• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.439-458
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• 2005

An automated analysis system for water soluble constituents in $PM_{2.5}$ has been developed. The system consists of a high capacity multi tube diffusion scrubber (MTDS), a low temperature particle impactor (LTPI), and two ion (anion and cation) chromatography (IC) systems. Atmospheric particles have been collected by passing sample air through a thermostated MTDS followed by a LTPI. This system allows simultaneous measurements of soluble ions in $PM_{2.5}$ at 30 minutes interval. At the air sampling flow rate of 1.0L/min, the detection limits of the overall system are in the order of tens of $ng/m^3$. This system has been successfully used for the measurement of particulate components of Seoul air from April 2003 to January 2004. $SO_4^{2-},\;NO_3^-,\;NH_4^+,\;NO_2^-,\;Cl^-,\;Na^+,\;K^+,\;Ca^{2+},\;and\;Mg^{2+}$ are the major ionic species for $PM_{2.5}$ at Seoul. Among them, $SO_4^{2-},\;NO_3^-\;and\;NH_4^+$ are the most abundant ions, contributed up to $86\%$ of the total and the concentrations were higher than those in any other urban sites in the world except for Chinese cities. There are high pollutant episodes which contribute about $15\~20\%$ of annual average values of the major ions. During the episode, the all parcels were transported from the asian continent and $PM_{2.5}$ were significantly neutralized. This suggests that aged and long range transported pollutants caused the high pollutant episodes. They showed a distinct daily and seasonal variations:they showed a peak in the early morning caused by the night-time accumulation of particulate matters. Atmospheric reactions including gas-to-particle reactions and inter-particle reactions and meteorological parameters including relative humidity and ambient temperature were described with related to the $PM_{2.5}$ 5 concentrations. All of the ionic species showed higher concentrations during the spring than those for summer and winter.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.297-305
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• 1996

Aerosol measurements were carried out at Kosan, Cheju Island, Korea for the period from July 20 to August 10, 1994. Total suspended particles were collected by high volume samplers and PM 2.5 particles with gaseous volatile species were collected by a filter pack sampler and their ionic composition are analyzed. The average mass concentration of PM 2.5 particles was comparable to that of PM 3 particles collected during March, 1994 at the same site but the average non sea-salt sulfate concentration was higher that that of PM 3 particles, implying the fraction of anthropogenic air apllutants during this period is higher than that during March, 1994. During the measurement period, two distincitive patterns were observed, high concentrations of mass and water soluble ions were observed between July 20 and August 1 while those during after August 2 were low. Back trajectory analysis results show that air masses arriving at Kosan during the earlier period were mainly from Korea and Japan while those during the later period were from the North Pacific Ocean. It is suggested that the particle ion concentrations during the later period are marine background concentrations at Kosan during the summertime.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.395-404
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• 2011

Asian dust evens took place in Seoul on 27~28 March and 31 March~1 April 2007, during which the mass and chemical compositions of $PM_{10}$ were measured at urban area in Seoul, Korea. In conjunction with $PM_{10}$ compositions, the behaviors of gas precursors such as CO, $O_3$, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$ and meteorological parameters and air mass trajectories were thoroughly examined. The earlier case was a weak dust incidence which was characterized by elevated concentrations of CO, $SO_2$ and $NO_2$ as well as secondary aerosols. In contrast, the later showed the trait of the dust aerosols associated with high $PM_{10}$ mass and $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations. In general, the fractions of ionic species against mass decreased with increase in dust loading. The ratios of ${SO_4}^{2-}$ to ${NO_3}^-$ and $SO_2$ to $NO_2$ were similar in temporal variations, suggesting the concentrations of secondary aerosols were sensitive to the level of precursor gases. In this study, $Na^+$ and $Cl^-$ were also highly elevated during the heavy dust episode, which is thought to have originated from alkaline soils spreading through the northeast regions of China.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.89-102
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• 2013

24-hr $PM_{2.5}$ samples were collected from January 19 through February 27, 2009 at an urban site of Gwangju and analyzed to determine the concentrations of organic and elemental carbon(OC and EC), water-soluble OC(WSOC), eight ionic species($Na^+$, $NH^{4+}$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, ${NO_3}^-$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$), and 22 elemental species. Haze phenomena was observed during approximately 29%(10 times) of the whole sampling period(35 days), resulting in highly elevated concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$ and its chemical components. An Asian dust event was also observed, during which $PM_{2.5}$ concentration was 64.5 ${\mu}g/m^2$. Crustal materials during Asian dust event contributed 26.6% to the $PM_{2.5}$, while lowest contribution(5.1%) was from the haze events. OC/EC and WSOC/OC ratios were found to be higher during haze days than during other sampling days, reflecting an enhanced secondary organic aerosol production under the haze conditions. For an Asian dust event, enhanced concentrations of OC and secondary inorganic components were also found, suggesting the further atmospheric processing of precursor gases during transport of air mass to the sampling site. Correlations among WSOC, EC, ${NO_3}^-$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$, and primary and secondary OC fractions, which were predicted from EC tracer method, suggests that the observed WSOC could be formed from similar formation processes as those of secondary organic aerosol, ${NO_3}^-$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$. Results from principal component analysis indicate also that the observed WSOC was strongly associated with formation routes of the secondary organic and inorganic aerosols.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.129-138
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• 2013

The water uptake by fine aerosol in the atmosphere has been investigated at Gosan, Korea during ABC-EAREX 2005. The concentration of inorganic ion and carbon components, size distribution, and light scattering coefficients in normal and dry conditions were simultaneously measured for $PM_{2.5}$ by using a parallel integrated monitoring system. The result of this study shows that ambient fine particles collected at Gosan were dominated by water-soluble ionic species (35%) and carbonaceous materials (18%). In addition, it shows the large growth of aerosol in the droplet mode when RH is higher than 70%. Size distribution of the particulate surface area in a wider size range ($0.07-17{\mu}m$) shows that the elevation of RH make ambient aerosol grow to be the droplet mode one around $0.6{\mu}m$ or the coarse mode one, larger than $2.5{\mu}m$. Hygroscopic factor data calculated from the ratio of aerosol scattering coefficients at a given ambient RH and a reference RH (25%) show that water uptake began at the intermediate RH range, from 40% to 60%, with the average hygroscopic factor of 1.10 for 40% RH, 1.11 for 50% RH, and 1.17 for 60% RH, respectively. Finally, average chemical composition and the corresponding growth curves were analyzed in order to investigate the relationship between carbonaceous material fraction and hygroscopicity. As a result, the aerosol growth curve shows that inorganic salts such as sulphate and nitrate as well as carbonaceous materials including OC largely contribute to the aerosol water uptake.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.163-172
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• 2018

This study investigated the effect of organic matter on the precipitation of struvite and calcium phosphate for phosphorus recovery from synthetic dairy wastewater. Batch precipitation experiments were performed to precipitate phosphorus from solutions containing $PO_4{^{3-}}$ and $NH_4{^+}$ by the addition of $Mg^{2+}$ and $Ca^{2+}$, separately, at varying pH, Mg/P and Ca/P molar ratios, and organic matter concentrations. Soluble total organic solids exhibited more inhibition to precipitation due to potential interaction with other dissolved ionic species involved in phosphorus precipitation. Xylan with low total acidity only exhibited significant inhibition at very high concentrations in synthetic wastewater (at up to 100 g/L). No significant inhibition was observed for Mg and Ca precipitation at relatively lower concentrations (at up to 1.2 g/L). MINTEQ simulations show that dissolved organic matter (DOM) as humic substances (HS) can cause significant inhibition even at relatively low concentrations of 0.165 g/L fulvic acid. However, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis suggested that xylan altered the crystal structure of both precipitates and had caused the formation of smaller sized struvite crystals with slightly rougher surfaces This could be due to xylan molecules adhering on the surface of the crystal potentially blocking active sites and limit further crystal growth. Smaller particle sizes will have negative practical impact because of poorer settleability.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.96-106
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• 2017

In this study, measurements of size-segregated particulate matter (PM) emitted from the combustion of rice straw, pine needles, and sesame stem were conducted in a laboratory chamber. The collected samples were used to analyze amounts of organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), humic-like substances (HULIS), and ionic species. The light absorption properties of size-resolved water extracts were measured using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. A solid-phase extraction method was first used to separate the size-resolved HULIS fraction, which was then quantified by a total organic carbon analyzer. The results show that regardless of particle cut sizes, the contributions of size-resolved HULIS ($=1.94{\times}HULIS-C$) to PM size fractions ($PM_{0.32}$, $PM_{0.55}$, $PM_{1.0}$, and $PM_{1.8}$) were similar, accounting for 25.2-27.6, 15.2-22.4 and 28.2-28.7% for rice straw, pine needle, and sesame stem smoke samples, respectively. The $PM_{1.8}$ fraction revealed WSOC/OC and HULIS-C/WSOC ratios of 0.51 and 0.60, 0.44 and 0.40, and 0.50 and 0.60 for the rice straw, pine needle, and sesame stem burning emissions, respectively. Strong absorption with decreasing wavelength was found by the water extracts from size-resolved biomass burning aerosols. The absorption ${\AA}ngstr{\ddot{o}}m $ exponent values of the size-resolved water extracts fitted between 300 and 400 nm wavelengths for particle sizes of $0.32-1.0{\mu}m$ were 6.6-7.7 for the rice straw burning samples, and 7.5-8.0 for the sesame stem burning samples. The average mass absorption efficiencies of size-resolved WSOC and HULIS-C at 365 nm were 1.09 (range: 0.89-1.61) and 1.82 (range: 1.33-2.06) $m^2/g{\cdot}C$ for rice straw smoke aerosols, and 1.13 (range: 0.85-1.52) and 1.83 (range: 1.44-2.05) $m^2/g{\cdot}C$ for sesame stem smoke aerosols, respectively. The light absorption of size-resolved water extracts measured at 365 nm showed strong correlations with WSOC and HULIS-C concentrations ($R^2=0.89-0.93$), indicating significant contribution of HULIS component from biomass burning emissions to the light absorption of ambient aerosols.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.501-511
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• 2008

The Objective of this study is to examine the characteristic of fine aerosol $(PM_{2.5})$ obtained at Ieodo Ocean Research Station, which lies between the eastern part of China and the south western part of Korea. The average mass concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ was $21.5{\pm}17.0{\mu}g/m^3$ during June $2004{\sim}June 2006$. The concentration was the highest in winter $(34.8{\mu}g/m^3)$ and lowest in summer $(16.5{\mu}g/m^3)$. Water soluble ions were measured for samples collected from December 2004 to September 2005. Among them, $SO_4^{2-}\;and\;NH_4^+$ were the most abundant species and accounted for 32.2% and 14.2% of the $PM_{2.5}$ mass, respectively. The mass fraction of $SO_4^{2-}$ was higher in winter (42%) than in spring (26%). Nitrate concentrations were much lower than those of sulfate due mainly to evaporation during sampling period. The cluster analysis of backward airmass trajectories showed that the high mass loadings $(26.9{\mu}g/m^3\;on\;average)$ were associated with air originating inland China. Also, the seasonal variation of $PM_{2.5}$ mass was well correlated with the frequency of westerly winds passing through the western part of China. During the ABC-EAREX2005 (March 2005), $PM_{2.5}$ mass and major ionic concentrations were higher at Ieodo, compared with $PM_{2.5}$ measurements at Gosan while they were similar in variation pattern. These results suggested that $PM_{2.5}$ mass and its ionic composition of Ieodo Ocean Research Station were greatly influenced by continental outflows from China.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.457-468
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• 2018

To improve understanding of the physico-chemical characteristics of aerosols in the national park and comparing the air pollution between national park and the urban area nearby national park, the aerosol characterization study was conducted in Bukhansan National Park, Seoul, from July through September 2017. Semi-continuous measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ using PILS (Particle Into Liquid System) coupled with IC (Ion Chromatography) and TOC (Total Organic Carbon) analyzer allowed quantification of concentrations of major ionic species($Cl^-$, $SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$, $Na^+$, $NH_4{^+}$, $K^+$, $Mg{^{2+}}$ and $Ca{^{2+}}$) and water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) with 30-minute time resolution. The total mass concentration of $PM_{2.5}$ was measured by T640 (Teledyne) with 5-minute time resolution. The black carbon (BC) and ozone were measured with a minute time resolution. The timeline of aerosol chemical compositions reveals a strong influence from urban area (Seoul) at the site in Bukhansan National Park. Inorganic aerosol composition was observed to be dominated by ammoniated sulfate at most times with ranging from $0.1{\sim}32.6{\mu}g/m^3$ (6.5~76.1% of total mass of $PM_{2.5}$). The concentration of ammonium nitrate, a potential indicator of the presence of local source, ranged from below detection limits to $20{\mu}g/m^3$ and was observed to be highest during times of maximum local urban (Seoul) impact. The total mass of $PM_{2.5}$ in Bukhansan National Park was observed to be 10~23% lower than the total mass of $PM_{2.5}$ in urban area (Gireum-dong and Bulgwang-dong, Seoul). In general, ozone concentration in Bukhansan National Park was observed to be similar or higher than urban sites in Seoul, suggesting additional biogenic VOCs with $NO_x$ from vehicle emission were to be precursors for ozone formation in Bukhansan National Park.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.209-216
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• 2013

This study focused on a comprehensive and detailed interpretation for the springtime air quality influenced by both artificial (particulate matter (PM) and asbestos) and biological (pollen) sources in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. An intensive measurement of PM was conducted at four characteristic sites (i.e., a heavy traffic area, a residential area, an industrial area, and a desolate area) in the Fukuoka Prefecture during spring of 2007. Analysis of major ionic species in $PM_{2.5}$ was performed by an Ion Chromatography, and asbestos and pollen were identified by Scanning Electron Microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). $PM_{2.5}$ concentration ($65.3{\mu}gm^{-3}$) measured in an industrial area (site C) was extraordinarily high compared to those monitored in other areas; it greatly exceeded the Japan's $PM_{2.5}$ criteria (a daily average of $35{\mu}gm^{-3}$). NOAA's HYSPLIT dispersion model suggests that this high level of $PM_{2.5}$ monitored at site C is unlikely to affect the Asian continent. The ambient concentrations of $PM_{2.5}$-related anions ($NH_4{^+}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $SO_4{^{2-}}$) and their relative contributions to $PM_{2.5}$ were also investigated in four study areas. The concentrations of these major water-soluble ions exhibit not only strong spatial dependence but also different ratios to each other. Asbestos fiber (crocidolite and amosite) concentration values changed in the range of 2.5 to 14.4 f per liter of air. The number of pollen grains showed that Cedar ranked higher in concentration than other types of pollen, with the maximum concentration at site A.