• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.549-551
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• 2001

The heavy use of petroleum products in modern livings has brought ubiquitous environmental contaminants of aromatic compounds, which persist in aquatic and geo-environment without the substantial degradation. The persistence and accumulation of the aromatic compounds, which include xylene, phenol, toluene, phthalate, and so on are known to cause serious problems in our environments. Some of soil and aquatic microorganisms facilitate their growth by degrading aromatic compounds and utilizing degrading products as growth substrates, the biodegradation helps the reentry of carbons of aromatic compounds, preventing their accumulation in our environments. The metabolic studies on the degradation of aromatic compounds by microoganisms were extensively carried out along with their genetic studies. A Rhodococcus sp. EL-GT isolated in activated sludges has shown the excellent ability to grow on phenol as a sole carbon source. In the present study investigated a gene encoding phenol-degrading enzymes from a Rhodococcus sp. EL-GT.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2015

The presence of phenols in treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) is an environmental concern due to their phytotoxicity and antimicrobial activity. In this study, phenol-degrading bacteria, Methylobacterium sp. NP3 and Acinetobacter sp. PK1 were immobilized on oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs) for removal of phenols in the treated POME. The bacterial exopolysaccharides (EPS) were responsible for cell adhesion to the EFBs during the immobilization process. These immobilized bacteria could effectively remove up to 5,000 mg/L phenol in a carbon free mineral medium (CFMM) with a greater degradation efficiency and rate than that with suspended bacteria. To increase the efficiency of the immobilized bacteria, three approaches, namely activation, acclimation, and combined activation and acclimation were applied. The most convenient and efficient strategy was found when the immobilized bacteria were activated in a CFMM containing phenol for 24 h before biotreatment of the treated POME. These activated immobilized bacteria were able to remove about 63.4% of 33 mg/L phenols in the treated POME, while non-activated and/or acclimated immobilized bacteria could degrade only 35.0%. The activated immobilized bacteria could be effectively reused for at least ten application cycles and stored for 4 weeks at $4^{\circ}C$ with the similar activities. In addition, the utilization of the abundant EFBs gives value-added to the palm oil mill wastes and is environmentally friendly thus making it is attractive for practical application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.706-713
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• 2010

The research seeks to find the optimal conditions for sonodegradation of naphthalene and phenol as exemplary organic pollutants to be subjected to ultrasound in varying frequencies (28 kHz, 580 kHz, and 1,000 kHz) and in the presence of different kinds of additive (T$TiO_2$, $H_2O_2$, $FeSO_4$, Zeolite, and Cu). In cases of both naphthalene and phenol, 580 kHz of ultrasound has proven to be the most effective among others at sonodegradation. Based on the observation that OH radicals are also produced in maximum under exposure of 580 kHz of ultrasound, we concluded that this frequency of ultrasound creates hospitable condition for the combined process of degradation by pyrolysis and oxidization. $FeSO_4's$ degradation rate and k1 value have increased by approximately 1.8 times compared with the results of the solutions without any additives. This seems to be the result of ultrasound reaction which, accompanied by Fenton's reaction, increased the oxidative degradation and the production of OH radicals. However, application of ultrasound and Fenton's reaction is limited to the batch type conditions, as its use in continuous system can cause loss of iron or decay of the cistern, thereby creating additional pollutants. When the additive is replaced with $TiO_2$, on the contrary, the rate of sonodegradation has increased up to 20% compared to when there was no additive. We therefore conclude that $TiO_2$ could prove to be an effective additive for ultrasound degradation in continuous treatment system.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.349-353
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• 1999

A study was carried out to see the effects of phenol on the biological degradation of a wastewater containing 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol and the biodegradation kinetic coefficients of Eckenfelder's modified model for the activated sludge process. The system containing base mix (BM) which was formulated with essential energy sources and nutrients was run down and washed out when 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol was introduced into the base mix unit without acclimation to phenol. Whereas for the system acclimated to phenol, the treatment efficiency was 91.9% in terms of $BOD_5$ and treatability for each chemical of phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, and 2,4-dinitrophenol was 99.8%, 43.3% and 62.5% based on concentration, respectively. Additional BM was added into the combined unit containing phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dinitrophenol so that the better treatment efficiency was achieved for each compound. The biokinetic coefficient of Eckenfelder's modified model without phenol acclimation was not estimated because the system did not reach the steady state. Thc coefficient for the phenol acclimation was 12.44 /day, however it was changed as 46.91 /day in addition of both of phenol acclimation and 47 mg/l of BM. The results presented above could be useful for the process design and further study in the field of biodegradation of benzene derivatives.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1343-1351
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• 2008

The activated sludge obtained from wastewater coke oven plant was immobilized by entrapment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). The effects of several factors on the biodegradation of $CN^-$ from. synthetic wastewater were investigated using batch and continuous reactors. The degradation rate of $CN^-$ increased with increasing of the immobilized bead volume in the reactor. Approximately 7.65mg/L of $NH_4-N$ was produced upon the degradation of 35mg/L of $CN^-$. When high concentrations of the toxic cyanide complex were used in the testing of cyanide degradation, the free activated sludge could be inhibited more than that of the immobilized activated sludge. When the phenol concentration was higher than 400mg/L in the synthetic wastewater, approximately 98.4% of $CN^-$ was removed within 42 hours by the immobilized activated sludge. However, the cyanide was not completely degraded by the tree activated sludge. This indicates that high phenol concentrations can act as a toxic factor for the free activated sludge. A $CN^-$ concentration of less than 1mg/L was achieved by the immobilized sludge at the loading rate of 0.025kg $CN^-/m^3-d$. Moreover, it was found that the HRT should be kept for 48 hours in order to obtain stable treatment conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.19-25
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• 1995

This research was carried out to investigate the methods of liquefaction with Pinus koraiensis, and chemical components of the liquefied wood by FT-IR analysis and pyrolysis-GC/MS. Acetylated wood powder was liquefied above 90% in phenol or m-cresol when treated at about 150$^{\circ}C$ for 30min., using some catalysts. Untreated wood powder was liquefied above 90% in phenol or m-cresol when treated at about 200$^{\circ}C$ for 60min., using some catalysts. The results of FTIR analysis, carbohydrates were terribly disintegrated, the other side lignin peaks were occurred in liquefied wood, particulary. The results of pyrolysis-GC/MS, the liquefied wood have clear four peaks, phenol, guaiacol, o-cresol and m-/p-cresol, due to degradation of lignin, particulary.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2007

A laboratory scale experiment on phenol conversion properties by pulsed corona discharge process was carried out. Effects of operating parameters such as applied voltage, input oxygen, and electrode geometry on phenol conversion and solution properties were investigated. Electrical discharges generated in liquid phase increased the liquid temperature by heat transfer from current flow, decreased the pH value by producing various organic acids from phenol degradation, and increased conductivity by generating charge carriers and organic acids. The oxygen supply enhanced the phenol conversion through the ozone generation dissolution and the production of OH radicals. Series type electrode configuration induced more ozone production than reference type configuration because it produced gas phase discharges as well as liquid phase discharges. Therefore, the higher phenol conversion and TOC(total organic carbon) removal efficiency were obtained in series type configuration.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.181-189
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• 2015

A composite material was tested to eliminate phenol in aqueous solution combining adsorption on activated carbon and photocatalysis with $TiO_2$ in two different ways. A first implementation involved a sequential process with a loop reactor. The aim was to reuse this material as adsorbent several times with in situ photocatalytic regeneration. This process alternated a step of adsorption in the dark and a step of photocatalytic oxidation under UV irradiation with or without $H_2O_2$. Without $H_2O_2$, the composite material was poorly regenerated due to the accumulation of phenol and intermediates in the solution and on $TiO_2$ particles. In presence of $H_2O_2$, the regeneration of the composite material was clearly enhanced. After five consecutive adsorption runs, the amount of eliminated phenol was twice the maximum adsorption capacity. The phenol degradation could be described by a pseudo first-order kinetic model where constants were much higher with $H_2O_2$ (about tenfold) due to additional ${\bullet}OH$ radicals. The second implementation was in a continuous process as with a fixed bed reactor where adsorption and photocatalysis occurred simultaneously. The results were promising as a steady state was reached indicating stabilized behavior for both adsorption and photocatalysis.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2008

Carbon/$TiO_2$ composite photocatalysts were thermally synthesized with different mixing ratios of anatase to phenol resin through an ethanol solvent dissolving method. The XRD patterns revealed that only anatase phase can be identified for Carbon/$TiO_2$ composites. The diffraction peaks of carbon were not observed, however, due to the low carbon content on the $TiO_2$ surfaces and the low crystallinity of amorphous carbon. The results of chemical elemental analyses of the Carbon/$TiO_2$ composites showed that most of the spectra for these samples gave stronger peaks for carbon and Ti metal than that of any other elements. The BET surface area increases to the maximum value of $488\;m^2/g$ with the area depending on the amount of phenol resin. From the SEM images, small $TiO_2$ particles were homogeneously distributed to a composite cluster with the porosity of phenol resin-based carbon. From the photocatalytic results, the MB degradation should be attributed to the three kinds of synergetic effects, such as photocatalysis, adsorptivity, and electron transfer by light absorption between supporter $TiO_2$ and carbon.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.85-91
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• 2004

The objective of this study is to determine the optimum conditions of operational parameters using factorial design for phenol degradation in photocatalytic oxidation reactors. Factorial design is widely used to select the dominant factors and their ranges in experiments involving several factors where it is necessary to study the effect of factors on a response. The effects of initial concentration of phenol, intensity of UV light and surface area of catalyst on phenol degradation were investigated. Two levels were considered in this study so that the experiment was a $2^3$ factorial design with three replicates. The experimental results show that an increase in initial concentration of phenol from 5 to 50 mg/L intensity of UV light from 5,000 to $20,000\;{\mu}W/cm^2$, and surface area of catalyst from 740 to $2,105\;cm^2$ enhanced the phenol degradation rate by an average of 1.86, 1.79, and 2.10 mg/L hr, respectively. Interaction effects do not appear to be as large on the phenol degradation rate as the main effects of single factors. The optimum working condition for photocatalytic oxidation reactors, despite the higher three factors the better removal rate, is the highest surface area or catalyst.