• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2018

Acute exacerbation(s) of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) tend to be critical and debilitating events leading to poorer outcomes in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment modalities, and contribute to a higher and earlier mortality rate in COPD patients. Besides pro-active preventative measures intended to obviate acquisition of AECOPD, early recovery from severe AECOPD is an important issue in determining the long-term prognosis of patients diagnosed with COPD. Updated GOLD guidelines and recently published American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society clinical recommendations emphasize the importance of use of pharmacologic treatment including bronchodilators, systemic steroids and/or antibiotics. As a non-pharmacologic strategy to combat the effects of AECOPD, noninvasive ventilation (NIV) is recommended as the treatment of choice as this therapy is thought to be most effective in reducing intubation risk in patients diagnosed with AECOPD with acute respiratory failure. Recently, a few adjunctive modalities, including NIV with helmet and helium-oxygen mixture, have been tried in cases of AECOPD with respiratory failure. As yet, insufficient documentation exists to permit recommendation of this therapy without qualification. Although there are too few findings, as yet, to allow for regular andr routine application of those modalities in AECOPD, there is anecdotal evidence to indicate both mechanical and physiological benefits connected with this therapy. High-flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy is another supportive strategy which serves to improve the symptoms of hypoxic respiratory failure. The therapy also produced improvement in ventilatory variables, and it may be successfully applied in cases of hypercapnic respiratory failure. Extracorporeal carbon dioxide removal has been successfully attempted in cases of adult respiratory distress syndrome, with protective hypercapnic ventilatory strategy. Nowadays, it is reported that it was also effective in reducing intubation in AECOPD with hypercapnic respiratory failure. Despite the apparent need for more supporting evidence, efforts to improve efficacy of NIV have continued unabated. It is anticipated that these efforts will, over time, serve toprogressively decrease the risk of intubation and invasive mechanical ventilation in cases of AECOPD with acute respiratory failure.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.310-319
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• 2005

This paper describes the preliminary study on the development of multi-stage membrane demonstration plant for removal of carbon dioxide from flue gas stream being emitted from LNG boiler in thermal power generation plant. The prerequisite requirement is to design and develop the membrane process producing a $99\%\;CO_2$ with $90\%$ recovery from LNG flue gas of 1,000 $Nm^3$/day. Asymmetric polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes and membrane modules developed in this laboratory[1] were used in this study. Using the permeation data for the hollow fiber membranes, modelling on the membrane module and multi-stage membrane process was done to meet the requirement condition of the process design. The effects of the operating pressure of feed and permeate side and feed concentration on $CO_2$ purity and recovery were investigated experimentally with the developed hollow fiber modules. These experimental results matched well with theoretical modelling results.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.540-547
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• 2021

Background: Indoor air pollutants are caused by a number of factors, such as coming in from the outside or being generated by internal activities. Typical indoor air pollutants include nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide from household items such as heating appliances and volatile organic compounds from building materials. In addition there is carbon dioxide from human breathing and bacteria from speaking, coughing, and sneezing. Objectives: According to recent research results, most indoor air pollution is known to be greatly affected by internal factors such as burning (biomass for cooking) and various pollutants. These pollutants can have a fatal effect on the human body due to a lack of ventilation facilities. Methods: We fabricated a polydopamine (PDA) layer with Ti substrates as a coating on supported glass fiber fabric to enhance its photo-activity. The PDA layer with TiO₂ was covalently attached to glass fiber fabric using the drop-casting method. The roughness and functional groups of the surface of the Ti substrate/PDA coated glass fiber fabric were verified through infrared imaging microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The obtained hybrid Ti substrate/PDA coated glass fiber fabric was investigated for photocatalytic activity by the removal of ammonia and an epidermal Staphylococcus aureus reduction test with lamp (250 nm, 405 nm wavelength) at 24℃. Results: Antibacterial properties were found to reduce epidermal staphylococcus aureus in the Ti substrate/PDA coated glass fiber fabric under 405 nm after three hours. In addition, the Ti substrate/PDA coated glass fiber fabric of VOC reduction rate for ammonia was 50% under 405 nm after 30 min. Conclusions: An electron-hole pair due to photoexcitation is generated in the PDA layer and transferred to the conduction band of TiO₂. This generates a superoxide radical that degrades ammonia and removes epidermal Staphylococcus aureus.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 2016

This paper investigates the feasibility of applying the jet loop reactor for the neutralization of alkaline wastewater using carbon dioxide ($CO_2$). In this study, pH changes and $CO_2$ removal characteristics were examined by changing influent flow rate of alkaline wastewater (initial pH=10.1) and influent $CO_2$ flow rates. Influent flow rates of alkaline wastewater ($Q_{L,in}$) ranged between 0.9 and 6.6 L/min, and inlet gas flow rate ($Q_{G,in}$) of 1 and 6 L/min in a lab-scale continuous flow jet loop reactor. The outlet pH of wastewater was maintained at 7.2 when the ratio ($Q_{L,in}/Q_{G,in}$) of $Q_{L,in}$ and $Q_{G,in}$ was 1.1. However, the $CO_2$ removal efficiency and the outlet pH of wastewater were increased when $Q_{L,in}/Q_{G,in}$ ratio was higher than 1.1. Throughout the experiments, the maximum $CO_2$ removal efficiency and the outlet pH of wastewater were 98.06% and 8.43 at the condition when $Q_{G,in}$ and $Q_{L,in}$ were 2 L/min and 4 L/min, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.795-800
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• 2009

In this study, the $CO_2$ removal characteristics of the Vortex tube type absorbtion apparatus were investigated to enhance the compactness of $CO_2$ absorption process and to reduce the amount of absorbing solution of the $CO_2$ separation process. The Vortex tube with the diameter of 17 mm and the length of 250mm was introduced in the experimental apparatus to treat $20Nm^3/hr$ of $CO_2$ containing flue gas. The flue gases for experiments containing 11~13 vol% of $CO_2$ were supplied from the coal-firing CFBC power plant with 12 ton/hr of steam producing capacity. The mixed solutions of 20 wt% of MEA as base solution with the adding solutions like HMDA, AMP and KOH were used as absorbents. The experiments were executed under the various conditions like the absorbing solution concentrations in the range of 20 to 50 wt%, the flow rate of $CO_2$ containing flue gases in the range of 6 to $15Nm^3/hr$ and the flow rate of absorbing solution in the range of 1.0 to 3.0 l/min. As a results, the $CO_2$ removal efficiency of mixed absorbent of 20 wt% of MEA with HMDA was remarkable. From this study, we concluded that the efficient separation of $CO_2$ from flue gases using the features of the Vortex tube type absorbing unit for gas/liquid contact and the separation of gas/liquid be possible. But more works are needed to increase the $CO_2$ removal efficiency of Vortex tube process.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2017

In this study, 4 gases containing typical chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were treated by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The typical chlorinated VOCs are dichloromethane (DCM), trichloromethane (TCM), carbon tetrachloride (CTC) and trichloroethylene (TCE). The removal efficiency (RE) and the products of chlorinated VOCs by UV irradiation are investigated. At this time, 2 types of background gas (air and nitrogen) were used to figure out the RE by photooxidation and photolysis. The specification of UV-lamp used in this study was low-pressure mercury lamp emitting wavelength of 185~254 nm. The experimental conditions were set as initial VOC concentration of $180{\pm}10ppm$, empty bed retention time (EBRT) of 53 s, temperature of $23{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ and relative humidity of $65{\pm}5%$. In the photolysis condition with nitrogen ($N_2$) as background gas, the averaged RE of the 4 types of chlorinated VOCs was about 24% higher than that with photooxidation; and the REs of VOCs except CTC were confirmed as >99%. The composition of off-gases after UV photooxidation in air was investigated and several intermediates from DCM, TCM and TCE were detected by GC/MS. Among them, phosgene which is a toxics was detected as an intermediate of TCM. In addition, the concentration of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) in the off-gases was measured to calculate the mineralization rate (MR). With the photooxidation, TCE showed the highest RE (>99%) while MR was the lowest (17%); and the MR of DCM was the highest (86%). In addition, particulate matters (PM) in the off-gases was also detected and high concentrated $PM_{10}$ ($21,580{\mu}g{\cdot}m^{-3}$) and $PM_{2.5}$ ($6,346{\mu}g{\cdot}m^{-3}$) were detected in TCE off-gas. More than 99% of the chlorinated VOCs could be removed using UV254-185 nm lamp, while it is necessary to conduct further studies on the production and treatment of secondary pollutants.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2014

$CO_2$ absorption processes have a good potential for large scale capture of $CO_2$ but a large amount of absorbing solution has to be regenerated, undesirably increasing the consumption of energy such as sensible heat and latent heat of vaporization. In this study, a cooling crystallization process which would separate the $CO_2$-rich potassium bicarbonate crystals from $CO_2$-lean water was developed to reduce the energy penalty. Sterically hindered alkanolamine additives were used to enhance the $CO_2$ removal efficiency and their antisolvent effect on the crystallization was found in a continuous cooling crystallizer. The production yields of crystals were increased in the sequence of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) < 2-amino-2-methyl-1,3-propanediol (AMPD) < 2-amino-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol (AHPD), which are related to the number of hydroxyl groups in the additive molecules. Using $^{13}carbon$ nuclear magnetic resonance, the additives favored the formation of bicarbonate ions by steric hindrance effect and increased the supersaturation of $KHCO_3$. It is shown that the additives increase the mean size of crystals and crystal growth rate by increasing supersaturation. The additives are promising for enhancing the $CO_2$ removal efficiency and reducing the regeneration energy cost of $CO_2$ absorbing solution by promoting $KHCO_3$ crystallization.

• Clean Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.48-55
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• 2011

The application of fibrous activated carbon (FAC)-titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) hybrid system has not been reported yet for the control of malodorous dimethyl sulfide (DMS) at residential environmental levels. Accordingly, the current study was designed not only to characterize this hybrid system using x-ray diffraction method, particulate surface measurement and Fourier transform Infrared (FTIR) method, but also to evaluate its adsorptional photocatalytic activity (APA) for the DMS removal. The physical/surface characteristics of FAC-$TiO_2$ which was prepared in this study suggested that the hybrid material might have certain APA for DMS. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific area, total pore volume, micropore volume and mesopore volume decreased all as the $TiO_2$ amounts coated on FAC increased, whereas the reverse was true for average pore diameter. $TiO_2$ coated onto FAC did not influence the adsorptional activity of FAC for the DMS input concentration of 0.5 ppm. The APA test of the hybrid material presented that the initial removal efficiencies of DMS were 93, 78, 71 and 57% for the flow rates of 0.5, 1.0, l.5 and 2.0 L/min, respectively, and they decreased somewhat 2 h after the experiment started and kept almost constant for the rest experimental period. Under this pseudo-equilibrium condition, the DMS removal efficiencies were 78, 58, 53 and 36% for the four flow rates, respectively. Meanwhile, there were no significant byproducts observed on the surfaces of the hybrid material. Consequently, this study suggests that, under the experimental conditions used in the present study, the hybrid material can be applied for DMS at residential environment levels without being interfered by any byproducts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.277-285
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• 2014

The usage of efficient microorganism (EM) is increasing in concern for server purposes including odor removal during carcasses degradation. In this study, we have studied the type of soil and its effect on efficient microorganisms for the removal of odorous gases during buried carcasses degradation in lab-scale reactor. The carcasses are buried in the reactor with various soil types such as normal soil, 20% sandy and 20% clay soil with the efficient microorganism KEM. The efficient microorganisms KEM have the ability to stabilize the degradation of carcasses of the burial site. We have focused on the analysis of odorous gases such tri-methylamine (TMA), hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$), methyl mercaptan (MM), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), and methane ($CH_4$) along with the changes of microbial community changed during complete degradation of buried carcasses for a year. The results suggested that the 20% sandy soil contain lesser level of $H_2S$ and MM (0.09 and 0.35 mg) but 20% clay has higher nitrogen compound removing effect and leave only less amount of ammonia and TMA (0.31 and 2.06 mg). The 20% sandy soil also has the ability to breakdown the carcasses more quality compared with other types of soil. Based on the data obtained in this study suggesting that, the use of 20% sandy soil can effectively control sulfur compounds whereas 20% clay soil controls nitrogen compounds in the buried soil. Depending on the type of the soil, the dominant of microbial communities and the distribution was change.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.250-255
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• 2011

In this study, by using the polymeric membrane separation process, the $CO_{2}/CH_{4}$ separation and $H_{2}S$ removal from biogas were performed in order to $CH_{4}$ purification and enrichment for the fuel cell energy source application. Fibers were spun by dry/wet phase inversion method. The module was manufactured by fabricating fibers after surface coating with silicone elastomer. The scanning electron microscopy(SEM) studies showed that the produced fibers typically had an asymmetric structure; a dense top layer supported by a porous, sponge substructure. The permeance of $CO_{2}$ and $CO_{2}/CH_{4}$ selectivity increased with pressure and temperature. Mixture gas with increasing pressure and temperature, removal efficiency of the $CO_{2}$ and $H_{2}S$ were decreased while concentration of $CH_{4}$ was increased up to 100%. When retentate flow rate was increased with the decreasing of pressure and temperature the $CH_{4}$ recovery ratio in retentate side was increased while the $CH_{4}$ purity in retentate side was decreased.