• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.62-73
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• 2020

PAHs commonly found in industrial sites such as manufactured gas plants (MGP) are potentially toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic, and thus require immediate remediation. In-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) is known as a highly efficient technology for soil and groundwater remediation. Among the several types of oxidants utilized in ISCO, persulfate has gained significant attention in recent years. Peroxydisulfate ion (S₂O₈^2-) is a strong oxidant with very high redox potential (E⁰ = 2.01 V). When mixed with Fe²⁺, it is capable of forming the sulfate radical (SO₄^-·) that has an even higher redox potential (E⁰ = 2.6 V). In this study, the influence of various iron activators on the persulfate oxidation of PAHs in contaminated soils was investigated. Several iron sources such as ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄), ferrous sulfide (FeS) and zero-valent iron (Fe(0)) were tested as a persulfate activator. Acenaphthene (ANE), dibenzofuran (DBF) and fluorene (FLE) were selected as model compounds because they were the dominant PAHs found in the field-contaminated soil collected from a MGP site. Oxidation kinetics of these PAHs in an artificially contaminated soil and the PAH-contaminated field soil were investigated. For all soils, Fe(0) was the most effective iron activator. The maximum PAHs removal rate in Fe(0)-mediated reactions was 92.7% for ANE, 83.0% for FLE, and 59.3% for DBF in the artificially contaminated soil, while the removal rate of total PAHs was 72.7% in the field-contaminated soil. To promote the iron activator effect, the effects of hydroxylamine as a reducing agent on reduction of Fe³⁺ to Fe²⁺, and EDTA and pyrophosphate as chelating agents on iron stabilization in persulfate oxidation were also investigated. As hydroxylamine and chelating agents (EDTA, pyrophosphate) dosage increased, the individual PAH removal rate in the artificially contaminated soil and the total PAHs removal rate in the field-contaminated soil increased.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.169-175
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• 2014

PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: PAHs) is the hydrophobic inorganic material composed of carbon and hydrogen that is easily adsorbed biological organisms in the ocean. Bivalves is the indicator of environment monitoring because of reflect growth, physiological response of bivalve followed their habitat environment. The aim of research is understand the change of oysters (Crassostrea gigas) physiological response under exposed PAHs concentration for control, 1, 10 and $100{\mu}g/L$. We investigated induced immune change response for oyster hemocyte and effect of tissue RNA/DNA ratio for mantle, gill and adductor muscle individually. As a result of experiment change of immune response the oyster hemocyte when exposed PAHs showed that viability and adhesion is no significant difference (ANOVA test, p < 0.05). However phagocytosis decreased under the over $10{\mu}g/L$ of PAHs concentration and ROS increased with the increase of PAHs concentration. The change of RNA/DNA ratio is R/D ratio decreased with the increase of PAH concentration in adductor muscle. However gill and mantle showed no change of R/D ratio with PAHs concentration. The oysters when exposed inorganic pollutant that decreased of physiological condition and damaged protein synthesis of adductor muscle.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.322-333
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• 2009

In this study, a measurement method was evaluated for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the ambient atmosphere. PAHs were sampled by high-volume samplers, and were then analysed with a GC/MS system. Particulate PAHs were collected on $8"{\times}10"$ quartz fiber filter, while vapor phase PAHs were adsorbed on polyurethane foam (PUF). Target compounds included a total of 36 PAHs, which are known to be frequently detected in the urban atmosphere. It was not necessary to clean-up samples before samples were analyzed using GC/MS, and the overall performance of the method was tested by a variety of quality control and quality assurance schemes. It is generally known that the clean-up procedure can negatively affect the recovery of samples. Precision and accuracy was evaluated using SRM provided by US NIST, and the results were generally satisfactory and reliable. However, the GC/MS method appeared not to be adequate for 6-rings PAHs, such as coronene, due to its lower sensitivity. In addition, collection efficiencies for low molecular compounds, such as 2-rings PAHs, were poor because of the lower retention volume of the PUF adsorbent. As a result, it was concluded that the method based on high-volume sampling and GC/MS analysis can give very reliable data by simultaneous sampling of both particulate and vapor phases for 3-rings to 5-rings PAHs of environmental concern.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.574-582
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• 2012

This study presents the concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) listed as priority pollutants by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), in 98 sludges from 54 industrial wastewater treatment facilities of South Korea. The mean concentrations of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ were ranged from 32.5 ${\mu}g/kg-dw$ to 1189.3 ${\mu}g/kg-dw$ by industries, and the highest content was found in the petrochemical industry, followed by chemical, clothing manufacturing and dying, pulp and papermaking, secondary wastewater treatment, and food/beverage producing industries. Comparisons to the EU and Danish standards of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ in sewage sludge for land application showed only two samples (one from petrochemical, and the other from chemical industry) exceeded the limits. ANOVA test with PAH concentrations as variables revealed no statistically significant influences by industrial types and sampling time (i.e., seasonal variations). Pearson correlations between individual PAHs showed strong relationships (r>0.7) among 4-ring PAHs. Concentrations of acenaphthylene, anthracene, fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(f)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene presented strong correlations to ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$. Principal component analysis discriminated entire samples into three groups by two principal components (PC1 and PC2) with 70% of data variations, in which industrial types were not of importance, but a dominance of certain PAHs. Samples in group-I, which is high PC1 and low PC2, were characterized by a dominance of 2-ring PAHs, and in group-II, PC1 and PC2 showed a linear relation, was dominant 4-ring PAHs. Group-III with low PC1 and high PC2 includes 17 samples showing a noticeably high contribution of 3-ring PAHs to ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$. This study provides concentrations of PAHs in industrial sludges collected from a wide variety of sources (six industrial types) and two seasons of sampling events, and the comparison of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ with other studies are also discussed.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.519-530
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• 2014

Twenty four individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds both in gas- and particle-phase were quantified in three tunnels (Namsan Tunnel 3, Jeongneung Tunnel, Bukak Tunnel) to characterize vehiculate emission of PAHs. Gas phase PAHs were dominant in tunnels which consisted of 85% of total PAHs concentrations. Naphthalene and 2-methyl naphthalene were the most abundant gas phase PAH compounds, while the concentrations of fluoranthene and pyrene were highest in the particle phase. Most (96%) of the gas phase PAH compounds consisted of two- and three-aromatic rings whereas most of the particle phase PAHs were in four and five-rings (67%) in tunnels. Average BaP-eq concentrations of PAHs in the particle phase ($20.8{\pm}11.6ngm^{-3}$) was about twenty fold higher than that in the gas phase ($1.6{\pm}0.6ngm^{-3}$). It means that the particle phase PAHs has more adverse health effect than the gas phase PAHs even though the concentrations of the particle phase PAHs were lower than those of the gas phase PAHs. Compared to previous studies reporting diagnostic ratios for specific PAH compounds, the profile of individual PAH compounds measured in this study reflected well for the vehiculate emissions. We reported, for the first time, on the results of the profile of individual PAH compounds measured in tunnels for both gas and particle phases.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.64-74
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• 2011

The aim of study was to investigate polluted amounts 16 PAHs in railroad(waste railway ties) area, factory area and land-fill area. All of the samples were analyzed by GC-MSD(SIM mode), and the recovery range, detection limit and standard deviation obtained by this experiment were 73.88 ~ 94.75%, 0.009 ~ 2.252 ${\mu}g$/kg and 1.861 ~ 12.373, respectively. The concentrations of total PAHs(t-PAHs) and total carcinogenic PAHs(t-PAHcarc) in soils of three area were in the range of 12.54 ~ 3274.95 ${\mu}g$/kg on a wet weight basis with a mean value of 499.8 ${\mu}g$/kg and 0 ~122.77 ${\mu}g$/kg with a mean value of 20.16 ${\mu}g$/kg, respectively. The correlation between t-PAHs and t-PAHcarc appeared very high in railroad(waste railway ties) area ($R^2$ = 0.8301), factory area ($R^2$ = 0.9217) except land-fill area($R^2$ = 0.3782), indicated that t-PAHcarc concentration increases in proportion with t-PAHs.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.20-30
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• 2012

In case of analyzing PAHs (EPA 16 compounds) in oil-contaminated soils, the lump of peaks may occur because of the aliphatic and polar compounds in oil. This phenomenon is due to the lower accuracy of the analysis. To solve this problem, evaluation of application of silicagel-alumina multi-layer fraction was performed using standard substances and oil-contaminated soils. As a result of application of silicagel-alumina multi-layer fraction cleanup method using standard substances, recovery rates of surrogate standards (5 compounds including Naphthalene-d8) were 83~100% and those of target standards were 75~129%. These were to meet the target values (60~130%) in this study. When used 4% water-silicagel column analyze PAHs in oil-contaminated soils, Some problems were generated for quantitative analysis of PAHs; concentration of PAHs was underestimated due to an upward baseline of internal standard (recovery rate: less than 60%) and overestimated by the lump of peaks which were not purified (the biggest recovery rate: more than 400%). On the other hand, in case of silicagel-alumina multi-layer fraction cleanup method, recovery rate of surrogate standards were 61~101.6%. Therefore this cleanup method was considered a valid method to improve accuracy of analysis of PAHs in oil-contaminated soils.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.397-403
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• 2021

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed and safety evaluation was carried out in Korean coastal area. The target congeners were benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, and chrysene. The method of analysis was significant. The highest PAHs 4 congener concentrations (12.2 ㎍/kg) was found in the mussel of Gangwon area. Comparison among the average concentration of PAHs for each congener showed that, benzo[a] anthracene was found in mussel (0.276 ㎍/kg), oyster (0.463 ㎍/kg), ark shell clam (1.92 ㎍/kg), and chrysene was found in mussel (0.848 ㎍/kg), oyster (1.36 ㎍/kg), scallop (0.489 ㎍/kg), sea squirt (3.07 ㎍/kg), and ark shell clam (0.449 ㎍/kg). In addition, benzo[b]fluoranthene was found in mussel (0.253 ㎍/kg), scallop (0.244 ㎍/kg), and sea squirt (1.64 ㎍/kg). The most hazardous benzo[a]pyrene was found in mussel (0.147 ㎍/kg), and scallop (0.244 ㎍/kg), it was not detected in the other shellfishes. However, all the PAHs levels recorded in this study did not exceed international MRLs. There was no significant difference among the PAHs concentration in shellfish based on sampling area or species. Body exposure was calculated based on PAHs concentration and intake rate. The results of this study indicated that PAHs in shellfish were within acceptable safe levels.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.67-76
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• 2020

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic compounds that tend to persist in environmental media for a long period of time. This work presents a 2-year monitoring study of occurrence of three PAHs (benzo(a)pyrene, naphthalene, and fluoranthene) in groundwater. The groundwater samples were collected from 106 sites of nation's groundwater quality monitoring network and analyzed by simultaneous analysis method to quantify the concentrations of the PAHs. Benzo(a)pyrene was not detected in all samples. Naphthalene and fluoranthene concentrations ranged from not detected to 12.8 ng/L and not detected to 10.5 ng/L with their detection frequency being 57.8 and 4.2%, respectively. The concentrations of PAHs in ground- and drinking waters are not currently regulated in Korea, but the concentration levels of naphthalene and fluoranthene found in this work were lower than the regulatory limits of other countries (naphthalene 0.001~0.07 mg/L, fluoranthene 0.001~1.4 mg/L). The monitoring result of this study revealed that PAHs exist as trace amounts in domestic groundwater, however continuos monitoring is necessary to protect groundwater from PAHs contamination with growing industrialization and urbanization.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.244-251
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have described the importance of bacteria that can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Here we screened bacterial isolates from commercial gasoline for PAH degraders and characterized their ability to degrade PAHs, lipids and proteins as well as their enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity, salt tolerance, and seawater survival. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred two bacteria isolates from commercial gasoline were screened for PAH degraders by adding selected PAHs on to the surface of agar plates by the sublimation method. A clear zone was found only around the colonies of PAH degraders, which accounted for 13 isolates. These were identified as belonging to Bacillus sp., Brevibacterium sp., Micrococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., Arthrobacter sp., and Gordonia sp. based on 16S rRNA sequences. Six isolates belonging to Corynebacterium sp., 3 of Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp. S49, and Gordonia sp. H37 were lipid degraders. Arthrobacter sp. S49 was the only isolate showing high proteolytic activity. Among the PAH-degrading bacteria, Arthrobacter sp. S49, Brevibacterium sp. S47, Corynebacterium sp. SK20, and Gordonia sp. H37 showed enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity with biocatalytic resolution of racemic styrene oxide. Among these, highest enantioselective hydrolysis activity was seen in Gordonia sp. H37. An intrinsic resistance to kanamycin was observed in most of the isolates and Corynebacterium sp. SK20 showed resistance to additional antibiotics such as tetracycline, ampicillin, and penicillin. CONCLUSION: Of the 13 PAH-degraders isolated from commercial gasoline, Arthrobacter sp. S49 showed the highest lipid and protein degrading activity along with high active epoxide hydrolase activity, which was the highest in Gordonia sp. H37. Our results suggest that bacteria from commercial gasoline may have the potential to degrade PAHs, lipids, and proteins, and may possess enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity, high salt tolerance, and growth potential in seawater.