• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.681-688
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• 1996

In the removal of phenolic precipitates formed by horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and $H_2O_2$ from waste water, the effects of the concentrations of phenolic compounds and $H_2O_2$ on the removal efficiency of various phenols were studied. More than 90% of various phenolic compounds were removed from the aqueous solutions (pH 5-7) by HRP and H2O2. The removal efficiency of phenolic compounds by HRP was reduced to a great extent when the initial concentration of $H_2O_2$ was over 10mM. Furthermore, no phenolic compounds were removed when 50mM of $H_2O_2$ was used. The HRP's turnover number, which indicates the number of phenolic molecules removed per one molecule of HRP, was the largest as 18047 for p-ethoxyphenol while it was the smallest as 1244 for m-chlorophenol when the initial concentrations of phenolic compounds and H2O2 were the same at 1mM. HRP which was separated from the aqueous solution containing phenol and $H_2O_2$ after 24hr of reaction revealed structural changes and diminished activity. The Soret absorbance near 404nm of this HRP sample was decreased to 48% of that of fresh HRP. The values of kcat and kcat/Km of this HRP sample for the oxidation of guaiacol were also reduced to 41% and 51% of those of fresh HRP, respectively. The removals of nonphenolic aromatic compounds such as benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene (BET) by HRP and $H_2O_2$ were enhanced when phenols were coexisting in the aqueous solutions of BET.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.411-419
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• 2002

In this study, the series of ultrasonic irradiation for removal of refractory aromatic compounds has been selected as a model reaction in the batch reactor system in order to obtain the reaction kinetics. The products obtained from the ultrasonic irradiation were analysed by GC and GC/MSD. The decomposition of benzene produced toluene, phenol, and C1-C4 compounds, while the intermediates during the ultrasonic irradiation of 2,4-Dichlorophenol(DCP) were phenol, HCl, catechol, hydroquinone, and benzoquinone. It was found that more than 80% of benzene, and 2,4-DCP solutions were removed within 2 hours in all reaction conditions. The reaction order in the degradation of these three compounds was verified as pseudo-zero or first order. From the fore-mentioned results, it can be concluded that the refractory organic compounds could be removed by the ultrasonic irradiation with radicals, such as $H{\cdot}$ and $OH{\cdot}$ radical causing the high increase of pressure and temperature. Finally, it appeared that the technology using ultrasonic irradiation can be applied to the treatment of refractory compounds which are difficult to be decomposed by the conventional methods.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.152-157
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• 2003

Diesel-contaminated soils were ozonated for different times (0 - 900 min) and incubated for 9 wk to monitor petroleum hydrocarbons (PH)-degradative potential of indigenous microorganisms in the soils. Increased ozonation time decreased not only concentration of PH but also number of microorganisms in the soils. Microorganisms in the ozonated soils increased during 9-wk incubation as monitored by culture- and nonculture-based methods. Higher (1-2 orders of magnitude) cell number was observed by quantitative analysis of soil DNA using probes detecting genes encoding 165 rRNA(rrn), naphthalene dioxygenase (nahA), toluene dioxygenase (todC), and alkane hydroxylase (alkB) than microbial abundance estimated by culture-based methods. Such PH-degraders were relatively a few or under detection limit in 900-min ozonated soil. Further PH-removal observed during the incubation period supported the presence of PH-degraders in ozonated soils. Highest reduction (25.4%) of total PH (TPH) was observed in 180-min ozonated soil white negligible reduction was shown in 900-min ozonated soil during the period, resulting in lowest TPH-concentration in 180-min ozonated soil among the ozonated soils. Microbial community composition in 9-wk incubated soils revealed slight difference between 900-min ozonated and unozonated soils as analyzed by whole cell hybridization using group-specific rRNA-targeted oligonucleotides. Results of this study suggest that appropriate ozonation and subsequent biodegradation by indigenous microorganisms may be a cost-effective and successful remediation strategy for PH-contaminated soils.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.271.1-271.1
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• 2013

Titania is usually used in sun-screens, tooth paste, and other daily used objects as a pigment. However, scientists have focused on titania as photocatalyst due to its excellent activities. By fabricating vanadium doped TiO2 and CuOx co-catalyzed TiO2 nano-size filter, the degradation level of the volatile organic compound (VOC) concentration was tested using 365nm UV LED as light source in a closed chamber. Main purpose for this test is to evaluate the activities of various catalysts for degrading the VOCs which are detrimental to human body and toluene and p-xylene were chosen in the VOC removal test. Target gas materials were injected into the test chamber with dry air as carrier gas which was flowed into the gas washer bottle filled with liquid form of VOC substance. When the VOC gas flows into the chamber, it is circulated by 200 mm fan in order to contact with the set-up filter on the aluminum holder. Target gas concentration in the chamber was monitored using VOC detector (miniRae3000, Raesystems) which was also placed inside the chamber. With the measured concentration, the VOC degradation efficiency and the degradation rate were evaluated and used to compare the catalytic activities.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.1572-1578
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• 2007

The specified wastes consist of waste acid, waste alkali, waste oil, waste organic solvent, waste resin, dust, sludge, infectious waste, and others. Among these specified wastes, a great portion is liquid phase wastes. The purpose of this study is to develop the high temperature and high pressure (HTHP) treatment system for decomposition of the liquid phase specified waste (LPSW). For this, we analyzed the physical and chemical properties of the LPSW such as density, proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, heating values, and designed 0.3 ton/day HTHP treatment system. The LPSW tested in this experiment were prepared by adding TCE(trichloroethylene) and toluene to liquid phase waste which was brought into the commercial waste treatment company. The average density of waste oil (25 samples), waste resin (5 samples), and waste solvent (12 samples) was 0.99 g/mL, 0.91 g/mL, and 0.93 g/mL, respectively. And the average lower heating value of waste oil, waste resin, and waste solvent was 8,294 kcal/kg, 5,809 kcal/kg, and 7,462 kcal/kg, respectively. The DRE (Destruction & Removal Efficiency) of TCE and toluene were 99.95% and 99.73% at atmospheric pressure conditions and that were 99.99% and 99.82% at pressurized conditions, respectively. These results showed that TCE/toluene mixtures were properly decomposed over about 99.73% of DRE by the HTHP treatment system and pressurized conditions were more effective to destroy those pollutants than atmospheric pressure conditions. Also these systems could be directly applied to industries which try to treat the liquid phase specified waste within the regulation limit.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.285-292
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• 2022

Adsorption tower systems based on activated carbon adsorption towers have mainly been employed to reduce the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), a major cause of air pollution. However, the activated carbon currently used in these systems has a short lifespan and thus requires frequent replacement. An approach to overcome this shortcoming could be to develop metal oxide photocatalysis-activated carbon composites capable of degrading VOCs by simultaneously utilizing photocatalytic activation and powerful adsorption by activated carbon. TiO₂ has primarily been used as a metal oxide photocatalyst, but it has low economic efficiency due to its high cost. In this study, ZnO particles were synthesized as a photocatalyst due to their relatively low cost. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were deposited on the ZnO surface to compensate for the photocatalytic deactivation that arises from the wide band gap of ZnO. A microfluidic process was used to synthesize ZnO particles and Ag NPs in separate reactors and the solutions were continuously supplied with a pack bed reactor loaded with activated carbon powder. This microfluidic-assisted pack bed reactor efficiently prepared a Ag-ZnO-activated carbon composite for VOC removal. Analysis confirmed that Ag-ZnO photocatalytic particles were successfully deposited on the surface of the activated carbon. Conducting a toluene gasbag test and adsorption breakpoint test demonstrated that the composite had a more efficient removal performance than pure activated carbon. The process proposed in this study efficiently produces photocatalysis-activated carbon composites and may offer the potential for scalable production of VOC removal composites.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1126-1133
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• 2010

A two-stage biofilter was constructed and utilized to determine the removal efficiency when treating dynamic loading of a mixture of odorous compounds including benzene, toluene, p-xylene, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. A yeast strain, Candida tropicalis, and a sulfur oxidizing bacterial (SOB) strain, Acidithiobacillus caldus sp., were immobilized in polyurethane media and packed in the two-stage biofilter. The experiment of dynamic loading variation was composed of (1) stepwise loading variation of all the odorous compounds (total EC test), (2) stepwise loading variation of each odorous compound, and (3) intermittent loading variation with 2-day-off and 3-day-on. The total EC test showed that the maximum elimination capacity was $61\;g/m^3/hr$ for total VOCs, and 5.2 and $9.1\;g/m^3/hr$ for ammonia and hydrogen, respectively. In addition, the inhibition between VOCs was observed when the loading of each individual VOC was varied. Especially the stepwise increase in toluene loading resulted in decreases of benzene and p-xylene removal efficiencies about 30% and 25%, respectively. However, the inhibition between organic and inorganic compounds was not observed. The intermittent loading variation with 2-day-off and 3-day-on showed that greater than 95% of the overall removal efficiency was restored in two days after the loading resumed. Consequently, the two-stage biofilter packed with immobilized microorganisms showed advantages over conventional biofilters for the simultaneous treatment of the mixture of organic and inorganic odorous compounds.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.484-489
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• 2005

In order to determine the removal rate of non-biodegradable substances and the change of their structural properties, this study was carried out by an ozone-treatment experiment on leachate collected from the landfill area of D City in Chung chung nam-do and examined the change of the chemical properties of non-biodegradable substances. The main elements of non-biodegradable substances in landfill leachate were benzene, toluene, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, xylene, etc. and the concentration of toluene was 15.7 mg/L on the average, benzene 7.2 mg/L, trichloroethane 1.1 mg/L, trichloroethylene 0.75 mg/L and xylene 0.5 mg/L. When leachate was treated with ozone for 10 min, 30 min and 60 min, UV absorbance was reduced with the increase of reaction time, and the reduction rate was 38.6% at 60 min. TOC was removed by 13.2% at 60 min. The low reduction rate of TOC may be because TOC reacts indirectly with OH radical produced from reaction with ozone while UV absorbance usually relies on direct reaction between organic matters and ozone molecules. Color was removed by up to 97%, which suggests that ozonation is highly effective in removing coloring elements in leachate. Sixteen kinds of non-biodegradable compounds were found in the leachate and most of them had the characteristic of aromatic hydrocarbon. Among them dibutyl phthalate was identical with a substance included in the list of US EPA, which is classified as a mutagen that may cause the mutation of genes and disorders in chromosomes. In addition, 2,5-Cyclohexadiene-1,4-dione, 1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid and butyl octyl ester were found to be similar to substances listed by USEPA. According to the result of analyzing structural changes before and after ozonation using GC-MS, cyclic compounds and aromatic compounds were observed in the original water and aliphatic compounds were newly observed after ozonation. In addition, through ozonation, humic substances of high molecular weight were oxidized and decomposed and produced low-molecular compounds such as aldehyde, ketone and carboxyl acid and highly biodegradable aliphatic carbon, which suggests the bio-degradability of non-biodegradable substances.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.332-338
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• 2017

The objective of this work was to study the low temperature vacuum adsorption technology applicable to small and medium scale painting plants, which is the main emission source of volatile organic compounds. The low-temperature vacuum swing adsorption (VSA) technology is the way that the adsorbates are removed by reducing pressure at low temperature ($60{\sim}90^{\circ}C$) to compensate disadvantages of the existing thermal swing adsorption (TSA) technology. Commercial activated carbon was used and the absorption and desorption characteristics of toluene, a representative VOCs, were tested on a lab scale. Also based on the lab scale experimental results, a $30m^3min^{-1}$ VSA system was designed and applied to the actual painting factory to assess the applicability of the VSA system in the field. As a result of lab scale experiments, a 2 mm pellet type activated carbon showed higher toluene adsorption capacity than that of using 4 mm pellet type, and was used in a practical scale VSA system. Optimum conditions for desorption experiments were $80{\sim}90^{\circ}C$ and 100 torr. In the practical scale system, the adsorption/desorption cycles were repeated 95 times. As a result, VOCs discharged from the painting factory can be effectively removed upto 98% or more even after repeated adsorption/desorption cycles when using VSA technology indicating potential field applicabilities.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2021

In order to measure the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of a sample which is too large to use commercially available chamber, a stainless steel vacuum chamber (VC) (with an internal diameter of 205 mm and a height of 50 mm) was manufactured and the temperature of the chamber was controlled using an oven. After concentrating the volatiles of the sample in the chamber by helium gas, it was made possible to remove residual volatile substances present in the chamber under reduced pressure ((2 ± 1) × 10-2 mmHg). The chamber was connected to a purge & trap (P&T) using a 6 port valve to concentrate the VOCs, which were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after thermal desorption (VC-P&T-GC-MS). Using toluene, the toluene recovery rate of this device was 85 ± 2 %, reproducibility was 5 ± 2 %, and the detection limit was 0.01 ng L-1. The method of removing VOCs remaining in the chamber with helium and the method of removing those with reduced pressure was compared using Korean drinking water regulation (KDWR) VOC Mix A (5 μL of 100 ㎍ mL-1) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 2 μL of 500 ㎍ mL-1). In case of using helium, which requires a large amount of gas and time, reduced pressure ((2 ± 1) × 10-2 mmHg) only during the GC-MS running time, could remove VOCs and BHT to less than 0.1 % of the original injection concentration. As a result of analyzing volatile substances using VC-P&T-GC-MS of six types of cell phone case, BHT was detected in four types and quantitatively analyzed. Maintaining the chamber at reduced pressure during the GC-MS analysis time eliminated memory effect and did not affect the next sample analysis. The volatile substances in a cell phone case were also analyzed by dynamic headspace (HT3) and GC-MS, and the results of the analysis were compared with those of VC-P&T-GC-MS. Considering the chamber volume and sample weight, the VC-P&T configuration was able to collect volatile substances more efficiently than the HT3. The VC-P&T-GC-MS system is believed to be useful for VOCs measurement of inhomogeneous large sample or devices used inside clean rooms.