Browsing by Subject "Waste treatment"
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Item Open Access Complete dissipation of 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene by in-vessel composting(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2015) Gumuscu, B.; Cekmecelioglu, D.; Tekinay, T.We demonstrate complete removal of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in 15 days using an in-vessel composting system, which is amended with TNT-degrading bacteria strains. A mixture of TNT, food waste, manure, wood chips, soil and TNT-degrading bacteria consortium are co-composted for 15 days in an aerobic environment. Variations in the TNT degradation rates are assessed when composting reactors are operated at different carbon/nitrogen ratios (C/N), aeration rates, TNT concentrations and TNT-degrading bacteria inoculum loads. Changes in TNT concentrations are measured using high performance liquid chromatography, and C/N are determined using elemental analysis every 5 days. Temperature and moisture of the system are measured every 6 hours. Optimum TNT degradation performance is achieved by combining C/N of 20/1 and a 5 L min-1 aeration rate. Complete removal is achieved for TNT concentrations of 2, 10, and 100 g kg-1 in 15 days by the help of Citrobacter murliniae STE10, Achromobacter spanius STE11, Kluyvera cryocrescens STE12, and Enterobacter amnigenus STE13 bacteria strains. The final products of composting are used to cultivate four different plant seedlings for 10 weeks and showed no toxic effect, which is promising for the potential agricultural use of TNT-contaminated lands after remediation. © The Royal Society of Chemistry.Item Open Access ZnO nanostructures on electrospun nanofibers by atomic layer deposition/hydrothermal growth and their photocatalytic activity(Materials Research Society, 2014) Kayaci, Fatma; Vempati, Sesha; Ozgit-Akgun, Cagla; Biyikli, Necmi; Uyar, TamerA hierarchy of nanostructured-ZnO was fabricated on the electrospun nanofibers by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and hydrothermal growth, subsequently. Firstly, we produced poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) nanofibers via electrospinning, then ALD process provided a highly uniform and conformai coating of polycrystalline ZnO with a precise control on the thickness (50 nm). In the last step, this ZnO coating depicting dominant oxygen vacancies and significant grain boundaries was used as a seed on which single crystalline ZnO nanoneedles (average diameter and length of ∼25 nm and ∼600 nm, respectively) with high optical quality were hydrothermally grown. The detailed morphological and structural studies were performed on the resulting nanofibers, and the photocatalytic activity (PCA) was tested with reference to the degradation of methylene blue. The results of PCA were discussed in conjunction with photoluminescence response. The nanoneedle structures supported the vectorial transport of photo-charge carriers, which is crucial for high catalytic activity. The enhanced PCA, structural stability and reusability of the PAN/ZnO nanoneedles indicated that this hierarchical structure is a potential candidate for waste water treatment.