• Title/Summary/Keyword: Water Quality Standards

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Characterization of Forest Fire Emissions and Their Possible Toxicological Impacts on Human Health

  • Kibet, Joshua;Bosire, Josephate;Kinyanjui, Thomas;Lang'at, Moses;Rono, Nicholas
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.33 no.2
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    • pp.113-121
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    • 2017
  • In flight particulate matter particularly emissions generated by incomplete combustion processes has become a subject of global concern due to the health problems and environmental impacts associated with them. This has compelled most countries to set standards for coarse and fine particles due to their conspicuous impacts on environment and public health. This contribution therefore explores forest fire emissions and how its particulates affects air quality, damage to vegetation, water bodies and biological functions as architects for lung diseases and other degenerative illnesses such as oxidative stress and aging. Soot was collected from simulated forest fire using a clean glass surface and carefully transferred into amber vials for analysis. Volatile components of soot were collected over 10 mL dichloromethane and analyzed using a QTOF Premier-Water Corp Liquid Chromatography hyphenated to a mass selective detector (MSD), and Gas Chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer (GC-MS). To characterize the size and surface morphology of soot, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used. The characterization of molecular volatiles from simulated forest fire emissions revealed long chain compounds including octadec-9-enoic acid, octadec-6-enoic acid, cyclotetracosane, cyclotetradecane, and a few aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene and naphthalene). Special classes of organics (dibenzo-p-dioxin and 2H-benzopyran) were also detected as minor products. Dibenzo-p-dioxin for instance in chlorinated form is one of the deadliest environmental organic toxins. The average particulate size of emissions using SEM was found to be $11.51{\pm}4.91{\mu}m$. This study has shown that most of the emissions from simulated forest fire fall within $PM_{10}$ particulate size. The molecular by-products of forest fire and particulate emissions may be toxic to both human and natural ecosystems, and are possible precursors for various respiratory ailments and cancers. The burning of a forest by natural disasters or man-made fires results in the destruction of natural habitats and serious air pollution.

Study on the Performance of Constructed Wetland System for Sewage Treatment (인공습지 오수처리시설의 처리성능에 관한 연구)

  • 윤춘경
    • Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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    • v.42 no.4
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    • pp.96-105
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    • 2000
  • Field experiment was performed from August 1996 to December 1999 to examine the performance of constructed wetland system for wastewater treatment in rural area. The constructed wetland system was installed in Konkuk University and the effluent from septic tank of school building was used as an influent to the treatment basin. The treatment basin was composed of sand bed with planted reed. From August 1996 to June 1998 the hydraulic loading rate was fixed with about 15.63cm/day and theoretical detention time was 1.38 days, and from July 1998 to December 1999 the hydraulic loading rate was about 6.25cm/day and theoretical detention time was 3.5days. It worked continuously even during winter time, and the sewage flowed without freezing even when average daily air temperature was below -1$0^{\circ}C$. Average removal rate of BOD , COD, and SS was about 70%, T-P removal rate was about 50.8% , and T-N removal rate was 23.9%. The reason for poor T-N removal might be due to high influent concentration and short retention times. At the later years BOD and COD removal rates were increased , and SS and T-P removal rates did not change significantly , but T-N removal rates were decreased. The effluent of the wetland system often effluent water quality standards for sewage treatment plant, therefore, further treatment would be required if the effluent need to be discharged to the public water. Wetland system involves relatively large land area and could be suitable for rural area. Therefore, utilization of reclaimed sewage for agricultural purpose or subsequent land treatment is recommended as a ultimate disposal of sewage for agricultural purpose or subsequent land treatment is recommended as a ultimate disposal of sewage in rural area.

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A Comparative Study on Test Methods for Ophthalmic Lens Coatings (안경렌즈 코팅의 평가 방법에 관한 비교 연구)

  • Yu, Dong-Sik;Moon, Byeong-Yeon;Ha, Jin-Wook
    • Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.7-15
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    • 2006
  • We have surveyed test methods for ophthalmic lens coatings and compared the coating quality of lenses supplied by manufactures. Plastic ophthalmic lenses are produced in increasingly larger volumes. However, their softness have need resistant coatings absolutely essential in most cases. Coating lenses are typically evaluated in physical and chemical properties through random selection from produced lenses. No international standard test methods for ophthalmic lenses exist for issues such as adhesion, abrasion resistance, hardness, chemical and hot water resistance with exception of transmittance. We have learned that there is a great deal of confusion regarding the methods employed in the various tests for ophthalmic coating lenses. For this reason, test methods for ophthalmic lens coatings are needed making all of international or domestic standards available.

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A Study on the Changes in Types and Characteristics of Defects in Apartment House (공동주택 하자접수 유형변화 및 특징에 관한 연구)

  • Won, Joon-Yuen;Nam, Kyung-Yong
    • Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.333-345
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    • 2021
  • Due to the improved living standards and the expectation on higher-quality housing of tenements, complaints on the defects in the buildings are increasing every year. Also, the types of flaws are changing. We surveyed one hundred buildings(9,748 households) in 12 complexes across the country to investigate the shifted types. The number of defects received increased by about 1.6 times compared to 10 years ago, while the categories did not change. The report on the malfunctioning mechanical equipment has increased 1.4 times than ten years ago, and the types of the problem changed. The proportion of general parts(water supplement, drainage, water pressure) has decreased about 25% compared to 10 years ago. This is because the items related to the indoor environment become standardized in apartment housing. Therefore the problems related to those have been increased. As the specialized items applied to the tenement building are showing gradual expansion, the defect reports concerning those will also grow.

Development of Habitat Suitability Index for Habitat Restoration of Narrow-mouth Frog(Kaloula borealis) (맹꽁이 서식처 복원을 위한 서식처 적합성 지수(HSI) 개발)

  • Shim, Yun-Jin;Cho, Dong-Gil;Park, Sohyun;Lee, Dong-Jin;Seo, Yun-Hee;Kim, Sang-Hyuk;Kim, Duck-Ho;Ko, Sang-Beom;Cha, Jin-Yeol;Sung, Hyun-Chan
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.109-123
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    • 2014
  • Kaloula borealis is the species of Amphibia which belongs to Kaloula genus and it is the only species inhabiting in Korea. The population size and habitat of Kaloula borealis have been significantly decreased on a national scale due to the diversified developments and the uses of agricultural pesticides. Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment has designated and managed them as the class II of endangered species, in accordance with "Endangered Species Protection and Management Act"; however, a particular study focused on the ecological restoration of Kaloula borealis is desperately needed to prevent their extinction. This study was conducted to propose the HSI (Habit Suitability Index) of Kaloula borealis based on literature survey on ecology and habitats of Kaloula borealis, as well as their HSI. Factors to be investigated in HSI include: space, feed, cover, water(breeding) and threatening factors and the variables of each factor were also proposed. The distance from wetland, grassland, farm, stream and rice paddy, as well as the altitude of spawning pond were proposed as the variables of space, whereas the bed structure of forest and low-rise grassland were proposed as the variables of feeding. The variables of water (breeding) include the area of permanent and temporary wetlands, coverage of emerged pants (ratio of open water), water depth, water temperature, water quality, pH level, etc., whereas the presence of predator, distance from street and pollutants were proposed as the variables of threatening factor. The sub-standards by HSI factor of Kaloula borealis have been drawn from in-depth consultation with experts and based on this, the final HSI of Kaloula borealis was developed.

Potential of Contaminant Removal Using a Full-Scale Municipal Water Treatment System with Adsorption as Post-Treatment (실 규모 물 처리 공정 및 후속 흡착 처리에 의한 오염원 제거 잠재성 평가)

  • Haeil Byeon;Geonhee Yeo;Anh-Hong Nguyen;Youngwoong Kim;Donggun Kim;Taehun Lee;Seolhwa Jeong;Younghoa Choi;Seungdae Oh
    • Land and Housing Review
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    • v.15 no.1
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    • pp.167-177
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    • 2024
  • This study aimed to assess the efficacy of an adsorption process in removing organic matter and micropollutant residuals. After a full-scale water circulation system, the adsorption process was considered a post-treatment step. The system, treating anthropogenically impacted surface waters, comprises a hydro-cyclone, coagulation, flocculation, and dissolved air flotation unit. While the system generally maintained stable and satisfactory effluent quality standards over months, it did not meet the highest standard for organic matter (as determined by chemical oxygen demands). Adsorption experiments utilized two granular activated carbon types, GAC 830 and GCN 830, derived from coal and coconut-shell feedstocks, respectively. The assessment encompassed organic materials along with two notable micropollutants: acetaminophen (APAP) and acid orange 7 (AO7). Adsorption kinetics and isotherm experiments were conducted to determine adsorption rates and maximum adsorption amounts. The quantitative findings derived from pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm models suggest the effectiveness of the adsorption process. The findings of this study propose the potential of employing the adsorption process as a post-treatment to enhance the treatment of contaminants that are not satisfactorily treated by conventional water circulation systems. This enhancement is crucial for ensuring the sustainability of urban water cycles.

Water Quality and Structure of Aquatic Ecosystem in Water Source, Lake Gachang (상수원 호소인 가창호의 수질과 수생태계의 계절적 변화)

  • Park, Yeon-Jeong;Lee, Hae-Jin;Seo, Jung-Kwan;Tak, Bo-Mi;Jeong, Hyun-Gi;Lee, Jae-Kwan
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.296-304
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    • 2011
  • This study was carried out to investigate the relation between water quality and structure of the aquatic ecosystem in the Lake Gachang from February to December in 2010. The annual mean COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) in Lake Gachang was 3.5 mg $L^{-1}$, indicating, level II of environmental standards and the trophic state was mesotrophic. The seasonal succession of phytoplankton showed that Bacillariophyceae was mostly dominant species throughout the year except August. In case of zooplankton, rotifers dominate in the most seasons, but copepod (Nauplii) in August. The macrophyte plants showed diverse species composition consisted of 9 varieties, 77 species, 64 genera, 34 families and 24 orders. Surveyed species of macroinvertebrates were classified into 1 phyla, 2 classes, 4 orders, 7 families, 9 species. The macroinvertebrates showed FFG (Functional Feeding Groups) such as GC (Gathering-Collector) and SH (Shedder). A total of 42 species of fish was collected including $Zacco$ $koreanus$ and $Coreoperca$ $herzi$. In this study, we investigated environmental factors including pollutant source, load, water quality and distribution characteristics of biota such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, macrophyte plants, macroinvertebrates, fish.

A study on the Effectivness of Hand-made Paraffin Thyroid Phantom (Paraffin을 이용한 Thyroid Phantom제작에 따른 유용성에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Soung-Ock;Lee, In-Ja
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.237-243
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    • 2007
  • Phantoms are very necessary for quality assurance of radio nuclides imaging systems to maintain standards and to ensure reproducibility of test. General quality assurance and instrument quality control are essential in every hospital. The human tissue equivalent materials are aluminum, areryl, water and epoxy..etc. It is very important to select optimum equivalant materials for a phantoms in QC. Especially, paraffin is very similar with human soft tissue in X or Gamma-ray physical characteristics and easy to buy with economically. We made a paraffin thyroid phantom and compare with thyroid areryl phantom, also used commercially in practice. Two small size cold spots(3 and 6 mm diameter) and a hot spot(3 mm diameter) embeded in paraffin phantom. And imaged with $^{99m}TcO_4$ by camera for analysis about spatial resolution and noise at the hot and cold spots. We got some results as below : 1. No difference in counting rate and noise between both arcryl and paraffin thyroid phantoms. 2. The best spatial resolution can be seen 6 cm distance between pinhole collimator and thyroid phantoms(arcryl and paraffin). 3. More optimal spatial resolution could acquired in paraffin thyroid phantom. Paraffin is very similar with human soft tissue in atomic number, density and relative absorbtion function, and can be shaped easily what we wanted. So we can recommendation paraffin as quality assurance phantom because its usefulness, economical benefit and purchasability.

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Environmental impact of hydroponic nutrient wastewater, used hydroponic growing media, and crop wastes from acyclic hydroponic farming system (비순환식 양액재배에서 발생하는 폐양액, 폐배지, 폐작물이 환경에 미치는 영향)

  • Park, Bounglog;Cho, Hongmok;Kim, Minsang
    • Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.19-27
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    • 2021
  • Hydroponic farming is a method to grow a plant without soil. Plants can be grown on water or hydroponic growing media, and they are fed with mineral nutrient solutions, which are fertilizers dissolved into water. Hydroponic farming has the advantage of increasing plant productivity over conventional greenhouse farming. Previous studies of hydroponic nutrient wastewater from acyclic hydroponic farms pointed out that hydroponic nutrient wastewater contained residual nutrients, and they were drained to a nearby river bank which causes several environmental issues. Also, previous studies suggest that excessive use of the nutrient solution and disposal of used hydroponic growing media and crop wastes in hydroponic farms are major problems to hydroponic farming. This study was conducted to determine the impact of hydroponic nutrient wastewater, used hydroponic growing media, and crop wastes from acyclic hydroponic farms on the surrounding environment by analyzing water quality and soil analysis of the above three factors. Three soil cultivation farms and several hydroponic farms in the Gangwon C region were selected for this study. Samples of water and soils were collected from both inside and outside of each farm. Also, a sample of soil and leachate from crop waste piles stacked near the farm was collected for analysis. Hydroponic nutrient wastewater from acyclic hydroponic farm contained an average of 402 mg/L of total nitrogen (TN) concentration, and 77.4 mg/L of total phosphate (TP) concentration. The result of TP in hydroponic nutrient wastewater exceeds the living environmental standard of the river in enforcement decree of the framework act on environmental policy by 993.7 times. Also, it exceeds the standard of industrial wastewater discharge standards under the water environment conservation act by 6~19 times in TN, and 2~27 times in TP. Leachate from crop waste piles contained 11,828 times higher COD and 395~2662 times higher TP than the standard set by the living environmental standard of the river in enforcement decree of the framework act on environmental policy and exceeds 778 times higher TN and 5 times higher TP than the standard of industrial wastewater discharge standards under the water environment conservation act. For more precise studies of the impact of hydroponic nutrient wastewater, used hydroponic growing media, and crop wastes from acyclic hydroponic farms on the surrounding environment, additional information regarding a number of hydroponic farms, arable area(ha), hydroponic farming area, seasonal, weather, climate factor around the river, and the property of the area and farm is needed. Analysis of these factors and additional water and soil samples are needed for future studies.

A Study on Applicability of Coagulant Mixer and Flow Analysis of the Non-powered Vortex Mixer using CFD (전산유체역학(CFD)을 이용한 무동력 와류 혼화장치의 유동해석 및 응집제 혼화장치 적용 가능성 연구)

  • Kim, Soo Yeon;Chae, Jong Seong;Kim, Sin Young;Zhang, Meng Yu;Ohm, Tea In
    • Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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    • v.39 no.12
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    • pp.706-713
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    • 2017
  • This study compared and analyzed the water treatment efficiency and the applicability of water treatment plant using the existing Mechanical Rapid-Mixer by introducing the Non-powered Vortex Mixer to the domestic water treatment plant. For this study, fluid flow characteristics and head loss of a Non-powered Vortex Mixer are calculated by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)respectively. The head loss rate inside the mixer was 11.30% when the inflow velocity was 0.5 m/sec, 16.27% at 0.6 m/sec and 21.44% at 0.7 m/sec, the head loss rapidly increased at the optimal velocity of 0.5 m/sec. For the inflow velocity of 0.5 m/sec, the turbulent intensity at the inlet was 2.37% and at the outlet was 7.83%, so there was sufficient mixing strength for the particulate matter and the coagulant. The result of the water quality of the treatment plants with the inflow velocity of 0.38 m/sec that was operated in three years after replacing all 12 units of the existing Rapid-Mixer with the Non-powered Mixer met the standards. Hence, it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of 64,143 ~ 65,306 kWh/year since the Rapid-Mixer is replaced by the Non-powered Vortex Mixer.