Browsing by Author "Ozcan, Ozlem"

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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.
Integration of direct microfiltration and reverse osmosis process for resource recovery from municipal wastewater
(DESALINATION PUBL, 2023) Ozcan, Ozlem; Sahinkaya, Erkan; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Ozcan, Ozlem; Uzal, Nigmet
For the sustainability of water resources, the recovery of water, organic matter (OM), energy, and nutrients from municipal wastewater become very attractive resources. As direct application of water, nutrient, and energy recovery from municipal wastewater cannot be feasible, the wastewater needed to be concentrated. In this study, the molecular weight distribution of OM content was determined in wastewater samples, up-concentration potential of direct microfiltration (DMF) of municipal wastewater and water recovery were investigated. In OM fractionation studies, around 52% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in wastewater was particulate or colloidal (>10 kDa) and 48% was soluble (<300 Da). In DMF tests, the COD concentration was concentrated up to 1,573 mg/L after sequential DMF experiments. Additionally, the theoretic total energy requirement of the DMF process was found around 0.3 kWh/m3 and it would be potentially energy positive. In crossflow experiments, the reverse osmosis (RO) process was performed using DMF effluent. When microfiltration and RO membranes were chemically cleaned, flux recovery rates of 100% and 99% were achieved, respectively. However, the foulants could not be completely removed during the cleaning according to scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and attenuated total reflection-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy results of the virgin, fouled, and cleaned membranes. This study reveals that the DMF+RO p
Pre-concentration of Municipal Wastewater Using Flocculation-Assisted Direct Ceramic Microfiltration Process: Optimization of Operational Conditions
(SPRINGER INT PUBL AG, 2022) Ozcan, Ozlem; Sahinkaya, Erkan; Uzal, Nigmet; 0000-0002-0912-3459; AGÜ, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü; Uzal, Niğmet; Özcan, Özlem
Direct ceramic microfiltration (DCMF) is an effective technology to pre-concentrate organic matter (OM) for the subsequent anaerobic energy-recovering processes and a fast, cost-effective, easy treatment process for municipal wastewater. The major problem in DCMF is the rapid fouling of the membrane. In this study, to maximize OM recovery rates and prevent membrane fouling, the DCMF process was alternately paired with dosing of a cationic polyacrylamide (PAM) flocculant and chemically enhanced primary sedimentation (CEPS). The DCMF process tested in three stages: (i) optimization of flocculant concentration (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mg/L PAM) and dosing point, (ii) optimization of operational conditions (pH, filtration/backwash duration, flux, and recovery rate) to control membrane fouling, and (iii) long-term operation of the DCMF process. The influence of PAM dosage points on DCMF fouling behavior was explored, and system operating parameters in terms of OM recovery and TMP change were optimized. The CEPS + DCMF setup was discovered to be a potential option for overcoming fouling. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) was 520 +/- 20 mg/L in the concentrated wastewater using CEPS + DCMF experiments for 0.5 mg/L PAM. The highest OM pre-concentration was achieved at 90% recovery rate. After the optimization, COD concentration in the concentrate of the DCMF process reached 822 mg/L for the long-term (20 days) operation. The net potential energy production was calculated as 0.28 kWh/m(3) considering the theoretical COD of 1432 mg/L in the concentrate stream. As a novel approach, the CEPS + DCMF process can be used in place of conventional municipal wastewater treatment processes due to its acceptable OM removal performance, simple operation, small footprint, and potential energy generation.