• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.13-22
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• 2022

In order to improve water quality of the water system contaminated with dyes, biochars prepared using discarded waste resources were applied in this study. Biochars with a large specific surface area were manufactured using street tree pruning products or waste wood, and were applied to remove an organic dye in synthetic water. Biochars were made by pyrolysis of typical street tree porch products (Platanas, Ginkgo, Aak) and waste wood under air-controlled conditions. Methylene blue (MB), which is widely used in phosphofibers, paper, leather, and cotton media, was selected in this study. The adsorption capacity of Platanas for MB was the highest and the q_max value obtained using the Langmuir model equation was 78.47 mg/g. In addition, the adsorption energy (E) (kJ/mol) of MB using the Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) model equation was 4.891 kJ/mol which was less than 8 kJ/mol (a criteria distinguishing physical adsorption from chemical adsorption). This result suggests a physical adsorption with weak interactions such as van der Waals force between the biochar and MB. In addition, the physical adsorption may resulted from that Platanas-based biohar has the largest specific surface area and pore volume. The ∆G value obtained through the adsorption experiment according to temperature variation was -3.67 to -7.68, which also suggests a physical adsorption. Considering these adsorption results, the adsorption of MB onto Platanas-based biochar seems to occur through physical adsorption. Overall, it was possible to suggest that adsorption capacity of the biochr prepared from this study was equal to or greater than that of commercial activated carbon reported in other studies.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.45-50
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• 1997

The change of industrial structure has brought the sharp declination of mine products, and has made many mines closed, which results in environmental pollution by untreated acid mine drainage(AMD). AMD with low pH and high concentration of heavy metals could severely destroy the ecosystem. Many researches have been carried out for the treatment of AMD. In this study, we have treated AMD with oak compost, mushroom compost, sludge cake and cow manure which usually used in AMD treatment systems, and compared the capability of each organic matter. Cow manure and oak compost have been most effective among 4 organic materials. Oak compost removed the heavy metals by ion exchange between Ca-rich particles and soluble heavy metal ions. It also captured the heavy metals using bound functional groups like -OH and -COO-. Sulfate reducing bacteria existing in the cow manure removed effectively heavy metals by producing metal sulfide compound. Therefore, it is effective to use both organic materials in mixture on the treatment of AMD.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.45-52
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• 2009

Naphthalene-degrading bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa CZ6 isolated from contaminated soil can adhere to crystal naphthalene and produce extracellular polymeric substance. LB, YM and MSM medium were used as culture mediums to investigate the formation of biofilm. Biofilm was developed the most in LB medium by Pseudomonas aeruginosa CZ6. In the culture, strain CZ6 growth was rarely affected by naphthalene concentration. Optimal culture condition was $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 7 at 0.10% substrate and 150 rpm shaking. The effect of culture medium on naphthalene degradation in the two soil slurry system was evaluated. The initial degradation rate of naphthalene was highest in the MSM medium of soil slurry. However, the sorbed naphthalene was rapidly degraded at the LB medium when naphthalene availability in liquid was limited. The results of this study suggest that biofilm formation and extracellular polymeric substance production increased bioavailability of soil sorbed naphthalene.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.191-196
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• 2007

Indoor air differs from outdoor atmosphere since it contains chemical and physical contaminants from building materials. This study deals with the biological effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from synthetic fiber carpet materials. One group of Tradescantia inflorescence was exposed to VOCs from the carpet sample in the environmental test chamber, while the other inflorescence group was exposed to a TO-14 standard gas mixture (1 ppm) for comparison. After the exposure, VOCs from the carpet were analysed by the desorber/GC/MS method, and micronuclei in the pollen mother cells of Tradescantia were scored under a microscope $({\times}400)$ to evaluate the genotocixicity induced by the exposure to VOCs. The chemical analysis confirmed that a total of 12 VOCs were released from the carpet materials, among which stylene $(71.9{\mu}g\;m^{-3})$ and toluene $(49.6{\mu}g\;m^{-3})$ were in the highest concentration. Twenty four hours of exposure to VOCs from the carpet in the environmental test chamber resulted in a micronucleus frequency as high as $7.73{\pm}0.75MCN$ per 100 tetrads, which was similar to that induced after exposure to the TO-14 standard gas mixture (1 ppm) for 4 hours. Meanwhile, two hours of exposure to the standard gas mixture did not cause a significant increase in the genotoxicity compared to the spontaneous micronucleus frequency. This result indicates that exposure for a long time to the air contaminated with VOCs from the carpet materials causes a genotoxic effect. The biological-chemical combination analyses in the study proved to be an effective tool for monitoring the indoor air contaminants.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.113-117
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• 2017

Bioremediation is a technique using microorganisms to clean up contaminated pollutants including heavy metals. It is well known that yeasts have a high capacity to remove a wide range of metals by biosorption. Therefore, this study was focused on to obtain yeast mutant that has strong tolerance to zinc (Zn), one of representative heavy metals. The Zn resistant yeast mutant (ZnR) was induced and isolated by growing yeast cells in media containing 1 mM $ZnCl_2$ and gradually increasing the concentration until 80 mM $ZnCl_2$, in which cells were adapted and survived. The induced ZnR cells showed strong tolerance to Zn stress compared with control cells. Moreover, the ZnR cells showed increased tolerance to cadmium and nickel stress but decreased tolerance to copper stress. The increased tolerance of ZnR cells to Zn stress was due to mutation of genes. This study can be useful in bioremediation of heavy metals as the metal tolerant microorganism was artificially induced in short time.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.50-56
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• 2017

Formaldehyde is one of the toxic substances without any color and smell. Several methods to remove formaldehyde has been investigated up to now. Here, both the enzymatic and chemisorptive/catalytic liquid phase formaldehyde removal were investigated, and their catalytic activities in terms of specific activities were compared. Firstly, formaldehyde dehydrogenase (FDH) enzyme from Escherichia coli K12 was cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). And the catalytic activity was characterized as $2.49{\times}10^3sec^{-1}mM^{-1}$ of $k_{cat}/K_m$ with 8.69 U/mg of the specific activity. Secondly, the chemisorptive and oxidative catalytic removals were investigated simultaneously. Activated carbons and zeolites treated with heat, KI, and KOH were used as chemisorption medium. And $Pd/TiO_2$ was used as an oxidative catalyst for the formaldehyde removal. All of the tested chemicals showed similar formaldehyde removal efficiencies of around 50%. However, the specific activity of FDH dependent formaldehyde removal was absolutely higher than that of using chemisorptive and catalytic removal processes with the ranges of 0.01 to 0.26 U/g.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 1999

Serratia marcescens, an enterobacterium of gram-negative bacteria, is characterized by resistance of the admium. Cadmium sensitive PM strain did not grow in the medium at cadmium concentration of 50 ppm. PA strain was induced to accommodate to cadmium by cultivating the mother strain (PC strain) in the medium with 50 ppm cadmium. As compared with PC and PM strains, PA strain revealed the excellent growth in cadmium media and accumulated four to five times higher cadmium concentration in cell than other strains. PA strain accumulated 23% of cadmium in cells when cultured in medium treated with 100 ppm cadmium and this cadmium was more accumulated in cytosol fractions than membrane fractions. Analysis by TEM indicated that cadmium was concentrated as a form of granule in cytosol. In protein patterns of cell after the treatment of cadmium, two inducible proteins (28 KDa and 64 KDa) and one reducible protein (45 KDa) were detected by SDS-PAGE. By Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer, the amounts of cadmium attached to inducible proteins of 28 KDa and 64 KDa were 318.28 ㎍ and 325.37 ㎍ per gram of protein, respectively. It is assumed that these inducible proteins play an important role in the mechanism of cadmium accumulation in cells. A plasmid of 23Kbp was found in S. marcescens. The ability of resistance to cadmium in plasmid was confirmed by curing experiments.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-105
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to show the application of the Biofilter for treatment of the soil contaminated by lead and to investigates the effect of the biofilter on the retardation of lead with pilotplants that were simulated with different media and the number of bed. and to testify the inoculation by seeding microbes. The ratio of the degradation of soil contaminant was verified as CODcr/TOC in order to find a variation of the stabilization index in soil. The Biofiltration was one of biological processing methods for treatment. The contaminants were transported through the biofilter that was filled with the media. The surface of media formed biofilm which was surrounded by microbes and through its boundary, some materials were exchanged and migrated into the cell of microbes in an orderly manner. To investigate the effect of the Biofiltration, contaminated soil with lead nitrate of 1000mg/kg in dry was made artificially. The tests were simulated such as compost, Bioceramic and compost with bioceramic by 7:3 in weight. The bed consisted of three layers in order to find effect of the number of bed. Aspergillus niger was used as a biosorbent could probe the effect on the retardation of lead.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.88-94
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• 2001

Physical and chemical properties, the salt accumulation and leaching of salt by water of coal fly ash ball (ash ball) were evaluated in comparison with perlite and granule rockwool (rockwool). Bulk density, particle density, solid phase, and porosity of ash ball were 0.93 g.cm$^{-3}$ , 2.29 g.cm$^{-3}$ , 40.6%, 59.4%, respectively. The bulk density of ash ball was greater, while porosity was smaller, than that of perlite and rockwool. Saturation moisture capacity was 52% in ash ball, 71% in perlite, and 90% in rockwool. Water contents after drainage for 1 hr of ash ball, perlite, and rockwool were 21%, 27%, and 80%, respectively. Water content of small granules (3-5 mm) of ash ball was 5% greater than that of large (7-15 mm) grannules. The ash ball was a weak alkali substrate with pH 7.6, but not electric conductivity (EC), of the nutrient solution supplied to ash ball slightly increased. When the absorption of mineral ions to substrates were analyzed, ash ball and RW absorbed mainly PO￣$_4$. On tomato culture, salt accumulation in ash ball substrate was similar to that in perlite. Most of the salts in the ash balls were removed by submerging the substrate eight times in distilled water. It is concluded that water holding capacity of ash ball substrate was lo as compared to other substrates, but air permeability, and water diffusion was excellent, making control of medium water content easy.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2023

Oil-water separation is a critical process for several industrial applications, including oil production, wastewater treatment, food processing, and environmental area such as marine oil spills. The separation efficiency of oil-water mixtures can be influenced by various factors such as mixture composition, oil and water conditions, and the separation technology used. Over the years, various technologies have been developed to separate water and oil by physical, chemical and biological methods. This paper presents an overview of the various methods and technologies available for oil-water separation, including gravity separation, centrifugal separation, and separation using adsorbents, filters. The strengths and limitations of each method are discussed, along with recent research trends and future prospects. Furthermore, this paper aims to provide direction for future research and industrial application of sustainable and environmentally friendly oil-water separation technologies. In conclusion, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent oil-water separation technologies that will be beneficial to researchers and industrialists in the field of oil-water separation.