• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.485-493
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• 2011

In Korea, PM (Particulate Matter) emissions caused by coal-fired power plants are measured by a system, so called Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS), which uses foreign emission factors. However, the system fails to reflect the characteristics of domestic power plants. In this regard, this study aims to develop local, accurate domestic emission factors. The study measured the amount of TSP (Total Suspended Particulates), PM10 and PM2.5 by collecting samples from the latter parts of pollution control devices which were installed at 3 bituminous-fired power plants and 3 anthracite-fired power plants. The results showed that the average concentrations of TSP, PM10 and PM2.5 measured at bituminous-fired power plants were 4.63 mg/$Sm^3$, 2.96 mg/$Sm^3$ and 3.07 mg/$Sm^3$ respectively, much higher than those from anthracite-fired power plants (2.96 mg/$Sm^3$, 2.47 mg/$Sm^3$ and 1.37 mg/$Sm^3$, respectively). In addition, bituminous-fired power plants showed higher ratios of PM10/TSP and PM2.5/TSP with 0.66 and 0.92, respectively, compared to 0.82 and 0.46, the ratios of PM10/TSP and PM2.5/TSP measured in anthracite-fired power plants. Emission factors based-on concentration measurements were also higher for bituminous-fired power plants, and PM with smaller particles tended to have bigger difference in emission factors between the two fuels. This study calculated the amount of PM emissions by using the estimated emission factors. When it comes to the PM emissions, it was less than that of CAPSS while similar to that of CleanSYS in its amount. It is expected that the emission factors developed by this study will be used in Korea replacing foreign emission factors currently used in Korea by ensuring the objectivity and reliability as domestic emission factors.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.312-318
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• 2023

In recent years, fine and yellow dust pollution has become serious in Korea and has negatively affected crop production. Particulate matter (PM) adheres to greenhouse coverings, and it reduces the amount of solar radiation transmitted into a greenhouse. A reduction in light transmittance can have a direct effect on crop photosynthesis and an indirect effect on air temperature in a greenhouse, which can lead to differences in crop yield. The objectives of this study were to investigate the changes in light transmittance of different cover materials by PM and to determine the changes in cucumber growth in a greenhouse due to reduced light transmittance. We measured the changes in light transmittance of polyethylene (PE) and polyolefin (PO) films in the PM generation chambers. Also, cucumber plants were cultivated in a greenhouse with four different light reduction treatments (0, 10, 20, and 30% reduction of light transmittance). The initial light transmittance of PO film was higher than that of PE film and the decrease in light transmittance of PO film due to PM was less than that of PE film. The vegetative growth of cucumber was promoted under the reduced light transmittance treatments; however, the yield of cucumber was highest in the control (0% reduction of light transmittance). From the results, we confirmed that PO film was less PM adhesion and that cucumber yield during the spring season can be reduced by the reduction in light transmittance due to PM.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.37-48
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• 2021

Roadside pollution has been identified as the main cause of PM_2.5 in urban areas. Green infrastructure has been understood to mitigate air pollution from roadside traffic effectively, but complication depend on environmental variables. This study aimed to investigate the characteristic of PM_2.5 by the type of space in an urban park located in Songsanghyeon Plaza, surrounded by a 12-lane road on all sides. Type of space was typically classified as roadside square (A), sunken square (B), a mix of trees and hedges/shrubs (C), trees only (D), and grass square (E) according to the land-use type and layers of trees. PM_2.5 was measured for nine days, three days for three different Air Quality Forecasts-Good level (0~15㎍/m³), Moderate level (16~35㎍/m³), and Unhealthy level (36~75㎍/m³). The analysis result was as follows. At good levels, there was statistical significance in the order of D, E < B, C < A. In the case of moderate levels and unhealthy levels, D and E were statistically lower than other land-use types. The characteristic of PM_2.5 in the urban park by type of space was affected by atmospheric flow into the road. The relatively high concentration of A and C was located near the roads. Although B was far away from the road, the reason for the high concentration of PM_2.5 was that no structures blocked the air pollution. Thanks to the type of space C, filtering the air pollution from the roads, the concentration of PM_2.5 in D and E was relatively low.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.107-122
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• 2023

This study aims to analyze the effect of reducing air pollutant emissions of the ship fuel oil sulfur content regulation policy, which has been gradually introduced for three years. In addition, the emission reduction effect of VSR and AMP was also analyzed. The analysis was conducted on NOx, CO, VOC, SOx, TSP, PM10, and PM2.5, which are provided by EEA, and the spatial scope of the analysis was conducted on Incheon Port, which is located in the metropolitan area of Korea and has a large ripple effect on air pollution. Three scenarios were constructed for analysis. Scenario 1: If there is no policy, Scenario 2: If only fuel oil sulfur content regulation was implemented, Scenario 3: The analysis was conducted by reflecting fuel oil sulfur content regulation, VSR, and AMP. As a result of the analysis, in the case of scenario 1, 4,801 tons, 4,932 tons, and 5,144 tons of air pollutants were emitted during the three-year period. In Scenario 2, 4,219 tons, 4,152 tons, and 3,989 tons were discharged, and in Scenario 3, 4,198 tons, 4,138 tons, and 3,973 tons were discharged. The findings of this study are anticipated to be applied as fundamental research in port air environment management and Incheon Metropolitan City air management.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.431-439
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• 2006

A lot of particulate matter and an offensive odor are emitted during the operations of an industrial waste incinerator (IWI), especially pre_treatment and waste input processes. These pollutants affect the labor efficiency of an operator. Therefore, in this study. we have studied the improvement of working surroundings in the industrial waste incinerator by designing a new control system. A computational fluid dynamics has been used to find the diffusion flows of air pollutants (mainly particles and odor) to the working surroundings of the waste treatment complexes. The results obtained from the simulation analysis applied to the basic design on the points (and/or site) and types of pollution control devices. When pollutant control devices are constructed, the concentration of each pollutant at site 1 and 2 decreased about 83-97% for toluene, 48-72% for styrene, 75-87% for xylene, and 23-36% for ammonia, respectively. In addition, the PM-10 and TSP were decreased about 87% and 86% at site 3 (lower part of the waste input), 87% and 85% at site 4 (side part of the waste input), respectively. These indicated that the new control system had an excellent performance of particulate matter and odor removal and it could be applied to other waste treatment plant in place of an industrial waste incinerator.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.29
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• pp.12.1-12.8
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• 2014

Objectives Cohort studies of associations between air pollution and health have used exposure prediction approaches to estimate individual-level concentrations. A common prediction method used in Korean cohort studies is ordinary kriging. In this study, performance of ordinary kriging models for long-term particulate matter less than or equal to $10{\mu}m$ in diameter ($PM_{10}$) concentrations in seven major Korean cities was investigated with a focus on spatial prediction ability. Methods We obtained hourly $PM_{10}$ data for 2010 at 226 urban-ambient monitoring sites in South Korea and computed annual average $PM_{10}$ concentrations at each site. Given the annual averages, we developed ordinary kriging prediction models for each of the seven major cities and for the entire country by using an exponential covariance reference model and a maximum likelihood estimation method. For model evaluation, cross-validation was performed and mean square error and R-squared ($R^2$) statistics were computed. Results Mean annual average $PM_{10}$ concentrations in the seven major cities ranged between 45.5 and $66.0{\mu}g/m^3$ (standard deviation=2.40 and $9.51{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively). Cross-validated $R^2$ values in Seoul and Busan were 0.31 and 0.23, respectively, whereas the other five cities had $R^2$ values of zero. The national model produced a higher cross-validated $R^2$ (0.36) than those for the city-specific models. Conclusions In general, the ordinary kriging models performed poorly for the seven major cities and the entire country of South Korea, but the model performance was better in the national model. To improve model performance, future studies should examine different prediction approaches that incorporate $PM_{10}$ source characteristics.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.417-449
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of local area concentration of particulate matter on life satisfaction, by matching subjective satisfaction in the Korea Labor & Income Panel Study data with daily data of $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$. We find that the concentration of particulate matter has a significant negative effect on satisfaction. A $1{\mu}g/m^3$ increase in $PM_{10}$($PM_{2.5}$) leads to lower the probability of choosing 'satisfaction' by 0.042%p~0.091%p(0.034%p~0.153%p) and a 1% increase in annual income per household raises the probability of choosing 'satisfaction' by 0.16%p~0.18%p respectively. To estimate the monetary value of reducing $PM_{10}$ and $PM_{2.5}$, we calculate willingness-to-pay for mitigating air pollution, which represents the tradeoff between the reduction in particulate matter and income. We find that people on average are willing to pay \108,787($96)~209,519($186) for a $1{\mu}g/m^3$ reduction in $PM_{10}$ and to pay 89,345($79)~362,930($322) in $PM_{2.5}$. This amount corresponds to 0.26%~0.50%(0.22%~0.88%) of the average annual household income in South Korea.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.171-180
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• 2018

To optimize the shape of the electrostatic precipitator for the removal of particulate matter in subway environments, the wind-tunnel experiments were carried out to characterize collection efficiency and ozone emission rate. As a standardized parameter, power consumption divided by the square of flow velocity, was increased, the $PM_{10}$ collection efficiency increased. If the standardized parameter is higher than 1.0 due to high power consumption or low flow velocity, increase in thickness of electrodes from 1 to 2 mm, or increase in distance of collection plates from 5 to 10 cm did not change the $PM_{10}$ collection efficiency much. Increase in thickness of high-voltage electrodes, however, can cause decrease in $PM_{10}$ collection efficiency by 28% for low power consumption and high flow velocity. The ozone emission rate decreased as distance of collection plates became wider, because the ozone emission rate per unit channel was constant, and the number of collection channels decreased as the distance of collection plates increased. When the distance of collection plates was narrow, the ozone emission rate increased with the increase of the thickness of electrodes, but the difference was negligible when the distance of collection plates was wide. It was found that the electrostatic precipitator having a thin high-voltage electrodes and a narrow distance of collection plates is advantageous. However, to increase the thickness of high-voltage electrodes, or to increase the distance of collection plates is needed, it is necessary to increase the applied voltage or reduce the flow rate to compensate reduction of the collection efficiency.

• Food Science and Industry
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.11-28
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• 2021

Air pollution caused by particulate matters (PM) has become a global issue. PM is known to threaten human health by causing respiratory and cardiovascular disease. PM can be introduced to human gastrointestinal track through food intake, causing inflammation and changes in gut microbiota. Even at low PM concentrations, prolonged exposure to PM can cause significant accumulation of PM in food products. The adsorption of PM onto food surfaces is expected to be strongly influenced by the properties of food surfaces, but few studies have been reported. This paper examines several important food surface properties that may affect the interactions between PM and food surfaces, including surface wettability, surface charge, and surface microstructure. Understanding the adsorption of PM onto food surfaces can provide useful guidance for classifying PM-sensitive foods and controlling food chains, including cultivation, processing, preservation, and cooking, to ensure food safety against PM.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2023

Background: Air pollution has led to an increased exposure of all living organisms to fine dust. Therefore, research efforts are being made to devise preventive and therapeutic remedies against fine dust-induced chronic diseases. Methods: Research of the respiratory protective effects of KRG extract in a particulate matter (PM; aerodynamic diameter of <4 ㎛) plus diesel exhaust particle (DEP) (PM4+D)-induced airway inflammation model. Nitric oxide production, expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines, and IRAK-1, TAK-1, and MAPK pathways were examined in PM4-stimulated MH-S cells. BALB/c mice exposed to PM4+D mixture by intranasal tracheal injection three times a day for 12 days at 3 day intervals and KRGE were administered orally for 12 days. Histological of lung and trachea, and immune cell subtype analyses were performed. Expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung were measured. Immunohistofluorescence staining for IRAK-1 localization in lung were also evaluated. Results: KRGE inhibited the production of nitric oxide, the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines, and expression and phosphorylation of all downstream factors of NF-κB, including IRAK-1 and MAPK/AP1 pathway in PM4-stimulated MH-S cells. KRGE suppressed inflammatory cell infiltration and number of immune cells, histopathologic damage, and inflammatory symptoms in the BALF and lungs induced by PM4+D; these included increased alveolar wall thickness, accumulation of collagen fibers, and TNF-α, MIP2, CXCL-1, IL-1α, and IL-17 cytokine release. Moreover, PM4 participates induce alveolar macrophage death and interleukin-1α release by associating with IRAK-1 localization was also potently inhibited by KRGE in the lungs of PM4+D-induced airway inflammation model. KRGE suppresses airway inflammatory responses, including granulocyte infiltration into the airway, by regulating the expression of chemokines and inflammatory cytokines via inhibition of IRAK-1 and MAPK pathway. Conclusion: Our results indicate the potential of KRGE to serve as an effective therapeutic agent against airway inflammation and respiratory diseases.