• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.79-84
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• 2003

The main objective of this study was to investigate the chemical characteristics of post-harvest biomass burning aerosols from field burning of barley straw in late spring and rice straw in late fall in rural area in Korea. 12-hr integrated intensive sampling of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ biomass burning aerosols had been conducted continuously at Gwangju, Korea 4-15 June 2001 and 8 October-14 November 2002. The fine and coarse particles of biomass burning aerosols were collected for mass, ionic, elemental, and carbonaceous species analysis. Average fine and coarse mass concentrations of biomass burning aerosols were measured to be 129.6, 24.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in June 2001 and 47.1, 33.2 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ in October to November 2002, respectively. Exceptionally high level of $PM_{2.5}$ concentration up to 157.8 ${{\mu}gm}^{-3}$ well above 24-hour standard was observed during the biomass burning event days under stagnant atmosphere condition. During biomass burning periods dominant ionic species were $Cl^{-}$, ${NO_3}^{-}$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, and ${NH_4}^{+}$ in fine and coarse mode. In the fine mode $Cl^{-}$ and ${KCl}^{+}$ were unusually rich due to the high content of the semiarid vegetation. High OC values and OC/EC ratios were also measured during the biomass burning periods. Increased amount of fine aerosols with high enrichment, which were originated from biomass burning of post-harvest agricultural waste, resulted in extremely severe particulate air pollution and visibility degradation in the region. Particulate matters from open field burning of agricultural wastes cause great adverse impact on local air quality and regional climate.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.33 no.1 s.94
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• pp.30-35
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• 2007

Waste policies with waste metering system and recycling in 1995 have contributed to the reduction of solid waste generation. Now rural areas as well as urban areas produce less amount of solid wastes in terms of per capita. However most policies in relation to waste issue have been concentrated in urban areas. Large portion of agricultural waste in rural region are being illegally treated such as open incineration or burned out on the road. In this study, we assessed the atmospheric air quality and health risk by illegal open incineration in rural region. In case of benzene level, worst concentration during illegal open incineration was 0.23 ppm and cancer risk by exposure was estimated to $2.29{\times}10^{-3}$.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 2015

Emission from the traditional Korean fireplace, or the under-floor heating and cooking device, can contribute significantly to airborne pollutants inventories. This study has systematically measured emissions of airborne pollutants from the fireplace when used different fuels such as firewood, agricultural crop residuals, household wastes. The results show that emission factors of airborne pollutants through the primary combustion of firewood were 3.22 g/kg for TSP, 2.93 g/kg for $PM_{10}$, 2.65 g/kg for $PM_{2.5}$, 174.19 g/kg for CO, 7.77 g/kg for NO, 0.15 g/kg for $SO_2$, 40.53 g/kg for TVOC and 0.03 g/kg for $NH_3$; from burning of agricultural crop residues, 2.85 g/kg for TSP, 1.38 g/kg for $PM_{10}$, 1.14 g/kg for $PM_{2.5}$, 126.47 g/kg for CO, 12.60 g/kg for NO, 0.20 g/kg for $SO_2$, 33.73 g/kg for TVOC and 0.02 g/kg for $NH_3$; and for household wastes, 10.52 g/kg for TSP, 8.52 g/kg for $PM_{10}$, 6.23 g/kg for $PM_{2.5}$, 72.86 g/kg for CO, 11.73 g/kg for NO, 0.20 g/kg for $SO_2$, 47.10 g/kg for TVOC and 0.20 g/kg for $NH_3$.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.259-266
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• 2006

A dual-channel glass coil sampling technique was used to measure hourly formaldehyde concentration in the ambient air. The dual-channel coil sampling assembly consists of three parts; an all-pyrex 28-turn coil made of 0.2-cm internal diameter glass tubing for gas-liquid contact and scrubbing of soluble gases, an inlet section upstream of the coil for introducing sample air and scrubbing solution, and a widened glass section downstream of the coil for gas-liquid separation. The scrubbing solution used was a dilute aqueous DNPH (dinitrophenylhydrazine) solution. Hourly concentration of formaldehyde was determined at a Gwangju semi-urban site during two intensive studies between September and October using the dual channel glass-coil/DNPH sampling technique and HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis. The mean concentration was 1.7($0.4{\sim}4.7$) and 3.0($0.5{\sim}19.1$) ppbv for the September and October intensives, respectively, which are considerably low, compared to those measured in polluted urban areas around the world including several urban areas of Korea. The diurnal variation showed significant increase of formaldehyde in the daytime suggesting the dominance of formation of formaldehyde due to photochemical oxidation of methane and other hydrocarbons. An increase in the formaldehyde sometimes in the night might be due to an increase in primary source, i.e. traffic emissions. It was also found that rapid increase in formaldehyde levels from 3.0 to 19.1 ppbv in the afternoon on October 20 was due to plumes from burning of agricultural wastes such as rice straw and stubble. It is expected from the measurement data that the constructed dual-channel glass coil sampling system can be utilized for measuring atmospheric concentration of the formaldehyde with high time resolution.