• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2003

To evaluate the effects of slow release fertilizer and chemical dispersant on oil biodegradation, mesocosm studies were conducted on sand seashore. The rapid removal rates (85%) of aliphatic hydrocarbons and the simultaneous decreases of n-$C_{17}$/pristane (69%) and $n-C_{18}/phytane$ (61%) ratios by the addition of slow-release fertilizer (SRF) within 37 days of experiment indicated that SRF could enhance the oil degrading activity of indigenous microorganisms in sand mesocosm. Although the growth of heterotrophic bacteria and petroleumdegrading bacteria in the mesocosm treated with $Corexit 9527^{R}$ was stimulated, the biological oil removal based on the ratios of $Corexit 9527^{R}$ and $n-C_{18}/phytane$ was inhibited. Removal rates of aliphatic hydrocarbons (56%), and n-$C_{17}$/pristane (27%) and $n-C_{18}/phytane$ (17%) ratios by the addition of chemical dispersant $Corexit 9527^{R}$ were similar or lower than those values of control (50, 60, 46%), respectively. The biodegradation activity, however, when simultaneously treated with SRF and $Corexit 9527^{R}$, was not highly inhibited and even recovered after the elimination of chemical dispersant. From these results it could be concluded that the addition of SRF enhanced the oil removal rate in oligotrophic sand seashore and chemical dispersant possibly inhibit the oil biodegradation. Hence, in order to prevent the unrestrained usage of chemical dispersant in natural environments contaminated with oil, the National Contingency Plan of Oil Spill Response should be carefully revised in consideration of the application for bioremedaition techniques.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.1 s.73
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• pp.86-91
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• 2006

Oil spills caused by the accidents have been occurred from house and factory waste, grounded tanker, the rupture of storage tank and oil pipelines, the deterioration of various industrial facilities, etc. Many oil spills result in contamination of shorelines and workplace. Fire and explosion may happen from these spills. There are several technologies used for clean-up application, which include use of oil dispersing agents, absorbents, solidifiers, booms and skimmers by physical, chemical, and biological methods. Methods for oil spill clean-up operation are classified into the absorption type, gel type and self-swelling type. Porous materials with oil absorptive properties are classified into micropore, mesopore, and macropore depending on their pore sizes. Recently, new porous materials with smaller size have been developed, but the selective oil absorption in water-in-oil interface demonstrates the macro pore size. In this study oil absorption effects were evaluated using the organic porous materials with a complex function of gel type and swelling type. Samples were subjected to analysis by FT-IR spectroscopy and were characterized in terms of gel formation and morphologies. Oil sorption capacity, pressure retention force and gel strength were also measured. From these results, the physicochemical reactivity before and after gelation was verified and the industrial applications of clean-up operation were suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.322-331
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• 2016

Oil budget calculator identifies the removal pathways of spilled oil by both natural and response methods, and estimates the remaining oil required response activities. A oil budget calculator was newly developed as a response tool for Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident in Gulf of Mexico in 2010 to inform clean up decisions for Incident Comment System, which was also successfully utilized to media and general public promotion of oil spill response activities. This study analyzed the theoretical background of the oil budget calculator and explored its future application to Korea. The oil budge calculation of four catastrophic marine pollution incidents indicates that 3~8% of spilled oil was removed mechanically by skimmers, 1~5% by in-situ burning, 4.8~16% by chemical dispersion due to dispersant operation, and 37~56% by weathering processes such as evaporation, dissolution, and natural dispersion. The results show that in-situ burning and chemical dispersion effectively remove spilled oil more than the mechanical removal by skimming, and natural weathering processes are also very effective to remove spilled oil. To apply the oil budget calculator in Korea, its parameters need to be optimized in response to the seasonal characteristics of marine environment, the characteristics of spilled oil and response technologies. A new algorithm also needs to be developed to estimate the oil budget due to shoreline cleanup activities. An oil budget calculator optimized in Korea can play a critical role in informing decisions for oil spill response activities and communicating spill prevention and response activities with the media and general public.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.148-155
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• 2015

Using dispersants is known to be an effective solution to accelerate the natural dispersion and being an appropriate oil spill response strategy. By breaking up large oil chunks into small droplets, dispersants are generally intended to help reducing further oil exposures and slicks. Collecting property data of circulating crude oil in South Korea and understanding the interaction between crude oils and dispersions need to be preceded for the effective dispersant use. This paper provides an property analysis of three selected oils which have the same composition of spilt oils from the Herbei Spirit Incident and conducts an emulsification and toxicity experiment with selected domestic and foreign dispersants. Results will present a direction of future domestic dispersants' development which aimed at eco-friendly and safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.679-688
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• 2000

Dispersants, which are used to break water-in-oil emulsions and to remediate oil-spills, are another water pollutants. In this study, magnetic separation technology was applied to remove dispersants from the sea. Magnetite and maghemite were used as magnetic sorbents and SDDBS, an anionic surfactant and Triton X-100, a nonionic surfactant, were employed as dispersants. Batch experiments were undertaken to study the sorption capacity and sorption equilibrium, and water-bath experiments were conducted to simulate the real situation and to describe the recovery of magnetic particles by the permanent magnet or electromagnet. Maghemite has rather constant removal efficiency for dispersants, regardless of surfactant species. On the other hand, removal efficiency by magnetite is higher for anionic surfactant than maghemite and is higher in distilled water than in seawater which contains more ions. The sorption of dispersants to magnetite is explained by electrostatic attraction and that of maghemite is described not only by electrostatic attraction, but also by structural characteristics that provide high sorption ability and surface condition. Water bath experimental results showed that recovery efficiency of magnetic particle after sorption for dispersants is nearly 100%. It is suggested that this magnetic separation technology is an effective way of dispersant removal because of short operating time, high sorption capacity, and high recovery efficiency of sorbents.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.151-156
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the affecting factors on Oil-Mineral Aggregates(OMA) for stranded oil on intertidal flat, because the OMA formation enhances the oil dispersion and biodegradation rates. We choose the affecting factors such as spilled oil concentrations(50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 mg/L), mineral concentration(100, 200, 500, 1,000, 2,000, 4,000 mg/L), salinity(10, 20, 30, 40 psu), shaking time(1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 hr) and applied dispersant volume(0, 5, 10, 15, 20%). Major conclusions derived from this study are as follows. It was observed that the kaolinite interacts three times strongly with crude oil than quartz. OMA formation was enhanced with increasing of spilled oil concentrations, whereas the increase of salinity rarely affected the OMA formation. The shaking time for OMA formation affected positively with kaolinite, but quartz was irrespective the shaking time. The applied dispersant enhanced the OMA formation by 13% in kaolinite and 56% in quartz experimental condition.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 1997

Recently the bioremediation technology has been widely used to recover the oil contaminated environments The application of bioremediation agents to oil polluted environments became common and thus many kinds of commercial products were imported into domestic market. In Korea, howcver. the standardization of bioremediation products quality is not yet established and results of efficacy test .ire scarce. In this study five oil spill bioremediation commercial products including microbial inoculants and en'cyme agents are tested for the oil degradation rate. From the results most products shows the strong oil emulsifying phenomena due to the contained chemical oil dispersant and the low oil degradation rate. Product D inhibited the oil degradability of microorganisms even in the natural sea water. From these results it could be concluded that in the near future the laboratory protocol and standardization of products quality for bioremediarion agents should be prepared to activate the effective application of bioremediation technology in Korea.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.174-190
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• 1996

Damage assessment based on in situ surveys for oil spills in marine environment is limited by fundamental difficulties as well as tremendous expenses. Except for intertidal zones, the damage is not preserved well. Also such surveys are usually confined to adult organisms. To overcome these limitations a computer model, NRDAM/CME, was developed in the case of USA (Reed et al., 1989), where an acute toxicity data base was used to assess indirect damages through food webs and loss due to recruitment as well as adult losses. In the present study damage assessment of natural biological resources for hypothetical oil spills is attempted using a computer model for hypothetical spills of Bunker C and heavy crude oil. In the model, the logical structure of NRDAM/CME was adopted, and biomass and productivity database were compiled for the Korean waters. The results showed that the damage increased in a nonlinear fashion as the spill amount increased. The magnitude of the damage depended upon the chemical properties of oil viscosity and solubility in particular, which implies that usage of oil dispersant might increase the damage by dispersing oil. The results also indicate that long term damage due to recruitment loss could be greater than short term damage.