• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.145-156
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• 2015

This study was based on water quality data of the Lake Doam watershed, monitored from 2010 to 2013 at eight different sites with multiple physiochemical parameters. The dataset was divided into two sub-datasets, namely, non-rainy and rainy. Principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA) techniques were applied to evaluate seasonal correlations of water quality parameters and extract the most significant parameters influencing stream water quality. The first five principal components identified by PCA techniques explained greater than 80% of the total variance for both datasets. PCA and FA results indicated that total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total phosphorus, and dissolved inorganic phosphorus were the most significant parameters under the non-rainy condition. This indicates that organic and inorganic pollutants loads in the streams can be related to discharges from point sources (domestic discharges) and non-point sources (agriculture, forest) of pollution. During the rainy period, turbidity, suspended solids, nitrate nitrogen, and dissolved inorganic phosphorus were identified as the most significant parameters. Physical parameters, suspended solids, and turbidity, are related to soil erosion and runoff from the basin. Organic and inorganic pollutants during the rainy period can be linked to decayed matters, manure, and inorganic fertilizers used in farming. Thus, the results of this study suggest that principal component analysis techniques are useful for analysis and interpretation of data and identification of pollution factors, which are valuable for understanding seasonal variations in water quality for effective management.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.157-164
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• 2013

Depending on season, mixed wastewater can show great deviations in terms of the influent ratios of tannery and seafood-wastewater. Increases in the ratio of tannery wastewater in influent water also result in increases in the concentration of chromium, which decreases the ratio of BOD/T-N so that the removal efficiency of organic and nitrogen pollutants in biological wastewater treatment deteriorates. No substantial differences occur in the ratios of Eubacteria/total bacteria as the ratio between tannery wastewater and seafood wastewater changes in the influent water. In contrast, the cell numbers and activities of Eubacteria and total bacteria significantly decline with increasing ratios of tannery wastewater in the influent water. Stable removal of organic and nitrogen pollutants by biological wastewater treatments leads to dominance of Proteobacteria groups in all biological treatment basins. In aeration and oxic basins, ${\gamma}$-Proteobacteria account for approximately 21% of the Eubacteria groups, at $1.9{\times}10^9{\sim}2.0{\times}10^9$ cells/mL, while in an anoxic basin, ${\beta}$-Proteobacteria account for approximately 19% of the Eubacteria groups, at $1.3{\times}10^9$ cells/mL. However, a substantial decline in dominance of approximately 11% occurs for ${\gamma}$-Proteobacteria in aeration and oxic basins and about 1% for ${\beta}$-Proteobacteria in an anoxic basin. Mixed wastewater that undergoes extensive property changes of the influent water shows an efficiency of biological treatment that is greatly influenced by the ratio of dominant Proteobacteria groups.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.754-768
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• 2017

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a group of industrial aromatic organobromine chemicals that have been used since the 1970s as flame retardants in a wide range of consumer products and articles, including plastics, computers, textiles and upholstery. Commercial PBDEs were added to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention as persistent organic pollutants in May 2009. PBDEs are still frequently found in sludge and effluent from wastewater treatment plants, even though commercial PBDEs were prohibited or voluntarily phased out several years ago. Conventional wastewater treatment processes are not designed to effectively remove PBDEs. This indicates that there is an urgent need for new developments and improvements to enhance upon the treatment techniques which are currently available. Several studies have suggested the potential removal and degradation technologies for PBDEs in wastewater. In this study, the concentrations and compositional profiles of PBDE congeners in sludge and effluent are investigated by analyzing the relevant literature data in relation to their usage patterns in commercial products in North America and South Korea. The strengths and weaknesses of the current PBDEs removal techniques (i.e., biodegradation, zero-valent iron, photolysis, sorption, etc.) are discussed critically. In addition, future research direction regarding the treatment and removal of PBDEs from wastewater is also suggested, based on the literature review.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.573-583
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• 2000

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared from various precursors of plantic, synthetic, and mixed fabrics of viscous rayon and cotton. Their adsorption performances of phenol and methylene blue in aqueous phase were evaluated through their adsorption isotherms, adsorption rates and breakthrough curves. The two adsorbates showed type I adsorption isotherm on ACFs. Adsorption rates to ACFs were 100 fold faster than to GAC. The effective diffusion coefficients of the adsorbates in ACFs were twenty fold greater than in GAC. The ACFs removed completely ten organic pollutants from a prepared water specimens through the 2nd column of a natural filtration method where 50 L of the water samples were treated.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.331-346
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• 2010

Perfluorinated compounds have characteristics of resistance to heat, acidic, basic conditions and also resist water, oil, grease, pollutant. Futhermore they are used by various industrial material, nowadays, they produced in large scale for indutrial and commercial areas. However, they also resist metabolizing and degrading in environmental system (plant, animal, even human body). Moreover, in animal's bodies, PFCs can be accumulated in organ (eg; liver) and lead to liver cell necrosis even oncogenesis. Perfluorinated compounds are newly registered as new persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on Stockholm convention in 2009. Therefore necessity for analytical methodology for determination of PFCs in various environmental samples is even more increased. This study discussed sample preparation and instrumental conditions for the analysis of PFCs in environmental and biota samples.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2011

Amphibian population declines globally. Aquatic contamination by organic pollutants including endocrine disrupters has been suspected to the one of the reason for distinction of amphibia which has obligate aquatic life style during larval period. Amphibians have been widely accepted as animal model for the study of endocrine disruption in aquatic ecosystem at molecular as well as individual levels. There are increasing need for toxicological data in amphibians at multiple endpoints for management of contamination and development of safety guideline for important EDs in aquatic media. Alkylphenols have been widely used in agricultural, industrial, and housekeeping activities, contaminating the aquatic media and evoking endocrine disruption in aquatic animals. In this review, we summarized data concerning the endocrine disruption by alkylphenol organic pollutants on amphibians according to route, concentration, terms, and developmental stage of exposure together with mechanism of endocrine disruption.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.203-209
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• 2017

Innovations in the biofiltration process can provide effective solutions to overcome crucial water pollution problems. The elimination of pollutants is a result of the combined effects of biological oxidation, adsorption and filtration processes. This research aims to evaluate the performance of quartz sand biofiltration for removing total suspended solids, turbidity, color, organic matter, and ammonium from polluted river water and develop an empirical model for designing quartz sand biofilters for the treatment of polluted river water. Experiments were conducted using two biofilter units filled with quartz sand as filter media. A set of experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of hydraulic retention time on biofilter performance in removing water contaminants. The kinetics of organic matter removal were also determined to describe the performance of the biofilter. The results show that biofiltration can significantly remove river water pollutants. Removal efficiency depends on the applied hydraulic retention time. At a hydraulic retention time of two hours, removal efficiencies of total organics, ammonium and total suspended solids were up to 78%, 82%, and 91%, respectively. A model for designing quartz sand biofiltration has been developed from the experimental data.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.65-98
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• 2014

Plastics of the marine environment are broken gradually down into smaller particles by chemical weathering, called "microplastic". Microplastics absorb organic pollutants that are persistent bioaccumulative substances. If marine animals ingested microplastic added to contaminant, it will lead to a bioaccumation through the food web. It eventually destroy health of marine environment and is harmful to marine top predators including humans. Also, Microplastics can impact marine animals by leaching the endocrine disruptor in microplastic itself as well as playing an adsorbent role of organic pollutants. Persistent and bioaccumulative substances in Korea have been regulated in terms of chemical risk but existing regulations largely have been limited in land-based source management of microplastic. Thus, the harmful impact will be increased whether the microplastics absorbed contaminants. To prevent risk of persistent bioaccumulative substances, this study suggests the following: (1) the strict management of microplastic by designating the hazardous substances, (2) expand the use of biodegradable plastic, (3) the effort for reuse and recycle, (4) the expand of microplastic clean-up programs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.281-288
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• 2023

This study was performed to evaluate the pollutants removal characteristics of two types of RBFs(Riverbank filtration, Riverbed filtration) intake facilities installed in Nakdong River and in Hwang River respectively. The capacity of each RBF is 45,000 m³/d for riverbank filtration intake facility and 3,500 m³/d for riverbed filtration intake facility. According to data collected in the riverbank filtration site, removal rate of each pollutant was about BOD(Biochemical Oxygen Demand) 52%, TOC(Total Organic Carbon) 57%, SS(Suspended Solids) 44%, Total coliforms 99% correspondingly. Furthermore, Microcystins(-LR,-YR,-RR) were not found in riverbank filtered water compared to surface water in Nakdong River. DOC(Dissolved Organic Carbon) and Humics which are precursors of disinfection byproduct were also reported to be removed about 59% for DOC, 65% for Humics. Based on data analysis in riverbed filtration site in Hwang River, removal rate of each contaminant reaches to BOD 33.3%, TOC 38.5%, SS 38.9%, DOC 22.2%, UV254 21.2%, Total coliforms 73.8% respectively. Additionally, microplastics were also inspected that there was no obvious removal rate in riverbed filtered water compared to surface water in Hwang River.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.930-940
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• 2013

We evaluated contamination with organic matter and trace metals by analyzing grain size, ignition loss (IL), chemical oxygen demand (COD), acid volatile sulfide (AVS), and trace metals (Al, Fe, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Cr, Mn, Hg, and As) in surface sediments at 28 stations around the Geum River estuary in July 2008. The surface sediments in the estuary were mainly composed of coarse sediment (sand and muddy sand), with mean grain size (Mz) ranging between $2-4{\O}$. The high concentrations of IL, COD, and trace metals were mainly found at stations in front of the Gusan outer port and industrial complex, and near the Seocheon coast with relatively fine sediments. In addition, the concentrations of IL and all trace metals, except Pb and As, showed good positive correlations with Mz, indicating that the concentrations of organic matter and trace metals were mainly dependent on sediment grain size. The concentrations of COD, AVS, and trace metals in most sediments did not exceed the sediment quality guideline (SQGs). Although the sediments in the study region are not polluted with organic matter and trace metals, there are many point sources of pollutants, such as Gusan port and industrial complex, Janghang refinery, and a thermoelectric power plant around the Geum River estuary. Thus, the management of coastal environments through periodic monitoring of organic matter and trace metals is required in the future.