Evaluation of the treatment performance and reuse potential in agriculture of organized industrial zone (OIZ) wastewater through an innovative vermifiltration approach

© 2022 Elsevier LtdVermifiltration (VF) is a natural and sustainable biofilter that has many advantages, including being energy-free, cost-effective, and allowing ease of application and maintenance. In this study, the effectiveness of a lab-scale VF system was assessed by the removal efficiency of total suspended solids, electrical conductivity, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, fecal coliform, and heavy metals in organized industrial zones (OIZ) and domestic wastewater (DW) for the first time. Additionally, the reuse suitability of the treated wastewater was determined by comparing different countries' and global irrigational criteria. The lab systems were built with four layers: one worm-bed and three varying filtering materials, and operated at an optimum hydraulic loading rate of 1.8–2 m3/m2/day for 45 days with Eisenia fetida as the earthworm species. The results demonstrated that removal efficiencies of total suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand were found to be 95% and 80% in OIZ wastewater and 90% and 88% in DW, respectively. Total nitrogen and total phosphorus were removed at rates of 69% and 67% in OIZ wastewater, respectively, and 84% and 74% in DW. Besides, the VF system has shown satisfactory removal performance for heavy metals ranging from 51% to 77% in OIZ wastewater that has met Turkish national wastewater discharge limits. Although the final characterization of treated wastewater was suitable, heavy metal and fecal coliform levels have not met many countries' irrigation water quality criteria. To meet global irrigation standards and to enhance the VF performance, further experimental studies should be carried out, including parameters such as bed material type in the reactor, worm type, and different operating conditions

Assessment of wastewater treatment alternatives in metropolitan municipality district: a case study in Turkey

Wastewater pollution has always been a major problem throughout the world. The lack of available water used for drinking, agriculture, farming, etc. has declined through the years. For the past several years, Turkey has been affected by the water pollution crisis. Particularly, together with the Metropolitan Municipality Law dated 07.10.2004 and numbered 5216, adjacent areas of metropolitan cities included new counties, towns, forest villages, and other villages, which in turn necessitated a revision of the current wastewater treatment alternativities. In this paper, domestic and industrial wastewater sources of Kayseri municipalities district were determined and information about the character and formation of the wastewater were provided. To our knowledge this is the first extensive study on wastewater characterization in this district. For this purpose, location of the declared facilities', their wastewater features, and discharging areas were investigated. Wastewater, existing throughout the city was divided into four parts and compared with the discharge standards which were determined by the national and local governments. Contamination levels differ with respect to sectors and the sector with the highest contamination level is found to be the textile industry. The fact that large textile industries became located within the city by expansion of adjacent areas has carried the problem to more serious dimensions. It is also observed that the food industry is important because of its water consumption and high load of organic contamination. Wastewaters of industries which are still discharging into the receiving water body should be connected to the sewerage system as soon as possible

Spatial and temporal changes at Tuzla (Palas) Lake in Turkey

Saline lakes are widespread throughout the arid and semi-arid regions of the world and have considerable ecological importance. They are also very vulnerable to climatic changes or changes in their hydrological regimes. Most saline lakes of Turkey are close to the verge of extinction due to natural and anthropogenic impacts. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal changes at a relatively pristine saline lake (Tuzla (Palas) Lake) in Kayseri, Turkey, from 1987 to 2011 using satellite imagery techniques. Landsat Thematic Mapper images acquired in 1987, 2000, 2003, and 2011 were used in the analysis. The images were geometrically corrected by registering them to ground control points. The study area on each image was classified into seven information classes, i.e., water, watery ground, dry lake, mud/vegetated flats, salt flats, shrubs/sedges, and agriculture. The accuracies of the classifications were evaluated using a standard error matrix and kappa statistics. The analysis showed that the surface area of Tuzla Lake was highly variable during the 1987-2011 period. Lake surface area was the largest in 1987 and the smallest in 2003. Analysis of the climatic conditions for 4 years showed that the surface area of the lake is highly vulnerable to changes in precipitation and air temperatures

Comparative life cycle assessment of denim manufacturing: Evaluating conventional vs. recycled cotton in the context of renewable energy

The environmental footprint of textile production, particularly in terms of cotton consumption, water usage, and energy, is a global concern. While the impact of cotton textiles has been extensively explored, research on denim fabric production, especially regarding the use of various renewable energy sources, remains limited. This study aims to address this gap by examining how increasing the content of sustainable material, like recycled cotton, and transitioning energy sources from conventional to renewable options, can positively impact the environment. We investigated various scenarios based on the blend of cotton (ranging from 100% conventional to 50% recycled) and the type of energy used (grid, solar, wind, biomass, and hydro). The environmental impacts of producing 1 m of denim fabric were assessed using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) across eleven critical categories. Our findings reveal that replacing conventional cotton with a 50% recycled blend, and grid energy with renewable sources, notably reduces environmental impacts. Specifically, Scenario S7 (50% recycled cotton, powered by the grid) showed an 18% decrease in Global Warming Potential (GWP), and 25% reductions in Eutrophication (EU) and Acidification (AC), along with a 15% decrease in Abiotic Depletion (fossil fuels). Switching to solar energy in Scenario S9 further enhanced these reductions. Among alternative renewable energies, hydropower (S12) was found to be the most effective, presenting the lowest environmental impacts in all categories. This study conclusively supports the hypothesis regarding the environmental benefits of renewable energy in textile production. Future research should investigate the combination of renewable energy with a broader range of sustainable materials, such as recycled polyester, tencel, and hemp, to further advance sustainable practices in the textile industry

Prediction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand in a Wastewater Treatment Plant by Artificial Neural Networks

In this study, output biochemical oxygen demand concentration of Kayseri advanced biological wastewater treatment plant was defined with the daily input data of 2004-2007 belonging to the same facility and this data was estimated rapidly and confidently by training with multi layered artificial neural networks model. In the establishment of the artificial neural networks model temperature, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand and total dissolved solids parameters were used as input while biochemical oxygen demand parameter was used as output. The structure yielding the best result was obtained by training the artificial neural networks structure with 5 inputs, two hidden layers by Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. In this structure, it was found that mean square error 0.45, mean absolute error 0.445 and R(2) = 0.915