• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.967-976
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• 2023

Biochar is emerging as a promising substance for achieving carbon neutrality and climate change mitigation. It can absorb several nutrients via ion bonding on its surface functional groups, resulting in slow dissociation of the bonds. Biochar, like organic fertilizers, contributes to sustainable nutrient management. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of nutrient-coated biochar amendments on leafy vegetables production and soil fertility. The nutrient-coated biochar was produced by soaking rice husk biochar in a nutrient solution containing nitrogen (N), phosphorus, and potassium for 24 hours. Nutrient-coated biochar and organic fertilizers were applied to soil at a rate of 120 kg·N·ha^-1. The growth components of the leafy vegetables showed that nutrient-coated biochar led to the highest fresh weight (FW) of both lettuce and kale (i.e., 146.67 and 93.54 g·plant^-1 FW, respectively). As a result, nutrient-coated biochar amendments led to superior yield compared to the control treatment and organic fertilization. The elemental composition of leafy vegetables revealed that soil amended with nutrient-coated biochar resulted in higher nutrient contents, which was attributed to the high nutrient contents supplied by the rice husk biochar. Soil amendment with nutrient-coated biochar positively enhanced the soil fertility compared to amendment with organic fertilizer. Therefore, nutrient-coated biochar is a promising substance for enhancing agronomic performance of leafy vegetables and improving soil fertility.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 1999

This study was developed to evaluate the growth inhibition effects of cell wall components of Enterococcus faecalis 2B4-1 obtained from feces of neonates against tumor cell lines. Polysaccharide fraction (PS) shown sensitive growth inhibition effect in the cell wall components was isolated and characterized. In growth inhibition effects, residue fractin of whole cell was shown sensitive level of percent survival about 30% when administrated at ehe concentration of 100${\mu}$g/ml, and that was more effective than that of supernatant fraction against the tumor cell lines, SNU-1, 3LL, FARROW and HEC-1-B. Sensitive growth inhibition effects against SNU-1, FARROW and HEC-1-B were performed by whole cell (WC) fraction from Ent. faecalis 2B4-1. Cytoplasm fractin (CP) of WC was shown non-inhibition effect, however, the other part of WC, precipitate of disrupted cell (PD), was sensitive against the tumor cell line mentioned above. Followed by separation to peptidoglycan fraction (PG) and polysaccharide fraction (PS) were all sensitive which the latter was shown more sensitive percent survival than the former. Composed sugars of polysaccharide fraction were determined to D-glucose, L-rhamnose and D-glucosamine, and the rate fo composition was calculated to about 1:1:1 by the data of elemental analysis, IR, TLC and HPLC.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.217-226
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• 2013

The collection of TSP and $PM_{2.5}$ aerosols has been made at the Gosan Site of Jeju Island during 2008-2011, and their ionic and elemental species were analyzed, in order to examine the seasonal variation and characteristics of aerosol compositions. The anthropogenic components ($NH_4{^+}$, $nss-SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$, S, Zn, Pb) and the soil components ($nss-Ca^{2+}$, Al, Fe, Ca) showed high concentrations in spring as the prevailing westerly wind, but the concentrations of the sea-salt components ($Na^+$, $Cl^-$) were high in winter. In TSP, the neutralization by $NH_3$ increased in summer, but the neutralization by $CaCO_3$ increased in spring and fall seasons. The organic acids ($HCOO^-$, $CH_3COO^-$) contributed to the acidification of the aerosols by only 5.0%, so the acidification could be mostly contributed by the inorganic acids ($SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$). From the examination of the source origins by factor analysis, the compositions of TSP were influenced by the order of soil > anthropogenic > marine, on the other hand, those of $PM_{2.5}$ were by the order of anthropogenic > marine > soil. The backward trajectory analyses showed that the concentrations of $NH_4{^+}$, $nss-SO_4{^{2-}}$, $NO_3{^-}$ and $nss-Ca^{2+}$ increased highly when the air masses had moved from China continent into Gosan area of Jeju Island.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.367-371
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• 2012

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) contain valuable metals such as Cu, Ni, Au, Ag, and Pd. For an effective recycling of WPCBs, it is essential to recover the valuable metals. In recent years, recycling processes have come to be necessary for separating noble metals from WPCBs due to an increasing amount of electronic device wastes. However, it is well known that glass reinforced epoxy resins in the WPCBs are difficult materials to separate into elemental components, namely metals, glass fibers and epoxy resins in the chemical recycling process. $K_3PO_4$ as a catalyst in dimethylformamide (DMF) and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) was used to depolymerize epoxy resins for recovering metallic and non-metallic components from WPCBs. Reactions of WPCBs were carried out at temperatures $160{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ for 2~12 h. The recycled glass fiber from WPCBs was analyzed by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and evaluated the degree of solubility of the epoxy resin for separation efficiencies of the WPCBs.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.246-252
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• 2021

Among the engine components of an internal combustion engine, the valve train is a series of systems that supply intake gas to the combustion chamber and operate intake and exhaust valves that discharge exhaust gas. If excessive wear occurs in the valve train system, the suction and exhaust valves do not open and close on time, which leads to abnormal combustion and exhaust gas. In this study, we conduct experiments and analyses on friction and wear characteristics of the valve train system. Moreover, we experimentally study the correlation between the pinball and pinball cap on engine oil lubrication, friction experiment, wear amount analysis, and surface analysis. Specifically, we experiment using Ball on reciprocating tribo-tester and apply commercial engine oil sold on the market engine oil. We construct the experimental conditions for each new oil and oil. Accordingly, the completed specimen was subjected to a confocal microscope to check the wear volume, observe the surface of the specimen, and confirm the elemental components using a scanning microscope (SEM) and an energy dispersion X-ray spectrometer (EDS). Through this experiment, we analyze the friction and wear characteristics of valve train components according to engine oil grade, and the obtained data serve as an effective engine oil management method.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.269-276
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• 2014

This study was aimed to develop catalytic system for the dry-based reduction of oxidized mercury ($Hg^{2+}$) to elemental mercury ($Hg^0$) which is one of the most important components comprising mercury continuous emission monitoring system (Hg-CEMS). Based on the standard potential in oxidation-reduction reaction, transition metals including Fe, Cu, Ni and Co were selected as possible candidates for catalyst proceeding spontaneous reduction of $Hg^{2+}$ into $Hg^0$. These transition metal catalysts revealed high activity for reduction of $Hg^{2+}$ into $Hg^0$ in the absence of oxygen in reactant gases. However, their activities were greatly decreased in the presence of oxygen, which was attributed to the transformation of transition metals by oxygen to the corresponding transition metal oxides with less catalytic activity for the reduction of oxidized mercury. Hydrogen supplied to the reactant gases significantly enhanced $Hg^{2+}$ reduction activity even in the presence of oxygen. It might be due to occurrence of combustion reaction between $H_2$ and $O_2$ causing the consumption of $O_2$ at such high reaction temperature at which oxidized mercury reduction reaction took place. Because the system showed high activity for $Hg^{2+}$ reduction to $Hg^0$, which was compatible to that of wet-chemistry technology using $SnCl_2$ solution, the catalytic reduction system of Fe catalyst with the supply of $H_2$ could be employed as a commercial system for the reduction of oxidized mercury to elemental mercury.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 2015

In order to survey the seasonal variation of the chemical composition of particulate matter of $2.5{\mu}m$ or less ($PM_{2.5}$), $PM_{2.5}$ was sampled from 8 February 2013 to 31 March 2014 in an industrial area of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Chemical measurements of the sample included: ionic components ($Na^+$, $NH_4{^+}$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $K^+$, $Cl^-$, $NO_3{^-}$ and $SO_4{^{2-}}$), carbonaceous components - organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC), and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). Also, secondary organic carbon (SOC) was measured based using the EC tracer method, and char-EC and soot-EC were calculated from the analytical results. The data obtained were interpreted in terms of temporal variation. Of the overall mean value of $PM_{2.5}$ mass concentration obtained during the study period, ionic components, OC and EC accounted for 45.3%, 19.7%, and 8.0%, respectively. $NO_3{^-}$ showed a unique seasonal distribution pattern due to a dependence on temperature and absolute humidity. It was estimated that an approximate temperature of $14^{\circ}C$, and absolute humidity of $7g/m^3$ were critical for the reversible reaction of $NH_4NO_3(p){\leftrightharpoons}NH_3(g)+HNO_3(g)$. The amount of OC and EC contributing to the monthly $PM_{2.5}$ mass concentration was higher in autumn and winter compared to spring and summer. This result could be attributed to the impact of burning biomass, since WSOC and the ratio of char-EC/soot-EC showed a similar pattern during the corresponding period. From the comparison of monthly WSOC/OC values, a maximum ratio of 83% was obtained in August (summer). The WSOC and estimated SOC levels derived from the EC tracer method correlated (R=0.77) in summer. The high occurrence of WSOC during summer was mainly due to the formation of SOC by photochemical reactions. Through long-term observation of $PM_{2.5}$ chemical components, we established that the degree to which the above-mentioned factors influence $PM_{2.5}$ composition, fluctuates with seasonal changes.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.16 no.E
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• pp.19-27
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• 2000

Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Elemental Analysis Syztem (EAS) were applied to the investiga-tion of the Characteristics and sources of wintertime atmospheric aerosols in Seoul. Atmospheric aerosols were collected by both fine and coarse fractions using a two-stage filter pack sampler from Kon-Kuk university during the winter season of 1999. PIXE was applied to the analysis of the middle and heavy elements with atomic numbers greater than 14(Si) and EAS was applied to the measurement of the light elements such as H, C and N. The fact that 64.2% of mass of fine particles in Seoul consists of the light elements (N, C , and H) suggests that the measurement of light elements is extremely important. The average mass concentration is Seoul was 38.6$\mu\textrm{g}$m(sup)-3. Elements such as Ca, Fe, Mg, and Ti appeared to have very low Fine/Coarse ratios(0.1∼0.4), whereas che-mical components related to anthropogenic sources such as Br, V, Pb, and Zn were observed to accumulate in the fine fraction. In the Asian Dust Storm(ADS) event, the concentation of soil components increased dramatically. Reconstruction of the fine mass concentrations estimated by a newly revised simple model was fairly in good agreement with the measured ones. Source identification was attempted using the enrichment factor and Pearsons coefficient of correlation. The typical elements derived from each source could be classified by this method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.96-99
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• 2016

This study characterized fly ash produced from a sewage sludge incineration facility in Korea to determine if the byproducts can be utilized. All the incinerated sewage sludge was from a city in Korea. To characterize fly ash and to determine if it can be utilized, pH, water contents, elemental components, particle size, surface morphology, heavy metal compositions, and others were analyzed. In average, pH was 6.2, and water contents was about 5%. T-N and $T-P_2O_5$ were 3% and 24.5%, respectively. Particle size averaged 836 nm; surface morphology did not exhibit any significant results. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis results revealed that major components of the fly ash were $P_2O_5$, CaO, MgO, $K_2O$. Composition of heavy metals by the Korea Standard Methods for Waste Quality did not exceed the criteria for specified wastes in Korea.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.41-50
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• 2016

OBJECTIVES : In this study, microstructural components of crumb rubber modified asphalt (CRMA) binder were investigated using environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). To clearly understand the elemental composition of the CRMA binder, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was employed on the ESEM samples. METHODS : CRMA binders were produced using open blade mixers at $177^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. The binders were artificially aged through a series of accelerated aging processes. Sample preparation was done by making a mold shape on the glass slide. Thereafter, the morphology of the CRMA binder was observed using the ESEM coupled with the EDX. RESULTS : The images captured from the ESEM indicate that the unaged CRMA binder appears to have a single-phase continuous nonuniform structure after the addition of crumb rubber particles, whereas the artificially aged CRMA binder was observed to have two different phases. ESEM coupled with EDX shows detailed internal structure of the modified binders compared to other technologies (i.e., optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and conventional scanning electron microscope). CONCLUSIONS : The captured images resemble the internal structures such as the viscous properties of the unaged CRMA binder and the interaction between the rubber particles and the base binder at aged condition. ESEM is a powerful instrument and with the introduction of EDX, it provided more details of the network microstructure of the asphalt binder. ESEM coupled with EDX is recommended for use in future investigation of microstructure of asphalt binders.