Page 122 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 3

Causes of Mucilage Formation and Solution Suggestions in
The Light of Mucilage Composition Findings in The Sea of Marmara
1. Materials and Methods

In order to solve the problem of sea snot observed in the Marmara Sea
recently, field and laboratory analyses have been carried out. Water and
mucilage samples were taken from the Marmara Sea in the field studies.
These samples were analysed in terms of organic matter and heavy metal.
About 500 ml of sample was taken from sea water, mucilage and contaminated
sea water obtained from the mucilage zone for analysis. The samples were
collected from both the sea and the stream at the locations where streams
and wastewater are discharged into the sea.
TOC-L series analyzer (Model SSM 5000 A) was used for total organic
carbon analysis. Total carbon (TC), total organic carbon (TOC) and inorganic
carbon (IC) measurements were conducted with this device. In addition,
total nitrogen measurement analyses were performed to determine the
C/N ratio from these samples. Nitrogen measurement was conducted with
Vapodest VAP 20s model device (Yümün et al. 2021). The TOC- L series
measuring device works with the combustion catalytic oxidation method
at 680°C. The device has a quite wide measurement range between 4 µg/L
and 30000 mg/L. This method has the highest level of detection sensitivity.
In addition, the combustion catalytic oxidation method makes it possible to
efficiently oxidize not only easily-decomposed, low-molecular-weight organic
compounds, but also hard-to-decompose insoluble and macromolecular
organic compounds. It is calculated by the total carbon (TC) and inorganic
carbon (IC) values using the values obtained from the total organic carbon
(TOC) measurement. By subtracting the amount of inorganic carbon from the
total carbon value, the total organic carbon value is obtained. For heavy metal
analysis, 15 gr is taken from water samples and completed with ultra-purified
water up to 50 ml. This prepared water sample is filtered with the help of filter
papers. The prepared samples are placed in the measurement unit of the
ICP-OES device for readings. For physical analyzes, following devices were
used such as, EcoSence DO200A portable oxygen meter, Trans Instruments
HP3040 pH meter, ORP/mV portable pH and electrical conductivity meter,
ZAG INSTRIMENTS ATC model portable salinity meter, Multithermeometer
portable temperature measurement device with the capacity of (-50 - +150
0 C). The literature studies and results of our analysis show that mucilage is of
organic origin. It is understood that it is a liquid secreted by phytoplanktons
in particular. For this reason, aleo vera liquid was obtained and subjected
to benzene analyses to compare it with mucilage. Organic and inorganic
substance analyses were performed on mucilage and Aleo vera liquid and
concentration values were compared.

Year 2 / Issue 3 / January 2023 107