• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.137-146
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• 2018

Soil washing is one of the most frequently used remediation technologies for heavy metal-contaminated soils. Inorganic and organic acids and chelating agents that can enhance the removal of heavy metals from contaminated soils have been employed as soil washing agents. However, the toxicity, low removal efficiency and high cost of these chemicals limit their use. Given that humic substance (HS) can effectively chelate heavy metals, the development of an eco-friendly, performance-efficient and cost-effective soil washing agent using a nano-scale chelator composed of HS was examined in this study. Copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) were selected as target heavy metals. In soil washing experiments, HS concentration, pH, soil:washing solution ratio and extraction time were evaluated with regard to washing efficiency and the chelation effect. The highest removal rates by soil washing (69% for Cu and 56% for Pb) were achieved at an HS concentration of 1,000 mg/L and soil:washing solution ratio of 1:25. Washing with HS was found to be effective when the pH value was higher than 8, which can be attributed to the increased chelation effect between HS and heavy metals at the high pH range. In contrast, the washing efficiency decreased markedly in the low pH range due to HS precipitation. The chelation capacities for Cu and Pb in the aqueous phase were determined to be 0.547mmol-Cu/g-HS and 0.192mmol-Pb/g-HS, respectively.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2004

We exposed juvenile puffer fish, Takifugu obscurus(30 days after hatching) to various aqueous pollutants including 4 kinds of inorganic metals (Ag, Cd, Cu and Hg), 2 organotin compound.; (tributyltin ［TBT］ and triphenyltin［TPhT］) and 5 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds (chrysene, fluoranthene, naphthalene, phenanthrene and pyrene) to estimate median lethal concentrations (LC50s) of each pollutant after the 96-hour acute exposure. Among the inorganic metals, Hg (52 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L; 96-h LC50) was most toxic to test animals and followed by Ag (164 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L), Cu (440 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) and Cd (1180 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). Aqueous TBT was more toxic between the two organotins; the 96-h LC50 for TBT (5.1 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) was 3 times lower than that of TPhT (17.3 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). The acute toxicity of PAH compounds was highest for chrysene (1.5 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L; 96-h LC50) and decreased in the order of pyrene (65 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > fluoranthene (158 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > phenanthrene (432 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L) > naphthalene (8690 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L). The toxicity of PAH compounds wat closely related to their physico-chemical characteristics such as $K_{ow}$ and water solubility, and well explained by simple QSAR relationship. The sensitivity of puffer fish to various inorganic and organic pollutants was generally comparable to various fish species widely used as standard test species in previous studies and further evaluation should be conducted to develop adequate testing procedure for T. obscurus when used in various toxicity tests.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.52-60
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• 2010

The stone-dust is an unavoidable by-product of aggregate production, which is produced about 0.8~1.0 million $m^3$ annually. The stone-dust is currently regarded as a hazard material on environment because it is classified as an industrial waste in the Waste Management Law of Korea. At present, the stone-dust is considered as a environmentally hazardous material, and is classified as an industrial waste according to the Waste Management Law of Korea. In this study, we assessed the heavy-metal contamination of the stone-dust on surrounding environments by various leaching tests. Leaching experiments (such as Korea Standard Leaching Procedure (KSLP), Soil Environment Preservation Act of Korea (SEPAK), Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), and Synthetic Precipitation Leaching Procedure (SPLP)) show that very low heavy metals (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn, Hg) and CN are leached out, or much less than each regulatory thresholds. The resuts of the leaching test with time in acidic solution (initial pH 5 and 3) indicate that pH-buffering minerals are present in the stone-dust. These results suggest that the stone-dust can not potentially affect adverse impact on surrounding environments such as surface water, groundwater and soil etc..

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.427-437
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• 2013

Generation rate of construction wastes in Korea has occupied preponderantly in recent years. To understand chemical properties of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), RCA samples were tested for their leaching characteristics. Leaching tests were conducted according to Korean Standard Leaching Test (KLT) and Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) respectively. The RCA samples were characterized using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Alkalinity of the leachate was determined using a pH meter titration method. The XRF analysis result shows that the calcium oxide (CaO) content in the RCA sample is 25.3~50.4 %. When the RCA sample was mixed with water in a batch reactor, pH in the solution was rapidly increased, and 70% of the total pH change was found in 1 hour. The TCLP showed slightly higher efficiency for leaching heavy metals than the KLT. The leaching efficiency was also higher as the particle size of RCA sample was smaller. The leaching test results suggest that RCA can be generally classified as nonhazardous waste.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.281.2-281.2
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• 2013

Since heavy metal ions included in water or food resources have critical effects on human health, highly sensitive, rapid and selective analysis for heavy metal detection has been extensively explored by means of electrochemical, optical and colorimetric methods. For example, quantum dots (QDs), such as semiconductor QDs, have received enormous attention due to extraordinary optical properties including high fluorescence intensity and its narrow emission peaks, and have been utilized for heavy metal ion detection. However, the semiconductor QDs have a drawback of serious toxicity derived from cadmium, lead and other lethal elements, thereby limiting its application in the environmental screening system. On the other hand, Graphene oxide (GO) has proven its superlative properties of biocompatibility, unique photoluminescence (PL), good quenching efficiency and facile surface modification. Recently, the size of GO was controlled to a few nanometers, enhancing its optical properties to be applied for biological or chemical sensors. Interestingly, the presence of various oxygenous functional groups of GO contributes to opening the band gap of graphene, resulting in a unique PL emission pattern, and the control of the sp2 domain in the sp3 matrix of GO can tune the PL intensity as well as the PL emission wavelength. Herein, we reported a photoluminescent GO array on which heavy metal ion-specific DNA aptamers were immobilized, and sensitive and multiplex heavy metal ion detection was performed utilizing fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the photoluminescent monolayered GO and the captured metal ion.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.136-142
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• 2012

Various factors affecting on the bioassay were investigated. Experiments with a low mixture ratio (cell to toxicant solution) of 0.5 : 9.5 (v/v) produced observable bioluminescence intensity for assay. Both sodium lactate and potassium nitrate stimulate bioluminescence activity; 2.6~4.0 times of control. Distilled water and MSM, which gave non significant effects on the bioluminescence activity, were determined as proper diluent or extract solutions. A wide range of toxic responses of metals and organics were observed. In general, organics were much less sensitive than metals. Samples collected from eleven sites showed the bioluminescence activity ranging from 29 to 111% of the control. Significant correlation between toxicity and total metal contents was not observed, but the toxicity of two groups, sorted based on the contaminated arsenic concentration in soils, was 44% and 20%, showing considerable differences.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.68-78
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• 2006

In the past few years, considerable efforts have been directed towards the further development of Urea-SCR(selective catalytic reduction) technique for diesel-driven vehicle. Although urea possesses considerable advantages over Ammonia$(NH_3)$ in terms of toxicity and handling, its necessary decomposition into Ammonia and carbon dioxide complicates the DeNOx process. Moreover, a mobile SCR system has only a short distance between engine exhaust and the catalyst entrance. Hence, this leads to not enough residence times of urea, and therefore evaporation and thermolysis cannot be completed at the catalyst entrance. This may cause high secondary emissions of Ammonia and isocyanic acid from the reducing agent and also leads to the fact that a considerable section of the catalyst may be misused for the purely thermal steps of water evaporation and thermolysis of urea. Hence the key factor to implementation of SCR technology on automobile is fast thermolysis, good mixing of Ammonia and gas, and reducing Ammonia slip. In this context, this study performs three-dimensional numerical simulation of urea injection of heavy-duty diesel engine under various injection pressure, injector locations and number of injector hole. This study employs Eulerian-Lagrangian approach to consider break-up, evaporation and heat and mass-transfer between droplet and exhaust gas with considering thermolysis and the turbulence dispersion effect of droplet. The SCR-monolith brick has been treated as porous medium. The effect of location and number of hole of urea injector on the uniformity of Ammonia concentration distribution and the amount of water at the entrance of SCR-monolith has been examined in detail under various injection pressures. The present results show useful guidelines for the optimum design of urea injector for reducing Ammonia slip and improving DeNOx performance.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.3755-3761
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• 2013

This study aims to assess the ecological risk of the hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) emitted in the semiconductor manufacturing processes in Korea by using Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR, EPA, US, EPI $Suite^{TM}$ 4.1). Owing to the absence of environmental standards of hazardous air pollutants in the semiconductor manufacturing processes in Korea, 18 HAPs in the semiconductor field included in both the US EPA NESHAPs and the hazardous air pollutant list of Ministry of Environment in Korea were selected. As a results 8 chemicals (44.4%) of the selected 18 HAPs were VOCs. Cyanides (cyanides) and ethylene oxides (epoxy resins), and tetrachloro-ethylene (aliphatic compounds, halides) showed long half-lives. Cyanide HAPs especially had the highest half-life with the estimated value of 356.533 days. Nickel compounds (heavy metal compounds) possessed the highest water solubility followed by acetaldehyde (aldehyde compounds), ethylene oxides, and 1,4-dioxanes. The halides, including tetrachloro-ethylenes, carbon tetra-chlorides, benzene (aromatic compounds), and lead (heavy metals), are estimated to take the longest time for biodegradation. Tetrachloroethylene, with the acute toxicity end point of 3.685-7.033 mg/L, was assessed to be the most highly toxic substance among the 18 HAPs. However, considering the absence of the HAPs in the common category of log $K_{ow}{\geq}4$and $BCF{\geq}500$, which indicates the standard of bioconcentration potentials, potentials of the bioconcentration are considered to be low.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.173-179
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• 2001

The study was carried out to analyze the pollutant Fe, Cu, Cr, Zn, Cd for sediments collected from lake in K river basin. Three analytical methods currently used in Korea, Japan, U.S.A, were compared. Pretreatment using microwave digestion showed higher analytical results for Fe, Cu, Cr, Zn, Cd than Korean Official Method(KOM) and American Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure(TCLP) Method. Also, analytical results using microwave digestion, TCLP and KOM were as follows: 38.1-48.0 mgFe/kg, 10.2-15.9 mgFe/kg AND 3.5-12.6 mgFe/kg, 37.0-50.1 mgCu/kg, 0.06-0.24 mgCu/kg and 0.01-0.03 mgCu/kg, 137.0-152.0 mgZn/kg, 0.67-0.82 mgZn/kg and 0.3-0.5 mgZn/kg, respectively. From this result, a new analytical method for the determination of heavy metal in sediment should be developed for the accurate estimation of pollution degree in sediment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.294-299
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• 2007

Natural gypsum has been used as a soil amendment in the United States. However, flue gas desulfurization (FGD)-gypsum has not traditionally been used for agricultural purpose although it has potential benefit as a soil amendment. To expand use of FGD-gypsum for agricultural purpose, the effect of FGD-gypsum on soil chemical properties was investigated in the field scales. Application rates for this study were 0 (control), 1.1, and 2.2 Mg ha-1 of FGD-gypsum. After two year application, the soil samples were taken to 110 cm depth and sub-sampled at 10 cm intervals. The heavy metal contents in FGD-gypsum were lower than ceiling levels allowed by regulations for land-applied biosolids. Soil pH was not largely affected by FGD-gypsum application. Although degree of calcium (Ca) saturation in surface horizons increases only slightly with respect to the control, there is a clear decrease in exchangeable aluminum (Al). FGD-gypsum clearly increases the soil electrical conductivity (EC) with increasing application rate. Water-soluble Ca and sulfate is increased with FGD-gypsum application and these ions moved to a depth of at least 80 cm after only 2 years. We conclude that surface application of FGD-gypsum can mitigate toxicity of Al and deficiency of Ca in subsoil of acid soil.