• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.317-331
• /
• 2023

Objectives: Construction workers are exposed to various hazardous substances simultaneously. However, little is known about the exposure hazards in construction industry. This study was aimed at identifying the risk of exposure hazards among construction workers. Methods: The expert survey (n=29) was conducted, including construction industry health managers (n=11) and work environment monitoring experts (n=18), on exposure probability, intensity and risk of hazardous substances by construction occupations Results: The exposure hazards of 30 construction occupations were identified and summarized through a literature review and expert survey. The most prevalent hazards were in order of noise, awkward posture, heat/cold, crystalline silica, cement/concrete dust, metal fumes, and volatile organic compounds. The hazards with highest risk score(over seven points) at construction occupations were noise(formwork carpenter, concrete finisher, rebar worker, demolition worker, driller/rock blaster), hazardous rays(welder), heat/cold (earthworks, formwork carpenter, rebar worker, concrete placer, scaffolder), awkward posture(bricklayer, caulker/tile setter, rebar worker) and heavy lifting(bricklayer, rebar worker). Among construction workers, the job types with the highest risk of exposure to carcinogens, and in which occupational cancer has been reported, were in order of stonemason, concrete finisher, rock blaster, welder, insulation installer, painter, scaffolder, plant worker and earthworks in order Conclusions: Systematic research and discussion on occupational disease among construction workers and its various hazardous factors are needed to establish job exposure matrix for facilitating standard for promptly processing the workers' compensation.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.37 no.2
• /
• pp.233-243
• /
• 2021

Photovoltaic panels are hazardous electronic waste that has heavy metal as one of the hazardous components. Each year, hazardous electronic waste is increasing worldwide and every heavy rainfall exposes the photovoltaic panel to become the source of heavy metal soil contamination. the development needs a monitoring technology for this hazardous exposure. this research use relationships between SAR temporal baseline and coherence of Sentinel-1 satellite to detected photovoltaic panel. Also, the photovoltaic plant detection tested using the difference between that photovoltaic panel and the other difference surface of coherence. The author tested the photovoltaic panel and its environment to calculate differences in coherence relationships. As a result of the experiment, the coherence of the photovoltaic panel, which is assumed to be a permanent scatterer, shows a bias that is biased toward a median value of 0.53 with a distribution of 0.50 to 0.65. Therefore, further research is needed to improve errors that may occur during processing. Additionally, the author found that the change detection using a temporal baseline is possible as the rate of reduction of coherence of photovoltaic panels differs from those of artificial objects such as buildings. This result could be an efficient way to continuously monitor regardless of weather conditions, which was a limitation of the existing optical satellite image-based photovoltaic panel detection research and to understand the spatial distribution in situations such as photovoltaic panel loss.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.133-144
• /
• 2022

Fast-paced industrial and agricultural development generates large quantities of hazardous heavy metals (HMs), which are extremely damaging to individuals and the environment. Research in both academia and industry has been spurred by the need for HMs to be removed from water bodies. Advanced materials are being developed to replace existing water purification technologies or to introduce cutting-edge solutions that solve challenges such as cost efficacy, easy production, diverse metal removal, and regenerability. Water treatment industries are increasingly interested in activated carbon because of its high adsorption capacity for HMs adsorption. Furthermore, because of its huge surface area, abundant functional groups on surface, and optimal pore diameter, the modified activated carbon has the potential to be used as an efficient adsorbent. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a novel organic-inorganic hybrid porous materials, sparked an interest in the elimination of HMs via adsorption. This is due to the their highly porous nature, large surface area, abundance of exposed adsorptive sites, and post-synthetic modification (PSM) ability. This review introduces PSM methods for MOFs, chemical modification of activated carbons (ACs), and current advancements in the elimination of Pb²⁺, Hg²⁺, and Cd²⁺ ions from water using modified MOFs and ACs via adsorption.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.87-98
• /
• 2020

Objective: The purpose of this study was to propose a sequential procedure for the simultaneous analysis of soluble and insoluble metal compounds. Methods: Methods for sampling and analyzing metal compounds such as ISO standards, NIOSH methods, HSE methods, and OSHA methods were reviewed. Results: Some metals have different OELs depending on the solubility of the compound. Therefore, we should take into account these characteristics and perform an exposure assessment. Soluble metal compounds are first extracted from the filter, and then the filter is digested by acids to analyze residual insoluble components. The extraction of soluble compounds can be completed by agitation for about 60 minutes with a leach solution (water) in a water bath at 37℃. For the analysis of insoluble compounds, the sample filter and the filtration filter remaining after the extraction of the soluble compounds are analyzed. This allows simultaneous determination of soluble and insoluble metal compounds. For hexavalent chromium compounds, soluble hexavalent chromium can first be extracted from the filter by using sulfate buffer. The insoluble hexavalent chromium remaining in the filter can then be extracted using carbonate buffer. Conclusion: Workers are often exposed to many hazardous substances with different exposure limits at industrial sites. The OELs for compounds of the same metal can be set differently depending on solubility. This study can help evaluate a worker's exposure to metal compounds by suggesting methods for the simultaneous determination of soluble and insoluble metal compounds.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.1-10
• /
• 1999

This study was carried out to improve management of wasted home appliances and computers. The generation of wasted home appliances and computers in korea was estimated. Disassembling wasted home appliances and computers according to disassembly procedure, investigate fittings weight and disassembly time. To evaluate hazardous contaminants from televisions and computers, measure heavy metals by leaching test.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.251-251
• /
• 2016

For several decades, industrial processes consume a huge amount of raw water for various objects that consequently results in the generation of large amounts of wastewater. Wastewaters are consisting of complex mixture of different inorganic and organic compounds and some of them can be toxic, hazardous and hard to degrade. These effluents are mainly treated by conventional technologies such are aerobic and anaerobic treatment and chemical coagulation. But, these processes are not suitable for eliminating all hazardous chemical compounds form wastewater and generate a large amount of toxic sludge. Therefore, other processes have been studied and applied together with these techniques to enhance purification results. These include photocatalysis, absorption, advanced oxidation processes, and ozonation, but also have their own drawbacks. In recent years, electrochemical techniques have received attention as wastewater treatment process that could be show higher purification results. Among them, boron doped diamond (BDD) attract attention as electrochemical electrode due to good chemical and electrochemical stability, long lifetime and wide potential window that necessary properties for anode electrode. So, there are many researches about high quality BDD on Nb, Ta, W and Si substrates, but, their application in effluents treatment is not suitable due to high cost of metal and low conductivity of Si. To solve these problems, Ti has been candidate as substrate in consideration of cost and property. But there are adhesion issues that must be overcome to apply Ti as BDD substrate. Al, Cu, Ti and Nb thin films were deposited on Ti substrate to improve adhesion between substrate and BDD thin film. In this paper, BDD films were deposited by hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) method. Prior to deposition, cleaning processes were conducted in acetone, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) using sonification machine for 7 min, respectively. And metal layer with the thickness of 200 nm were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS). To analyze microstructure X-ray diffraction (XRD, Bruker gads) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM, Hitachi) were used. It is confirmed that metal layer was effective to adhesion property and improved electrode property. Electrochemical measurements were carried out in a three electrode electrochemical cell containing a 0.5 % H2SO4 in deionized water. As a result, it is confirmed that metal inter layer heavily effect on BDD property by improving adhesion property due to suppressing formation of titanium carbide.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.651-656
• /
• 2005

Toluene, which is emitted from textile process, is considered as an important hazardous air pollutant. In this study, the catalytic activity of transition metal oxides(Cu, Mn, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Ce, Sn, Fe, Sr, Cs, Mo, La, W, Zn)/${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ catalysts was investigated to carry out the complete oxidation of toluene. The metal catalysts were characterized by XRD-ray diffraction), FE-SEM(Field Emission Scanning Electron Micrograph), BET(Brunauer Emmett Teller) method and TPR(Temperature Programmed Reduction). Among the catalysts, Cu/${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ was highly promising catalyst for the oxidation of toluene. From the BET results, it seems that the catalytic activity is not correlated to the specific surface area. XRD results indicated that most of catalysts exist as amorphous phase. From the FE-SEM results, it was observed that copper on ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ surface was well dispersed among catalysts. The catalytic activity for the toluene oxidation could be explained with that metal oxide catalyst was dispersed well over supports and was attributed to reduction activity in surface of catalysts.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.165-171
• /
• 2009

Resins were synthesized by mixing 1-aza-15-crown-5 macrocyclic ligand attached to styrene (2th petroleum in 4th class hazardous materials) and divinylbenzene (DVB) copolymer with crosslinkage of 1%, 2%, 8%, and 16% by substitution reaction. The characteristic of these resins was confirmed by content of chlorine, element analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), surface area (BET), and IR-spectroscopy. The effects of pH, time, dielectric constant of solvent and crosslinkage on adsorption of metal ion by the synthetic resin adsorbent were investigated. The metal ion showed a fast adsorption on the resins above pH 3. The optimum equilibrium time for adsorption of metallic ions was about two hours. The adsorption selectivity determined in ethanol was in an increasing order of uranium $(UO_2^{2+})$ > lead $(Pb^{2+})$ > chromium $(Cr^{3+})$ ion. The adsorption was in the order of 1%, 2%, 8%, and 16% crosslinkage resin and adsorption of resin decreased in proportion to the order of dielectric constant of solvents.

• Safety and Health at Work
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.215-221
• /
• 2023

Background: There is little information about the airborne hazardous agents released during the heat treatment when manufacturing a welding material. This study aimed to evaluate the airborne hazardous agents generated at welding material manufacturing sites through area sampling. Methods: concentration of airborne particles was measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer and optical particle sizer. Total suspended particles (TSP) and respirable dust samples were collected on polyvinyl chloride filters and weighed to measure the mass concentrations. Volatile organic compounds and heavy metals were analyzed using a gas chromatography mass spectrometer and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, respectively. Results: The average mass concentration of TSP was 683.1±677.4 ㎍/m³, with respirable dust accounting for 38.6% of the TSP. The average concentration of the airborne particles less than 10 ㎛ in diameter was 11.2-22.8×10⁴ particles/cm³, and the average number of the particles with a diameter of 10-100 nm was approximately 78-86% of the total measured particles (<10 ㎛). In the case of volatile organic compounds, the heat treatment process concentration was significantly higher (p < 0.05) during combustion than during cooling. The airborne heavy metal concentrations differed depending on the materials used for heat treatment. The content of heavy metals in the airborne particles was approximately 32.6%. Conclusions: Nanoparticle exposure increased as the number of particles in the air around the heat treatment process increases, and the ratio of heavy metals in dust generated after the heat treatment process is high, which may adversely affect workers' health.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.44 no.1
• /
• pp.21-27
• /
• 2012

This research was carried out as a survey on the contents of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in processed foods (milk, vegetable oil, and margarine) in Korea. The limits of quantification (LOQs) were Pb 0.3 ${\mu}g/kg$, Cd 0.15 ${\mu}g/kg$, and As 0.45 ${\mu}g/kg$ for milk and Pb 0.61 ${\mu}g/kg$, Cd 0.31 ${\mu}g/kg$, and As 0.91 ${\mu}g/kg$ for vegetable oil and margarine. The recoveries were 92.6-98.0% for Pb, 91.2-98.9% for Cd, and 97.9-104.7% for As. The average levels of Pb were 2.395 ${\mu}g/kg$ for milk, and 7.656 ${\mu}g/kg$ for vegetable oil. The average levels of Cd were 0.483 ${\mu}g/kg$ for milk, and 0.380 ${\mu}g/kg$ for vegetable oil, and levels of As were 0.781 ${\mu}g/kg$ for milk, and 1.241 ${\mu}g/kg$ for vegetable oil. The results of this study showed that Pb, Cd, and As contents in the whole samples were less than the maximum residual levels in the processed foods that were specified by the Codex standard.