The use of source separated human urine as fertilizer is one of the major suggestions of the new sanitation concept ECOSAN. Urine is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which act as plant nutrients, however its salinity is high for agricultural and landscape purposes. Moreover, characteristics change significantly throughout storage where salinity increases to higher values as the predominant form of nitrogen shifts from urea to ammonium. Transferring nitrogen in human urine onto the natural zeolite clinoptilolite and using the subsequently recovered ammonium from the exhausted clinoptilolite for agricultural/landscape purposes is suggested as an indirect route of using urine in this work. Results reporting the outcome of the proposed process together with characterization of fresh and stored urine, and preliminary work on the application of the product on the landscape plant Ficus elastica are presented. Up to 97% of the ammonium in stored urine could be transferred onto clinoptilolite through ion exchange and about 88% could be recovered subsequently from exhausted clinoptilolite, giving an overall recovery of 86%. Another important merit of the suggested process was the successful elimination of salinity. Preliminary experiments with Ficus elastica had shown that the product, i.e. clinoptilolite exhausted with ammonium, was compatible with the synthetic fertilizer tested.

Ammonium, from separately collected human urine, had been removed through transfer onto the ammonium selective natural zeolite, clinoptilolite, through ion exchange. In the subsequent treatment steps of washing with tap water, ammonium removed from urine was eluted from the surface of the clinoptilolite to be recovered for further reuse. Different quantities of clinoptilolite were used for a survey of the capacity of the zeolite for the process and to identify removal efficiencies based on initial ammonium loads. The highest surface concentration attained under experimental conditions employed was 15.44 mg ammonium per gram of clinoptilolite for an initial concentration of 110 mg ammonia per litre, and the highest removal was 98%, obtained for a loading of 1 mg ammonium per gram clinoptilolite. In the subsequent elution process, better removals were observed as pH was increased and the highest removal was attained at pH 13. The recovery was calculated as 9.73 mg ammonium per gram of clinoptilolite, corresponding to an efficiency of 63% only through washing with tap water. The results have given positive indications for the possibility of using ion exchange with clinoptilolite for the removal of ammonium from human urine and an incentive for improving methods of elution for its recovery for further reuse.

The relationships between nutrition and some quality parameters of oregano (Origanum onites L.

Bu çalışma, kışlık sebzelerden, yüksek kükürt içeriğine bağlı kükürtlü esensiyel amino asitlerden sistein ve methionini önemli düzeyde içerdiği bilinen brokoli ve pırasa bitkilerinde, kükürt ve diğer besin elementleri ile bu sebzelerin içerdikleri kükürtlü amino asit miktarları arasındaki ilişkileri ortaya koymak amaçlı yürütülmüştür. Buna yönelik; Ege Bölgesi sebze yetiştiriciliğinde önemli bir merkez durumunda olan İzmir ili Torbalı ilçesinden, brokoli ve pırasa yetiştiriciliğinin yaygın bir şekilde yapıldığı alanlardan toprak ve bitki örnekleri alınarak analiz edilmiştir. 0-30 cm derinlikten alınan toprak örneklerinin fiziksel kimyasal özellikleri ile verimlilik durumları saptanmış, bitki yapraklarında ise başta kükürt olmak üzere besin elementi içerikleri belirlenmiştir. Bitkilerin tüketilen kısımlarında; pırasada tüm bitki, brokolide ise baş kısımlarında; sistein ve methionin miktarları belirlenmiştir. Bitkilerin kükürtlü amino asit içerikleri ile toprak ve bitki örneklerinin kükürt ve diğer bitki besin maddesi içerikleri arasındaki ilişkiler ortaya koyulmuştur. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre; brokoli bitkisinin yaprak makro besin elementlerinden; K, Ca ve S içerikleri ile sistein ve methionin içerikleri arasında pozitif ilişkiler belirlenirken pırasa bitkisinin incelenen yaprak besin elementleri ile sistein methionin içerikleri arasında herhangi bir ilişki belirlenmemiştir. Makro besin elementlerinin brokoli bitkisinin sistein ve methionin içeriklerini arttırması hususu, gübreleme uygulamalarında dikkate alınmalıdır.

No abstract