Orhan Yenigün

Production of Methane and Hydrogen from Biomass through Conventional and High-Rate Anaerobic Digestion Processes

Anaerobic digestion processes have often been applied for biological stabilization of solid and liquid wastes. These processes generate energy in the form of biogas. Recently, high-rate methane and hydrogen fermentation from renewable biomass has drawn much attention due to current environmental problems, particularly related to global warming. Therefore, laboratory-scale research on this topic has significantly accelerated. The primary aim of this review paper is to summarize the most recent research activities covering production of methane and hydrogen via both conventional single and high-rate two-phase anaerobic digestion processes of natural sources of biomass.

Aerosol chemical composition over Istanbul

This study examines the chemical composition of aerosols over the Greater Istanbul Area. To achieve this 325 (PM(10)) aerosol samples were collected over Bosphorus from November 2007 to June 2009 and were analysed for the main ions, trace metals, water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic (OC) and elemental carbon (EC). PM(10) levels were found to be in good agreement with those measured by the Istanbul Municipality air quality network, indicating that the sampling site is representative of the Greater Istanbul Area. The main ions measured in the PM(10) samples were Na(+), Ca(2+) and non-sea-salt sulphates (nss-SO(4)(2-)). On average, 31% of Ca(2+) was found to be associated with carbonates. Trace elements related to human activities (as Pb, V, Cd and Ni) obtained peak values during winter due to domestic heating, whereas natural origin elements like Al, Fe and Mn peaked during the spring period due to dust transport from Northern Africa. Organic carbon was found to be mostly primary and elemental carbon was strongly linked to fuel oil combustion and traffic. Both OC and EC concentrations increased during winter due to domestic heating, while the higher WSOC to OC ratio during summer can be mostly attributed to the presence of secondary, oxidised and more soluble organics. Factor analysis identified six components/sources for aerosol species in PM(10), namely traffic/industrial, crustal, sea-salt, fuel-oil combustion, secondary and ammonium sulfate.

Flocculating performances of exopolysaccharides produced by a halophilic bacterial strain cultivated on agro-industrial waste

This study reports the first systematic investigation of the flocculation dynamics of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) produced by a halophilic bacterial strain grown on pretreated molasses as fermentation substrate. The potential use of these EPSs as an easily biodegradable, natural alternative for synthetic polyelectrolytes which are widely used and contain toxic and carcinogenic monomers was investigated. Flocculating activities of the EPS samples in synthetic water, synthetic sea water and natural sea water media which were used as model raw waters were monitored via the Photometric Dispersion Analyser (PDA 2000) instrument and removals were determined by measuring residual turbidities. One of the six EPS specimens, which formed the largest flocs thus performed highest turbidity removal, exhibited flocculation performance and particle removal efficiency comparable with commercial cationic, nonionic and anionic synthetic polyelectrolytes.

Sorption Studies of 2,4-D on Selected Soils

Adsorption/desorption characteristics of the herbicide 2,4-D on various types of soils were investigated. Batch equilibrium techniques were used in the laboratory experiments. Data were fitted to the linear and Freundlich sorption equations. K and Kf values ranged between 0.32–1.89 L- 1 mg and 2.6 × 10-3 – 7.4 mg kg- 1, respectively. Results showed that both for linear and Freundlich adsorption equations, for all soils, K and Kf were correlated to the organic matter content (r = 0.87 and r = 0.66, respectively). Adsorption was also positively correlated with silt and clay content of soils (r = 0.53) and negatively correlated with sand content.

Community Changes During Start-up in Methanogenic Bioreactors Exposed to Increasing Levels of Ammonia

To investigate the methanogenic population dynamics during the start-up under gradually increasing free ammonia levels, five mesophilic UASB reactors seeded with different sludges were operated for 140 days. Changes in the methanogenic community investigated by using 16S rDNA/rRNA based molecular methods such as denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH), cloning and DNA sequencing. Free ammonia nitrogen (FAN) in the reactors was gradually increased from 50 to 130 mg l-1 by increasing total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) from 1000 to 2500 mg l-1 in the feed and keeping reactor pH at 7.7 in the active zone. Even at highest FAN level, COD and VFA removal efficiencies above 90 and 98% were obtained, respectively. However, Methanosaeta-related species mainly prevailing in seed sludges were substituted for Methanosarcina as the abundant methanogens although reactor performances were almost comparable and constant.

Annual and seasonal air temperature trend patterns of climate change and urbanization effects in relation to air pollutants in Turkey

With a view to estimating climate change and its urban-induced bias in selected Turkish cities, we have used data from the period 1951 to 1990 recorded by 54 climate stations, four of which are corrected for their inhomogeneities. Two sets are produced; S1, including the large urban stations, and S2, consisting of rural, small urban and medium urban stations. Nonnalized Kendall trend test coefficients with a spatial prediction scheme, kriging, are used to construct spatial patterns of both sets together and separately. Results reveal a statistically significant cooling in mean temperatures mostly in northem regions and warming in minimum temperatures specific to large urban areas. Seasonal analysis shows that most of this cooling has been occurring in the summer and urban warming in the spring. The causes of cooling is investigated in relation to some air pollutants, SO 2 and particulate matter (PM). Linear regressions perfomred on the time series resulted in a significant urban bias of 0.24°C per 40 years on mean temperatures and 0.56°C/40 years on minimum temperatures. In association with the above results, a decrease in the temperature range of 0.48°C over the period owing to urban bias was found. A 0.24°C urban bias magnitude of mean temperature trends is much greater than the results found on other three regions of the Earth [Jones et al., 1990]. An overall average cooling in mean temperatures, -0.07°C per decade, detected here is the same as Nasrallah and Ballings [1993] average result for the two grid points located over Turkey.

The impact of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on surface ozone concentrations in Istanbul.

Surface ozone concentrations at Istanbul during a summer episode in June 2008 were simulated using a high resolution and urban scale modeling system coupling MM5 and CMAQ models with a recently developed anthropogenic emission inventory for the region. Two sets of base runs were performed in order to investigate for the first time the impact of biogenic emissions on ozone concentrations in the Greater Istanbul Area (GIA). The first simulation was performed using only the anthropogenic emissions whereas the second simulation was performed using both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. Biogenic NMVOC emissions were comparable with anthropogenic NMVOC emissions in terms of magnitude. The inclusion of biogenic emissions significantly improved the performance of the model, particularly in reproducing the low night time values as well as the temporal variation of ozone concentrations. Terpene emissions contributed significantly to the destruction of the ozone during nighttime. Biogenic NMVOCs emissions enhanced ozone concentrations in the downwind regions of GIA up to 25ppb. The VOC/NO(x) ratio almost doubled due to the addition of biogenic NMVOCs. Anthropogenic NO(x) and NMVOCs were perturbed by ±30% in another set of simulations to quantify the sensitivity of ozone concentrations to the precursor emissions in the region. The sensitivity runs, as along with the model-calculated ozone-to-reactive nitrogen ratios, pointed NO(x)-sensitive chemistry, particularly in the downwind areas. On the other hand, urban parts of the city responded more to changes in NO(x) due to very high anthropogenic emissions.

Analysis of surface ozone and nitrogen oxides at urban, semi-rural and rural sites in Istanbul, Turkey

Ozone (O(3)) mixing ratios were measured at three different sites (urban/traffic, semi-rural and rural/island) in Istanbul from September 2007 to December 2009 in order to determine the diurnal, monthly and seasonal variations of O(3) and nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and to study the local and regional impacts. This is the first study that evaluates the O(3) levels in semi-rural and rural sites in Istanbul in addition to the urban sites. The diurnal O(3) variations are generally characterized by afternoon maxima (64 ppb at the urban, 80 ppb at the semi-rural and 100 ppb at the rural site) and the nighttime minimum being more pronounced at the polluted urban site. The monthly mean O(3) mixing ratios start to increase in March, reaching their maximum values in August for the urban (~25 ppb) and semi-rural sites (30 ppb). However, at the rural site, the monthly mean O(3) levels reach their maximum value in June (35 ppb). The O(3) mixing ratios for weekends were higher than those on weekdays at each site by up to 28%, possibly due to changes in VOC sensitivity and reduction in NO(x) levels. In order to better understand and characterize the relationship between air masses and O(3) levels, cluster analysis was applied to the back-trajectories calculated by the HYSPLIT model for the semi-rural site. The analyses clearly showed that major transport is characterized by northern and western clusters, particularly from the Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region, as well as recirculation over Istanbul due to high pressure systems leading to accumulated levels of O(3). The results clearly suggest that extended measurement networks from urban to rural sites should be considered for a more comprehensive evaluation of O(3) levels.

A comparative assessment of different methods for detecting inhomogeneities in Turkish temperature data set

A combination of different methods is described whereby climatological time series can be tested for inhomogeneities using relative homogeneity techniques. The method set includes graphical analysis, a non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis homogeneity test and a Wald–Wolfowitz runs test application to the annual mean difference temperature series between highly correlated stations. A series of Monte Carlo simulation studies was carried out, which determined the inhomogeneity detection efficiencies of these tests. The procedure is statistically rigorous and provides estimates of the time and magnitude of change in the mean. Its application to annual mean temperature differences series for 82 Turkish climate stations indicates that the method set is a valuable tool for testing time series.

Enhancement of anaerobic digestion efficiency of wastewater sludge and olive waste: Synergistic effect of co-digestion and ultrasonic/microwave sludge pre-treatment

This study investigates the effect of ultrasonic and microwave pre-treatment on biogas production from the anaerobic co-digestion of olive pomace and wastewater sludges. It was found that co-digestion of wastewater sludge with olive pomace yielded around 0.21 L CH4/g VS added, whereas the maximum methane yields from the mono-digestion of olive pomace and un-pretreated wastewater sludges were 0.18 and 0.16L CH4/g VS added. In the same way, compared to mono-digestion of these substrates, co-digestion increased methane production by 17-31%. The microwave and ultrasonic pre-treatments applied to sludge samples prior to co-digestion process led to further increase in the methane production by 52% and 24%, respectively, compared to co-digestion with un-pretreated wastewater sludge. The highest biogas and methane yields were obtained from the co-digestion of 30 min microwave pre-treated wastewater sludges and olive pomace to be 0.46 L/g VS added and 0.32 L CH4/g VS added, respectively.