Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Sofuoğlu, Sait Cemil; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Sofuoğlu, Sait Cemil; Ökten, Hatice Eser; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyThe COVID-19 pandemic, which has reached 4 million global cases as of March 10, 2020, has become a worldwide problem. Turkey is one of the most affected (9th in the world) country with 139 771 cases. An intermittent curfew policy that differ for three age groups, and an intercity travel ban varying within the country have been implemented. The effects of changes in social life and industrial activity in terms of environmental pollution are not yet known. The short-term effects on PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, NO, NOx, O3 and CO concentrations measured at 51 air quality measurement stations (AQMS) in 11 cities in March – April period of 2020 were statistically compared with that of the previous year. While PM2.5 (9/14 AQMS) and PM10 (29/35 AQMS) concentrations were not significantly affected, NO (12/24 AQMS), NO2 (20/29 AQMS), NOX (17/25 AQMS) concentrations were decreased, SO2 concentrations at half of the AQMSs (11/25) did not show a significant change. There were stations at which higher pollutant concentrations were measured in the study period in 2020 compared to that of 2019. Excess risks associated with PM2.5 and PM10 were estimated to be variable, albeit with a small difference. In conclusion, the heterogeneous actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in mixed effects on ambient air quality.Article Methylene Blue Removal of Fixed-Bed Column Reactor With Pumice and Nzvi-Pumice: Experimental and Modeling Study(Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, 2019) Genişoğlu, Mesut; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Recepoğlu, Yaşar Kemal; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Recepoğlu, Yaşar Kemal; Ökten, Hatice Eser; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03.02. Department of Chemical Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyNano zero-valent iron (nZVI) emerges as a low cost and eco-friendly adsorbent to treat textile wastewater, which is rich in dye content. However nZVI particles can easily agglomerate in aqueous environment due to electrostatic interaction, decreasing their treatment efficiency. Therefore pumice, a low-cost and naturally found porous material with lower specific surface area (2m2/gr), can be used as support material to reduce agglomeration of nZVI. Treatment efficiencies of pumice/nZVI packing (10:0 and 9:1 (w/w)) in column reactor for specified initial methylene blue concentrations (25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/L) were investigated in this study. Adsorption capacities of the adsorbents were calculated as 2.8 and 4.2 mg/g-adsorbent, respectively at 100 mg/L initial methylene blue concentration. Mixed bed column performed significantly better than its pumice-only counterpart for low initial concentrations. Thomas adsorption model was applied to experimental results with a moderate to high predictive power.Article Citation - WoS: 3Citation - Scopus: 4Use of Nano Zero-Valent Iron Coated Coffee Grounds for Removal of Zn(ii) and Ni(ii) From Aqueous Solutions(Desalination Publications, 2019) Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyThis research investigates the adsorption capacity of a novel composite material, namely nano zero-valent iron coated coffee grounds (nZVI-CG), for removal of zinc (Zn) and nickel (Ni). nZVI particles were synthesized and immobilized to the surface of waste coffee grounds (CG) using the ultrasonic-assisted liquid phase method. Characterization of synthesized nZVI-CG composite and bare CG showed that nZVI coating has increased the surface area significantly. Batch tests were conducted to examine the effects of pH, reaction time and initial metal concentrations on Zn2+ and Ni2+ removal. At an initial metal concentration of 10 mg-Ni/L and 10 mg-Zn/L, nZVI-CG removal rates for Zn2+ and Ni2+ were observed as 98.89% and 97.29%, respectively; while removal rates of bare CG have remained at 51% (Zn2+) and 48.1% (Ni2+). Moreover, acidic conditions were observed to deteriorate Ni2+ and Zn2+ adsorption since most functional groups of the metals were protonated. Increasing initial nickel and zinc concentrations decreased removal rates. While the model fittings improved with increasing pH, in the case of nZVI-CG, Langmuir isotherm gave the best fits for Ni2+ and Zn2+ at pH 5 and 7. Also, our experimental results followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, regardless of the used adsorbent. Consequently, our results showed that nZVI-CG composite material is a promising alternative adsorbent for pilot scale metal removal/recovery applications.Conference Object Groundwater Pollution by Nitrate From Agricultural Fertilizers: the Case of Menemen Basin (aegean Region, Turkey)(İZSU, 2017) Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Genişoğlu, Mesut; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Ökten, Hatice Eser; Baba, Alper; Baba, Alper; Gören, Ayşegül Yağmur; Genişoğlu, Mesut; 03.07. Department of Environmental Engineering; 03.03. Department of Civil Engineering; 03. Faculty of Engineering; 01. Izmir Institute of TechnologyGroundwater is an essential drinking water source in Menemen subbasin of İzmir city, Turkey. The aim of this study was to investigate the groundwater contamination by nitrates of agricultural lands. For this purpose, we evaluated variations of groundwater pH, redox potential, electrical conductivity (EC), major anions (NO3, Cl, SO4, HCO3 and CO3) and cations (Na, K, Ca and Mg). A statistical correlation procedure and piper diagram for hydrogeochemistry of groundwater were also applied. Nitrate levels were found to be higher around agricultural areas. Also EC values and Cl were measured to be higher as proximity to coastal areas increased, indicating seawater intrusion. Agricultural activities and excessive freshwater withdrawal were shown to impair groundwater quality and quantity at Menemen subbasin.