• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2022

Heavy metals can be intentionally or unintentionally introduced into plastic food utensils, containers, and packaging (PFUCP) as additives or contaminants, which can be ingested with food by humans. Here, seven-heavy metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, antimony, copper, and manganese) with toxicity concerns were selected, and risk assessment was done by establishing their migration from 137 PFUCP products made of 16 materials distributed in Korea. Migration of heavy metals was examined by applying 4% acetic acid as a food simulant (70℃, 30 minutes) to the PFUCP products. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was employed for the analysis of migrated heavy metals, and the reliability of quantitative results was confirmed by checking linearity, LOD, LOQ, recovery, precision, and expanded uncertainty. As a result of monitoring, heavy metals were detected at a level of non-detection to 8.76 ± 11.87 ㎍/L and most of the heavy metals investigated were only detected at trace amounts of less than 1 ㎍/L on average. However, antimony migrated from PET products was significantly higher than other groups. Risk assessment revealed that all the heavy metals investigated were safe with a margin of exposure above 311. Collectively, we demonstrated that heavy metals migrated from PFUCP products distributed in Korea appear to be within the safe range.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.35-46
• /
• 2009

In order to investigate spatial and temporal distributional characteristics of major water qualities in the Saemangeum area during the Saemangeum dike construction, salinity, COD, dissolved nutrients(DIN, Silicate) and heavy metals were analyzed from the surface water collected in April, May, August and November 2002. The overall value of Salinity, COD, DIN, and silicate in surface waters were in the range of $13.08{\sim}31.96\;psu$, $0.12{\sim}3.43\;mg/L$, $0.001{\sim}2.638\;mg/L$, and $0.010{\sim}3.181\;mg/L$, respectively. The COD and DIN in each survey showed the highest concentration at the mouth of Mangyeong river estuary(St. 1) where freshwater flow into the Saemangeum area. The concentrations of nutrients were high in the inner part of the Saemangeum dike with low-salinity, and low nutrients in the outer part of the dike with high-salinity, which strongly indicated that concentrations were adjusted by physical mixing. The ranges of dissolved metals and acid-soluble Hg in surface seawater were $0.006{\sim}0.115{\mu}g/L$ for Co, $0.26{\sim}0.114{\mu}g/L$ for Ni, $0.14{\sim}0.93{\mu}g/L$ for Cu, $0.04{\sim}0.53{\mu}g/L$ for Zn, $0.010{\sim}0.043{\mu}g/L$ for Cd, $0.010{\sim}0.795{\mu}g/L$ for Pb, and $0.25{\sim}4.16{\mu}g/L$ for Hg. The highest concentrations of some metals except for Cd were found at the estuary(Sts. 1 or 3). In most cases, a decreasing order of metal concentrations towards open sea(low-salinity$\rightarrow$high-salinity) was observed and showed positive relationship with DIN and silicate caused by land base pollutants input. On the other hand, due to Cd desorption from suspended solids in saline water, dissolved Cd concentrations were high in high-salinity area and low in low-salinity. In November, Co, Zn, Cu and Pb were relatively high in the northern area of the outer-side of Saemangeum, which was only influenced by the Geum river discharge. The concentrations of most dissolved metals of this study were lower than those of the past data in this area, but higher than those in Lena river estuary under the pristine environment.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.163-169
• /
• 2006

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was carried out to identify and improve the environmental aspects associated with the present incineration system of spent Li-ion batteries (LIBs) in Korea. The environmental impact associated with the landfill of the incineration ash was also assessed in this study, while so far it was excluded in most studies. It was found out that the $CO_{2}$ emission from the electricity generation as well as the incineration process and heavy metals emissions to air and water accounted for about 90% of total environmental impacts. In particular, the effect of the emission of heavy metals were dominant. In oder to improve the current incineration system environmentally, it is needed to incinerate the wastes like spent LIBs which contained relatively high portion of heavy metals separately from other combustible wastes. On the other hand, the effect of the landfill of ash after incineration was insignificant since the ash from the incineration process was chemically stable.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2001

Many organochlorine pesticides are persistent in the environment and have a tendency to bioaccumulate significantly through food chains. Aquatic environments are particularly more affected because the pesticides applied to agriculture systems are eventually carried into water bodies, through surface runoff, rivers, and groundwater flow. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of the coexistence of a heavy metal on the solubility enhancement of the two representative organochlorine pesticides, lindane and dieldrin, by humic acids. The solubility enhancement of pesticides by humic acid in a single system was compared with that in a binary system. The extent of solubility enhancement of lindane by humic acids was constant. while that of dieldrin by humic acids increased. Also, the solubility enhancement of dieldrin by humic acid with Pb decreased than that by humic acid without Pb.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.81-88
• /
• 2007

A study on the removal of heavy metals using sawdust was performed. Among heavy metals such as lead, copper and cadmium ions, uptake capacity of lead ions was the highest as about 0.22 mmol/g-dry mass at pH 4. The surface condition and existence of lead ions onto the sawdust was confirmed by the FT-IR, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), and EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray) instrumental analyses. When 0.5g of sawdust was added to initial lead solution (100ppm) removal efficiency was approximately 90%. Isothermal adsorption curve for lead ions was described by the Langmuir model equation and experimental data well fitted to model equation. Most adsorption for lead ions was also completed within 60min and pH of lead solution from 5.8 to 4.5 decreased with time.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.3-10
• /
• 2016

Effects of acid ($HNO_3$ and HCl) modification on the adsorption properties of Pb(II) and Cu(II) onto bamboo-based activated carbon (BAC) were investigated through a series of batch experiments. The carbon content increased and oxygen content decreased with acid treatment. $HNO_3$ induced carboxylic acids and hydroxyl functional groups while HCl added no functional group onto BAC. The pseudo-second order model better described the kinetics of Pb(II) and Cu(II) adsorption onto experimented adsorbents, indicating that the rate-limiting step of the heavy metal sorption is chemical sorption involving valency forces through sharing or exchange of electrons between the adsorbate and the adsorbent. The equilibrium sorption data followed both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The adsorption capacities of BAC were affected by the surface functional groups added by acid modification. The adsorption capacities were enhanced up to 36.0% and 27.3% for Pb(II) and Cu(II), respectively by the $HNO_3$ modification, however, negligibly affected by HCl.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.136-142
• /
• 2012

Various factors affecting on the bioassay were investigated. Experiments with a low mixture ratio (cell to toxicant solution) of 0.5 : 9.5 (v/v) produced observable bioluminescence intensity for assay. Both sodium lactate and potassium nitrate stimulate bioluminescence activity; 2.6~4.0 times of control. Distilled water and MSM, which gave non significant effects on the bioluminescence activity, were determined as proper diluent or extract solutions. A wide range of toxic responses of metals and organics were observed. In general, organics were much less sensitive than metals. Samples collected from eleven sites showed the bioluminescence activity ranging from 29 to 111% of the control. Significant correlation between toxicity and total metal contents was not observed, but the toxicity of two groups, sorted based on the contaminated arsenic concentration in soils, was 44% and 20%, showing considerable differences.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.33-44
• /
• 1998

Mine tailings, soils, stream sediments, and ground water around Imcheon disused mine were analyzed in order to investigate their pollution levels of heavy metals and cyanide. The average contents of As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn, and CN￣ in mine tailings were 366, 28.8, 202, 15.2, 1.97$\times$$10^3$, 3.85$\times$$10^3$, 90.6mg/kg respectively, The pollution indices that calculated by the tolerance level of Kloke were 8~19 and the pH values were acidic in mine tailngs. In the field and paddy soils of Imcheon disused mine area except for soils nearby mine tailngs, concentraitons of the heavy metals were less than standards of soil pollution of agricultral area in the environmental protection law. The nitrate contents In the ground water for drink were more than tolerance level of the drinking water of Ministry of Health and Social Affairs.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.16 no.6
• /
• pp.877-883
• /
• 2006

An alternative method to remove and recover heavy metals is biosorption based on metal-sequestering properties of natural or biological origin. In this study, the effects of factors such as temperature, pH, initial concentration of lead, and initial amount of biomass on biosorption of lead using Aureobasdium pullulans were investigated. A. pullulans has an excellent selectivity to remove lead than other heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, nickel in pure and mixed solution. The optimum temperature of biosorption with A. pullulans was $40^{\circ}C$ and the amount of removal increased at high pH. The higher initial lead concentration or the lower cell dry weight, the higher amount of lead was adsorbed. The adsorption isotherm of lead was accorded with Freundlich model. The adsorption capacity and initial adsorption rate of living A. pullulans were about twice higher than that of dead one.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.149-157
• /
• 2000

This paper presents the first results of dissolved arsenic in the Kangnung Namdae stream. The distribution of As concentrations measured in 28 August (high water flow) and in 21 November 1997 (low water flow) differs from those of other metals measured during the same period; The concentrations of Doam-dam are lower than those of Obong-dam and accumulation in the downstream in the period of low water flow is not pronounced. The As concentration in the downstream under the low water flow is lower than under high water flow, reciprocally to other metals. Freshwater concentrations are comparable with those measured in pristine river and lower than the world average and the diffrence of concentrations measured during two period is minute. Therefore, the As concentrations in the Namdae stream are background level and the source of As contamination does not exist. In the mixing zone between the freshwater and Donghae seawater, As behave conservatively, indicating the absence of any significant removal or mobilization processes. A first estimation of total dissolved As input from Namdae stream to Donghae coastal sea shows 65.12 kg/yr.