Browsing by Author "Gulcimen, Sedat"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Comparative life cycle assessment of retort pouch and aluminum can for ready-to-eat bean packaging
(SPRINGER, 2023) Gulcimen, Sedat; Ozcan, Ozlem; Cevik, Selin Babacan; Kahraman, Kevser; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-8967-3484; 0000-0002-2786-3944; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Gulcimen, Sedat; Ozcan, Ozlem; Kahraman, Kevser; Uzal, Nigmet
Since packaging contributes to severe environmental impacts in food production, alternatives of packaging materials that satisfy customer needs while minimizing environmental impacts in a cost-effective manner should be preferred for food product sustainability. This paper compares two different packaging materials (aluminum cans and retort pouches) with a life cycle approach to assess the environmental impacts of ready-to-eat bean packaging. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to define and compare the environmental performance of ready-to-eat beans in aluminum cans and retort pouches. The gate-to-gate approach was used in the LCA, with a functional unit of 1 kg of packaged ready-to-eat bean product. Inventory for packaging in retort pouch was created in collaboration with Duru Bulgur Company (Karaman, Turkey) and the data for ready-to-eat beans in the aluminum can were gathered from the literature. The findings show that ready-to-eat beans in retort pouches have lower environmental impacts than ready-to-eat beans in aluminum cans. The packaging and washing processes for both ready-to-eat beans packaged in aluminum cans and retort pouches had the greatest environmental impact. In ready-to-eat beans production, retort pouch provides 87% better environmental performance than aluminum can in terms of global warming (GW). Overall, the results demonstrated that replacing aluminum cans with retort pouches in ready-to-eat bean production can significantly reduce environmental effects in all impact categories.
A holistic sustainability assessment of a university campus using life cycle approach
(Institute for Ionics, 2023) Gulcimen, Sedat; Qadri, Zakee; Dönmez, Rasim; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-8967-3484; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Gulcimen, Sedat; Qadri, Zakee; Uzal, Nigmet; Dönmez, Rasim
The sustainability performances of campuses are of importance as it could model the efective sustainable initiatives that could be then applied to campuses by decision-makers and designers. Studies have been conducted on the environmental and economic assessment of campuses in specifcation with the identifcation of their carbon footprint and cost analysis, respectively. The studies have lacked a showcase of an ideal sustainable campus along with its urban and architectural features, facilities, and services through analyzing their social aspects as well. The objective of this study was to evaluate the sustainability of the Abdullah Gul University Sumer Campus to model a sustainable campus integrating the Environmental Life Cycle Assessment(E-LCA), the Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and the Social Life Cycle Assessment using life cycle sustainability assessment approaches for the use-phase analysis of the campus. E-LCA was applied to quantify the global warming potential and cumulative energy demand based on International Organization for Standardization 14,040 and 14,044 by considering the gate-to-gate approach. The environmental assessment results showed that the global warming potential of the campus was 2.92 tCO2 eq./person, and the cumulative energy demand was found as 15.4 GJ/person. In LCC, the total cost of the campus was calculated as 200 US Dollars/person, and the energy cost is found as a major contributor with 86% of the total cost for the year of 2019. In the social performance assessment, it is found that the university has a weak social performance for the local community, the consumer, the worker, and the society
Life cycle assessment of lightweight concrete containing recycled plastics and fly ash
(TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2-4 PARK SQUARE, MILTON PARK, ABINGDON OR14 4RN, OXON, ENGLAND, 2020) Ersan, Yusuf Cagatay; Gulcimen, Sedat; Imis, Tuba Nur; Saygin, Osman; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0003-4128-0195; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü
Researchers put significant effort to decrease the environmental impact of concrete by using industrial by-products as an alternative binder. However, the considerable environmental impact still exists due to the consumption of natural resources as aggregates. Natural aggregates are the most used resources by volume in the construction sector. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate by-products as an alternative to natural aggregates as well. This study presents the environmental impact of lightweight concrete (LWC) produced by replacing natural aggregates with recycled waste plastic (polyethylene) (RWP) and partially replacing Portland cement with Class F fly ash (FA). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to compare a conventional LWC, containing pumice as natural aggregate and Portland cement as a binder, with green LWC, containing 30% RWP as pumice replacement and 20% FA as cement replacement. These scenarios were evaluated in terms of global warming potential, abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification and eutrophication. LCA was coupled with mechanical tests at 7 days and 28 days. RWPs were found to be an environment-friendly replacement material for natural lightweight aggregates with an overall decrease in all CML-IA impacts except eutrophication. Tested green mix design also provided sufficient strength for nonstructural applications.
Life cycle sustainability assessment of a light rail transit system: Integration of environmental, economic, and social impacts
(WILEY111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ, 2021) Gulcimen, Sedat; Aydogan, Emel K.; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Gulcimen, Sedat; Uzal, Nigmet
The transition toward sustainable urban transportation has gained importance in recent decades. However, urban transportation has not been addressed for all dimensions of sustainability. This study presents a life cycle sustainability assessment of a light rail transit system in Kayseri, Turkey, by integrating environmental, economic, and social aspects. The sustainability performance of the light rail transit system is evaluated using a cradle-to-grave approach to assess three aspects of sustainability. For the environmental evaluation, a life cycle assessment was applied using SimaPro 8.4.1 PhD version based on ISO 14040 and 14044. The method, which includes nine environmental impact categories, was employed to assess the environmental performance of the light rail transit system with a functional unit of 1 passenger-km. For the economic assessment, life cycle costing was utilized with the functional unit of USD for 1 passenger-km. A social life cycle assessment was applied to assess the social performance of the light rail transit system based on guidelines published by the United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. For the determination of social impacts, 11 subcategories and 18 social indicators were selected. The results showed that the global warming potential and abiotic depletion potential of the light rail system per passenger-km were 2.4E - 02 kg CO2 eq. and 2.7E - 01 MJ, respectively, with a service life of 50 years. The total life cycle cost of the light rail system was calculated as 0.046 USD for 1 passenger-km. The results also revealed that the main contributor to the total life cycle cost was energy cost, with 92% (2.88E + 08 USD) of the total cost. In the social performance evaluation, it is found that the industry performs well for society, the local community, and workers but has a weaker social performance for the consumer due to a weak feedback mechanism. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;00:1-13. (c) 2021 SETAC
Robust Multicriteria Sustainability Assessmentin Urban Transportation
(ASCE-AMER SOC CIVIL ENGINEERS, 2023) Gulcimen, Sedat; Aydogan, Emel Kizilkaya; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-8967-3484; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Gulcimen, Sedat; Uzal, Nigmet
Developing methodologies to facilitate the planning of sustainable transport systems for decision makers (DMs) is becoming more critical. This study proposed a methodological framework for sustainable urban transportation to make decisions during urban transportation's design and planning stages. Urban transportation alternatives were evaluated by sustainability indicators that considered a triple bottom line approach's environmental, economic, and social aspects. To choose the best alternative sustainable transportation scenarios, two multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, for example, a hesitant fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (HF-AHP) and multiple attribute utility model (MAUT), were integrated. First, eight sustainable transportation indicators that considered data availability from the transport sector were selected. The weights of the selected indicators were calculated using an HF-AHP. These indicators included carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, energy consumption, depletion of nonrenewable resources, operational and maintenance costs, fuel and taxes, the number of fatalities or injuries, and motor vehicles for public transport per 10,000 population. Finally, sensitivity analysis was applied to validate the robustness. Based on HF-AHP results, the number of fatalities or injuries was the most significant among the eight indicators, with a 0.158 normalized weight (N-i). The results of this integrated methodology highlighted that Alternative 11, which was dominated by low-motorized vehicles (low-MVs), was the best sustainable alternative and Alternative 1 was the worst sustainable alternative, which was dominated by high-MVs with 0.69 and 0.27 total utility values, respectively. Low-motorized urban transportation alternatives showed higher sustainable performances than the motorized and high-motorized alternatives. This study proposed a novel and robust methodology for decisions on sustainable urban transportation projects and renovating current urban transportation systems.