• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.34 no.7
• /
• pp.500-508
• /
• 2024

Recently, there has been increasing interest in enhancing the indoor air quality, particularly in response to the growing utilization of public facilities. The focus of this study was on assessing the efficacy and safety of an air sterilizer equipped with electrolytic salt catalysts. To that end, we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of the vapor spraying from the air sterilizer and its cytotoxicity in condensed form on human cell lines (HaCaT, BEAS-2B, and THP-1). Against the test organisms, which comprised five bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhimurium) and one fungal strain (Candida albicans), the air sterilizer exhibited relatively high antimicrobial activities ranging from 10.89 to 73.98% following 1 and 3 hr of vapor spraying, which were notably time-dependent. Importantly, cytotoxicity assessments on human cells indicated no significant harmful effect even at a 1.0% concentration. Comprehensive safety evaluations included morphological observations, gene expression (Bcl-2, Bax) tests, and FACS analysis of intracellular ROS levels. Consistent with previous cytotoxicity findings, these estimates demonstrated no significant changes, highlighting the air sterilizer's safety and antimicrobial activities. In a simulated 20-hr operation within an indoor environment, the air sterilizer not only showed an 89.4% removal of total bacteria but also a 100.0% removal of Escherichia sp. and fungi. This research outlines the potential of the developed electrolytic salt catalyst air sterilizer to effectively remove indoor microbial pollutants without compromising human safety, underscoring the solution that it offers for improving indoor air quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.392-404
• /
• 2015

Objectives: This study measured and analyzed the concentrations of crystalline silica, elemental carbon and the contribution ratio of pollutants which influence environmental and respiratory disease around the Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex in Daegu, Korea. Methods: We analyzed the crystalline silica and elemental carbon in the air according to FTIR(Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) and NIOSH(National Institute of Occupation Safety and Health) method 5040, respectively. In addition, lead stable isotopes, and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes were analyzed using MC-ICP/MS(Multi Collector-Inductively Coupled Plasma/Mass Spectrometer), and IRMS(Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer), respectively. Results: The concentration of crystalline silica in the direct exposure area around the Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex was found to be $0.0014{\pm}0.0005mg/Sm^3$, but not to exceed the exposure standards of the ACGIH(American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists). In the case of the autumn, the direct exposure area was found to show a level 2.5 times higher than the reference area, and on the whole, the direct exposure area was found to have a level 1.4 times higher than the reference area. The concentration of elemental carbon in the direct exposure area and in the reference area were found to be $0.0014{\pm}0.0006mg/Sm^3$, and $0.0006{\pm}0.0003mg/Sm^3$, respectively. This study confirmed the contribution ratio of coal raw materials to residentially deposited dusts in the area within 500 meters from the Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex and the surrounding area with a stable isotope ratio of 24.0%(0.7-62.7%) on average in the case of carbon and nitrogen, and 33.9%(26.6-54.1%) on average in the case of lead stable isotopes. Conclusions: This study was able to confirm correlations with coal raw materials used by the Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex and the surrounding area. The concentration of some pollutants, crystalline silica, and elemental carbon emitted to the direct-influence area around the Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex were relatively higher than in the reference area. Therefore, we need to impose continuous and substantive reduction countermeasures in the future to prevent particulate matter and coal raw materials in the study area. It is time for the local government and authorities to prepare active administrative methods such as the relocation of Ansim Briquette Fuel Complex.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.237-246
• /
• 2015

We conducted intensive observations of ozone, CO, $NO_x$ (=NO and $NO_2$), $NO_y$ (total odd nitrogen species including particulate nitrate) and total nitrate (the sum of gaseous $HNO_3$ and particulate nitrate) at Cape Hedo, Okinawa, Japan, from 19 March to 3 April, 2009, to investigate ozone production during long-range transport from the Asian continent. Ozone production efficiency (OPE) was used to evaluate photochemical ozone production. OPE is defined as the number of molecules of ozone produced photochemically during the lifetime of a $NO_x$ molecule. OPE is calculated by the ratio of the concentration increase of ozone to that of $NO_z$ ($=NO_y-NO_x$). Average OPE during observation was estimated to be $12.6{\pm}0.5$, but concentrations of ozone increased nonlinearly with those of $NO_z$. This non-linearity suggests that OPE depends on air mass origin and $NO_z$ concentrations. There were very different values of OPE for the same air mass origin, so that only the air mass origin alone does not control OPE. OPE was low when $NO_z$ concentration was high. We examined the correlation between $NO_z$ and $CO/NO_y$ ratios, which we used instead of the ratio of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) to $NO_x$. The $CO/NO_y$ ratios decreased with increasing $NO_z$ concentrations. These results indicate that competition reactions of OH with NMHCs and $NO_2$ are the rate determining steps of photochemical ozone production during long-range transport from the Asian continent to Cape Hedo, for high concentrations of nitrogen oxides.

• Particle and aerosol research
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2020

Various devices have been developed to the measurement of particulate matter pollutants, and Optical Particle Counter (OPC) that can be easily and quickly measured is widely used lately. The measured value by OPC is converted to weight concentration using the correction factor (CF). The calculation of CF is very important to improve the reliability and accuracy of OPC. In this study, the CF calculation study of light scattering laser photometer (model 8533, TSI) was carried out to measure in the atmospheric environment using 2 gravimetric devices and 3 light scattering laser photometer devices. Regression analysis and Tukey tests were used to significance the test of measurement devices. Measurements were carried out twice. There was a comparative analysis of measurement data between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices in 1st measurement, and then the Evaluation of PM2.5 concentration corrected by CF performed in 2nd measurement. As a result of the significance analysis between light scattering laser photometer and gravimetric devices, the correlation between the same method was high, but the correlation between different methods was low. CF was calculated as 0.4258 based on the measurement results, and it is a similar level to previous studies at home and abroad. It is expected that these results can be used as basic data in the future study for air quality measurement research using light scattering laser photometer. Also, in order to improve the accuracy of the measurement techniques and the development of technology in the atmospheric environment, CF calculation research should be conducted continuously.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.36 no.5_4
• /
• pp.1267-1276
• /
• 2020

To quantitatively predict the impacts of large-scale volcanic eruptions of Mt. Baekdu on air quality and damage around the Korean Peninsula, a three-dimensional chemistry-transport modeling system (Weather Research & Forecasting - Sparse Matrix Operation Kernel Emission - Comunity Multi-scale Air Quality) was adopted. A worst-case meteorology scenario was selected to estimate the direct impact on Korea. This study applied the typical worst-case scenarios that are likely to cause significant damage to Korea among worst-case volcanic eruptions of Mt. Baekdu in the past decade (2005~2014) and assumed a massive VEI 4 volcanic eruption on May 16, 2012, to analyze the concentration of PM_2.5 caused by the volcanic eruption. The effects of air quality in each region-cities, counties, boroughs-were estimated, and vulnerable areas were derived by conducting an exposure assessment reflecting vulnerable groups. Moreover, the effects of cities, counties, and boroughs were analyzed with a high-resolution scale (9 km × 9 km) to derive vulnerable areas within the regions. As a result of analyzing the typical worst-case volcanic eruptions of Mt. Baekdu, a discrepancy was shown in areas between high PM_2.5 concentration, high population density, and where vulnerable groups are concentrated. From the result, PM_2.5 peak concentration was about 24,547 ㎍/㎥, which is estimated to be a more serious situation than the eruption of Mt. St. Helensin 1980, which is known for 540 million tons of volcanic ash. Paju, Gimpo, Goyang, Ganghwa, Sancheong, Hadong showed to have a high PM_2.5 concentration. Paju appeared to be the most vulnerable area from the exposure assessment. While areas estimated with a high concentration of air pollutants are important, it is also necessary to develop plans and measures considering densely populated areas or areas with high concentrations of susceptible population or vulnerable groups. Also, establishing measures for each vulnerable area by selecting high concentration areas within cities, counties, and boroughs rather than establishing uniform measures for all regions is needed. This study will provide the foundation for developing the standards for disaster declaration and preemptive response systems for volcanic eruptions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.423-437
• /
• 2008

Until comparatively lately, the annual time series of the $SO_2$ concentration had been shown in a decreasing trend in Ulsan as well as other Korean cities. However, the high concentration of $SO_2$ was frequently found in the specific countermeasure region including the national industrial complex such as Mipo and Onsan in the Ulsan city for the period of $2001{\sim}2004$. There are many conditions that can influence the high concentration of $SO_2$ at monitoring sites in Ulsan, such as: First, annual usage of the fuel including sulfur increased in comparison with the year before in spite of the fuel conversion policy which wants to use low sulfur oil less than 3% and LNG. Second, point source, such as the power plants and the petroleum and chemistry stacks, was the biggest contributor in $SO_2$ emission, as a analyzed result of both the air quality modeling and the stack tole-monitoring system (TMS) data. And third, the air pollutants that occurred in processes of homing and manufacturing of the fuel including sulfur were transported slow into a special monitoring site by accumulating along the frontal area of see-breeze. It was concluded that Ulsan's current environmental policy together with control methods should be changed into the regulation on total amount of emission, including a market-based emission trading with calculating of atmospheric environmental critical loads, for the $SO_2$ reduction like the specific countermeasure for the $O_3$ and PM10 reduction in the Seoul metropolitan area. And this change should be started in the big point sources of $1{\sim}3$ species because they are big contributors of Ulsan's $SO_2$ pollution. Especially it is necessary to revitalize of the self-regulation environmental management. Other control methods for sustaining the $SO_2$ reduction are as follows: maintenance of the fuel conversion policy, reinforcement of the regional stationary source emission standard, and enlargement of the stack TMS.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.72-82
• /
• 2008

Benzene is a very harmful and toxic compound known as human carcinogen by all routes of exposure. Owing to the risky feature of benzene, several countries such as Japan, UK and EU have established the ambient air quality standard and protect from that risk of it. Korea also has designated it as one of the criteria air pollutants and established the concentration limit ($5\;{\mu}g/m^3$) in the air and is going to apply the standard from 2010. Benzene is emitted from various sources such as combustion plants, production processes, waste treatment facilities and also automobiles. Mobile source is known as one of the major emission sources of benzene. In this study, we estimated the domestic emissions of benzene from mobile source and compared the results with those of advanced countries. Mobile source was divided into 2 categories, Le., on-road source and non-road source. The total emissions of benzene from mobile source were estimated as 3,106 tons/yr and 1,612 tons/yr was emitted from on-road source and 1,494 tons/yr was from non-road source. Emission ratio of benzene from on-road source showed that 80.0% was from passenger cars, 10.1% was from taxis, 7.2% was from light-duty vehicles, 2.5% was from heavy-duty vehicles and 0.2% was from buses. In the case of non-road source, the distribution showed that 66.3% was from construction machineries, 14.5% was from locomotives, 11.7% was from ships, 7.1% was from agriculture equipments and 0.5% was from aircrafts. The cold-start emissions were estimated as 942 tons/yr and this value was almost 1.5 times greater than that for hot engine emissions (608 tons/yr). In addition, the fuel-based distribution was 65.9%, 31.1% and 2.8% from gasoline, LPG and diesel vehicles, respectively. The emission ratio from mobile source occupied 65% and 30% of total benzene emissions in USA and UK, respectively. In case of Korea, the emission ratio of benzene from mobile source occupied 29% (15% from on-road source, 14% from non-road source) which showed similar value with UK.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.93-102
• /
• 1997

Acid rain below pH 5.6 is responsible for 40% of annual precipitation in Korea and it is more serious especially in major cites. Because of that, it is urgent to make measures to reduce the emission of $SO_2$, one of the major air pollutants causing acid rain. The national total emission of $SO_2$ in 1994 was estimated as 1.6 million tons. The $SO_2$ emission in 2020, is expected to increase up to 3.2 million tons, about 2 times that of 1994 under Business-As-Usual scenario. We could take various $SO_2$ reduction measures such as installing desulfurization facilities, the supply of low-sulfur oil and clean fuel(LNG), energy savings, upgrading of production process. However, it is necessary to check the economic feasibility and the attainability to reduction target with a dynamic optimization mode, "Global 2100 Model". The cost-benefit analyses for the measures using the revised "Global 2100 Model" clearly revealed that the desulfurization facilities should be introduced to reduce the $SO_2$ concentration to 0.01 ppm with fuel substitution. If the introduction of desulfurization facilities is delayed, We can not attain the goal of Ministry of Environment before the year of 2012, even in the case that almost all the fuels would be substituted with LNG.

• Particle and aerosol research
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.165-172
• /
• 2010

Titania is widely used as an effective photocatalyst for the photodegradation of environmental pollutants in air. In this study, novel N-doped $ZrO_2/TiO_2$ photocatalysts were synthesized via sol-gel method and characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscope, and X-ray diffractometer. N-doped $ZrO_2/TiO_2$ photocatalysts were nano-sized with an average particle size of about 20 nm. The XRD pattern of N-doped $ZrO_2/TiO_2$ photocatalysts showed both anatase and rutile phases. The photocatalytic activity of N-doped $ZrO_2/TiO_2$ photocatalysts was evaluated by degradation of NO under UV and visible light irradiation at various parameters such as amount of photocatalyst, concentration of NO, and intensity of light. The photocatalytic activity of N-doped $ZrO_2/TiO_2$ photocatalysts was effective for the enhancement of the degradation of NO and higher than that of $TiO_2$ photocatlysts under UV and visible light irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.821-827
• /
• 2007

The nitrogen oxides, NO and $NO_2$, abbreviated usually as NOx, emitted from combustion facilities such as power plants and automobiles are the typical air-pollutants causing acid rain and photochemical smog. In order to solve the NOx-related pollution problems effectively, we need efficient techniques to monitor NOx in the combustion exhausts and in environments. Development of solid-state electrochemical devices for detecting NOx is demonstrated based on various combination of solid electrolytes and auxiliary sensing materials. The object of this research is to develop various sensor performance for solid state amperometric sensor, and to test gas sensor performance manufactured. So we try to present a guidance for developing amperometric gas sensor. We concentrated on development of manufacturing process and performance test. Amperometric Nitrogen dioxide sensor was fabricated using NASICON and an $NaNO_2$ layer deposited on the counter electrode. The current response was almost linear with Nitrogen dioxide concentration in the range 1-350 ppb at $150^{\circ}C$.