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Maize (Zea mays L.) oil is a highly valuable agricultural commodity for the Turkey. Transesterified maize oil has the global better properties because it has the greater monounsaturated content. Biodiesel has been prepared from maize by transesterification of the crude oil under microwave irradiation, with methanol to oil molar ratio of 10:1, in the presence of 1.5% NaOH as catalyst and 5 minutes time, the conversion of maize oil to methyl ester was over 98%. Compared with conventional heating methods, the process using microwaves irradiation proved to be a faster method for alcoholysis of triglycerides with methanol, leading to high yields of biodiesel.

After determination of total heavy metal concentrations in Tigris river sediments, a Tessier sequential extraction technique and a modified form using a microwave heating procedure were applied. Recoveries of total heavy metals from the sediment samples using the microwave and conventional techniques were reasonably comparable, in spite of a big difference in time required. 44-46% of Co, 24-36% of Cu, 69-81 % of Ni, and 55-73% of Zn were found in the residual fraction (i.e. not bioavailable).

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