• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.587-592
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• 2015

Activated carbons (ACs) were treated by fluorination to improve the adsorption property of toluene gas among volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The pore characteristics and surface properties of these activated carbons were evaluated by BET and XPS and the adsorption property and removal efficiency of toluene gas was investigated by gas chromatography. The breakthrough time of fluorinated ACs was increased about 27% compared to that of untreated ACs when the toluene gas of 100 ppm was flowed at a flow rate of $300cm^3/min$. Fluorinated AC of 0.1 g adsorbent totally adsorbed toluene gas in 100 ppm to 100 % during the adsorption time in 19 h. These results can be used as a treatment technology or removal of carcinogenic materials such as toluene.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2007

The objectives of this study are to analyze emitted components and concentrations of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) from the inside of vehicles that were experimented with sedans and RVs (Recreational Vehicles) delivered from warehouses after 15, 30, 45 and 60 days. The value of TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compounds) was twice to eight times over than the standard value. However, TVOC of vehicles was more detected than RVs. Especially, the value of toluene was rapidly decreased after 45 days. But after 60 days, it was more detected than the standard value. After 45 days, the xylene value was confirmed to be lower than the standard value. As a result, it was found that development of alternative technologies such as non-solvent and systems for automobile interior parts may be imminent. Using test method standard, although it is not yet International Standard, to analyze and replace components, concentrations, human-noxious, it will contribute to producing environmental-friendly vehicles.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.678-683
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• 2007

We isolated a toluene-degrading bacterium, TDB-4, from a bioreactor which designed to remove volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the contaminated air. Based on the results of 16S rRNA gene analysis, it was classified as Pseudomonas sp. The toluene degradability was estimated in the variable toluene and bacterial concentrations. The bacterial growth and degradation rate was higher in the samples supplied with 50 ${\mu}mole/vial$ of toluene than with 10 ${\mu}mole/vial$. It was decreased, however, in the samples with 100 ${\mu}mole/vial$, indicating that toluene inhibit the growth or degradation activity of TDB-4 at high concentration. When the degradation ability of other compounds was examined, TDB-4 can degrade other VOCs such as styrene, benzene, and xylene. These results will be helpful to optimize the operating conditions to improve the efficiency of a bioreactor in detoxification of VOCs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 2000

The emission sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are wastewater treatment plants. sanitary landfills, automobile industries, and so on. The VOCs are harmful to human beings because of their toxicity and carcinogenicity, and cause the serious air pollution problem producing ozone ($O_3$) as a result of photochemical reaction. To investigate the emission of VOCs from wastewater treatment plant, aeration basins at the City of Los Angeles' Hyperion Treatment Plant were selected and measured flux was compared with calculated flux. For compounds commonly associated with wastewater (DCM, TCM, PCE, UM, DCB, UND) and not expected in vehicle exhaust or ambient air coming off the ocean, concentrations immediately downwind of the aeration basins were a factor of ten or higher than those measured in the upwind air. The airborne flux of less degradable or non-biodegradable compounds, e.g., DCE, DCM, TCA, DCA, TCM, PCE, DCB, through an imaginary plane at the downwind side of the aeration basins was in agreement with the estimated flux from measured liquid phase concentrations. Henry's constant. aeration rate, and an assumption of bubble saturation. For several compounds (PCE, DCE, TCA), the ratio (measured flux/calculated flux) is almost unity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2009

For the biosurfactant production process at first Candida bombicola, Sphingomonas yanoikuyae, Sphingomonas chungbukensis and Myxococcus flavescens were studied. As the most productive microorganisms C. bombicola, S. yanoikuyae and S. chungbukensis were selected. During many petrochemical industrial processes variable volatile organic componds are produced and they can cause an unpleasent and unhealthy atmosphere. Usually the volatile organic compounds are treated with chemical detergents. The chemical detergents cannot be easily degradable and can be accumulated in the nature. In this study we tried to develop a production process for the biosurfactants, which can substitute some chemical detergents in some chemical processes, with microorganisms. At second the treatment of the volatile organic compounds with the biosurfactants were tested and compared with the treatment with chemical detergent. The production productivities of the biosurfactant with microorganisms were compared. The growth patterns and kinetics of the microbial cells and the surface tension values of the biosurfactants were studied. The changes of the surface tension in variable pH conditions and sodium chloride concentrations were also studied. The volatile organic carbons were treated in a small plant scale. As the result of this study, it indicated that the specific growth rate of S. chungbukensis was the fastest by 0.144 ($hr^{-1}$). For surface tension, C. bombicola (38.1 dyne/cm) had the lowest value, and solubility of the volatile organic carbon was similar in C. bombicola and S. chungbukensis. (Toluene: about 0.1 Unit, Chloroform: about 0.6${\sim}$0.7 Unit, Benzene: about 0.5${\sim}$0.8 Unit). The biosurfactant, which were produced by C. bombicola, was selected for the further study for the volatile organic carbon treatment. With the biosurfactans from C. bombicola could remove the volatile organic carbon about 80% and this removal rate can be comparable with chemical detergent.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2023

Purpose: VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are all the organic compounds that react with solar rays and increase the concentration of ozone in the troposphere and are partially also known as carcinogens. The adsorption using activated carbon is usually applied to remove VOCs. Research design, data and methodology: The 20 places of surface coating facilities were selected to evaluate the emission amount of VOCs in Seoul. In addition, the removal efficiency of VOCs in 25 places of automobile coating facilities was evaluated. Results: The average emission amount of VOCs was 10.903 kg/hr from automobile coating facilities, while 3.520 kg/hr from other surface coating facilities. The removal efficiency in adsorption with the combustion catalytic process has the mean value of 87.9% and the regeneration efficiency of activated carbon has the mean value of 95.0%. Conclusions: The removal efficiency in adsorption with the biofiltration process has the mean value of 89.8% and the regeneration efficiency of activated carbon has the mean value of 94.8%. The removal efficiency in the plasma catalyst process has the mean value of 79.3%.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.16 no.E
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• pp.39-46
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• 2000

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are considered as the precursors of atmospheric ozone and photochemical smog formation. In particular, chemical plants have produced a lot of VOCs and thus they have been forced to reduce or remove air emissions from the on-site chemical facilities. For the effective removal of VOCs produced in the chemical plants, the authors employed a titanium oxide(TiO$_2$) mediated photo-catalytic oxidation method. The initiation methods employed in this study to produce oxygen radicals for th photo-catalytic oxidation of the VOCs were Ultra-Violet(UV), Non-Thermal Plasma(NTS), and a combination of Uv and NTP. This study focused on a comparison of the removal efficiencies of VOCs as a function of the initiation method such as NTP and/or UV techniques. Removal efficiency change of VOCs as was investigated as a function of the wavelength of the UV lamp(254, 302, and 365 nm) and the degree of TiO$_2$ coating (10 and 30%). In this study, it was identified that removal efficiencies if the VOCs under the normal air environment were much better than those under the nitrogen gas environment containing small amount of oxygen. Removal efficiency by NTP technique was much better than the UV or the combination of UV and NTP techniques. In a comparison if UV wavelengths employed, it was found that shorter wavelength showed better removal efficiency, compared with longer ones. When the removal efficiencies of VOCs were compared in terms of the degree of TiO$_2$ coating, the higher TiO$_2$coating showed better removal efficiency that the lower TiO$_2$ coating

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.305-319
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• 2016

This study was carried out to evaluate the performance of two sampling methods, i.e., adsorbent tubes and canisters, for the measurement of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A total of 24 target VOCs were selected from a list of 48 priority hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in Korea. The two sampling methods were investigated with a wide range of performance criteria such as repeatability, linearity, and lower detection limits. In addition, mean relative errors (MRE) and mean duplicate precisions (MDP) were estimated by inter-lab comparison studies for duplicate field samples. Precisions for the two methods appeared to be well comparable with the performance criteria recommended by USEPA TO-15 and TO-17 for canister and adsorbent methods, respectively. Correlations and variations between the VOCs concentrations determined by the two methods were generally good in most cases. However, MREs and MDPs for individual VOCs appeared to be widely ranged, depending on each VOC. This implies that the two methods have its own advantages and disadvantages in determining a variety of VOCs in ambient air, and neither of which has absolute superiority. Finally, 9 of 24 VOCs were found to be difficult to determine by either methods due to their unstability in a canister, and lack of appropriate standard materials. Thus, it is suggested that development of measurement methods for such unstable VOCs is an urgent task from a viewpoint of HAPs management.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.187-193
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• 2008

Biological removal capacities for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were determined using a yeast strain, Candida tropicalis. In this study, VOCs including toluene, benzene, p-xylene, and styrene as single substrates or mixtures were tested in the batch culture of the yeast strain. In addition, a kinetic model was applied to evaluate substrate interactions between the VOCs. The yeast strain was able to biodegrade each VOC effectively as a growth substrate, implying it could applied to wide range of VOCs. When the yeast strain was subjected to VOCs in mixtures, the biodegradation rate of one substrate were either increased (stimulated) or decreased (inhibited) by the presence of the others. Both benzene and toluene were inhibited by the other VOCs, and substrate interaction parameters estimated in the model indicated that styrene was the strongest inhibitor for the benzene and toluene biodegradation. Meanwhile, the biodegradation of p-xylene and styrene was stimulated by the presence of either benzene or toluene. The biodegradation rate of p-xylene was significantly increased especially by the presence of toluene, and the styrene biodegradation was enhanced greatly by the benzene addition. The results of the substrate interaction by the yeast strain suggest that the biodegradation rates for the VOCs in mixtures should be carefully evaluated. Furthermore, the competitive inhibition coefficient could be applied as a useful index to determine the substrate interaction

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.767-774
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• 2008

This study was carried out to evaluate the characteristics of atmospheric concentrations of volatile organic compounds(VOCs) and aldehydes for near a large shipyard. Most of the painting work in marine coating is performed indoor and outdoor. Most of the VOCs are emitted to the atmosphere as the paint is applied and cures. The massive scale of a ship makes it difficult to capture the emissions from outdoor painting. The VOCs are an important health and contributors to photochemical smog. The VOCs and aldehydes samples were collected using adsorbent tube and 2,4-DNPH cartridge, and were determined by an automatic thermal desorption coupled with GC/MS and HPLC-UV analysis, respectively. A total of 16 aromatic VOCs and 12 aldehydes of environmental concern were determined. At indoor coating facilities, the most abundant compound among 16 target VOCs appeared to be m,p-xylene, being followed by o-xylene. But most of the aldehydes were extremely lower concentrations. The atmospheric concentration of VOCs, m,p-xylene concentrations were the highest and the mean value were outdoor workshop 11.323 ppb, residental area 5.134 ppb, and green area 2.137 ppb, respectively. However, the most aldehydes were extremely lower concentrations such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and non-detection such as iso-valeraldehyde, n-valeraldehyde and o-tolualdehyde.