• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) are difficult to measure, analyze and assess for risk because of low ambient concentrations and varieties. Types of HAPs are Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) and Aldehydes. HAP emissions from vehicles are a contributor to serious adverse health effects in urban areas. In this study, hazardous air pollutant emissions from road transport vehicles by Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) weight fraction and PAHs emission factors are estimated in 2008. The top-five-most hazardous air pollutant emissions were estimated to toluene 864.3 ton/yr, acrolein 690.6 ton/yr, acetaldehyde 554.5 ton/yr, formaldehyde 498.7 ton/yr, propionaldehyde 421.6 ton/yr in 2008. The results for a cancer and non-cancer risk assessment of HAPs emissions show that the major cancer driver is formaldehyde and the non-cancer driver is acrolein.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.72-80
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• 2007

Experiments were conducted to identify the emissions from the car air freshener and to identify the formation of ultra-fine particles and secondary gaseous compounds during the ozone-initiated oxidations with emitted VOCs. The identified primary constituents emitted from the car air freshener in this study were $\alpha$-pinene, $\beta$-pinene, $\rho$-cymene and limonene. Formation of ultra-fine particles (4.4-160 nm) was observed when ozone was injected into the chamber containing emitted monoterpenes from the air freshener. Particle number concentrations, particle mass concentrations, and surface concentrations were measured in time dependent experiments to describe the particle formation and growth within the chamber. The irritating secondary gaseous products formed during the ozone-initiated reactions include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, acetone, and propionaldehyde. Ozone concentration (50 and 100 ppb) and temperature (30 and $40^{\circ}C$) significantly affect the formation of particles and gaseous products during the ozone-initiated reactions. The results obtained in this study provided an insight on the potential exposure of particles and irritating secondary products formed during the ozone-initiated reaction to passengers in confined spaces.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1177-1189
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• 2016

In order to prepare the information needed to construct a reduction system for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exhausted from ship-block paint-booths in a giant shipyard, VOCs in paint-shop airs were analyzed and compared to the components in paint thinners. Aromatic hydrocarbons containing eight and nine carbon atoms are known to be major VOC compounds found in shipyard paint-shops. The total hydrocarbon (THC(C7)) concentrations calibrated using toluene gas, were measured in block paint-shops with two photo-ionization detector (PID) meters, and the resulting THC(C7) data were converted to THC(C1) concentrations according to the Standard Methods for the Measurements of Air Pollution in South Korea. THC(C1) concentrations near the spray site ranged from 10 to 2,000 ppm, but they were less than 400 ppm near the walls of the paint-booth. The measurements of THC concentrations, based on the height of the monitoring sites, were related to the height of the target to which the spray paints were applied. The maximum concentrations occurred at almost the same height as the spray targets. When painted blocks had been dried-by warming with no spraying, the THC concentrations were 80~100 ppm.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-229
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• 2011

Sick building syndrome symptoms that are experienced by building occupants may be caused by toxic substances such as formaldehyde and VOCs, which are known to be emitted from building materials and wood composite products such as wood-based panel, furniture, engineered flooring and construction adhesive. In Korea, the use of wood composite products for indoor environments has increased over the last decade. Recently, wood composite products have been installed in approximately 95% of newly constructed residential buildings. The use of these products has resulted in problems related to human health, and consequently a realization about the importance of indoor air quality. In addition, consumer demand is increasing for natural materials because conventional building materials and wood composite products are made by adding urea-formaldehyde resin or they contain formaldehyde-based resin. More recently, many efforts have been made to reduce formaldehyde emission from building materials that laid in the indoor environment. Especially, if conventional formaldehyde-based adhesives are replaced with green adhesives for residential spaces, it is possible to reduce most of the emission amounts of formaldehyde in indoor environments. In line with this expectation, many researches are being conducted using natural materials such as tannin and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). This study discussed the affects and possibilities of green adhesives to reduce formaldehyde emission in indoor environments.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.215-221
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• 2014

Nano-sized $TiO_2$ particles were produced by a premixed flame aerosol reactor, and they were immobilized on a mesh-type substrate in form of particulate film. The reactor made it possible maintaining the original particulate characteristics determined in the flame synthetic process. The particulate morphology and crystalline phase were not changed until the particulate were finally coated on the substrate, which resulted in the better performance of the photocatalytic conversion of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the ultraviolet $(UV)-TiO_2$ system. In the flame aerosol reactor, the various specific surface areas and the anatase weight fractions of the synthesized particles were obtained by manipulating the parameters in the combustion process. The performance of the $TiO_2$ particulate films was evaluated for the destruction of the VOCs under the various UV irradiation conditions. The decomposition rates of benzene and formaldehyde under the irradiation of UV-C of 254 nm in wavelength were evaluated to check the performance of $TiO_2$ film layer to be applied in air quality control system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.492-497
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• 2015

VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are generally generated in the painting process, or at the company and laundry where use organic solvents. The VOCs consist of various hydrocarbons and has low calorific value due to its dilution with atmospheric air. Therefore, the VOCs are difficult to burn by a conventional fuel combustor. In this study, a novel plasma dump combustor was proposed for the treatment of low calorific VOC gases. This combustor was designed a combination of the characteristics in a plasma burner, a dump combustor and a 3D matrix burner. The combustor has good structure for maintaining enough residence time and reaction temperature for stable flame formation and VOC destruction. For investigating the performance characteristics of the plasma dump combustor, an experiment was achieved for VOC feed rate, VOC injector position, etc. Toluene was used as a surrogate of VOC. The novel combustor gave better performance than a conventional combustor, showing that VOC destruction rate and energy efficiency were 89.64% and 12.27 kg/kWh respectively, at feeding rate of 450 L/min of VOC of 3,000 ppm of toluene concentration.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.751-762
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• 2015

This study was performed to investigate the stability of soil moisture in controlling air ventilation rate within a horizontal biofilter, and to compare removal efficiency (RE) of indoor air pollutants including fine dust, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and formaldehyde (HCHO), depending on whether dieffenbachias (Diffenbachia amoena) were planted in the biofilter. The relative humidity, air temperature, and soil moisture contents showed stable values, regardless of the presence of D. amoena, and the plants grew normally in the biofilter. REs for number of fine dust particles (PM10 and PM2.5) within the biofilter filled with only soil were at least 30% and 2%, respectively. REs for number of fine dust particles (PM10 and PM2.5) within the biofilter including the plants were above 40% and 4%, respectively. RE for fine dust (PM10) weight was above 4% and 20%, respectively, in the biofilter containing only soil or soil together with plants. In the case of the biofilter filled with only soil, REs for xylene, ethylbenzene, toluene or total VOC (T-VOC) were each more than 63%; however, REs for benzene and formaldehyde (HCHO) were above 22% and 38%, respectively. In the biofilter with the plants, REs for xylene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and T-VOC were each above 72%, and REs for benzene and HCHO were above 39%. Thus, RE of the biofilter integrated with plants was found to be higher for volatile organic compounds than for fine dust. Hence, the biofilter was very effective for indoor air quality improvement and the effect was higher when integrated with plants.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.311-321
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• 2007

Nowadays, concerns have much more growing regarding indoor air quality (IAQ) on the public transportation including railway vehicles. Last year Korea Ministry of Environment (ME) set new guideline for public transportation. In this study several factors were analyzed which may affect comfortableness of railway passenger cabin, and we monitored IAQ parameters (PM10, CO, $CO_2$, VOCs, temperature and humidity) to investigate the present pollution in passenger cabin. In general, the railway air quality was satisfactory. The PM10 and $CO_2$ level on all passenger cabin were below the new guideline level 1 for PM10 $(200{\mu}g/m^3)\;and\;CO_2(2,000ppm)$. Clustering method was carried out to classify the air polluting pattern of the cabin. As a result, the pollutants could be classified to 4 clusters and the origin of pollution is soil, diesel exhaust gas, abrasion of rail and plume.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.467-475
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• 2012

Recently, residents have been spending almost 90% of their time indoors, which presents a higher risk from inhalation of pollutants than when spending time outdoors. Therefore, controlling indoor air quality became important. It is reported that the lung diseases and mortality for occupants are increased when there is high density of ozone which is one of the pollutants among the indoor air. In addition, the reactions between ozone and building materials produce VOCs and formaldehyde. The studies to eliminate the ozone by building materials have been actively investigated. However, ozone removal and secondary pollutants from ozone reactions with building materials have not been reported in Korea. For this reason, the aim of this study is to introduce ozone removal by HVAC filters, various building materials, and eco-friendly building materials including the quantity of secondary pollutant emissions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Health Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.333-336
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• 2005

32 Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) were measured by thermal desorption/gas chrornatography/mass spectrometry in normal houses, new and sick houses. The sum concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons in living room of new and sick houses showed 606 ${\mu}g/m^3$ and 645 ${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively, These figures were about 40 times higher than the values 14 ${\mu}g/m^3$ in normal houses. Among the chlorinated hydrocarbons trichloroethylene in the new and sick houses were at least 50-100 times higher than the mean concentrations in normal houses. But no significant differences could be shown for the concentration of VOCs in indoor air between new houses and sick houses (p<0.05).