• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.706-713
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• 2010

The research seeks to find the optimal conditions for sonodegradation of naphthalene and phenol as exemplary organic pollutants to be subjected to ultrasound in varying frequencies (28 kHz, 580 kHz, and 1,000 kHz) and in the presence of different kinds of additive (T$TiO_2$, $H_2O_2$, $FeSO_4$, Zeolite, and Cu). In cases of both naphthalene and phenol, 580 kHz of ultrasound has proven to be the most effective among others at sonodegradation. Based on the observation that OH radicals are also produced in maximum under exposure of 580 kHz of ultrasound, we concluded that this frequency of ultrasound creates hospitable condition for the combined process of degradation by pyrolysis and oxidization. $FeSO_4's$ degradation rate and k1 value have increased by approximately 1.8 times compared with the results of the solutions without any additives. This seems to be the result of ultrasound reaction which, accompanied by Fenton's reaction, increased the oxidative degradation and the production of OH radicals. However, application of ultrasound and Fenton's reaction is limited to the batch type conditions, as its use in continuous system can cause loss of iron or decay of the cistern, thereby creating additional pollutants. When the additive is replaced with $TiO_2$, on the contrary, the rate of sonodegradation has increased up to 20% compared to when there was no additive. We therefore conclude that $TiO_2$ could prove to be an effective additive for ultrasound degradation in continuous treatment system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-288
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• 2011

Recently, researches that a variety of contaminants in water are removed by sonolysis technology with oxidation and pyrolysis process from cavitation were conducted. However, there are few studies for sonochemical treatment by a pilot-scale ultrasound system. This research focused on developing pilot-scale ultrasound systems, which could be an continuously effective treatment for a large volumes of contaminants, and demonstrating the feasibility of utilizing these systems to remove naphthalene from groundwater. V-120 type reactor was found to be 1.4~2.2 times higher effective than the normal type. A total of three different pilot scale's systems consisted of installing effluent and irrigation water in order to be a continuos system, including supplemental additives, and applying a V-120 type reactor and a external cooling cycle system. Naphthalene levels treated by three systems were lower than a recommended guideline of naphthalene for drinking water in EPA. Especially, the naphthalene removal efficiencies of PS1 and PS2 systems were over 97%. The pilot-scale continuous ultrasound clean-up system delivered over 84~95% naphthalene removal efficiency for treatment of 10~20 liter of groundwater. In addition, the ultrasound system could be successfully applied to the conditions of artificial and genuine groundwater contaminated with naphthalene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.639-648
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• 2010

The optimal conditions for the analysis of BPA by HPLC-MS/MS was investigated and the ultrasound degradation capacity of the BPA, with the goal to establish the proper directions for analyzing infinitesimal quantities of BPA by HPLC-MS/MS was examined. The MDL and LOQ of BPA analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS were measured 0.13 nM and 1.3 nM respectively, its sensitivity about 620 and 32 times greater than HPLC-UV (MDL: 81.1 nM, LOQ: 811 nM) and FLD (MDL: 4.6 nM, LOQ: 46 nM). In other words, the new method enables the analysis of BPA with the accuracy up to one 1,180th of the amount specified in U.S. EPA guideline for drinking water. Degradation rate of BPA by ultrasound measured over 95% under 580 kHz and 1000 kHz frequency within 30 minutes of treatment, whereas the rate showed some decrease at 28 kHz frequency. At 580 kHz of ultrasound has proven to be the most effective among others at degradation rate and $k_1$ value, so we concluded that this frequency of ultrasound creates hospitable condition for the combined process of degradation by pyrolysis and oxidization. With the addition of 0.01 mM of $CCl_4$, BPA with the initial concentration of 1 ${\mu}M$ was degraded by more than 98% within 30 minutes, the $k_1$ value measured 5 minutes and 30 minutes into the experiment both showed increases by 1.4 and 1.1 times, respectively, compared with BPA without $CCl_4$. It is also found that the main degradation mechanism of BPA by ultrasound is oxidization process by OH radical, based on the fact that the addition of 10 mM of t-BuOH decreased the rate of BPA degradation by around 60%. However, 33% of BPA degradation rate obtained with the addition of t-BuOH implies further degradation done by pyrolysis or other sorts of radical beside OH radical.