• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2021

In combustion facilities, the nitrogen and sulfur in fossil fuels react with oxygen to generate air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO_X) and sulfur oxides (SO_X), which are harmful to the human body and cause environmental pollution. There are regulations worldwide to reduce NO_X and SO_X, and various technologies are being applied to meet these regulations. There are commercialized methods to reduce NO_X and SO_X emissions such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD), but due to the disadvantages of these methods, many studies have been conducted to simultaneously remove NO_X and SO_X. However, even in the NO_X and SO_X simultaneous removal methods, there are problems with wastewater generation due to oxidants and absorbents, costs incurred due to the use of catalysts and electrolysis to activate specific oxidants, and the harmfulness of gas oxidants themselves. Therefore, in this research, microbubbles generated in a high-pressure disperser and reducing agents were used to reduce costs and facilitate wastewater treatment in order to compensate for the shortcomings of the NO_X, SO_X simultaneous treatment method. It was confirmed through image processing and ESR (electron spin resonance) analysis that the disperser generates real microbubbles. NO_X and SO_X removal tests according to temperature were also conducted using only microbubbles. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NO_X and SO_X are about 75% and 99% using a reducing agent and microbubbles to reduce wastewater. When a small amount of oxidizing agent was added to this microbubble system, both NO_X and SO_X removal rates achieved 99% or more. Based on these findings, it is expected that this suggested method will contribute to solving the cost and environmental problems associated with the wet oxidation removal method.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.367-371
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• 2021

The oxy-combustion system is one of the carbon recovery and storage technologies (CCS: Carbon capture & storage) that performs coal combustion using pure oxygen and recirculated flue gas. This is a technology that facilitates storage of carbon dioxide by generating an exhaust gas consisting of only carbon dioxide without a process of separating carbon dioxide and nitrogen when coal is burned using pure oxygen and recirculated flue gas mixture instead of a conventional air combustion system that produces carbon dioxide and nitrogen mixed exhaust gas. In this study, the characteristics of generated NO and SO₂ as atmospheric pollutants during oxy-combustion were examined using O₂/CO₂ mixed simulation gas. The reaction temperature was varied from 900 ℃ to 1200 ℃ and oxygen partial pressure was varied from 30% to 50%. The results showed that NO and SO₂ concentrations in flue gas increased as the oxygen concentration and the reaction temperature in the furnace increased. The partial pressure of CO₂ in flue gas also increased as the oxygen concentration and the reaction temperature in the furnace increased. As a results of comparing NO production of 30% O₂/CO₂ oxy-combustion with air combustion, NO in flue gas increased with reaction temperature in both experiments and NO of oxy-combustion was 40 ~ 80 ppm lower than that of air combustion.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.327-341
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• 2021

The riparian eco-belt is an efficient technique that can reduce non-point pollution sources in the basin and improve ecological connectivity and health. In Korea, a legal system for the construction and management of riparian eco-belts is in operation. However, it is currently excluded that rivers and floodplains in dam reservoir that are advantageous for buffer functions such as control of non-point pollutants and ecological habitats. Accordingly, this study presented and analyzed a plan to select a site for an integrated riparian ecol-belt that comprehensively evaluates the water quality and ecosystem characteristics of each dam floodplain and riparian zone for the Daecheong Dam basin in Geum River watershed. First, the Daecheong Dam basin was divided into 138 sub-basin with GIS, and the riparian zone adjacent to the dam floodplain was analyzed. Sixteen evaluation factors related to the ecosystem and water quality impact that affect the selection of integrated riparian eco-belt were decided, and weights for the importance of each factor were set through AHP analysis. The priority of site suitability was derived by conducting an integrated evaluation by applying weights to sub-basin by floodplains and riparian zone factors. In order to determine whether the sites derived through GIS site analysis are sutiable for actual implementation, five sites were inspected according to three factors: land use, pollution sources, and ecological connectivity. As a result, it was confirmed that all sites were appropriate to apply integrated riparian ecol-belt. It is judged that the riparian eco-belt site analysis technique proposed through this study can be applied as a useful tool when establishing an integrated riparian zone management policy in the future. However, it might be necessary to experiment various evaluation factors and weights for each item according to the characteristics and issues of each dam. Additional research need to be conducted on elaborated conservation and restoration strategies considering the Green-Blue Network aspect, evaluation of ecosystem services, and interconnection between related laws and policy and its improvements.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.124-134
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• 2021

Water in the Mulgol pond on Dokdo (island), Korea, was historically used for drinking water, but now it has been no longer used for this purpose due to regionally low water quality. Since 2007, this pond has been covered with a metal lid to protect from pollutants of seabirds, indicating limited light penetration into the Mulgol pond. Here, we investigated water quality in the pond and potential relationships of nitrogen components and microbes in May, June, August, and November 2020. The source salinity ranged from 1.39 to 1.57 psu. Suspended solids (0.8~5.1 mg L^-1) and chlorophyll-a (<0.01~0.49 ㎍ L^-1) remained low. The concentration of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) was between 35.9 and 47.2 mg L^-1. Thus, water in the Mulgol pond proves to be brackish water with low chlorophyll-a and high nutrients. This unique environment may be established by limited light intensity, sea fog (or seawater), and fecal pellets from many seabirds. Although the light source (800~8000 lux) was exposed to the four subsamples, chlorophyll-a concentrations were below <0.5 ㎍ L^-1 during the incubation periods. This result suggests that the biomass of phytoplankton does not increase along with an increase in light intensity. Furthermore, the content of nitrate constituted more than 90% of DIN, and a significant negative correlation between nitrate concentration and bacterial abundance was shown in May and June 2020 during the light exposure experiments (R=-0.762, p<0.05). Thus, it is possible that bacteria may be a significant agent to reduce nitrate concentration in the Mulgol pond, the relationship between nitrate concentration and bacterial abundance may vary seasonally.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.37 no.6_1
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• pp.1739-1756
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• 2021

Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is mainly caused by anthropogenic emissions. It contributes to the formation of secondary pollutants and ozone through chemical reactions, and adversely affects human health. Although ground stations to monitor NO₂ concentrations in real time are operated in Korea, they have a limitation that it is difficult to analyze the spatial distribution of NO₂ concentrations, especially over the areas with no stations. Therefore, this study conducted a comparative experiment of spatial interpolation of NO₂ concentrations based on two linear-regression methods(i.e., multi linear regression (MLR), and regression kriging (RK)), and two machine learning approaches (i.e., random forest (RF), and support vector regression (SVR)) for the year of 2020. Four approaches were compared using leave-one-out-cross validation (LOOCV). The daily LOOCV results showed that MLR, RK, and SVR produced the average daily index of agreement (IOA) of 0.57, which was higher than that of RF (0.50). The average daily normalized root mean square error of RK was 0.9483%, which was slightly lower than those of the other models. MLR, RK and SVR showed similar seasonal distribution patterns, and the dynamic range of the resultant NO₂ concentrations from these three models was similar while that from RF was relatively small. The multivariate linear regression approaches are expected to be a promising method for spatial interpolation of ground-level NO₂ concentrations and other parameters in urban areas.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.159-178
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• 2021

This study analyzed issues and trends related to ports with 86,611 news articles for the 30 years from 1991 to 2020, using BIGKinds, a big data news analysis service. The analysis was based on keyword analysis, word cloud, relationship diagram analysis offered by BIG Kinds. Analysis results of issues and trends on ports for the last 30 years are summarized as follows. First, during Phase 1 (1991-2000), individual ports such as Busan, Incheon, and Gwangyang ports tried to strengthen their own competitiveness. During Phase 2 (2001-2010), efforts were made on gaining more professional and specialized port management abilities by establishing the Busan Port Authority in 2004, the Incheon Port Authority in 2005, and the Ulsan Port Authority in 2007. During Phase 3 (2011-2020), the promotion of future-oriented, eco-friendly, and smart ports was major issues. Efforts to reduce particulate matters and pollutants produced from ports were accelerated, and an attempt to build a smart port driven by port automation and digitalization was also intensified. Lastly, in 2020, when the maritime sector was severely hit by the unexpected shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, a microscopic analysis of trends and issues in 2019 and 2020 was made to look into the impact the pandemic on the maritime industry. It was found that shipping and port industries experienced more drastic changes than ever while trying to prepare for a post-pandemic era as well as promoting future-oriented ports. This study made policy suggestions by analyzing port-related news articles and trends, and it is expected that based on the findings of this research, further studies on enhancing the competitiveness of ports and devising a sustainable development strategy will follow through a comparative analysis of port issues of different countries, thereby making further progress toward academic research on ports.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.187-201
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• 2019

This study examined the physicochemical water quality and evaluated the ecological health in 14 sites of Geum River (upstream, mid-stream, and downstream) using the fish community distribution and guilds and eight multi-variable matrices of FAI (Fish Assessment Index) during June 2008-May 2009. The analysis of the water quality variables showed no significant variation in the upstream and mid-stream but a sharp variation due to the accumulation of organic matter from the point where the treated water of Gap and Miho streams flew. The analysis of physicochemical water properties showed that BOD, COD, TN, TP, Cond, and Chl-a tended to increase while DO decreased to cause eutrophication and algae development from the downstream where Miho and Gap stream merged. The analysis of fish community showed that the species richness index and species diversity index increased in the mid-stream area but decreased in the downstream area, indicating the stable ecosystem in the upper stream and the relatively unstable ecosystem in the downstream. The analysis of the species distribution showed that the dominant species were Zacco platypus that accounted for 20.9% of all fish species and Zacco koreanus that accounted for 13.1%. The analysis of the fish tolerance and feeding guild characteristics showed that the sensitive species, the insectivore species, and the aquatic species were dominant in the mid-stream point. On the other hand, contaminants from the sewage water treatment plant of Miho stream had a profound effect in the downstream to show the dominance of tolerant species, omnivorous species, and lentic species. Therefore, it is necessary to improve water quality by reducing the load of urban pollutants and to pay attention to the conservation and restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.101-112
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• 2019

Over the last few years, air pollution ($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$) in the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA) has emerged as one of the most concerned and threatening environmental issues among the residents. It brings about various harmful effects on human health, as well as ecosystem and industrial activities. Governments and individuals pay various costs to mitigate the level of air pollutants. This study aims to empirically find the willingness to pays (WTP) among the parents from different socio-cultural groups - international and domestic groups to mitigate air pollution ($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$) in their residential area. Contingent Valuation Methods (CVM) is used with employing single-bounded dichotomous choice technique to elicit the respondent's WTP. Using tobit (censored regression) and probit models, the monthly mean WTP of the pooled sample for green electricity which contributes to improve air quality in the region was estimated as 3,993 KRW (3.58 USD). However, the mean WTP between the international group and domestic group through a sub-sample analysis shows broad distinction as 3,325KRW (2.98 USD) and 4,449 KRW (3.98 USD) respectively. This is because that socio-cultural characteristics of each group such as socio-economic status, personal experience, trust in institutions and worldview are differently associated with the WTP. Based on the results, the society needs to raise awareness of lay people to find a strong linkage between the current PM issue and green electricity. Also, it needs to improve trust in the government's pollution abatement policy to mobilize more assertive participation of the people from different socio-cultural background.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.283-295
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• 2011

Many actions against climate change have been taken to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions at home and abroad. As of 2007, the GHGs emitted from buildings accounted for about 23 % of Korea's total GHGs emission, which is the second largest GHG reduction potential following industry. In this study, we introduced Carbon Zero Building (CZB), which was constructed by the National Institute of Environmental Research to cut down GHGs from buildings in Korea, and evaluated the main applied technologies, the amount of energy load and reduced energy, and economic values for CZB to provide data that could be a basis in the future construction of this kind of carbon-neutral buildings. A total of 66 technologies were applied for this building in order to achieve carbon zero emissions. Applied technologies include 30 energy consumption reduction technologies, 18 energy efficiency technologies, and 5 eco-friendly technologies. Out of total annual energy load ($123.8kWh/m^2$), about 40% of energy load ($49kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using passive technologies such as super insulation and use of high efficiency equipments and the other 60% ($74.8kWh/m^2$) was reduced by using active technologies such as solar voltaic, solar thermal, and geothermal energy. The construction cost of CZB was 1.4 times higher than ordinary buildings. However, if active technologies are excluded, the construction cost is similar to that of ordinary buildings. It was estimated that we could save annually about 102 million won directly from energy saving and about 2.2 million won indirectly from additional saving by the reduction in GHGs and atmospheric pollutants. In terms of carbon, we could reduce 100 ton of $CO_2$ emissions per year. In our Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, the Break Even Point (BEP) for the additional construction cost was estimated to be around 20.6 years.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2019

In order to manage non-point sources, the paradigm of the system should be changed so that the management of non-point sources will be systematized from the beginning of the use and development of the land. It is necessary to change the method of national subsidy support and poeration plan for the non-point source management area. In order to increase the effectiveness of the non-point source reduction project, it is necessary to provide a minimum support ratio and to provide additional support according to the performance of the local government. A new system should be established to evaluate the performance of non-point source reduction projects and to monitor the operational effectiveness. It is necessary to establish the related rules that can lead the local government to take responsible administration so that the local governments faithfully carry out the non-point source reduction project and achieve the planned achievement and become the sustainable maintenance. Alternative solutions are needed, such as problems with the use of $100{\mu}m$ filter in automatic sampling and analysis, timely acquisition of water sampling and analysis during rainfall, and effective management of non-point sources network operation management. As an alternative, it is necessary to consider improving the performance of sampling and analysis equipment, and operate the base station. In addition, countermeasures are needed if the amount of pollutant reduction according to the non-point source reduction facility promoted by the national subsidy is required to be used as the development load of the TMDLs. As an alternative, it is possible to consider supporting incentive type of part of the maintenance cost of the non-point source reduction facility depending on the amount of pollutants reduction.