• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.33-56
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• 2007

Use of chemicals has greatly increased along with development of human civilization. Concerns about potential effects of chemicals on human health and environment have also grown accordingly. Due to the enormous number of chemicals being used, however, it is neither practical nor feasible to regulate all the chemicals. Therefore, it is necessary to identify chemicals that deserve more immediate attention, based on the effects on receptors to be protected. This study was initiated by the need for developing management policies for Shihwa-Banwol Techno Valley and its vicinities of korea, where complaints and concerns on environmental contamination have been raised for long time. This study to identifies major chemicals that deserve most immediate attention in environmental health management in this area. For this purpose, the study employed CHEMS-1(Chemical Hazard Evaluation for Management Strategies), and used chemical data from Toxics Release Inventory(TRI) and environmental contamination data from the environmental pollution monitoring network. Top priority pollutants identified in Shihwa-Banwol Techno Valley area were metals and volatile organic compounds, such as dichloromethane, trichloroethylene, diazinon, tetrachloroethylene, chromium compounds, tin compounds, chloroacetic acid, ethyl acetate, and zinc compounds, in an order of decreasing importance. An evaluation of physicochemical properties of the priority chemicals and the environmental pollution monitoring network database in Shihwa-Banwol Techno Valley suggested that the media that are of potential concern would be the atmosphere and aquatic environment.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.225-238
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• 2021

CH₄-oxidizing and N₂O-reducing bacterial consortia were enriched from the rhizosphere soils of maize (Zea mays) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis was performed to comparatively analyze the bacterial communities of the consortia with those of the rhizosphere soils. Additionally, the effect of root exudate on CH₄ oxidation and N₂O reduction activities of the microbes was evaluated. Although the inoculum sources varied, the CH₄-oxidizing and N₂O-reducing consortia derived from maize and tall fescue were similar. The predominant methanotrophs in the CH₄-oxidizing consortia were Methylosarcina, Methylococcus, and Methylocystis. Among the N₂O-reducing consortia, the representative N₂O-reducing bacteria were Cloacibacterium, Azonexus, and Klebsiella. The N₂O reduction rate of the N₂O-reducing consortium from maize rhizosphere and tall fescue rhizosphere increased by 1.6 and 2.7 times with the addition of maize and tall fescue root exudates, respectively. The CH₄ oxidization activity of the CH₄-oxidizing consortia did not increase with the addition of root exudates. The CH₄-oxidizing and N₂O-reducing consortia can be used as promising bioresources to mitigate non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions during remediation of oil-contaminated soils.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.212-220
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• 2018

As increase the number of vehicles, the issue of greenhouse gas that was emitted by them became important. As a result, greenhouse gas (GHG) regulations are being strengthened and efforts are being actively made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the automotive industry. In the other hand, regulations for harmful emission of vehicles have been reinforced by step. Especially, the lastly applied step, so called Euro 6, not only decreased NOx limit down to half of Euro 5 but also introduced real driving emission limit for NOx and PN. It is a challenge for manufacturers to meet the recent GHG regulation as well as the latest emission regulation. To overcome these regulations a De-NOx after-treatment system is being applied to diesel vehicles that are known emitting the lowest GHG among conventional internal combustion engines. At the time of the introduction of Euro 6 emission standard in Korea, in the domestic fuel economy certification test, some diesel vehicles emitted more $CH_4$ than Euro 5 vehicles. As a result, it was confirmed that LNT-equipped vehicles emitted a high level $CH_4$ and the level exceeded the US emission standard. In order to determine the reason, various prior literature was investigated. However, it was difficult to find a detailed study on the methane increase with LNT. In this paper, to determine whether the characteristics of vehicles equipped with LNT the affects the above issue and other greenhouse gases, 6 passenger cars were tested on several emission test modes and ambient temperatures with a environment chamber chassis dynamometer. 2 cars of these were equipped with LNT only, other 2 cars had SCR only, and LNT + SCR were applied to remaining 2 cars. The test result shown that the vehicles equipped with LNT emitted more $CH_4$ than the vehicles with SCR only. Also, $CH_4$ tended to increase as the higher acceleration of the test mode. However, as the test temperature decreases, $CH_4$ tended to decreased. $CO_2$ was not affected by kinds of De-NOx device but characteristic of the test modes.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.5-14
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• 2021

As the implementation of carbon reduction measures would be monitored starting from 2023 in line with the Paris Agreement, it is crucial and urgent to control GHGs emitted from wastes contributing to 11% of methane emissions. Despite such importance and urgency, 93% of wastes are deposited in unsanitary landfills in developing countries, presenting challenges to methane management. Against the backdrop, landfill gas-to-energy projects have once again drawn attention for their economic substantiality secured through CDM projects while there has been much research actively carried out to estimate methane emissions and GHG reductions in landfills located in developing countries. Although a signifiant difference was found between estimations calculated based on research methodologies and actual results monitored through registered CDM projects, there has not been a study conducted on what is causing such a difference. Accordingly, the research team conducted an analysis of 18 LFG projects out of 46 that were registered as LFG CDM projects under the UNFCCC and has identified precipitation(28%), malfunction(22%), organic content(11%), amount of landfilled waste(11%) and temperature(11%) as key parameters causing the difference between the amount of methane captured and the amount of GHG reduced.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 1993

Every year, over $3.37{\times}10^7$ ton of municipal solid waste is generated in Korea, of which about 28% is organic food waste from restaurant, dining halls and households etc. Methane conversion of the food waste by anaerobic digestion could be a viable approach for energy recovery as well as safe disposal of the waste. However, as food waste is composed of highmolecular complex polymers such as cellulose, lignin and protein, anaerobic digestion of food waste has not been efficient in terms of volumetric loading rate, solid retention time and extent of anaerobic degradation. In this research, the improved anaerobic degradation of food waste was attemped by applying rumen microorganisms to anaerobic digestion. Acidification efficiency of food waste by rumen microorganisms was compared with that of conventional acidogenesis. And optimum acidification conditions by rumen microorganisms were also determined. For the experiments, anaerobic batch reactors of 600 mL was fed with the processed (dried and milled) food waste obtained from a restaurant. Ultimate volatile fatty acid (VFA) yield produced by rumen microorganisms was about 8.4 meq VFA/g volatile solid (VS) that is 95% of the theoretical value. This yield was not much different from that of conventional acidogenesis, but hydrolysis rate was about twice faster. Cumulative VFA concentration increased from 66 meq/L to 480 meq/L, when the initial TS was increased from 1% to 15%. But VFA yield at 15% TS was half of that at 1% TS. This inhibition on the acidification might be caused by the rapid drop of pH and higher concentration of nonionized VFA. Optimal pH and temperature range for the acidification were about 6.0~7.5 and $35{\sim}45^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.181-197
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to look into students' understandings of environmental issues, especially issues on global warming in South Korea and Singapore. We surveyed students (n=2,389, from 6 to 10 years) from 12 schools in South Korea and 5 schools in Singapore on how useful students believe various actions might be in reducing global warming, and their willingness to undertake such actions. We employed questionnaires developed by Boyes, Skamp, & Stanisstreet (2009), which consists of 44 questions on 16 pro-environmental actions. We analyzed the degree of students' beliefs, willingness to act, and the relationship between the believed usefulness of action and willingness to act. Differences between the two countries were determined by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using the ordinal data and the potential effectiveness of education was explored by plotting the measures of the degree of willingness to act for a particular action against the value of the believed usefulness of action and fitting the regression line. The degree of willingness to act and their beliefs in the usefulness of action was different from question to question between the two countries, however, the overall relationship between willingness to take action and beliefs in the action has shown to be stronger among Singaporean students than those of South Korean students. Based on the findings, we attempted to discuss about how environmental education needs to take into account the complexity of beliefs, willingness to act, and action taking.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.90-95
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• 2008

In this study, a combined process of sequential anaerobic-aerobic digestion (SAAD), fluidized-bed bioreactor (FBBR), and ultrafiltration (UF) for the treatment of small scale food waste leachate was developed and evaluated. The SAAD process was tested for performance and stability by subjecting leachate from food waste to a two-phase anaerobic digestion. The main process used FBBR composed of aerators for oxygen supply and fluidization, three 5 ton reaction chambers containing an aerobic mesophilic microorganism immobilized in PE (polyethylene), and a sedimentation chamber. The HRTs (hydraulic retention time) of the combined SAAD-FBBR-UF process were 30, 7, and 1 day, and the operation temperature was set to the optimal one for microbial growth. The pilot process maintained its performance even when the CODcr of input leachate fluctuated largely. During the operation, average CODcr, TKN, TP, and salt of the effluent were 1,207mg/L, 100mg/L, 50 mg/L, and 0.01 %, which corresponded to the removal efficiencies of 99.4%, 98.6%, 89.6%, and 98.5%, respectively. These results show that the developed process is able to manage high concentration leachate from food waste and remove CODcr, TKN, TP, and salt effectively.