• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.38 no.6
• /
• pp.493-502
• /
• 2012

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the mass concentration of nanoparticles and understand the characteristics of elements of heavy metal concentrations within nanoparticles in the air using Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor Model-110 (MOUDI-110), based on indoor and outdoor air. Methods: This Study sampled nanoparticles using MOUDI-110 indoors (office) and outdoors at S University in Asan, Korea in order to reveal the concentration of nanoparticles in the air. Sampling continued for nine months (10 times indoors and 14 times outdoors) from March to November 2010. Mass concentrations of nanoparticle and concentrations of heavy metals (Al, Mn, Zn, Ni, Cu, Cr, Pb) were analyzed. Results: Indoors, geometric mean concentration of nanoparticles ranged in size from 0.056 ${\mu}m$ to 0.10 ${\mu}m$ and those of 0.056 ${\mu}m$ or less recorded 0.929 ${\mu}g/m^3$ and 1.002 ${\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. On the other hand, the levels were lower outdoors with 0.819 ${\mu}g/m^3$ and 0.597 ${\mu}g/m^3$. Mann-Whitney U tests showed that the difference between the indoors and the outdoors was statistically meaningful in terms of particles of 0.056 ${\mu}m$ or less (p<0.05) in size. These results are possibly influenced by the use of printers and duplicators as the factor that increased the concentration of nanoparticles. In seasonal concentration distribution, the level was higher during the summer compared to in the autumn. Those of 0.056 ${\mu}m$ or less in size presented a statistically meaningful difference during the summer (p<0.05). These results may be influenced by photochemical event as the factor that makes the levels high. Regarding zinc, among the other heavy metals, the fine particles ranged in size from 0.056 ${\mu}m$ to 0.10 ${\mu}m$ and those of 0.056 ${\mu}m$ or less recorded 1.699 $ng/m^3$ and 1.189 $ng/m^3$ in the outdoors. In the indoors, the levels were lower, with 0.745 $ng/m^3$ and 0.617 $ng/m^3$. Cr and Ni at the size of 0.056 ${\mu}m$ or less, both of which have been known to pose severe health effects, recorded higher concentrations indoors with 0.736 $ng/m^3$ and 0.177 $ng/m^3$, compared to 0.444 $ng/m^3$ and 0.091 $ng/m^3$ outdoors. By season, Zn, Ni, Cu and Pb posted a high level of indoor concentration during the fall. As for Cr, the level of concentration indoors was higher than outdoors both during the summer and the autumn. Conclusion: This study indicates the result of an examination of nano-sized particles and heavy metal concentrations. It will provide useful data for the determination of basic nanoparticle standards in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 2006

Recently, wood-framed houses has been built in the Korea for pension. Wood is good material for human healthy, while the construction lumbers are treated with preservative such as CCA (chromated copper arsenate), which contain some toxic elements for human body. However, if the waste woody biomass treated with various heavy metals, which has been collected from house construction or demolition, was fired in the field, and incinerated or landfilled after mass collection, such components will result in the toxic air pollutants in the burning or land fills, and spreaded into other areas. So the careful selection of wood and chemicals are required in advance for house construction, in particular, for environment-friendly housings. Therefore, this study was carried out to determine the content of toxic heavy metals in woody materials such as domestic hinoki and imported hemlock treated with CCA for housing materials, and the post-treated wood components such as organic fertilizer, sludge, dry-distilled charcoal and carbonized charcoal, to be returned finally into soil. The results are as follows. 1) The chemical analysis of toxic trace elements in various solid biomass required accurate control and management of laboratory environment, and reagents and water used, because of the error of data due to various foreign substances added in various processing and transporting steps. So a systematic analyzers was necessary to monitor the toxic pollutants of construction materials. 2) In particular, the biomass treated with industrial biological or thermal conditions such as sludge or charcoals was not fully dissolvable after third addition of $HNO_3$ and HF. 3) The natural woody materials such as organic fertilizer, sludge. and charcoals without any treatment of preservatives or heavy metal components were nontoxic in landfill because of the standard of organic fertilizers, even after thermal or biological treatments. 4) The CC A-treated wood for making the construction wood durable should not be landfilled, because of its higher contents of toxic metals than the criterion of organic fertilizer for agriculture or of natural environment. So the demolished waste should be treated separately from municipal wastes.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.549-559
• /
• 2009

The objectives of this study are to investigate the biomineralization of goethite and lepidocrocite formed on the twisted-stalk and the sheathed-filament structure that is suggest microbe origin, and heavy metal in the yellow Fe-hydroxide. On the ratio of Cl and the Cl/Br ratios that are a pollution and non-pollution of groundwaters, it is indicated that the groundwater in this areas were relatively contaminated by human activity. The composition of the yellow Fe-hydroxide consisted mainly of $Fe_2O_3$ and $SiO_2$. The content of $Fe_2O_3$ ranges from 58.57 wt.% to 75.7 3wt.%, and $SiO_2$ content ranges from 5.8 wt.% to 16.17 wt.%. Heavy metal elements such as Zn(max. 6,160 mg/kg), Pb(max. 377 mg/kg), U(max. 503 mg/kg), Cr(max. 203 mg/kg), Cu(max. 77 mg/kg), V(max. 162 mg/kg), Ni(max. 105 mg/kg) were observed to be rich in those yellow Fe-hydroxide. The lath and platy crystals and needle-shaped crystals were clearly observed on the twisted-stalks and sheathed-filaments structure. The goethite, gypsum, and lepidocrocite were identified in the yellow Fe-hydroxide by x-ray powder diffraction.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.477-490
• /
• 2003

Bottom sediments from Youngil Bay, East Coast of Korea, were analyzed for grain composition as well as elemental compositions and total organic carbon (TOC) content in order to investigate the spatial variability and content of metal elements. Grain size distribution of the sediments seems to be controlled by anticlockwise current pattern with bottom topography of the study area. Spatial variability of TOC and all elemental contents reflects those of grain size, but an exception was found in the harbor area (Old-Port): their contents are high in the central part of the bay with the muddy sediment and decrease toward the sand-dominated coastal zone. However, contents of Ca, Sr, K are high in the sand-dominated coastal zone and contents of some heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Zn) are high in the Old-Port area and the mouth of Hyeongsan River. The correlation matrix and R-mode factor analyses reveal that four important factors controlling the distribution of metals in the bay are sediment grain size (or quartz dilution effect), the formation of sulfide minerals associated with decomposition of organic matters under anoxic geochemical environment, calcium carbonate (mainly shell fragments) and coarse-grained feldspar mineral. According to the metal content of labile fraction an CER (concentration enrichment ratio) value, high accumulation of some heavy metals in the harbor area seems to result not formed by early diagenetic processes under anoxic environment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.24 no.1 s.61
• /
• pp.38-45
• /
• 2006

Ecological characteristics of microbial populations inhabiting heavy metal polluted soil were investigated. The samples were collected from 293 sites around an factory and industry at Gyeoungsangbuk-do. We measured the contents of seven heavy metal elements (Cd, Cu, As, Hg, Pb, $Cr^{6+}$, CN), seven sites have been seriously contaminated by mercury and chrome. A quantitative evaluation of microbial populations in mercury and chrome contaminated soil was examined by using plate count method. Bacterial numbers in polluted soil samples ranged from $7.4X10^5\;to\;9.3X10^7\;cfu\;g^{-1}$, about $10\sim100$ fold less than the count for the unpolluted soil. Moulds were not detected in chrome polluted soil. The log values of actinomycetes of each contaminated soil samples were log ranged from 6.18 to 7.52. The ratio of actinomycetes was similar to unpolluted soil. The investigation showed actinomycetes to be the major microbial population inhabiting the mercury and chrome polluted soil. Thirty-one isolates among the total isolates were examined for antibacterial activity. These isolates were identified based on a phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences, they were categorized in three major phylogenetic groups, belong to the Streptomyces (6 strains), Saccharopolyspora (3 strains), Nocardiodes (1 strain). On the phylogenetic tree, the clade consisting of five isolates were distantly related to all of the established Streptomycetes genera, indicating the possibility as members of new species.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.39-53
• /
• 2001

Environmental pollution of the Tohyun mine creek area was investigated on the basis of geology, mineralogy and geochemistry. In soils and sediments of the mine area, ${Al_2}{O_3}/{Na_2O}$ and ${K_2}O/{Na_2}O$ ratios are partly negative correlation against ${SiO_2}/{Al_2}{O_3}$, respectively. Geochemical characteristics of some trace and rare earth elements such as V/Ni, Ni/Co, La/Ce, Th/Yb, Th/U, La/Th, ${La_N}/{Yb_N}$, La/Sc and Sc/Th are revealed a narrow range and homogeneous compositions may be explained by simple source lithology. These results suggest that sediments source of the host shale around the mine area could be originated by basic to intermediate igneous rocks. Mineral compositions of soil and sediment near the mine area were partly variable mineralogy, which are composed of quartz, mica, feldspar, chlorite, clay minerals and some pyrite. Soils and sediments with highly concentrated heavy minerals, gravity separated mineralogy, are composed of some pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, goethite and various kinds of hydroxide minerals on the polished sections. As normalized by bed rock composition, average enrichment indices of major elements in sediments, precipitates, farmland soils and paddy soils are 1.0, 1.7, 0.9 and 0.8, respectively. Maximum concentration of environmental toxic elements in the mine creek are detected with Ag = 186 ppm, As = 17,100 ppm, Bi = ]27 ppm, Cd = 77 ppm, Cu = 12,299 ppm, Pb = 8,897 ppm, Sb = 1,350 ppm, W = 599 ppm and Zn = 12,250 ppm, which are increasing with total FeO increasing, and extremely high concentrations of surface sediments and precipitates near the waste rock dump. These toxic elements (As, Bi, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, W and Zn) of the samples, normalizing by host rock concentration, revealed that average enrichment index is 106.0 for sediments, 279.6 for precipitates, 3.5 for farmland soils and 1.6 for paddy soils. However, on the basis of EPA values, enrichment indices of all the samples are 40.7, 121.4, 1.3 and 0.6, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.42-50
• /
• 2009

Samples of subway dust were collected by the air filter system of 30 subway stations on Daegu subway line 1 in January 2008. Samples were sieved below 100 ${\mu}m$, and 14 elements were analyzed using ICP after acid extraction. Results obtained from the source assessment of trace elements using enrichment factor showed that Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, V were influenced by natural sources such as weathered rock and resuspended soil, while Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were influenced by anthropogenic sources such as fuel combustion and waste incineration. Concentrations were remarkably higher in components from natural sources than in components from anthropogenic sources. Anthropogenic sources were significantly affected by indoor dusts than outdoor dusts. Results of pollution indices of heavy metals indicated that indoor dusts were more contaminated with heavy metal ions than outdoor dusts. The correlation analysis among trace elements indicated that components were much correlated in the order of natural sources-anthropogenic sources, anthropogenic sources-anthropogenic sources, natural sources-natural sources in both indoor and outdoor dusts. Trace element components of outdoor dusts were largely correlated than those of indoor dusts. In addition, indoor dusts were significantly affected by outdoor dusts rather than depth from the surface or the average daily number of subway passengers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.285-293
• /
• 2003

Tailings of Dukum mine in the vadose and saturated zone were investigated to reveal the mobility of metal elements and the condition of mineralogical solubility according to redox environments throughout the geochemical analysis, thermodynamic modelling, and mineralogical study for solid-samples and water samples(vadose zone; distilled water: tailings=5 : 1 reacted, saturated zone; pore-water extracted). In the vadose zone, sulfide oxidation has generated low-pH(2.72∼6.91) condition and high concentration levels of S $O_4$$^{2-}$(561∼1430mg/L) and other metals(Zn : 0.12∼l57 mg/L, Pb : 0.06∼0.83 mg/L, Cd : 0.06∼l.35 mg/L). Jarosite$(KFe_3(SO_4)_2(OH)_6)$ and gypsum$(CaSO_4{\cdot}2H_2O$) were identified on XRD patterns and thermodynamics modelling. In the saturated zone, concentration of metal ions decreased because pH values were neutral(7.25∼8.10). But Fe and Mn susceptible to redox potential increased by low-pe values(7.40∼3.40) as the depth increased. Rhodochrosite$(MnCO_3)$ identified by XRD and thermodynamics modelling suggested that $Mn^{4+}$ or $Mn^{3+}$ was reduced to $Mn^{2+}$. Along pH conditions, concentrations of dissolved metal ions has been most abundant in vadose zone throughout borehole samples. It was observed that pH had more effect on metal solubilities than redox potential. How-ever, the release of co-precipitated heavy metals following the dissolution of Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides could be the mechanism by which reduced condition affected heavy metal solubility considering the decrease of pe as depth increased in tile saturated zone.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.27-32
• /
• 2009

Human hair is an excretory system for trace metals and thus metal content in human hair can reflect the body status. The investigation of trace elements in human hair has been correlated with the diagnosis of various diseases as well as the monitoring of deficiency statues in nutrition. Many chronic diseases may be related to mineral status, some may be related to toxic mineral. Hair samples were collected from 120 inhabitants of the city of Seoul, Korea. In this study the concentrations of 10 elements (Hg, Pb, Cd, Al, As, U, Bi, Sb, Ba, Be) in hair were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). The conclusions showed that people in Seoul, Korea were affected by some kinds of toxic minerals. The Hg concentrations of male are higher than those of female and reference range. The mean concentration of Sb was higher in the female than male and reference range. In age distribution, the mean concentration of Hg was in 40's are higher than 20's and 30's and reference range. The concentrations of Al were the highest in the 20's. After analyzing, we concluded that a compounded treatment should be conducted, which considers the variety of factors related to detoxification.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.64-77
• /
• 2021

Objective: Biological monitoring of trace elements in human blood samples has become an important indicator of the health environment. The purpose of this study was to detect and evaluate multiple metal items in blood samples based on ICP-MS, to perform comparative evaluation with the existing analysis method, and to develop and verify a new method. Methods: 100 μL of whole blood from 80 healthy subjects was used to analyze ten metals (Sb, tAs, Cd, Pb, Mn, Hg, Mo, Ni, Se, Tl) using ICP-MS. Verification of the analysis method included calculation of linearity, accuracy, precision and detection limits. In addition, a comparative test with the conventional graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GF-AAS) method was performed. In the case of Pb, Cd, and Hg in whole blood, cross-analysis between Pb, Cd, and Hg analysis methods was performed to confirm the difference between the existing method and the new method (ICP-MS). Results: The coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.999 or higher in seven items and 0.995 or higher in three items. The Pb result showed that Pearson's correlation coefficient was very high at 0.983, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.966. The Cd result showed that Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.917 between the existing method and the new analysis concentration value. Its intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.960, and there was no significant difference between the two groups. Hg had a low correlation at 0.687, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.761, which was lower than that of Pb and Cd. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy of Pd and Cd were satisfactory, but Hg did not meet the criteria for both accuracy and precision when compared with the conventional analysis method. Conclusion: This study can be meaningful in that it proposes a more efficient and feasible analysis method by verifying a blood heavy metal concentration experiment using multiple simultaneous analyses. All samples were processed and analyzed using the new ICP-MS. It was confirmed that the agreement between the two methods was very high, with the agreement between the current and new methods being 0.769 to 0.998. This study proposes an efficient simultaneous methodology capable of analyzing multiple elements with small samples. In the future, studies of various applications and the reliability of ICP-MS analysis methods are required, and research on the verification of accurate, precise, and continuous analysis methods is required.