In this study, the adsorption capacity of toxic and recalcitrant organic pollutant(s) Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) onto the invader Xanthium İtalicum (XI) plant was assessed using the Response Surface Method (RSM). The adsorp-tion behavior of RBBR was determined by the spectrophotometric method, FTIR and SEM analysis were used to characterize XI, Brunauer, the Emmett and Teller (BET) analysis was accomplished to find the surface area of the ad-sorbent. The experiment procedures were planned by the Central Composite Design (CCD) whereby a model was built to examine the effects of the different parameters and the possible interaction between them. The correlation factor (R2) for the developed model was 0.985, suggesting that the model could achieve 98.5% of RBBR removal through an adsorption process. The desirability of 0.992 can be attained using the identified optimum conditions: XI = 3g, pH = 9, Time = 84min, RBBR = 50ppm. Under these conditions, the adsorption capacity reached 1.59 mg.g-1, and the removal percentage reached 95%. Freundlich isotherm had the best-fitted values with R2 of 0.999. Furthermore, the adsorption of RBBR onto XI was found to be pseudo-second-order kinetic with R2=0.999. Also, the recovery of RBBR from XI was studied through desorption experiments in presents of 0.5M NaOH. The recovery percentage after 120 min reached 47%. The maximum recovery percentage reached 73% at 24h.

The use of plastic bags (PB) has increased continuously over time because of their multipurpose property. Due to its environmental effects, Türkiye has approved a new law to limit the use of plastic bags. According to the approved Turkish plastic bags law (PBL), plastic bags of 15 microns or more are prohibited from being given to the customer free of charge. The new law’s effects were investigated by applying a face-to-face survey consisting of 13 questions to 1537 people in four districts close to Mersin city center. In addition to that, field surveys were managed to the common markets in the target area. From the target sample, 159 males and 128 females had not bought the PB after the law. Whereas 184 males and 178 females had bought PB for 10 times or more. The monthly income has a weak correlation with the plastic bags purchasing times. Families with 1-3 capita, 4-6 capita, and larger families who never bought plastic bags have moderate negative correlations. Families with 4-6 capita and larger families have a significant strong positive correlation at the (P

While environmental, economical and social challenges that the world has been facing recently are increasing dramatically; cities have played critical role in generation many of these problems like negative impacts on environment and overconsumption of resources. Most of the cities today face severe sustainability challenges including sanitation, air pollution, environmental degradation, over population and lack of livability. However, cities may also raise answers to find solutions against many of such complex urban problems, since they are assumed as creative and innovative platforms for social ecosystem of ideas. In this sense, there is increasing interest in ‘City Laboratories’ or ‘Urban Living Labs’, which are established to provide creative experimental platforms with participation of city actors to discuss urban sustainability issues before implementation of deep and structural urban changes for citizens. They provide participatory, co-creative and experimental platforms for self-organizing cities. The aim of this paper is to discuss a collaborative City Laboratory approach -Mersin City Lab- to achieve sustainability principles during urban regeneration process for the selected case-study area located in Mersin. Mersin City Lab focuses on two aspects: Firstly, ‘City Lab’ approach, involves citizens and stakeholders into decision-making process. Secondly, it focuses on urban transformation process with circularity principles including water, mobility, energy, waste management, food and circular economy to achieve sustainable neighborhood development. The paper starts with introduction of ‘city-gaming’ methodology which has been adopted as the main structure of participation of multi-stakeholders. It continues with discussions on stages of the case-study project through implementation of workshops and game sessions by participation of multi stake-holders. Following, the results gathered from overall evaluations of participants’ proposals regarding land-use, mobility and urban water management, local economy, urban development, urban agriculture and food strategies in neighborhood level are discussed. Finally, the paper concludes with impacts of City Labs approach and city-gaming methodology on decision-making process for real urban problems and urban settings.

People have used personal care products for a long time. Hair cosmetics are one of the most common brands of these products. The effects of hair cosmetics (especially WAX and Shampoo) on the domestic wastewater were examined. Several combinations of WAX (0.1g), shampoo (0.1g), and Raw clean hair (RC) (2g) were explored. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and hydrogen concentration (pH) analysis were performed on different sample combinations which include: WAX, shampoo, and WAX + shampoo. The COD results from these combinations were 1096mg/L, 584mg/L, and 1896 mg/L, respectively. RC was washed in 100 mL of tap water for 30 minutes causing a COD of 504 mg/L. WAX and shampoo were added to the RC separately and in combination. At whole experiments, the products were solved into 100 mL of tap water and waved for 30 minutes. In the RC related experiments, 40% of WAX volatilized (by weight) at 25c and 30 minutes. WAX, shampoo, and WAX + shampoo COD values were 1296 mg/L, 592 mg/L, and 1328 mg/L, respectively. The PH increased from 7.3 to about 8 after applying cosmetics. A questionnaire was prepared and applied to 385 persons, to study the people habits of using WAX and shampoo. The questionnaire results showed that 43% of the random sample used hairstyle products. It also showed that 45% of the user used it every day. As a result, WAX and shampoo were investigated in this study only. It also showed enormous effects of chemical substances contributing to cosmetics on domestic wastewater.

The bulgur industry has importance in the food sector in Turkey. The wastewater generated from this industry can be considered bio waste. The microbial fuel cells (MFC) are a relatively new technique aiming to treat the wastewater and producing direct energy. This study aims to explore the degradation efficiency of the organic matters expressed as chemical oxygen demand (COD) founded in bulgur industry wastewater by microbial fuel cell techniques. Furthermore, it aims to study the potential formation of electricity from this type of wastewater. In this study, the MFC – double chamber system was performed. 1.5 L bulgur industry wastewater containing 3% of biomass was used. The COD and the voltage were measured. The COD generated from the bulgur industry wastewater was 28800 mg/L. After using the MFC system, the COD was decreased to reach 2560 mg/L with a removal efficiency of 91%. 1st order kinetic model had the best fit for COD removal with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.95. The maximum and average voltages were 0.448 Volt and 0.180 Volt, respectively. The average voltage for every 1 m2 was 45 volt. As a result of the exploratory study, the MFC can be used to treat the bulgur industry wastewater and generating energy. But it should be combined with other treatment methods tomeet the COD standard limits.

In this study, the removal of Malachite Green dye in synthetically prepared aqueous solution by electrocoagulation process was investigated. In the study, initial dye concentration, electrolyte amount, mixing speed, current density, electrolysis time, pH value, and distance between electrodes parameters that affect the removal efficiency of the electrocoagulation method were investigated. As a result of the study, optimum parameters were found as an initial dye concentration of 200 mg/L, electrolyte amount of 150 mg/L, stirring speed of 100 rpm, current density of 8 mA/cm2, pH 4.5 value, the distance between electrodes 1 cm, and electrolysis time 20 min. 93.6% color removal efficiency and 37.5% COD removal were obtained under optimum conditions.