Volume 20 - 2018

This work deals with an environmental issue affecting particularly the Mediterranean coastal countries, that of dredges handling, and investigates how it is nationally designed and regulated. The described legislative frames are based upon relevant European regulatory systems and highlight the differences in the legislation between the Northern European and the Mediterranean countries. The report has been based on legal information supplied by specific national dredging policies that are considered accurate. Each European coastal region has developed its own dredging management system for port areas, taking into consideration its special needs and regional characteristics. In comparison with the North, it is scoped that the Southern areas are barren of a general legal dredging plan, dealing with dredges and their disposal, and consequently, they follow non-cohered practices. The Mediterranean Sea is surrounded by many countries with different legal strategies; however, its physical protection and its sustainable development could be achieved only by following a unified and well-planned approach. The establishment of a Mediterranean regulatory framework adopting some of the existing relative legislative formulas will ensure the sustainability of dredges exploitation and their proper disposal at a non-border level.

In this study, dehydrated cottonseed cake as a low-cost and abundant byproduct in Turkey was utilized as an adsorbent for the decolorization of Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) and Reactive Yellow 145 (RY145) from aqueous solutions based on adsorption and ultrasound-assisted adsorption (UAA). Decolorization efficiency was optimized as a function of changes in process type, initial pH value, adsorbent concentration, temperature, reaction time, and initial dye concentrations of RY145 and RB19 based on response surface methodology (RSM) using Box-Behnken Design. The maximum decolorization efficiency of 99.9% for both RY145 and RB19 was obtained with ultrasound-assisted adsorption under the RSM-optimized conditions (with unity desirability) of 76.98 and 79.40 min reaction times, 233.20 and 254.29 mg L-1 initial dye concentrations, 1.37 and 1.44 g L-1 adsorbent concentrations, and 35.42 and 49.37 °C, respectively. The best-fit multiple non-linear regression models of decolorization efficiency with the highest adjusted coefficients of determination (R2adj) explained 99.52% and 99.48% of variations through adsorption of RY145 and RB19 and 98.14% and 98.01% of variations through UAA of RY145 and RB19, respectively, while artificial neural networks accounted for 99.82%.

The biosorption of Cr (III), Zn (II) and Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution by dead blue algal biomass (Cyanophyta) was investigated in single metal system and batch conditions. Experimental parameters included contact time (0-140 min), pH (2-8), sorbent dose (0.1-2.0 g), initial concentrations (10-120 mg/L), agitation speeds (50-300 rpm) and temperatures (298-232K) were investigated. The best values of pH were found 4 for Cr+3, Zn+2 and 5 for Ni+2, respectively. The biosorption process was relatively fast and equilibrium established after 90 min. Equilibrium isotherm experiments data were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and Langmuir isotherms gives the best fit to the experimental data. Biosorption kinetic models were used for the single metal system using the dead blue algal biomass, good matching was found between pseudo second order kinetic model and experimental data for Cr (III), Zn (II), and Ni (II) ions systems. Thermodynamic parameters included Go; Ho and So during the process were calculated, the results show that the biosorption process applied to remove Cr (III), Zn (II) and Ni (II) ions using blue algal biomass (Cyanophyta) is feasible, spontaneous and exothermic at 10 – 30 °C. The results indicated that blue algal biomass (Cyanophyta) could be used as a good sorbent for treatment of industrial effluents containing Cr (III), Zn (II) and Ni (II) ions in single metal system.

The aim of the present study is a) to examine the healthcare waste management practices in W. Greece, Peloponnese, Epirus and Ionian islands b) to investigate the implementation of the institutional frame and c) to make suggestions in order to achieve a proper Hospital Healthcare Waste Management utilizing best practices. A questionnaire was prepared and distributed to selected people in 29 hospitals. The survey was conducted in the period 2015-2016.
The results showed that more hospitals have an established Hazardous Medical Waste Management System, based on internal regulation of infectious waste management. The quantities of infectious wastes produced by the studied hospitals, expressed per day and bed (kg bed -1 day -1) were within the range illustrated both in Greek and International literature. In relation to waste management policy, the replies to the questionnaire show that most attention is given to the management of hazardous medical wastes, while the necessary importance is not given in the appropriate management of urban wastes (separation, recycling and reuse). In addition, according to the findings of the present study, the wastewater management in hospitals is considered of minor importance.
Thus, more investigation is required to evaluate the best operation wastewater treatment scheme to achieve the protection of human health and ecosystems.
The hospitals studied have not tried to adopt an Ecological Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) a fact that reinforces our observation that none of them had made a commitment to minimize the environmental impact related to their function.