Air pollution adversely affects the lives of all the living, in particular human health. In case its effect increases and it continues to harm the living, it will cause countless health issues and this will incur economical losses in our country. The use of poor-quality coal leads to an increase in air pollution. The coals of this quality used in the city of Bitlis have led to the increase of air pollution. In order to ensure air quality, the polluting amounts should be decreased and the national pollution limiting values should be such that they are applicable. Monitoring the current pollution state by preparing an emission inventory for developing future clean air plans and taking the necessary measures is important for laying out the extent of the air pollution problem. Under the Clean Air Action Plan for the City of Bitlis, the city was evaluated in respect of its general characteristics and considered with regard to the distribution characteristics and effects on human health of the pollutants. The amount of coal consumed in Bitlis in 2014 was obtained from Bitlis Directorate of Environment and Urbanization and this value is approximately 32802 tons. In 2014, due to coal firing in Bitlis, the amounts released to the atmosphere are calculated to be 1178 tons/year for SO2 emission, 105 tons/year for NO2, 124 tons/year for PM10 and 1316 tons/year for CO.
Water containing heavy metals causes many diseases including, in particular, cancer. For this reason, it must be completely purified before being discharged. In this study, the surface area of expanded perlite (EP) was determined to be 406.259 m 2 /g by the method proposed by Brunauer, Emmet and Teller (BET). The removal efficiencies in terms of the heavy metals Mn 2+ and Cu 2+ were investigated according to this value. The optimum point of adsorption of manganese and copper with expanded perlite is 30 min and 5 min, respectively. The optimum absorbent dosage is 0.5 g for manganese and 0.4 g for copper. In the case of Mn 2+ and Cu 2+ adsorption, Log q /Log C values were plotted to determine the Freundlich isotherm on the expanded perlite. In addition, Langmuir isotherm constants were determined by plotting 1/q and 1/C values. It has been found that with 5 mg/L Mn 2+ and Cu 2+ , the Mn 2+ heavy metals are compatible with the Langmuir isotherm model with R 2 = 0.93, and the Cu 2+ heavy metals are compatible with the Langmuir isotherm model with R 2 = 0.99.
Heavy metal removal by using porous mineral adsorbents bears a great potential to decontaminate sludge compost, and natural zeolite (NZ), artificial zeolite (AZ), and expanded perlite (EP) seem to be possible candidates for this purpose. A composting experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of those adsorbents for removal of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) from sewage sludge compost with no adsorbent amendment. For this purpose, 10 g of NZ and AZ and 5 g of EP was filled in a small bag made from non-biodegradable synthetic textile and was separately mixed in composting piles. The bags were separated from compost samples at the end of the experiment. AZ and NZ exhibited different reduction potentials depending on the type of heavy metal. AZ significantly reduced Cr (43.7%), Mn (35.8%), and Fe (29.9%), while NZ more efficiently reduced Cu (24.5%), Ni (22.2%), Zn (22.1%), and Pb (21.2%). The removal efficiency of EP was smaller than both AZ and NZ. The results of this simultaneous composting and metal removing study suggest that AZ and NZ can efficiently bind metal during composting process.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.