• Title/Summary/Keyword: Contaminant level

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Indoor air quality and ventilation requirement in residential buildings: A case study of Tehran, Iran

  • Ataei, Abtin;Nowrouzi, Ali;Choi, Jun-Ki
    • Advances in environmental research
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    • v.4 no.3
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    • pp.143-153
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    • 2015
  • The ventilation system is a key device to ensure both healthful indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort in buildings. The ventilation system should make the IAQ meet the standards such as ASHRAE 62. This study deals with a new approach to modeling the ventilation and IAQ requirement in residential buildings. In that approach, Elite software is used to calculate the air supply volume, and CONTAM model as a multi-zone and contaminant dispersal model is employed to estimate the contaminants' concentrations. Amongst various contaminants existing in the residential buildings, two main contaminates of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and carbon monoxide (CO) were considered. CO and $CO_2$ are generated mainly from combustion sources such as gas cooking and heating oven. In addition to the mentioned sources, $CO_2$ is generated from occupants' respirations. To show how that approach works, a sample house with the area of $80m^2$ located in Tehran was considered as an illustrative case study. The results showed that $CO_2$ concentration in the winter was higher than the acceptable level. Therefore, the air change rate (ACH) of 4.2 was required to lower the $CO_2$ concentration below the air quality threshold in the living room, and in the bedrooms, the rate of ventilation volume should be 11.2 ACH.

A STUDY ON THE PREDICTION OF GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION USING THE GIS IN HWANAM 2 SECTOR, GYEONGGI PROVINCE, KOREA (GIS를 이용한 경기도 화남2지구의 지하수오염 예측에 관한 연구)

  • HoWoongShon
    • Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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    • v.4 no.4
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    • pp.267-285
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    • 2001
  • This study has tried to develop the modified DRASTIC Model by supplying the parameters,such as structural lineament density and landuse, into conventional DRASTIC medal, and to predict the potential of groundwater contamination using GIS in Whanam 2 Area, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. Since the aquifers in Korea is generally through the joints of rock-mass in hydrogeological environment, lineament denisity affects to the behavior of goundwater and contaminated plumes directly, and land-use reflect the effect of point or non-point source of contamination indirectly. For the statistical analysis, lattice layers of each parameter were generated, and then level of confidence was assessed by analyzing each correlation coefficient. Composite contamination map was achieved as a final result by comparing modified DRASTIC potential and the amount of generation load of several contaminant sources logically. The result could suggest the predictability of the area of contamination potrntial in the respects of hydrogeological aspect and water quality.

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The Status of Maintenance of Exhaust Fans and Bag filters in Melting Processes in a foundry industrial complex (주물 공단 용해공정의 송풍기 및 백필터 관리 실태)

  • Kim, Tae Hyeung;Ha, Hyun Chul;Jeoung, Chun Hwa;Seo, Jeoung Yoon;Piao, Cheng Xu;Yang, Jun Ho;Li, Xiaoyu
    • Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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    • v.17 no.3
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    • pp.212-223
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    • 2007
  • 18 Local exhaust ventilation systems in 10 melting companies located in an industrial complex were tested to know the status of maintenance. Test items were fan flowrates, fan static pressures, rotational speeds and differential pressures of bag filters. Only 22% of the tested fans has more than 80% flowrate efficiency. 44% of the fans has lower than 60% efficiency. The performance of the fans are not in a good status. For the fans with lower than 60% efficiency, the analysis shows that the lower flowrate might be caused by the degradation of fan performance. On the other hand, for the fan s with higher than 60% efficiency, the main cause of flowrate reduction might be too much pressure losses due to clogging of filter bags. The degradation of fans usually lead the reduction of hood capture efficiency, resulting in the increase of contaminant concentrations in workplace. To keep fans in good status, self inspections should be periodically conducted. This inspection should include the measurements of flowrate and pressures. The most important thing to be performed is the initial test of local exhaust ventilation system because the initial test data should be used to know the level of system degradation.

Evaluation about Contaminant Migration Near Abandoned Mine in Central Region (중부지역에 위치한 폐광산 주변의 오염물질 이동성 평가)

  • Lee, Jong-Deuk;Kim, Tae-Dong;Jeon, Gee-Seok;Kim, Hee-Joung
    • Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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    • v.15 no.6
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    • pp.29-36
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    • 2010
  • Several mines including Namil, Solim and Jungbong which are located in the Gyeonggi and Kangwon province have been abandoned and closed since 1980 due to "The promotion policy of mining industry". An enormous amount of mining wastes was disposed without proper treatment, which caused soil pollution in tailing dam and ore-dressing plant areas. However, any quantitative assessment was not performed about soil and water pollution by transporting mining wastes such as acid mine drainage, mine tailing, and rocky waste. In this research, heavy metals in mining wastes were analyzed according to leaching method which used 0.1 N HCl and total solution method which used Aqua-regia to recognize the ecological effect of distance from hot spot. We sampled tailings, rocky wastes and soils around the abandoned mine. Chemical and physical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), soil texture and heavy metal concentration were analyzed. The range of soil's pH is between 4.3 and 6.4 in the tailing dam and oredressing plant area due to mining activity. Total concentrations of As, Cu, and Pb in soil near ore dressing plant area are 250.9, 249.3 and 117.2 mg/kg respectively, which are higher than any other ones near tailing dam area. Arsenic concentration in tailing dams is 31.0 mg/kg, which is also considered as heavily polluted condition comparing with the remediation required level(RRL) in "Soil environment conservation Act".

Natural Radon Removal Efficiency of Small-scale Water Supply System (국내 마을상수도 지하수의 라돈 자연저감)

  • Cho, Byong-Wook;Yun, Uk;Choo, Chang-Oh
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.43 no.1
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    • pp.33-42
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this study was to understand the degree of natural radon removal efficiency of small-scale water supply systems. Six sites were selected for this study, and data on well characteristics (depth, pumping rate, water tank capacity, distance from well to tap water) were obtained. Water samples both from raw water and three tap waters at each site were collected and analyzed for radon concentration. Average radon removal efficiency of the five sites (A-E) in Nov. 2006 was 26.0% while that of the same sites in Dec. 2006 was 45.6% indicating seasonal difference in natural radon removal efficiency. Meanwhile short-term (April 23, April 30, May 8, 2007) radon removal efficiency from the site F was 44.1-49.0%, implying only a little difference in natural radon removal efficiency. The degree of radon removal at tap water was influenced mainly by pumping rate rather than distance from the well and water tank capacity.

A Study on Haloacetic Acids Formation Potentials by Chlorination in Drinking Water (상수의 염소처리시 생성되는 소독부산물 중 Haloacetic acid류의 생성능에 관한 연구 - 일부 상수원수를 대상으로 -)

  • Chung, Yong;Shin, Dong-Chun;Lim, Young-Wook;Kim, Jun-Sung;Park, Yeon-Shin
    • Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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    • v.12 no.3_4
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    • pp.23-29
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    • 1997
  • The main reason of applying chlorination is to sterilize microbes existing in the drinking water treatment. But chlorination could lead to the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) by the reaction of free chlorine with humic substance in the water. Especially the DBPs including trihalomethanes (THMs), haloacetic acids (HAAs), haloacetonitriles (HANs), and haloketones (HKs) exist in the tap water. The US environmental protection agency (US EPA) defines that trihalomethanes, dichloroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, and dichloroacetonitrile among DBPs are probable/possible human carcinogens. US EPA suggests maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for THMs (80$\mu$g/L) and HAAs (60$\mu$g/L) in drinking water. In Korea, THMs in drinking water has been surveyed but DBPs in general has not been studied in drinking water practically. Therefore only THMs have been regulating as criteria compounds since 1990 but neither HAAs nor HANs. Researches on HAAs are yet to be found. HAA formation potentials(HAAFPs) have not been practiced. HAAs depends on the characteristics of water sources by chlorination. In this study, HAAFPs from three distinct sources were investigated by laboratory chlorination experiments. This study was performed to measure the level of HAAs in drinking water in Seoul area. At April 1996, after collecting the raw waters from the three sites with the different properties, the water samples were chlorinated at various conditions(pH 5.5, pH 7.0 and without pH adjustment) in the state of raw water to have 0. 5mg/L of residual chlorine concentration. And the raw water, treated water, and tap water of water treatment were collected to measure the HAAs concentration. The quantitative analysis of HAAs was conducted by US EPA methods.

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Energy and Air Quality Benefits of DCV with Wireless Sensor Network in Underground Parking Lots

  • Cho, Hong-Jae;Jeong, Jae-Weon
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.3 no.2
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    • pp.155-165
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    • 2014
  • This study measured and compared the variation of ventilation rate and fan energy consumption according to various control strategies after installing wireless sensor-based pilot ventilation system in order to verify the applicability of demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) strategy that was efficient ventilation control strategy for underground parking lot. The underground parking lot pilot ventilation system controlled the ventilation rate by directly or indirectly tracking the traffic load in real-time after sensing data, using vehicle detection sensors and carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) sensor. The ventilation system has operated for 9 hours per a day. It responded real-time data every 10 minutes, providing ventilation rate in conformance with the input traffic load or contaminant level at that time. A ventilation rate of pilot ventilation system can be controlled at 8 levels. The reason is that a ventilation unit consists of 8 high-speed nozzle jet fans. This study proposed vehicle detection sensor based demand-controlled ventilation (VDS-DCV) strategy that would accurately trace direct traffic load and CO sensor based demand-controlled ventilation (CO-DCV) strategy that would indirectly estimate traffic load through the concentration of contaminants. In order to apply DCV strategy based on real-time traffic load, the minimum required ventilation rate per a single vehicle was applied. It was derived through the design ventilation rate and total parking capacity in the underground parking lot. This is because current ventilation standard established per unit floor area or unit volume of the space made it difficult to apply DCV strategy according to the real-time variation of traffic load. According to the results in this study, two DCV strategies in the underground parking lot are considered to be a good alternative approach that satisfies both energy saving and healthy indoor environment in comparison with the conventional control strategies.

Natural Reduction Characteristics of Radon in Drinking Groundwater (음용 지하수 중 라돈 자연저감 특성)

  • Noh, Hoe-Jung;Jeong, Do-Hwan;Yoon, Jeong-Ki;Kim, Moon-Su;Ju, Byoung-Kyu;Jeon, Sang-Ho;Kim, Tae-Seung
    • Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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    • v.16 no.1
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    • pp.12-18
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    • 2011
  • To investigate the natural reduction characteristics of radon with a short half-life (3.82 day) in drinking Qgroundwater, we analyzed the changes of radon concentrations of groundwater, waters in storage tanks, and tap waters from the small-scale groundwater-supply systems (N = 301) by LSC (Liquid Scintillation Counter). We also analyzed the concentrations of uranium (half-life 4.5 billion years) in the waters by ICP/MS to compare with natural reduction of radon concentration. The radon concentrations of 68 groundwater-supply systems occupying 22.6% of the total samples exceeded the US EPA's Alternative Maximum Contaminant Level (AMCL : 4,000 pCi/L), with the average radon concentration of 7,316 pCi/L (groundwaters), 3,833 pCi/L (tank waters) and 3,407 pCi/L (tap waters). Compared to the radon levels of pumped groundwaters, those of tank and tap waters naturally reduced significantly down to about 50%. Especially, in case of 29 groundwater-supply systems with the groundwater radon concentrations of 4,000~6,000 pCi/L, average radon concentrations of the tank and tap waters naturally decreased down to the AMCL. Therefore this study implies that radon concentrations of drinking groundwater can be effectively reduced by sufficient storage and residence in tanks.

A Study on the Prediction of Groundwater Contamination using the GIS in Hwanam 2 Sector, Gyeonggi Province, Korea (GIS를 이용한 경기도 화남2지구의 지하수오염 예측에 관한 연구)

  • Son, Ho-Ung
    • The Journal of Engineering Research
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    • v.5 no.1
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    • pp.89-107
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    • 2004
  • This study has tried to develop the modified DRASTIC Model by supplying the parameters, such as structural lineament density and landuse, into conventional DRASTIC model, and to predict the potential of groundwater contamination using GIS in Whanam 2 Area, Gyeonggi Province, Korea. Since the aquifers in Korea is generally through the joints of rock-mass in hydrogeological environment, lineament density affects to the behavior of groundwater and contaminated plumes directly, and land-use reflect the effect of point or non-point source of contamination indirectly. For the statistical analysis, lattice layers of each parameter were generated, and then level of confidence was assessed by analyzing each correlation coefficient. Composite contamination map was achieved as a final result by comparing modified DRASTIC potential and the amount of generation load of several contaminant sources logically. The result could suggest the predictability of the area of contamination potential on the respects of hydrogeological aspect and water quality.

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Contamination Level and Behavior of Heavy Metals in Stream Sediments Within the Watershed of Juam Reservoir (주암댐 집수유역 내 하상퇴적물의 중금속 오염현황 및 거동 특성)

  • 염승준;이평구;강민주;신성천;유연희
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.37 no.3
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    • pp.311-324
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    • 2004
  • We investigated the contamination and behavior of heavy metals in stream sediments within the watershed of Juam Reservoir. Many abandoned mines within the reservoir can act as a potential contaminant source for water quality. Heavy metal concentrations (Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in stream sediments from watershed are very low, indicating that content of heavy metals in the sediments probably do not affect the water quality in Juam Reservoir. However Pb concentration in the stream sediments increases downward streams, suggesting the possible diffusion of Pb contamination. According to the leaching ratio for stream sediments at a strong acidic condition in the abandoned mine areas, the relative mobility for metals decreases in the order of Pb>Zn=Cu>Ni>Cr, indicating that Pb can have a bad effect upon the water quality in Jum Reservoir. Moreover, if contaminated sediment is placed in the bottom of reservoir (i.e., reducing condition), the relative mobility of Pb is the highest, indicating that Pb in the bottom sediments can be leached to water at interface between water and sediment with changing in physicochemical conditions.