TURK 2025

Phragmites australis (Sand Reed), also known as "big reed" or "sea reed," is a reed species found worldwide. This plant grows in degraded wetlands, such as salt and brackish marshes, swamps, rivers, lakes, ponds, and roadside ditches. This plant has applications in many areas, such as the reclamation of marshlands and as a filtration material in water treatment processes in aquatic ecosystems, as building materials in the construction sector, in papermaking, carpet weaving, in energy production as biomass, and in environmental restoration. However, since it is invasive, its adverse effects on the ecosystem are minimized by controlling it with chemical, physical, and biological methods. In this study, "Phragmites australis" growing in wetlands around Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, was evaluated in the treatment of waste oils. In this context, the reeds brought to the laboratory were dried, ground, and treated with 30-40% H3PO4 to obtain activated charcoal. Activated charcoals (AC) were used as adsorbents to treat used cooking oil (WCO). The % free fatty acid (%FFA), % peroxide number (%PV), and color of the waste oil before and after adsorption were compared with those of unused cooking oil. As the amount of adsorbent increased, %FFA and %PV values decreased. While the best treatment was achieved with a %FFA value of 11.44 with 1.5 g AC obtained by burning at 500 oC after treatment with 30% H3PO4, the minimum %PV was found to be 6 as a result of the treatment of the oil with 1 and 1.5 g adsorbent amounts of AC activated with 40% H3PO4 at 300 oC. These results show that WCOs were purified (PV% of used oil=44), and peroxide numbers close to the control (% PV=38) and even lower were obtained.