• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.475-491
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• 2012

Green Chemistry emerged at the end of 20th century, which aims the development of the technologies for the sustainable society at the molecular level. Most products we consume in everyday life are produced through chemical processes, and we often oversee the fact that huge amount of solvents are used and disposed. At the present time most solvents used in laboratories as well as industries are volatile organic compounds(VOC), which gives health and environmental problems. Therefore scientists are seeking new materials which have equivalent properties of VOCs as solvent, and at the same time gives no health and environmental problems. In this brief review, the author describes the present status of research and development activities of green solvent materials throughout research societies worldwide. At present the most attractive green solvent candidates are water, glycerol, supercritical carbon dioxide and ionic liquids. In order to give the pictures of these materials, the author tried to introduce the overall aspects of green solvents in various chemical reaction as well as catalytic roles.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 2004

There is currently much interest in the development of instruments that emulate the senses of humans. Increasingly, there is demand for mimicking the human sense of smell, which is a sophisticated chemosensory system. An electronic nose system is applicable to a large area of industries including environmental monitoring. We have designed a protable electronic nose system using an array of commercial chemical gas sensors for recognizing and analyzing the various odours. In this paper, we have implemented a portable electronic nose system using an array of gas sensors for recognizing and analyzing VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in the field. The accuracy of a portable electronic nose system may be lower than an instrument such as GC/MS (Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer). However, a portable electronic nose system could be used on the field and showed fast response to pollutants in the field. Several different algorithms for odours recognition were used such as BP (Back-Propagation) or LM-BP (Levenberq-Marquardt Back-Propagation). We applied RBF (Radial Basis Function) Network for recognition and quantifying of odours, which has simpler and faster compared to the previously used algorithms such as BP and LM-BP.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.52-59
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• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the exposure possibility of by-products during the semiconductor manufacturing processes. Methods: The authors investigated types of chemicals generated during semiconductor manufacturing processes by the qualitative experiment on generation of by-products at the laboratory and a literature survey. Results: By-products due to decomposition of photoresist by UV-light during the photo-lithography process, ionization of arsine during the ion implant process, and inter-reactions of chemicals used at diffusion and deposition processes can be generated in wafer fabrication line. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene and formaldehyde can be generated during the mold process due to decomposition of epoxy molding compound and mold cleaner in semiconductor chip assembly line. Conclusions: Various types of by-products can be generated during the semiconductor manufacturing processes. Therefore, by-products carcinogen such as benzene, formaldehyde, and arsenic as well as chemical substances used during the semiconductor manufacturing processes should be controlled carefully.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.497-503
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• 2021

In this study, different methods to coat honeycomb and metal foam substrate with platinum/titania for removing odor gases and volatile organic compounds were investigated. Among them, the powder coating and the nano coating were compared. Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) analysis was used to investigate the surface conditions and exposed platinum composition ratios on honeycomb and metal foam. Also, the catalytic oxidation performance of toluene, trimethylamine and isopropyl alcohol was compared according to the coating method.

• Journal of odor and indoor environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.322-329
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to identify the research trend in the field of indoor environment in Korea. We collected 419 papers published in the Journal of the Korean Society for indoor environment between 2004 and 2018, and attempted to produce datasets using a topic modeling technique, Latent Dirichlet Allocation(LDA). The result of topic modeling showed that 8 topics ("VOCs investigation", "Subway environment", "Building thermal environment", "School health", "Building particulate matter", "Asbestos risk", "Radon risk", "Air cleaner and treatment") could be extracted using Gibbs sampling method. In terms of topic trends, investigation of volatile organic compounds, subway environment, school health, and building particulate matter showed a decreasing tendency, while the building thermal environment, asbestos risk, radon risk, air cleaners, and air treatment showed an increasing tendency. The results of this topic modeling could help us to understand current trends related indoor environment, and provide valuable information in developing future research and policy frameworks.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.556-566
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• 2002

Gunpo city, a medium sized city formed with a basin is populated with a little more than 270,000 peoples and includes the industrial area with about 600 factories. It has been recognized for a long time that peoples living nearby industrial area have complained on serious air contamination due to the geographical and environmental factors. This study was performed on measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and malodor for the air sampled in various places of Gunpo city, and made comparison with VOCs levels in specific area of Seoul. This work would play important role for the efficient management of air contamination of Gunpo city. Samplings were done in the rooftop of eleven village office buildings including Gunpo station in June 12th, 2001. Analytical results indicate that VOCs levels of Gunpo-1-dong, Gunpo station and Kumjungdong regions neighboring industrial area were much higher than the rest of areas, and this fact shows that the origin for air contamination of Gunpo would be industrial area than car exhaustion gases.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2024

Background: The use of scented candles and incense sticks, both of which are household products that are burned for indoor deodorization and calming effects, is increasing. Fine dust has been designated as a group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) affect air pollution and can cause diseases. Objectives: This study aims to determine the effect on indoor air quality by measuring PM_2.5 and VOCs generated when burning scented candles and incense sticks. Methods: Scented candles and incense sticks were selected as household products to burn. As for the target sample, top-selling products (five types of scented candles, five types of incense sticks) were purchased online. The PM_2.5 concentration according to time was measured immediately next to the sample and three meters away from each other in an enclosed space using a real-time aerosol photometer. VOCs were collected as samples under the same conditions using Tenax tubes and were quantitatively analyzed by TD-GC/MS. Results: In the case of scented candles, the concentration of PM_2.5 did not increase during combustion and after being extinguished by placing a cover on the candle. For the incense sticks, the concentration of PM_2.5 averaged 1,901.27 ㎍/m³. After burning scented candles and incense sticks, some VOCs concentrations were increased such as ethyl acetate and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene). Conclusions: Therefore, when using scented candles, extinguishment by placing a cover on the candle can be expected to reduce PM_2.5. It is advisable to avoid using incense sticks because PM_2.5 concentration increases from the start of combustion.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.325-336
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• 2006

The presence of volatile organic compounds (VOC), produced and released from both anthropogenic and natural sources, can accelerate the degradation of air quality in the surrounding area. In this study, we investigated the emission concentrations of VOC based on a total of 115 sample analysis made from 47 companies (representing 17 types of industry) at the Ban Wall industrial complex (Jun. 2004 to Jan. 2005). Through a statistical analysis of these measurement data, we inspected the emission characteristics of VOC in relation with industrial type and processing unit. When these data were compared each other, toluene was found to record the highest value of 423 ppb followed by ethylbenzene (68.3 ppb), m, p-xylene (43.6 ppb), o-xylene (27.2 ppb), styrene (23.9 ppb), and benzene (16.4 pub). In addition, by converting these VOC concentration data into malodor intensity, we attempted to account for their distribution patterns in terms of relative contribution to the malodor formation. The results of odor intensity conversion generally indicated that the odor intensities of individual VOC do not exceed the degree of 1. When our VOC results were compared against other odorous compounds measured concurrently, the results were highly contrasting each other. Despite relative insignificance as odorous compounds, these VOCs are generally found ubiquitously and in abundant quantities in this strong source area.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.9-16
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• 2007

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is an effective and cost efficient method of removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and petroleum hydrocarbons from unsaturated soils. Incorporating PVDs in an SVE system can extend the effectiveness of SVE to lower permeability soils by shortening the air flow-paths and ultimately expediting contaminant removal. With this approach, the real bounded system is replaced for the purposes of analysis by an imaginary system of infinite areal extent. The boundary conditions for the contaminant remediation model test include constant head and no flow condition. Due to these parallel boundaries conditions, image wells should be developed in order to maintain the condition of no flow across the impermeable boundary. It is also assumed that the flow is drawdown along the constant head boundary condition. The factors contributing to the difference between the theoretical and measured pressure heads were also analyzed. The flow factor increases as the flow rate is increased. The flow rate is the most important factor that affects the difference between the measured and theoretical pressure heads.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 2008

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is an effective and cost efficient method of removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and petroleum hydrocarbons from unsaturated soils. However, soil vapor extraction becomes ineffective in soils with low gas permeability, for example soils with air permeabilities less than 1 Darcy. The aim of this study is to investigate numerically the performance of a prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) as a SVE well, and the pattern of the induced air flow. A validated numerical model for a single PVD extraction well is developed based on the result of a well-designed laboratory model test. The validity of the simple analytical approach to determine air permeability based on the results of model tests is also discussed.