• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2021

In this study, an eco-friendly combustion process of waste 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT: 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) was developed, and fundamental data for the quantity of the organic matter in the final combustion residues is presented. Because complete combustion of TNT is not possible theoretically, the combustion process was optimized to reduce organic matter content in the combustion residue by performing measures such as heating time changes, addition of propellant material, and after treatment using a high-temp electrical furnace. From the results, it was confirmed that the organic matter content in the residue could be decreased to 7 ~ 10% with each method. The quantity of the organic matter could be minimized by optimizing the combustion conditions of the process. With only a combustion time increase, the amount of organic matter in the combustion residues was measured at about 9 wt%. The environmental friendliness of the final exhaust gas was also confirmed by real time gas component analyses. In addition, the organic contents could be reduced by a further 2 wt% by applying an additional heat treatment using an external electric furnace after the first incineration treatment. In the combustion process of propellant added waste TNT, it was found that various TNT wastes could be treated using the same eco-friendly protocols because the organic content in the residue decreased in accordance with the amount of propellant. The amount of the organic matter content produced by all these methods fulfilled the requirements under the Waste Management Act.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.153-159
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• 2021

In recent years, polymer membranes, which are actively used in various industrial fields, have the advantage of being able to impart unique properties through the control of chemical structures and physical properties in the film-fabrication process, as well as through fabricating blend membranes mixed with various materials. In this study, the solubility parameter, which can be used as an index of miscibility with other materials, was calculated using molecular dynamics using a silkworm (Bombyx mori) silk polymer which has a wide potential to be used as an eco-friendly natural material. When the solubility parameter of polyvinylalcohol (PVA), which is also environmentally friendly and biocompatible, was calculated by molecular dynamics and compared with each other, it was confirmed that the two polymer materials had similar solubility parameter values. In conclusion, it was theoretically proved that the two polymers could blend well with each other, which was confirmed through experiments.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.39-47
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• 2024

In this study, the environmental implications of electric arc furnace steel slag, commonly used in road construction and soil reinforcement, were examined. Experiments were conducted to assess the leaching of heavy metals based on particle size and to investigate ion leaching from specimens with varying mixtures of steel slag and clay. The official waste test revealed no detectable heavy metals in the sample items. However, when subjected to leaching experiments and analyzed using ICP-OES, certain heavy metals were found. The reaction of steel slag with water, facilitated by free CaO within the slag, was identified as the cause of leaching. Results showed that aluminum, exhibiting the highest leaching rate, displayed an inverse relationship with particle size. In mixed soil containing steel slag and clay, higher steel slag content resulted in increased aluminum leaching. Nonetheless, the quantity of leached aluminum was notably lower in mixed soil compared to pure steel slag. Furthermore, leaching of other heavy metals remained within acceptable limits. These findings suggest that recycling mixed soil of steel slag and clay for road construction or soil stabilization presents reduced environmental risks compared to using steel slag alone. Utilizing such mixtures could offer an environmentally sustainable and safe alternative.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.234-241
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• 2000

Organic farming (OF) is regarded as alternative farming types against general farming system for sustainable agriculture, recently. However, there is little information on effects of OF on soil properties and watershed condition. In order to determine the effects of OF on soil properties, 36, 10 and 8 sites of organic farming (OF) fields of plastic film houses, paddy and orchard were selected in the national scale, respectively, to evaluate their chemical properties and phosphorus distributing characteristics. The average organic matter (OM) contents in organic farming fields were with $44g\;kg^{-1}$ in plastic film houses, $26g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddies and $39g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soils higher than the average OM contents in conventional farming (CF) soils. Available phosphates were accumulated to 986 in plastic film house soils and $754mg\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soils, respectively, over the optimum range. Furthermore, total P (T-P) reached to $2.973mg\;kg^{-1}$ in plastic film houses and $2303mg\;kg^{-1}$ in orchards in OF soils. It could be attained by applying repeatedly low N/P ratio of manure-based compost. In two types of soils inorganic P was dominant with the ratio of 62~80% of T-P, and then residual and organic Ps followed. However. residual-P was dominant in paddy soils with the rate of 50% of T-P. Fractionation of soil extractable P showed that Ca-P was dominant with about $1,330mg\;kg^{-1}$ in upland soils in OF fields, which is affected by high soil pH of over 6.0. However. Fe-P of extractable P was dominant in paddy soils. Water-soluble P was very high with 65 and $26mg\;kg^{-1}$ in plastic film house and orchard soils in OF. From this results. OF regarded as an environment-friendly farming system may cause serious soil deterioration by accumulated phosphorus and may also cause water pollution.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.28-39
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• 2011

This review investigated theoretical principals and practical application examples on recirculation system of soil washing-wastewater treatment-treated water recycling. As for technologies which have attempted to remediating metals-contaminated soil in and around country, there are reactive barriers, encapsulation, solidification/stabilization, soil washing, and phytoremediation. Among those, in particular, this review covers soil washing technology which physicochemically removes contaminants from soils. The major drawbacks of this technology are to generate a large amount of wastewater which contains contaminants complexed with ligands of washing solution and needs additional treatment process. To solve these problems, many chemical treatment methods have been developed as follows: precipitation/coprecipitation, membrane filtration, adsorption treatment, ion exchange, and electrokinetic treatment. In the last part of the review, recent research and field application cases on soil washing wastewater treatment and recycling were introduced. Based on these integrated technologies, it could be achieved to solve the problem of soil washing wastewater and to enhance cost effective process by reducing total water resources use in soil washing process.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.361-364
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• 2016

Waterbirds using rice fields has increased due to a decline of natural wetlands. The rice field is an essential habitat to supports the waterbird population. Although use of rice field by waterbirds has been widely documented, little information is available on distribution patterns of waterbirds under the pesticide use in rice fields. The current study conducted to understand the relationship between habitat use by waterbirds and pesticide applicatioins in rice fields. We monitored the distribution of waterbirds at Daeho reclaimed area in July 2013 to June 2014 and September 2014 to August 2015. As a results, three heron species (Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax, Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus coromandus and Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia) are more sensitive to pesticides use than other waterbird species in rice fields. Future studies are necessary to explore the relationship between bird's distribution and management practices including pesticide use at different spatiotemporal scales.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.781-790
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• 2014

Contaminants such as organic matters, nutrients and toxic chemicals in rivers and lakes with a weak flow rate are first removed from the water and accumulated in the sediments. Subsequently, they are released into the water column again, posing direct/indirect adverse effects on the water quality and aquatic ecosystems. In particular, phosphorus is known to accelerate the eutrophication phenomenon when it is released into the water column via physical disturbance and biological/chemical actions as one of important materials that determine the primary production of aquatic ecosystems and an element that is stored mainly in the sediments in the process of material circulation in the body of water. In this study, the effect on reducing phosphorus release in sediments was analyzed by applying different capping materials to lake water, where the effect of aquatic microorganisms is taken into account, and to distilled water, where the effect of microorganisms is excluded. The experimental results showed that capping with chemical materials such as Fe-gypsum and $SiO_2$-gypsum further reduced the phosphorus release by at least 40% compared to the control case. Composite materials like granule gypsum+Sand showed over 50% phosphorus release reduction effect. Therefore, it is determined that capping with chemical materials such as granule-gypsum and eco-friendly materials such as sand is effective in reducing phosphorus release. The changes in phosphorus properties in the sediments before and after capping treatment showed that gypsum input helped to change the phosphorus that is present in lake sediments into apatite-P, a stable form that makes phosphorus release difficult. Based on the above results, it is expected that the application of capping technology will contribute to improving the efficiency of reducing phosphorus release that occurs in river and lake sediments.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.17-28
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• 2018

In this study, catalytic activation using sulfuric acid lignin (SAL), the condensed solid by-product from saccharification process, with potassium hydroxide at $750^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in order to investigate its potential to nanoporous carbon In this study, catalytic activation using sulfuric acid lignin (SAL), the condensed solid by-product from saccharification process, with potassium hydroxide at $750^{\circ}C$ for 1 h in order to investigate its potential to nanoporous carbon material. Comparison study was also conducted by production of activated carbon from coconut shell (CCNS), Pinus, and Avicel, and each activated carbon was characterized by chemical composition, Raman spectroscopy, SEM analysis, and BET analysis. The amount of solid residue after thermogravimetric analysis of biomass samples at the final temperature of $750^{\circ}C$ was SAL > CCNS > Pinus > Avicel, which was the same as the order of activated carbon yields after catalytic activation. Specifically, SAL-derived activated carbon showed the highest value of carbon content (91.0%) and $I_d/I_g$ peak ratio (4.2), indicating that amorphous large aromatic structure layer was formed with high carbon fixation. In addition, the largest changes was observed in SAL with the maximum BET specific surface area and pore volume of $2341m^2/g$ and $1.270cm^3/g$, respectively. Furthermore, the adsorption test for three kinds of organic pollutants (phenol, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and carbofuran) were conducted, and an excellent adsorption capacity more than 90 mg/g for all activated carbon was determined using 100 ppm of the standard solution. Therefore, SAL, a condensed structure, can be used not only as a nanoporous carbon material with high specific surface area but also as a biosorbent applied to a carbon filter for remediation of organic pollutants in future.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.332-340
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• 2021

With the recent reinforcement of emission standards, it is necessary to make efforts to reduce NOx from air pollutant-emitting workplaces. The NOx reduction method mainly used in industrial facilities is selective catalytic reduction (SCR), and the most commercial SCR catalyst is the ceramic honeycomb catalyst. This study was carried out to reduce the NOx emitted from steel plants by applying De-NOx catalyst coated on metallic monolith. The De-NOx catalyst was synthesized through the optimized coating technique, and the coated catalyst was uniformly and strongly adhered onto the surface of the metallic monolith according to the air jet erosion and bending test. Due to the good thermal conductivity of metallic monolith, the De-NOx catalyst coated on metallic monolith showed good De-NOx efficiency at low temperatures (200 ~ 250 ℃). In addition, the optimal amount of catalyst coating on the metallic monolith surface was confirmed for the design of an economical catalyst. Based on these results, the De-NOx catalyst of commercial grade size was tested in a semi-pilot De-NOx performance facility under a simulated gas similar to the exhaust gas emitted from a steel plant. Even at a low temperature (200 ℃), it showed excellent performance satisfying the emission standard (less than 60 ppm). Therefore, the De-NOx catalyst coated metallic monolith has good physical and chemical properties and showed a good De-NOx efficiency even with the minimum amount of catalyst. Additionally, it was possible to compact and downsize the SCR reactor through the application of a high-density cell. Therefore, we suggest that the proposed De-NOx catalyst coated metallic monolith may be a good alternative De-NOx catalyst for industrial uses such as steel plants, thermal power plants, incineration plants ships, and construction machinery.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2008

Winter annual green manure crops may be an effective tool for environmental-friendly agriculture system. The effect of legume (hairy vetch), non-legume (rye) and N fertilization ($190kg\;N\;ha^{-1}$) was examined and compared on red-pepper yield, nitrogen uptake, carbohydrate composition, and soil N and C contents. We monitored soil N and C for 120 days after incorporation (DAI) of green manures or mineral fertilizer. The mineralization of nitrogen reached the maximum around 30 DAI. The amount of inorganic nitrogen supplied by mineralization of hairy vetch residue was greater with than chemical N or rye. Photosynthetic rate was similar by 70 DAT in all treatments however, it in rye-incorporated red-pepper presented a sharp decline at later growth period. Leaf total nitrogen was greater with hairy vetch and chemical N than rye throughout the experiment. The soluble sugar increased steadily in all treatments from 40 to 110 days after transplanting (DAT) whereas starch showed a tendency of great decrease. Hairy vetch greatly promoted red-pepper growth by the later period however, chemical N showed the highest fruit yields.