Implementation of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Fine-Kinney method (FKM) against risk factors to determine the total cost of occupational health and safety precautions in environmental research laboratories.

A risk assessment method provides the definition of the risks that may be encountered in a laboratory. In order to take safety precautions regarding the in environmental research laboratories, risk assessment studies using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fine-Kinney Method (FKM) were carried out in this study. The environmental research laboratories were selected for the occupational health and safety assessment studies which analyze environmental samples such as wastewater, biological sludge, soil/sediment, and solid waste. Potential risks, accident rates and damages that may arise in an environmental research laboratory could be minimized with the occupational health and safety precautions decided to be taken in the light of this modeling study. Finally, the cost of the safety precautions to be taken on the basis of each risk was calculated according to the used models (AHP and FKM) in environmental research laboratories and determined approximately as 10,000.00 EUR in this study.

Photodegradation of some brominated and phenolic micropollutants in raw hospital wastewater with CeO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles.

In this study, the degradations of 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromotoluene (PBT), 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromoethyl benzene (PBEB), triclosan (TCS) and gemfibrozil (GFZ) in raw hospital wastewater were investigated with cerium (IV) oxide and titanium (IV) oxide nanoparticles considering the mechanisms of adsorption, photolysis, and photocatalysis with UV-C lamps. The effects of nano-CeO2 and nano-TiO2 concentrations, irradiation times, UV light powers and hospital wastewater pH on the photodegradation yields of micropollutants namely PBT, PBEB, TCS and GFZ were investigated throughout photocatalysis. The nano-TiO2 produced had an anatase phase with crystalline shape with a surface area of 205 m2 g-1 and an average size of 11.50 nm. The CeO2 nanoparticles had a spherical shape with a higher surface area (302 m2 g-1) than that of TiO2 and a lower average size (8.11 nm). It was found that the removals of PBT, PBEB, TCS and GFZ with adsorption (5.7%-17.1%) and photolysis (9.0%-15.9%) were not significant for both nanoparticles. The photodegradation of PBT (92%), PBEB (90%), TCS (97%) and GFZ (95%) with nano-CeO2 gave better results than nano-TiO2 (90%, 87%, 94% and 93% for PBT, PBEB, TCS and GFZ, respectively) under optimum experimental conditions (0.50 g L-1 nano-CeO2, 45 min irradiation time, 25 °C temperature, pH = 8.50, 210 W UV light power). Both nanoparticles were reused effectively after photo-removals of the micropollutants from the hospital wastewater. The lowest photodegradation yields were 80%, 78%, 75% and 74% for TCS, GFZ, PBT and PBEB, respectively, with nano-TiO2 after six sequential treatments. The lowest photodegradation yields were 86%, 83%, 80% and 79% for the same micropollutants, respectively, with nano-CeO2 after six sequential treatments. The cost to treat 1 m3 raw hospital wastewater were 8.70 € and 2.28 €, for the photocatalytic treatments with nano-TiO2 and nano-CeO2, respectively.

Comparison of biological and advanced treatment processes for ciprofloxacin removal in a raw hospital wastewater.

The treatability of ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic was investigated using a single aerobic, a single anaerobic, an anaerobic/aerobic sequential reactor system, a sonicator and a photocatalytic reactor with TiO2 nanoparticles in a raw hospital wastewater in Izmir, Turkey. The effects of increasing organic loading on the performance of all biological systems were investigated, while the effects of power and time on the yields of sonication and photocatalysis were determined. The maximum COD and CIP yields were 95% and 83% in anaerobic/aerobic sequential reactor system at an HRT of 10 days and at an OLR of 0.19 g COD/L × day after 50 days of incubation, respectively. The maximum CH4 gas production was 580 mL day(-1) at an HRT of 6.7 days. The maximum COD and CIP yields were 95% and 81% after 45 min sonication time at a power of 640 W and a frequency of 35 kHz while the maximum yield of COD and CIP were 98% and 88% after 45 min UV irradiation time with a UV power of 210 W using 0.5 g L(-1) TiO2. Among the aforementioned treatment processes, it was found that the highest treatment yields for COD (98%) and CIP (88%) pollutants were obtained with the photocatalytic process due to high OH((●)) radical productions.