• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.624-629
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• 2022

Formaldehyde is an indoor pollutant that is harmful to humans, such as causing respiratory and skin diseases. Nitrogen plasma treatment was performed to introduce nitrogen groups on the surface of the activated carbon fibers (ACFs), and the adsorption characteristics of formaldehyde for the surface-modified ACFs were considered. As the nitrogen gas flow rate increased, the content of nitrogen functional groups introduced to the surface of the ACFs increased by about 7%, and the ratio of nitrogen functional groups to each type present was similar. Ultramicropores increased on the ACFs surface due to the etching effect of plasma treatment. The adsorption efficiency of formaldehyde on the modified ACFs surface was also enhanced. However, under the nitrogen flow rate of 120 sccm or more, the surface of the ACFs was excessively etched, and the specific surface area and the formaldehyde adsorption capacity decreased. Therefore, the content of the nitrogen groups is the main factor in the adsorption of formaldehyde on the nitrogen plasma-treated ACFs, but it can be found that the adsorption efficiency of formaldehyde is improved when the ACFs have a suitable pore structure.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.268-274
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• 2010

Emission of heavy metals as hazardous air pollutants has been focused with tightening regulatory limits due to their hazardousness. Measurements and characteristic investigations of heavy metals emitted from a commercial power plant burning anthracite coal have been carried out. The plant consists of a circulating fluidized bed combustor, a cyclone, a boiler and an electrostatic precipitator(ESP) in series. Dust and gaseous samples were collected to measure main heavy metals including gaseous mercury before ESP and at stack. Dust emissions as total particulate matter (TPM), PM-10 and PM-2.5 at inlet of ESP were very high with 23,274, 9,555 and $7,790mg/Sm^3$, respectively, as expected, which is much higher than those from pulverized coal power plants. However TPM at stack was less than $0.16mg/Sm^3$, due to high dust removal efficiency by ESP. Similarly heavy metals emission showed high collection efficiency across ESP. From particle size distribution and metal enrichment in sizes, several metal concentrations could be correlated with particle size showing more enrichment in smaller particles. Mercury unlike other solid metals behaved differently by emitting as gaseous state due to high volatility. Removal of mercury was quite less than other metals due to it's volatility, which was 68% only. Across ESP, speciation change of mercury from elemental to oxidized was clearly shown so that elemental mercury was half of total mercury at stack unlike other coal power plants which equipped wet a scrubber.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.247-258
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• 2005

To understand responses of bivalve tissues to various injurious agents, histopathological observation was done in the Manila clam, Ruditapes hilippinarum, during 240 hours after an intramuscular injection of N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG). Some histopathological changes were observed with the epithelia of stomach, midgut, hindgut, digestive diverticula and gonads after injecting MNNG. The earliest degenerative changes were recognized in the epithelium of midgut 12 hours after the injection. Partial or complete, epithelial destruction was constantly accompanied by the massive infiltration of a mononuclear, necrotic cell group including hemocytes. At 144 hours later, gonads showed the necrotic desquamation of their germinal epithelia. Nearly all of the infiltrated cells within the destructive epithelium were suggested to be hemocytes, from the binding property with a hemocyte-specific lectin, Ricinus communis (RCA-1). From these results it was concluded that the epithelium of digestive system is vulnerable to parenteral MNNG and hemocytes might be deeply involved in this MNNG-induced destruction of the digestive epithelium.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.665-676
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• 2003

To investigate the chemical characteristics of PM$\_$2.5/ in Seoul, Korea, atmospheric particulate matters were collected using a PM$\_$10/ dichotomous sampler including PM$\_$10/ and PM$\_$2.5/ inlet during the period of October 2000 to September 2001. The Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectromety (ICP-MS), ion Chromatography (IC) methods were used to determine the concentration of both metal and ionic species. A statistical analysis was performed for the heavy metals data set using a principal component analysis (PCA) to derived important factors inherent in the interactions among the variables. The mean concentrations of ambient PM$\_$2.5/ and PM/sub10/ were 24.47 and 45.27 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. PM$\_$2.5/ masses also showed temporal variations both yearly and seasonally. The ratios of PM$\_$2.5/PM$\_$10/ was 0.54, which similar to the value of 0.60 in North America. Soil-related chemical components (such as Al, Ca, Fe, Si, and Mn) were abundant in PM$\_$10/, while anthropogenic components (such as As, Cd, Cr, V, Zn and Pb) were abundant in PM2s. Total water soluble ions constituted 30∼50 % of PM$\_$2.5/ mass, and sulfate, nitrate and ammonium were main components in water soluble ions. Reactive farms of NH$_4$$\^$+/were considered as NH$_4$NO$_3$ and (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$ during the sampling periods. In the results of PCA for PM$\_$2.5/, we identified three principal components. Major contribution to PM$\_$2.5/ seemed to be soil, oil combustion, unidentified source. Further study, the detailed interpretation of these data will need efforts in order to identify emission sources.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2024

Airborne particulate matter (PM) is an environmentally hazardous pollutant that originates from various sources. PM is comprised of solid particles and liquid droplets of diverse composition and size. Hazardous chemical compositions of PM include elemental and organic carbon, organic compounds, biological compounds and metals. Upon acute and chronic PM exposure, toxic contaminants enter and accumulate within physiological systems and prompt cell structure changes accompanied with intracellular endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, lipid accumulation, and cell cycle arrest. Ultimately, these cellular response leads to the development of key characteristics of aging. In addition, PM internalization enhances autophagy reflux and lysosomal dysfunction, which is involved in cell aging. Previous studies have emphasized a positive association between PM and increased mortality or decreased lifespan, although these are evidenced mostly by observational studies. Direct evidence of the link between PM and aging is still limited. This review evaluates the evidence from not only observational studies but also in vitro and in vivo evidence of PM on aging progression and age-related diseases development. This evidence is based on age-associated cellular changes including endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, adipose accumulation, autophagy, which strengthen the association between PM exposure and aging. Understanding the underlying cellular responses under PM may allow for the development of new therapeutic targets for PM-induced aging.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2021

In combustion facilities, the nitrogen and sulfur in fossil fuels react with oxygen to generate air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO_X) and sulfur oxides (SO_X), which are harmful to the human body and cause environmental pollution. There are regulations worldwide to reduce NO_X and SO_X, and various technologies are being applied to meet these regulations. There are commercialized methods to reduce NO_X and SO_X emissions such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD), but due to the disadvantages of these methods, many studies have been conducted to simultaneously remove NO_X and SO_X. However, even in the NO_X and SO_X simultaneous removal methods, there are problems with wastewater generation due to oxidants and absorbents, costs incurred due to the use of catalysts and electrolysis to activate specific oxidants, and the harmfulness of gas oxidants themselves. Therefore, in this research, microbubbles generated in a high-pressure disperser and reducing agents were used to reduce costs and facilitate wastewater treatment in order to compensate for the shortcomings of the NO_X, SO_X simultaneous treatment method. It was confirmed through image processing and ESR (electron spin resonance) analysis that the disperser generates real microbubbles. NO_X and SO_X removal tests according to temperature were also conducted using only microbubbles. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NO_X and SO_X are about 75% and 99% using a reducing agent and microbubbles to reduce wastewater. When a small amount of oxidizing agent was added to this microbubble system, both NO_X and SO_X removal rates achieved 99% or more. Based on these findings, it is expected that this suggested method will contribute to solving the cost and environmental problems associated with the wet oxidation removal method.