Master/Ph.D. Student 

Project Name

TÜBİTAK – NSF Joint Research Program - Molecular Level Microplastic-Organic Interactions Coupling Meso-Scale Circularity Assessment for Macro-Scale Policy Impact

Project Purpose

The overall purpose of the project is to reduce negative impacts of microplastics which can sorb organic contaminants and serve as vectors for their transport in the environment. The specific purposes are: to investigate sorption mechanisms of organics onto microplastics, to evaluate sustainable management options via development of a circularity performance assessment framework.

Project Team

The project has an exceptional team because it brings METU together with a private research and consultancy company, GTE, having solid ties with industry and experience in sustainability research. International collaborators are Arizona State University and University of Maine.

Focus for METU Group

Experimental studies will be carried out with the objective of understanding sorption mechanisms of organic contaminants onto microplastics that are pristine and aged, representing environmentally relevant conditions. Experimental data obtained from this part, combined with those from the US side will help build predictive sorption models as a function of different stages of MP aging.

Contact Information

If you are interested, please contact: Prof. Dr. İpek İmamoğlu (ipeki@metu.edu.tr)  or Prof. Dr. F. Dilek Sanin (dsanin@metu.edu.tr).