• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.223-230
• /
• 2019

Ozone is a gaseous molecule able to kill microorganisms, such as yeast, fungi, bacteria, and protozoa. However, ozone gas is unstable and cannot be used easily. In order to utilize ozone properly and efficiently, plant oil can be employed. Ozone reacts with C-C double bonds of fatty acids, converting to ozonized oil. In this reaction, ozonide is produced within fatty acids and the resulting ozonized oil has various biological functions. In this study, we showed that ozonized oil has antimicrobial activity against fungi and bacteria. To test the antimicrobial activity of ozonized oil, we produced ozonized olive oil. Ozonized olive oil was applied to Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans. Antimicrobial activity was assayed using the disk diffusion method following the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) were 0.25 mg for S. aureus, 0.5 mg for S. epidermidis, 3.0 mg for P. aeruginosa, and 1.0 mg for E. coli. Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible than Gram negative bacteria. We compared growth inhibition zones against S. aureus and MRSA, showing that the ozonized olive oil was more effective on MRSA than S. aureus. Furthermore, the ozonized olive oil killed C. albicans within an hour. These data suggested that ozonized olive oil could be an alternative drug for MRSA infection and could be utilized as a potent antimicrobial and antifungal substance.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.429-432
• /
• 2011

The feasibility of applications of the char obtained from a gasification process of municipal-waste refuse derived fuel (RDF) as an auxiliary fuel was evaluated by combustion experiments. The higher heating value of the RDF char was 3000~4000 kcal/kg and its chlorine content was below the standard requirement demonstrating its potential as an auxiliary fuel. In the combustion exhaust gas, the maximum $NO_x$ and $SO_2$ concentrations were 240 ppm and 223 ppm, respectively. If an aftertreatment is applied, it is possible to control their concentrations low enough to meet the air pollutant emission standard. The HCl concentration was relatively high indicating that a care should be taken for HCl emission from the combustion of RDF. Based on the temperature distribution within the reactor, the concentration change of $O_2$ and $CO_2$, and the amount and the loss on ignition of solid residue, it was inferred that the combustion reaction was the most reliable when the excess air ratio of 1.3 was used.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.439-450
• /
• 2020

Global warming caused by the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is being treated as a major problem for the human life, and mineral carbonation is drawing attention as one of many countermeasures against this situation. In this study, mineral carbonation experiments using autoclaved lightweight concrete (ALC) were performed under various conditions to determine its potential as a carbonation material. ALC can be regarded as a promising material for carbonation because it contains about 27 wt.% of CaO, a major component of mineral carbonation. The CaCO3 content produced as a result of the carbonation of ALC calculated on the assumption that all of the CaO content participates in mineral carbonation is about 40 wt.%. The optimum conditions for the mineral carbonation reaction from ALC are the solid-liquid ratio of 0.01 and the reaction time of 180 minutes when calcite is considered as a single product, or 0.06 and 180 minutes when mixture of calcite and vaterite can be considered. The coexistence of vaterite with calcite at solid-liquid ratio of 0.06 or higher was interpreted to be the case where vaterite formed in the later stage and did not change to calcite until the reaction was completed.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.205-215
• /
• 2022

Amidst the global climate crisis, dam operation policies formulated under the stationary climate assumption could lead to unsatisfactory water management. In this work, we assessed status-quo performance of the Yongdam Dam in Korea under various climatic stresses in flood risk reduction and water supply reliability for 2021-2040. To this end, we employed a decision-centric framework equipped with a stochastic weather generator, a conceptual streamflow model, and a machine-learning reservoir operation rule. By imposing 294 climate perturbations to dam release simulations, we found that the current operation rule of the Yongdam dam could redundantly secure water storage, while inefficiently enhancing the supply reliability. On the other hand, flood risks were likely to increase substantially due to rising mean and variability of daily precipitation. Here, we argue that the current operation rules of the Yongdam Dam seem to be overly focused on securing water storage, and thus need to be adjusted to efficiently improve supply reliability and reduce flood risks in downstream areas.

• Atmosphere
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.593-606
• /
• 2021

The Korea Meteorological Administration/National Institute of Meteorological Sciences (KMA/NIMS) has monitored atmospheric CO₂ at Anmyeondo (AMY) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (GAW) regional station since 1999, and expanded its observations at Jeju Gosan Suwolbong station (JGS) in the South and at Ulleungdo-Dokdo stations in the East (ULD and DOK) since 2012. Due to a recent WMO CO₂ scale update and a new filter (NIMS) to select baseline levels at each station, the 22 years of CO₂ data are recalculated. After correction for the new CO₂ scale, we confirmed that those corrected records are reasonable within the compatibility goal (±0.1 ppm of CO₂) between KMA/NIMS and National Oceanic and Atmosphereic Administration (NOAA) flask-air measurements with the new scale. With the new NIMS filter, CO₂ baseline levels are now more representative of the large-scale background compared to previous values, which contained large CO₂ enhancements. Atmospheric CO₂ observed in South Korea is 4 to 8 ppm greater than the global average while the amplitude of seasonal variation is similar (10~13 ppm) to the amplitude averaged over a comparable latitude zone (30°N-60°N). Variations in CO₂ growth rate are also similar, increasing and decreasing similar to global values, as it reflects the net balance between terrestrial respiration and photosynthesis. In 2020, atmospheric CO₂ continued increasing despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though fossil emission was reduced (around -7% globally), we still emitted large amounts of anthropogenic CO₂. Overall, since CO₂ has large natural variations and its source was derived from not only fossil fuel but also biomass burning, the small fossil emission reduction could not affect the atmospheric level directly.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
• /
• v.38 no.5_3
• /
• pp.967-977
• /
• 2022

The occurrence and intensity of wildfires are increasing with climate change. Emissions from forest fire smoke are recognized as one of the major causes affecting air quality and the greenhouse effect. The use of satellite product and machine learning is essential for detection of forest fire smoke. Until now, research on forest fire smoke detection has had difficulties due to difficulties in cloud identification and vague standards of boundaries. The purpose of this study is to detect forest fire smoke using Level 1 and Level 2 data of Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS), a Korean environmental satellite sensor, and machine learning. In March 2022, the forest fire in Gangwon-do was selected as a case. Smoke pixel classification modeling was performed by producing wildfire smoke label images and inputting GEMS Level 1 and Level 2 data to the random forest model. In the trained model, the importance of input variables is Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), 380 nm and 340 nm radiance difference, Ultra-Violet Aerosol Index (UVAI), Visible Aerosol Index (VisAI), Single Scattering Albedo (SSA), formaldehyde (HCHO), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), 380 nm radiance, and 340 nm radiance were shown in that order. In addition, in the estimation of the forest fire smoke probability (0 ≤ p ≤ 1) for 2,704 pixels, Mean Bias Error (MBE) is -0.002, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) is 0.026, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) is 0.087, and Correlation Coefficient (CC) showed an accuracy of 0.981.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.285-292
• /
• 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 Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.21-28
• /
• 2022

Fine dust enters the lungs or blood vessels through the respiratory tract through the air. Recently, due to the fine dust problem, the demand for air purifiers in Korea is also increasing rapidly. Moss is the oldest terrestrial plant, and it is known that it has the property of adsorbing and decomposing heavy metals and fine dust. To compare the effect of reducing fine dust between moss and the existing chemical filter (Hepa), a cube of 1 m³ was manufactured and the amount of fine dust reduction under a controlled environment was compared. Under the fine dust conditions, an umbrella moss filter, rat tail moss filter, feather moss filter, and silk moss filter were inserted for a total of 40 experiments, 10 times each in 4 different situations. The difference between the amount after 30 minutes was statistically significant for all filters. However, as a result of the test, it was confirmed that there was no statistically significant difference between filters for fine dust, mixed gas, CO₂, and O₂. In particular, it was confirmed that the previously claimed effect of oxygen generation was almost nonexistent. Through this result, it was confirmed that the reduction of fine dust is effective regardless of the species view of moss, and it is expected to replace or supplement the chemical filter of the existing air purifier through future improvement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.28 no.spc
• /
• pp.11-17
• /
• 2022

In this study, we address the development of a floating platform system based on a unmanned surface vessel for wide-area sensing and monitoring of hazardous and noxious substances (HNSs). For long endurance, a movable floating platform with no mooring lines was used and modified for HNS sensing and monitoring. The floating platform was equipped with various sensors such as optical and thermal imaging cameras, marine radar, and sensors for detecting HNSs in water and air. Additionally, for experiment validation in real outdoor environments, a portable gas-exposure system (PGS) was built and installed on the monitoring system. The software for carrying out the mission was integrated with the Robot Operating System (ROS) framework. The practical feasibility of the developed system was verified through experimental tests conducted in inland water and real-sea environments.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.44 no.3
• /
• pp.196-209
• /
• 2023

The Nishinoshima volcano, located 940 km south of Tokyo, experienced an eruption from June to August 2020. The volcanic gas and ash from the eruption of Nishinoshima that occurred at the end of July 2020 was reported to have the potential to affect the Korean Peninsula. In this study, we used Ash3D, a numerical simulation program for volcanic ash dispersion, to investigate the eruption that occurred at 0:00 local time on July 28, 2020, with a volcanic explosivity index of three. The results showed that the volcanic ash cloud reached Okinawa on the morning of July 30, carried by an east wind. It then moved northward and reached Jeju Island on August 1, eventually circulating in a clockwise direction and reaching southern part of the Korean Peninsula on August 2. The concentration of Particulate Matter 10 (PM₁₀), measured at the Jeju Gosan Meteorological Observatory in Jeju Island, increase from August 1. A similar increase in PM₁₀ concentration was observed at the Gudeok Mountain Weather Station in Busan from August 2. These findings suggested that eruption of the Nishinoshima volcano had an impact on the fine dust concentrations at Jeju Island and southern part of the Korean Peninsula.