• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.704-715
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• 2006

Oil spill was found in 1999 from a diesel storage facility located near the top of Baekun Mountain in Uiwang City. Application of bioremediation techniques was very relevant in removing oil spills in this site, because the geological condition was not amenable for other onsite remediation techniques. For efficient bioremediation, bacterial communities of the contaminated site and the uncontaminated control site were compared using both molecular and cultivation techniques. Soil bacterial populations were observed to be stimulated to grow in the soils contaminated with diesel hydrocarbon, whereas fungal and actinomycetes populations were decreased by diesel contamination. Most of the dieseldegrading bacteria isolated from contaminated forest soils were strains of Pseudomonas, Ralstonia, and Rhodococcus species. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that the profiles were different among the three contaminated sites, whereas those of the control sites were identical to each other. Analysis of 16S rDNA sequences of dominant isolates and clones showed that the bacterial community was less diverse in the oil-contaminated site than at the control site. Sequence analysis of the alkane hydroxylase genes cloned from soil microbial DNAs indicated that their diversity and distribution were different between the contaminated site and the control site. The results indicated that diesel contamination exerted a strong selection on the indigenous microbial community in the contaminated site, leading to predominance of well-adapted microorganisms in concurrence with decrease of microbial diversity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.4270-4274
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• 2011

A method is proposed for determining chromium content in the carbon steel pipes of a nuclear power plant (NPP) to evaluate wall thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC). A flat file was used to obtain filings samples. To assess sampling quality, a disk form of SRM 1227 was ground with the flat file, and the amount of Cr in the filings was determined by ICP-AES. The content of chromium in the filings of SRM 1227 was estimated as six times higher than the certified value due to the contamination of chromium in the file. To eliminate chromium contamination from the file, it was coated with WC-12Co using high-velocity oxygen-fuel (HVOF) spraying systems. After obtaining filings samples using the coated file, Cr content in four types of disk-form SRMs was determined by ICP-AES. The recoveries of Cr in the disk-form SRMs were in the range of 95.4-102.6%, with relative standard deviations from 0.43 to 3.0%. The Cr contents in the filings collected from the used outlet headers of the nuclear power plants using the flat file coated were in the range of 0.11-0.19%.

• ALGAE
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.91-106
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• 2020

Incorporating renewable fuel into practice, especially from algae, is a promising approach in reducing fossil fuel dependency. Algae are an exceptional feedstock since they produce abundant biomass and oils in short timeframes. Algae also produce high-valued lipid products suitable for human nutrition and supplement. Achieving goals of producing algae fuels and high-valued lipids at competitive prices involves further improvement of technology, especially better control over cultivation. Manipulating microalgae cultivation conditions to prevent contamination is essential in addition to promoting optimal growth and lipid yields. Contamination of algal cultures is a major impediment to algae cultivation that can however be mitigated by choosing extremophile microalgae. This work describes the isolation of alkali-tolerant / alkaliphilic microalgae native to South Florida with ideal characteristics for cultivation. For that purpose, water samples from Lake Okeechobee were inoculated into Zarrouk's medium (pH 9-12) and incubated for 35 days. Selection resulted in isolation of three strains that were screened for biomass and lipid accumulation. Two alkali-tolerant algae Chloroidium sp. 154-1 and Chlorella sp. 154-2 were poor lipid accumulators. One of the isolates, the diatom Fistulifera sp. 154-3, was identified as a lipid accumulating, alkaliphilic organism capable of producing 0.233 g L^-1 d^-1 dry biomass and a lipid content of 20-30% dry weight. Lipid analysis indicated the most abundant fatty acid within Fistulifera sp. was palmitoleic acid (52%), or omega-7, followed by palmitic acid (17%), and then eicosapentanoic acid (15%). 18S rRNA phylogenetic analysis formed a well-supported clade with Fistulifera species.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.37-48
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• 2022

Accurate analysis of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil is an important prerequisite for proper source tracking of contamination. Identification of petroleum compounds is commonly carried out by peak pattern matching in gas chromatography. However, this method has several technical limitations, especially when the soils underwent biological, physical and chemical transformation. For instance, it is very difficult to distinguish jet fuel (JP-8) from kerosene because JP-8 is derivatized from secondary reaction between chemical agents (e.g. anti-oxidants, antifreezer and so on) and kerosene. In this study, an alternative method to separately analyze JP-8 and kerosene in the petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil was proposed. Qualitative analyses were performed for representative phenolic antioxidants [2,6-di-tert-butyl phenol (2,6-DTBP), 2,4-di-tert- butylphenol(2,4-DTBP), 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methyl phenol (2,6-DTBMP)] using a two dimensional gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (2D GC×GC-TOF-MS). This qualitative analysis of antioxidants in soil would be a useful complementary tool for the peak pattern matching method to identify JP-8 contamination in soil.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.717-726
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• 2017

The current allowable cross-contamination level of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) in aviation turbine fuel (AVTUR) is 50 mg/kg, due to that the presence of FAME in AVTUR can significantly impact the fuel supply system and jet engine. It has been difficult to analyze the level of FAME in AVTUR, since it is consisted of a lot of hydrocarbons. In this study, thus, a new method using multi-dimensional GC-MS (MDGC-MS) was proposed in order to determine the FAME level in AVTUR effectively. Applying to MDGC-MS with Deans switching system enabled us to detect and quantify the FAME with low carbon numbers such as those derived from coconut oil and palm kernel oil. The matrix effect of MDGC-MS method, which could shift the FAME peaks to slightly longer retention times, was reduced by 20 times compared with that of 1-dimensional GC-MS reference method. This developed method could be suitable for qualitative and quantitative analyses to determine the contamination level of trace FAME in AVTUR.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2001

Liquid fossil fuel contaminated by water can cause trouble in the combustion processes and affect the endurance of a combustion system. Using an optical sensor to monitor the water content instantaneously in a fuel pipeline is an effective means of controlling the fuel quality in a combustion system. In two component liquid flows of oil and water, the flow pattern and characteristics of water droplets are changed with various flow conditions. Additionally, the light scattering of the optical sensor measuring the water content is also dependent on the flow patterns and droplet characteristics. Therefore, it is important to investigate the detailed behavior of water droplets in the pipeline of the fuel transportation system. In this study, the flow patterns and characteristics of water droplets in the turbulent pipe flow of two component liquids of gasoline and water were investigated using optical measurements. The dispersion of water droplets in the gasoline flow was visualized, and the size and velocity distributions of water droplets were simultaneously measured by the phase Doppler technique. The Reynolds number of the gasoline pipe flow varied in the range of $4{\times}10^{4}\;to\;1{\times}10^{3}$, and the water content varied in the range of 50 ppm to 300 ppm. The water droplets were spherical and dispersed homogeneously in all variables of this experiment. The velocity of water droplets was not dependent on the droplet size and the mean velocity of droplets was equal to that of the gasoline flow. The mean diameter of water droplets decreased and the number density increased with the Reynolds number of the gasoline flow.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2010

Oil contamination soil has been one of the most environmental social issues for decades in the inside and outside of country. The law of soil environmental preservation was carried out in the 1990s and the government controlled not only soil environment management and the remediation of contaminated soil but also promoted the development of remedial technology and cleanup business of contaminated soil by national policy. In addition to agriculture areas, the main oil contaminated sites are a gas station, oil reservoir, petro-chemical complex, site of railway carriage base and military camp. The contamination-frequency of agriculture area and effect sites are low but it has significantly important area on account of producing food for human beings. Therefore, we should be concerned about oil contamination damage of agriculture area. The oil contamination damage of agriculture area influenced drop of birth and breeding since the oil directly adheres to seeds and farm products even diffusion of contaminated soil to cultivation area. The studies of the crops and the food vegetation has not enough detailed data caused by the incident of oil contamination. This study investigated the effect of oil in germination and growth of selected plant seeds. In this study, we try to verify whether the oil contamination by accidents on farmland influenced the damage of farm produce and the mutual relation both oil contaminated soil or the vegetation of crops. The impact of oil on plant development was followed by phytotoxicity assessments. The plants exhibited visual symptoms of stress, growth reduction and perturbations in developmental parameters. The increase of the degree of pollution induced more marked effects in plants, likely because of the physical effects of oil. The relationships between the phytotoxicity contents of plants and growth reduction suggest a chemical toxicity of fuel oil. In addition, while cleaned up the contaminated soil under the standard of contaminated soil we examined it was suitable for region standard and it may have practical possibility for fill material of construction of afforestation and molding soil of landfill.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.42-46
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• 2008

Even though fuel cell have high efficiency when pure hydrogen from gas tank is used as a fuel source, it is more beneficial to generate hydrogen from city gas (mainly methane) in residential application such as domestic or office environments. Thus hydrogen is generated by reforming process using hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the reforming process for hydrogen production is accompanied with unavoidable impurities. Impurities such as CO, $CO_2$, $H_2S$, $NH_3$, $CH_4$, and $CH_4$ in hydrogen could cause negative effects on fuel cell performance. Those effects are kinetic losses due to poisoning of the electrode catalysts, ohmic losses due to proton conductivity reduction including membrane and catalyst ionomer layers, and mass transport losses due to degrading catalyst layer structure and hydrophobic property. Hydrogen produced from reformer eventually contains around 73% of $H_2$, 20% or less of $CO_2$, 5.8% of less of $N_2$, or 2% less of $CH_4$, and 10ppm or less of CO. This study is aimed at investigating the effect of carbon dioxide on fuel cell performance. The performance of PEM fuel cell was investigated using current vs. potential experiment, long run(10 hr) test, and electrochemical impedance measurement when the concentrations of carbon dioxide were 10%, 20% and 30%. Also, the concentration of impurity supplied to the fuel cell was verified by gas chromatography(GC).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.199-202
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• 2002

Many methods have been developed for the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater. Among those technologies, in-situ bioremediation is most likely to be cost-effective method for petroleum hydrocarbon contamination. But the in-situ bioremediation can require more time to remediate hydrocarbon-contaminated soil and groundwater than other methods. Therefore we intended to save time of in-situ bioremediation using a biological additive to activate indigenous microbes in soil. The additive, 'Inipol EAP 22' stimulates the growth of specific flora, significantly accelerating the speed at which hydrocarbons are biodegraded. And it hans been tested in accordance with protocol approved by the USEPA and is registered on the National Contingency Plan Product Schedule List. In the experiment, three soil samples contaminated with fuel oil were prepared in the same concentration. Inipol EAP 22 was not added to one sample and was added to the other two samples with 5% and 10% of hydrocarbon by weight respectively. And $CO_2$gas derived from bacterial respiration was analyzed in each samples for 15 days. As a result, 145% and 153% of $CO_2$ evolution (microbial respiration) against the sample without 'Inipol EAP 22' occurred in samples with 'Inipol EAP 22' addition of 5% and 10%, respectively

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.99-110
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• 2022

In decommissioning a nuclear power plant, numerous concrete structures need to be demolished and decontaminated. Although concrete decontamination technologies have been developed globally, concrete cutting remains problematic due to the secondary waste production and dispersion risk from concrete scabbling. To minimize workers' radiation exposure and secondary waste in dismantling and decontaminating concrete structures, the following conceptual designs were developed. A micro-blast type scabbling technology using explosive materials and a multi-dimensional contamination measurement and artificial intelligence (AI) mapping technology capable of identifying the contamination status of concrete surfaces. Trials revealed that this technology has several merits, including nuclide identification of more than 5 nuclides, radioactivity measurement capability of 0.1-10⁷ Bq·g^-1, 1.5 kg robot weight for easy handling, 10 cm robot self-running capability, 100% detonator performance, decontamination factor (DF) of 100 and 8,000 cm²·hr^-1 decontamination speed, better than that of TWI (7,500 cm²·hr^-1). Hence, the micro-blast type scabbling technology is a suitable method for concrete decontamination. As the Korean explosives industry is well developed and robot and mapping systems are supported by government research and development, this scabbling technology can efficiently aid the Korean decommissioning industry.