• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.461-468
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• 2014

Biochar is a carbon rich solid produced by the pyrolysis of biomass such as energy crops, forestry residues, and wood wastes. Biochar returned to soil is to mitigate climate change and the feedstock of wood wastes reduces fossil fuel consumption as well as disposal costs. This study was practiced to evaluate a biochar system by gasification in terms of global warming regarding the soil application of the produced biochar. Life cycle assessment methodology was used to analyze the environmental impacts of the system, and the functional unit was 1 tonne of wood wastes. The result shows that the biochar system by using wood wastes as feedstock produces 4.048E-01 $kgCO_2-eq$ from the pre-treatment process as chipping and drying, 4.579E-01 $kgCO_2-eq$ from the pyrolysis process, and 9.070E-02 $kgCO_2-eq$ from the spreading to agricultural land, therefore total 9.534E-01 $kgCO_2-eq$ are generated. About 252 kg of $CO_2$ is still stored in the produced biochar in soil after carbon offsetting of the system. Therefore, the net carbon of the system is -251 kg of $CO_2-eq$.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.8
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• pp.2117-2125
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• 2009

This paper describes an information system of operation adequacy in environmental facilities such as environmental contamination prevention and processing equipments, which is namely, an integrated management system for environmental facilities. By developing this system, we can improve environmental characteristics and maximize the efficiency throughout the life cycle from generation of contaminant source to contamination prevention processing, and to contaminant disappearance. In order to meet these objects, we have developed ubiquitous life cycle assessment(u-LCA) for environmental facilities, which is an ISO14001-based incineration facility information system. The developed system is currently operating for test at an incinerator in Koyang city. Due to this system, the managers can confirm the operation condition of the incinerator with real-time and they will be able to improve the problems immediately.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.87-91
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• 2015

As negative effects of climate change have been visualized and its direct damages to economy have been realized, the global efforts to respond to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emission were accelerated. Korea's Carbon Footprint Labeling gets a lot of attention as one of the effective methods to contribute to national GHG reduction goal, and for enterprises to show customers how much effort the company put into global warming prevention. Consumers' interest on low-carbon products has been increasing. This study uses Life Cycle Assessment method to calculate the amount of carbon emission of dishwashing detergent, LG Household & Healthcare, which reduced carbon emissions by using raw materials that has relatively lower environment load. Life Cycle Assessment Method is based on guidelines of Carbon Footprint Labeling, Ministry of Environment, and pre-manufacturing, manufacturing, and disposal phase are included while use phase of the product is excluded from assessment. In order to understand the effects of eco-design on carbon emissions, the dishwashing detergent's carbon emissions are compared before and after the change of main raw materials. The result shows the improvement from $0.47kgCO_2eq/kg$ to $0.38kgCO_2eq/kg$ per product, and this means the main raw materials' carbon emissions could be reduced by around 9.4%, which is equivalent to 916tons of GHG emissions per year.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.1157-1163
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• 2012

This study was performed a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) among three rice production systems in order to analyze the difference of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions and environment impacts. Its life cycle inventory (LCI) database (DB) was established using data obtained from interview with conventional, without agricultural chemical and organic farming at Gunsan and Iksan, Jeonbuk province in 2011. According to the result of LCI analysis, $CO_2$ was mostly emitted from fertilizer production process and rice cropping phase. $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ were almost emitted from rice cultivation phase. The value of carbon footprint to produce 1 kg rice (unhulled) on conventional rice production system was 1.01E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ and it was the highest value among three rice production systems. The value of carbon footprints on without agricultural chemical and organic rice production systems were 5.37E-01 $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ and 6.58E-01 $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$, respectively. Without agricultural chemical rice production system whose input amount was the smallest had the lowest value of carbon footprint. Although the yield of rice from organic farming was the lowest, its value of carbon footprint less than that of conventional farming. Because there is no compound fertilizer inputs in organic farming. Compound fertilizer production and methane emission during rice cultivation were the main factor to GHGs emission in conventional and without agricultural chemical rice production systems. In organic rice production system, the main factors to GHGs emission were using fossil fuel on machine operation and methane emission from rice paddy field.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1195-1206
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• 2011

This study was conducted to apply LCA (Life cycle assessment) methodology to lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) production systems in Namyang-ju as a case study. Five lettuce growing farms with three different farming systems (two farms with organic farming system, one farm with a system without agricultural chemicals and two farms with conventional farming system) were selected at Namyangju city of Gyeonggi-province in Korea. The input data for LCA were collected by interviewing with the farmers. The system boundary was set at a cropping season without heating and cooling system for reducing uncertainties in data collection and calculation. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to find out the effect of type and amount of fertilizer and energy use on GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission. The results of establishing GTG (Gate-to-Gate) inventory revealed that the quantity of fertilizer and energy input had the largest value in producing 1 kg lettuce, the amount of pesticide input the smallest. The amount of electricity input was the largest in all farms except farm 1 which purchased seedlings from outside. The quantity of direct field emission of $CO_2$, $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ from farm 1 to farm 5 were 6.79E-03 (farm 1), 8.10E-03 (farm 2), 1.82E-02 (farm 3), 7.51E-02 (farm 4) and 1.61E-02 (farm 5) kg $kg^{-1}$ lettuce, respectively. According to the result of LCI analysis focused on GHG, it was observed that $CO_2$ emission was 2.92E-01 (farm 1), 3.76E-01 (farm 2), 4.11E-01 (farm 3), 9.40E-01 (farm 4) and $5.37E-01kg\;CO_2\;kg^{-1}\;lettuce$ (farm 5), respectively. Carbon dioxide contribute to the most GHG emission. Carbon dioxide was mainly emitted in the process of energy production, which occupied 67~91% of $CO_2$ emission from every production process from 5 farms. Due to higher proportion of $CO_2$ emission from production of compound fertilizer in conventional crop system, conventional crop system had lower proportion of $CO_2$ emission from energy production than organic crop system did. With increasing inorganic fertilizer input, the process of lettuce cultivation covered higher proportion in $N_2O$ emission. Therefore, farms 1 and 2 covered 87% of total $N_2O$ emission; and farm 3 covered 64%. The carbon footprints from farm 1 to farm 5 were 3.40E-01 (farm 1), 4.31E-01 (farm 2), 5.32E-01 (farm 3), 1.08E+00 (farm 4) and 6.14E-01 (farm 5) kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ lettuce, respectively. Results of sensitivity analysis revealed the soybean meal was the most sensitive among 4 types of fertilizer. The value of compound fertilizer was the least sensitive among every fertilizer imput. Electricity showed the largest sensitivity on $CO_2$ emission. However, the value of $N_2O$ variation was almost zero.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.451-457
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• 2001

Because liquids with high molecular weight such as mineral oil have low vapor pressure at room temperature, it is generally thought to be difficult to lose them to evaporation. However, when they are dispersed into air in small droplets during application in machining processes, their surface area becomes considerably higher. To determine the potential for metalworking fluids (MWF) filter losses, MWF mist was generated and collected on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) filters in test chamber. After collected MWF was exposed to clean air during designated period (range 10~240 minutes) and the filters were desiccated, losses were evaluated. As duration of clean air passing through PVC filter increased, loss of MWF gradually increased. MWF lost after 10 minutes ranged form 12.4 % to 21.8 % of the original loading mass, on average 53.3 % of the total loss. These results indicate that significant mass of MWF collected on PVC filters can be lost at the beginning of air sampling. Loss of MWF collected on PVC filter also occurred during desiccation without active airflow. In multiple regression to identify which factors influence the loss of MWF collected on PVC filter, both duration of air passing through PVC filter and MWF age (fresh vs. used) were significant predictor (p=0.0001). Therefore, workers' exposure to MWF measured method 0500, may underestimate true concentration. Further study is needed to develop a new method to quantify the workers' exposure to airborne MWF mist accurately.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.142-154
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• 2023

As the importance of the environment has been recognized worldwide, the need to calculate and reduce carbon emissions has been drawing an increasing attention throughout various industrial sections. Thereby the discipline of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) involving raw material preparation, production processes, transportation and installation has been established. There is a clear research gap between the need and the practice for Korean Case of renewable energy industry, particularly wind power. To bridge the gap, this study conducted LCA research on wind power generation in the Korean area of Yeongdeok, an example of a domestic onshor wind power complex using SimaPro, which is the most widely used LCA system. As a result of the study, the energy recovery period (EPT) of one wind turbine is about 10 months, and the GHG emitted to generate power of 1 kwh is 15 g CO₂/kWh, which is competitive compared to other energy sources. In the environmental impact assessment by component, the results showed that the tower of wind turbines had the greatest impact on various environmental impact sectors. The experience gained in this study can be further used in strengthening the introduction of renewable energy and reducing the carbon emission in line with reducing climate change.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.403-410
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• 2016

During expressway construction it has been input a lot of material, but it does not manage to estimate quantitatively. In this study, the total material requirement for construction of expressway, which separated direct material requirement and indirect material requirement each section was quantified by combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and material flow analysis (MFA). In the direct material requirement, sand 2.27E + 04 ton/km, limestone 1.02E + 04 ton/km and gravel 4.47E + 03 ton/km were required, in the indirect material requirement, gravel 2.75E + 04 ton/km, iron 9.80E + 03 ton/km and coal 9.74E + 03 ton/km were required. Material such as sand, limestone which has high direct material requirement is require of excess input prevention from construction site, and material such as iron, rare metals(chrome, nickel) and coal which has high indirect material requirement is require additional studies of resource management.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.47-54
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• 2021

Palladium present in colloidal-type plated spent catalyst solution that is used in electroless plating process has not been recovered but discharged as wastewater so far. Recyclig of paladium in colloidal-type plated spent catalyst solution is achieved with this study. This study presents the estimation of resource consumption and GHG emissions during the recycling and disposal of palladium in the plated spent catalyst solution using life cycle assessment. The reduction of resources and GHG are also estimated. Based on the palladium amount of 1 kg during disposal, the GHG emission amount was estimated to be 9.67E+03 kgCO₂eq., and the amount of resource consumption was 3.94E+01 kgSb-eq. However, GHG emission was 1.96E+03 kgCO₂eq., and the amount of resource consumption was 1.54E+01 kgSb-eq. during recycling. Considering the major substances affecting GHG emissions and amount of resource consumption, CO₂ was found to significantly affect GHG emissions, accounting for 91.42% in disposal and 98.37% in recycling. The major substance affecting the amount of resource consumption was hard coal, which accounted for 40.63% in disposal and 60.73% in recycling. Upon recycling 1 kg palladium, 8,967.17 kgCO₂eq. of greenhouse gas emission was reduced, while the resource consumption was reduced to 10.10 kg Sb-eq. In addition, the direct palladium resource reduction rate due to palladium recycling was 50%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.3-8
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• 2019

Recently, plastic waste in Korea has been recognized as a critical issue due to an increase in massive production of plastics, difficulty in disposal of waste plastics, and public recognition of toxicity in micro-plastics, etc. To resolve those problems, the regulation to reduce plastics consumption may be primarily considered but, in this case, clarification should be made on the rationales and the action plans in the regulation for individual waste plastic items. Another problem is the small capital sizes of domestic recycling companies, which leads to poor R&D capacity, low recycling yields and thus lowering values of recycling items. This adversely affects consumers' perception. The R&D toward recycling technical progress should take into account the environmental friendliness and recyclability from the early product design stages. Certainly, this should be supported in governmental policy and public action plans. In addition, by referring to advanced policies of i.e. European Union, the recycling industry should be recognized as an opportunity toward new investment & employment. If necessary, the regulation of plastic consumption through a formal evaluation process such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will also be helpful. The values of recycled plastics should be improved through the identification and elimination of harmful chemical substances potentially contained in the products.