• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2014

Smoke from fire is a mixture of combustion gases and particles which include micro-droplets formed from condensed organic vapors and carbonaceous agglomerates. The inhalation of smoke particles causes adverse health effects, and it is prerequisite for the hazard and risk analysis of the smoke particles to know how they behaviour in the respiratory tract. The characteristics of the absorption and adsorption of toxic gases and the amount and location of the particle deposition within the respiratory tract that determine the adverse health effects are related to the morphology and the size distribution of smoke particles. In the present work, as a preliminary study for the adverse health effects of smoke particles, the morphologies of the smoke particles from combustible materials were investigated for each fire stage: smouldering, well-ventilated flaming, small under-ventilated flaming, fully-developed under-ventilated fire. The steady-state tube furnace method given in ISO/TS 19700 was used for the generation of smoke particles. The fire stages were controlled by changing furnace temperature and equivalent ratio. The morphologies were analyzed by using Transmission Electron Microscope (Bio-TEM) by collecting the particles on TEM grids put on each stage of a cascade impactor.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.90-101
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• 2008

The chemical compositions of $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$ and associated high-molecular-weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated during winter and summer at a roadside and an urban background site in Saitama, Japan. The average concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ exceeded the United States Environmental Protection Agency standards during both periods. Carbonaceous components were abundant in both the observed and calculated (by means of a mass closure model) chemical composition of $PM_{2.5}$. Traffic-related pollutants (elemental carbon and high-molecular-weight PAHs) were strongly associated with $PM_{2.5}$ rather than with larger particles. The mass concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$, as well as those of EC and PAHs associated with the particles, at the two sites were strongly correlated. Comparison of our data with source profile ratios indicates that diesel-powered vehicles were probably the main source of the measured PAHs. The PAHs concentrations were affected by meteorological conditions during our study. Our results highlight the need for the establishment of standards for $PM_{2.5}$ in Japan.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.434-448
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• 2014

The aerosol characteristics between haze episode and Asian dust event were identified in January and March, 2013 in Gwang-ju of Korea to investigate the metal elements, ionic concentrations and carbonaceous particles of $PM_{2.5}$ and $PM_{10}$. In the haze episode, the concentrations were increased 1~3.2 times of ionic species and 1.6~2.7 of metal elements. Especially, the concentration of $NO{_3}{^-}$, $SO{_4}{^2-}$ and $NH{_4}{^+}$ consists of 50 percent in ionic species during haze episode that was higher than Asian dust event. This suggests that secondary aerosols from anthropogenic air pollution were mainly contributed by haze episode. During the Asian dust event, increase of metal concentrations was higher than haze episode because of remarkable increase of Ti, K and Fe originated from soil. The concentrations of carbonaceous particles were increased 2.5 times during haze episode, and 2.4 times of OC and 2.1 times of EC during Asian dust event in $PM_{2.5}$. However, these aerosol mass concentration does not affect the OC/EC ratio. The average equivalence ratios of cations/anions in $PM_{2.5}$ were 0.99 in haze episodes and 0.94 during non-event day. The neutralization factor of $NH_3$ was higher than that of $CaCO_3$. Futhermore, $NH{_4}{^+}$ aerosol was aged due to atmospheric stagnation that might be affected by the haze episode.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.207-222
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• 2018

In this study, light absorption of carbonaceous species in $PM_{2.5}$ was investigated using a dual-spot 7-wavelength Aethalometer(model AE33) with 1-min time interval between January 01 and September 30, 2017 at an urban site of Gwangju. During the study period, two Asian dust (AD) events occurred in April (AD I) and May (AD II), respectively, during which light absorption in total suspended particles was observed. Black carbon (BC) was the dominant light absorbing aerosol component at all wavelengths over the study period. Light absorption coefficients by aerosol particles were found to have 2.7~3.3 times higher at 370 nm than at 880 nm. This would be attributed to light absorbing organic aerosols, which is called brown carbon (BrC), as well as BC as absorbing agents of aerosol particles. Monthly average absorption ${{\AA}}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m$ exponent ($AAE_{370-950nm}$) calculated over wavelength range of 370~950 nm ranged from 1.10 to 1.35, which was lower than the $AAE_{370-520nm}$ values ranging from 1.19~1.68 that was enhanced due to the presence of BrC. The estimated $AAE_{370-660nm}$ of BrC ranged from 2.2 to 7.5 with an average of 4.22, which was fairly consistent to the values reported by previous studies. The BrC absorption at 370 nm contributed 10.4~28.4% to the total aerosol absorption, with higher contribution in winter and spring and lower in summer. Average $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$ concentrations were $108{\pm}36$ and $24{\pm}14{\mu}g/m^3$ during AD I, respectively, and $164{\pm}66$ and $43{\pm}26{\mu}g/m^3$ during AD II, respectively, implying the greater contribution of local pollution and/or regional pollution to $PM_{2.5}$ during the AD II. BC concentration and aerosol light absorption at 370 nm were relatively high in AD II, compared to those in AD I. Strong spectral dependence of aerosol light absorption was clearly found during the two AD events. $AAE_{370-660nm}$ of both light absorbing organic aerosols and dust particles during the AD I and II was $4.8{\pm}0.5$ and $6.2{\pm}0.7$, respectively. Higher AAE value during the AD II could be attributed to mixed enhanced urban pollution and dust aerosols. Absorption contribution by the light absorbing organic and dust aerosols estimated at 370 nm to the total light absorption was approximately 19% before and after the AD events, but it increased to 32.9~35.0% during the AD events. In conclusion, results from this study support enhancement of the aerosol light absorption due to Asian dust particles observed at the site.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.288-303
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• 2012

In this study, real time measurements of particle number size distribution in urban Gwangju, coastal Taean, and industrial Yeosu in Korea were conducted in 2008 to understand the occurrence of ultrafine particle (UFP) (<100 nm) events, the variation of its concentration among different sampling sites, and UFP formation pathways. Also, to investigate seasonal and long-term variation of the UFP number concentration, data were collected for the period of 5 years (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012) in urban Gwangju. Photochemical and combustion events were found to be responsible for the formation of UFP in the urban Gwangju site, whereas only photochemical event led to the formation of UFP in the coastal Taean site. The highest UFP concentration was found in industrial Yeosu (the average UFP number fractions were 79, 59 and 58% in Yeosu, Gwangju, and Taean, respectively), suggesting that high amount of gas pollutants (e.g., $NO_2$, $SO_2$, and volatile organic carbon (VOC)) emitted from industries and their photochemical reaction contributed for the elevated UFP concentration in the industrial Yeosu site. The UFP fraction also showed a seasonal variation with the peak value in spring (61.5, 54.5, 50.5, and 40.7% in spring, fall, summer, and winter, respectively) at urban Gwangju. Annual average UFP number concentrations in urban Gwangju were $5.53{\times}10^3\;cm^{-3}$, $4.68{\times}10^3\;cm^{-3}$, $5.32{\times}10^3\;cm^{-3}$, $3.99{\times}10^3\;cm^{-3}$, and $2.16{\times}10^3\;cm^{-3}$ in the year 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. Comparison of the annual average UFP number concentration with urban sites in other countries showed that the UFP concentrations of the Korean sites were lower than those in other urban cities, probably due to lower source strength in the current site. TEM/EDS analysis for the size-selected UFPs showed that the UFPs were classified into various types having different chemical species. Carbonaceous particles were observed in both combustion (soot and organics) and photochemical events (sulfate and organics). In the photochemical event, an internal mixture of organic species and ammonium sulfate/bisulfate was identified. Also, internal mixtures of aged Na-rich and organic species, aged Ca-rich particles, and doughnut shaped K-containing particles with elemental composition of a strong C with minor O, S, and K-likely to be originated from biomass burning nearby agricultural area, were observed. In addition, fly ash particles were also observed in the combustion event, not in the photochemical event.

• 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.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.45.2-46
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• 2021

The Hayabusa 2 mission target asteroid (162173) Ryugu is a near-Earth, carbonaceous (C-type) asteroid. Before the arrival, this asteroid is expected to be covered with mm- to cm- sized grains through the thermal infrared observations [1]. These grains are widely understood to be formed by past impacts with other celestial bodies and fractures induced by thermal fatigue [2]. However, the close-up images by the MASCOT lander showed lumpy boulders but no abundant fine grains [3]. Morota et al. suggested that there would be submillimeter particles on the top of these boulders but not resolved by Hayabusa 2's onboard instruments [4]. Hence, we conducted polarimetry of Ryugu to investigate microscopic grain sizes on its surface. Polarimetry is a powerful tool to estimate physical properties such as albedo and grain size. Especially, it is known that the maximum polarization degree (Pmax) and the geometric albedo (pV) show an empirical relationship depending on surface grain sizes [5]. We observed Ryugu from UT 2020 November 30 to December 10 at large phase angles (ranging from 78.5 to 89.7 degrees) to derive Pmax. We modified TRIPOL (Triple Range Imager and POLarimeter, [6]) to attach to the 1.8-m telescope at the Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO). With this instrument, we observed the asteroid and determined linear polarization degrees at the Rc-band filter. We obtained sufficient data sets from 7 nights at this observatory to determine the Pmax value, and collaborated with other observatories in Japan (i.e., Hokkaido University, Higashi-Hiroshima, and Nishi-Harima) to acquire linear polarization degrees of the asteroid from total 24 nights observations with large phase angle coverage (From 28 to 104 degrees). The observational results have been published in Kuroda et al. (2021) [7]. We thus found the dominance of submillimeter particles on the surface of Ryugu from the comparison with other meteorite samples from the campaign observation. In this presentation, we report our activity to modify the TRIPOL for the 1.8-m telescope and the polarimetric performance. We also examine the rotational variability of the polarization degree using the TRIPOL data.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.11d
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• pp.860-862
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• 1999

we have grown vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on a large area of Co-Ni codeposited Si substrates by thermal chemical vapor deposition using $C_{2}H_{2}$ gas. The carbon nanotubes grown by the thermal chemical vapor deposition are multi-wall structure, and the wall solace of nanotubes is covered with defective carbons or carbonaceous particles. The carbon nanotubes range from 50 to 120nm in diameter and about $130{\mu}m$ in length at $950^{\circ}C$. The turn-on voltage was about $0.8V/{\mu}m$ with a current density of $0.1{\mu}A/cm^2$ and emission current reveals the Fowler-Nordheim mode.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.727-734
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• 2018

In this study, real-time absorption coefficients of carbonaceous species in $PM_{2.5}$ was observed using a dual-spot 7-wavelength Aethalometer between November 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017 at an urban site of Gwangju. In addition, 24-hr integrated $PM_{2.5}$ samples were simultaneously collected at the same site and analyzed for organic carbon and elemental carbon (OC and EC) using the thermal-optical transmittance protocol. A main objective of this study was to estimate mass absorption cross section (MAC) values of black carbon (BC) particles at the study site using the linear regression between aethalometer-based absorption coefficient and filter-based EC concentration. BC particles observed at 880 nm is mainly emitted from combustion of fossil fuels, and their concentration is typically reported as equivalent BC concentration (eBC). eBC concentration calculated using MAC value of $7.77m^2/g$ at wavelength of 880 nm, which was proposed by a manufacturer, ranged from 0.3 to $7.4{\mu}g/m^3$ with an average value of $1.9{\pm}1.2{\mu}g/m^3$, accounting for 7.3% (1.5~20.9%) of $PM_{2.5}$. The relationship between aerosol absorption coefficients at 880 nm and EC concentrations provided BC MAC value of $15.2m^2/g$, ranging from 11.4 to $16.2m^2/g$. The eBC concentrations calculated using the estimated MAC of $15.2m^2/g$ were significantly lower than those reported originally from aethalometer, and ranged from 0.2 to $3.8{\mu}g/m^3$, with an average of $1.0{\pm}0.6{\mu}g/m^3$, accounting for 3.7% of $PM_{2.5}$ (0.8~10.7%). Result from this study suggests that if the MAC value recommended by the manufacturer is applied to calculate the equivalent BC concentration and radiative forcing due to BC absorption, they would result in significant errors, implying investigation of an unique MAC value of BC particles at a study site.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1065-1073
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• 2006

The unturned carbon in fly ash, recently occurred in the coal-fired Yong Hung power station, caused some problems in ash utilization and boiler efficiency. This paper describes the analysis of unburned carbon and six coals, some tests performed at Yong Hung Boiler, and the results of combustion modification for the reduction of unburned carbon in fly ash. From the physical and chemical analysis of unburned carbon in fly ash, most particles were turned out to be hollow cenosphere and agglomerated soot particles. The sooting potential from six coals used in the plant were investigated with CPD(Chemical Percolation Devolatilization) model. The results showed that the higher potential was presented to Peabody, Arthur, Shenhua coals rather than other coals. It was necessary to measure the coal flow rates at each coal feeding pipe for four burner levels since they affect the extent of mixing of soot with oxidant, in turn, the oxidation rate of soot particles. The unbalance in coal flow rate was found in several coal pipes. We successfully reduced unturned carbon in ash by increasing the excess air and changing the SOFA's yaw angle.