• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.869-870
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• 2009

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.509-516
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• 2010

This study was investigated the characteristics of indoor air concentration of fiber particles in 30 public facilities and 245 schools by PCM (phase contrast microscopy). Also SEM/EDX (scanning electron microscope / energy dispersive using X-ray analysis) was used to obtain physicochemical information of asbestos fiber and to classify asbestos and non-asbestos of fiber particles. The airborne concentrations of fiber particles were $0.0009\pm0.0009$ counts/mL in public facilities and $0.0012\pm0.0006$ counts/mL in schools by PCM. All the samples were satisfied with the IAQ (indoor air quality) level of 0.01 counts/mL. In classification of 4 type shapes, over 80% of the fiber particles were identified as single fiber type. And this study analysed airborne fiber particles in 4 sites for identifying asbestos of by SEM/EDX. The asbestos fibers in most samples could not be found.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.65-73
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• 2014

Objectives: The purposes of this study are to investigate workers' exposures to respirable particles generated in taconite mines and to compare two metric methods for mass concentrations using direct-reading instruments. Methods: Air monitorings were conducted at six mines where subjects have been exposed primarily to particulate matters in crushing, concentrating, and pelletizing processes. Air samples were collected during 4 hours of the entire work shift for similarly exposure groups(SEGs) of nine jobs(N=37). Following instruments were employed to evaluate the workplace: a nanoparticle aerosol monitor(particle size range; 10-1000 nm, unit: ${\mu}m^2/cc$, Model 9000, TSI Inc.); DustTrak air monitors($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, unit: $mg/m^3$, Model 8520, TSI Inc.); a condensation particle counter(size range; 20-1000 nm, unit: #/cc, P-Trak 8525, TSI Inc.); and an optical particle counter(particle number by size range $0.3-25{\mu}m$, unit: #/cc, Aerotrak 9306, TSI Inc.). Results: The highest airborne concentration among SEGs was for furnace operator followed by pelletizing maintenance workers in number of particle and surface area, but not in mass concentrations. The geometric means of $PM_{2.5}$ by the DustTrak and the Ptrak/Aerotrak were $0.04{\mu}m$(GSD 2.52) and $0.07{\mu}m$(GSD 2.60), respectively. Also, the geometric means of RPM by the DustTrak and the Ptrak/Aerotrak were $0.16{\mu}m$(GSD 2.24) and $0.32{\mu}m$(GSD 3.24), respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient for DustTrak $PM_{2.5}$ and Ptrak/Aerotrak $PM_{2.5}$ was 0.56, and that of DustTrak RPM and Ptrak/Aerotrak RPM was 0.65, indicating a moderate positive association between the two sampling methods. Surface area and number concentration were highly correlated($R^2$ = 0.80), while $PM_{2.5}$ and RPM were also statistically correlated each other($R^2$ = 0.79). Conclusions: The results suggest that it is possible to measure airborne particulates by mass concentrations or particle number concentrations using real-time instruments instead of using the DustTrak Aerosol monitor that monitor mass concentrations only.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.5 s.92
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• pp.478-484
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• 2006

There was no significant difference in the CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) between physical aerosols, NaCl and smoke, and biological aerosols, airborne MS2 virus and P. fluorescens, which implicate that the hybrid-type of air purifier, applying the unipolar ion emission and the radiant catalytic ionization, imposed identical reduction effect on both physical aerosol and bioaerosol. Ventilation decreases the efficiency of air cleaning by unipolar ionization because high ventilation diminishes the particle concentration reduction effect. The particle removal efficiency decreases with increase in the chamber volume because of the augmented ion diffusion and higher ion wall loss rate. Particle size affects the efficiency of air ionization. The efficiency is high for particles with very small diameter because reduction of charge increases with particle size. If there is no increasing supply of ions, the efficiency of air cleaning by unipolar ionization increases with respect to initial concentration of particles because of the large space charge effect at high particle concentration and amplified electric field.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.196-208
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• 1997

This study was performed to estimate quartz contents in the both bulk and airborne dust samples and to determine particle size distribution of airborne dust from the selected foundry operations. Total dust samples were collected by a 37mm cassette and respirable by a 10 mm nylon cyclone. Particle size distributions were determined by a Marple's 8-stage cascade impactor at the melting, molding, shakeout and finishing operations. The presence of elements in the dust samples were confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy equipped with the energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry. The quartz contents were estimated using the intensity of the absorption peak of quartz at 799 cm-l by the Fourie Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results were as follows: 1. The analysis of data from cascade Impactor showed bimodal distributions of particle size at the melting, molding and shakeout operations. Mass median aerodynamic diameters for the distributions determined by histogram were $0.48-1.65{\mu}m$ for small and $13.43-19.58{\mu}m$ for large modes. In the dust samples collected at the finishing operations, however, only a large mode of $18.89{\mu}m$ was found. 2. The percentages of total to respirable dust concentration calculated from the impactor data ranged from 42 % to 66 %. The average concentrations of respirable dust by cyclone were $0.85-1.28mg/m^3$ collected from the workers, and were $0.23-0.56mg/m^3$ from the areas surveyed. Dust concentrations of personal samples were statistically significantly higher than those of area samples. The highest dust concentration was obtained from the personal samples of the finishing operation. 3. The mean percentages of silicon and oxygen estimated by SEM-EDXA in the bulk samples ranged from 35.83 % to 36.02 % and from 39.93 %-41.64 %, respectively. 4. The average quartz contents estimated by FTIR in the respirable dust from personal samples ranged from 4.32 % to 5.36 % and 4.54 % to 4.70 % in the bulk samples. No statistical difference of quartz content was found between foundry operations. In this study, quartz content was quantified by FTIR. Although no statistically significant difference in quartz content between airborne and bulk, samples and between different foundry operations was found, it is recommended that quartz content in the individual sample of respirable dust be analyzed and the results be used either to select an applicable quartz limits or to calculate the exposure limit. Further studies, however, are needed to compare the results by FTIR and XRD since it is reported that the quartz content determined by FTIR is different from that by XRD.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.83-91
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• 2014

Since airborne bacteria have been known to aggravate indoor air quality, studies on reducing bacteria particles increase recently. In this study, a chamber(0.8m x 0.8m x 1.56m) system was built in order to simulate real conditions for reducing airborne bacteria, and evaluated by a simple aerosol reduction test. A method utilizing CFD(Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulation was used to detect the horizontal cross-sectional area which represents particle distribution in the chamber. Then an air-cleaner with HEPA filter and Carbon Fiber Ionizer was located on that area for aerosol reduction test. The CFD result found the area was located at 0.2m height from the bottom of the chamber, and the test showed aerosol reduction efficiencies using measurements of number concentration and CFU(colony forming unit) per each case. At the measurement of number concentration, the reduction efficiency of air-cleaner with filter and ionizer(Case 3) was about 90% after 4 minutes from the stop of the bacteria injection, and that with only filter(Case 2) was about 90% after 8 minutes from the beginning. Lastly, that without filter and ionizer(Case 1) was about 30% after 10 minutes. At the measurement of CFU, it shows similar results but it is related to viability of bio-aerosol.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.475-485
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• 2001

The presence of airborne particles in the earth atmosphere expert important controls on the global climate because of their effects on the radiative balance. However, there are major uncertainties associated with the direct and indirect radiative effects of aerosols. In addition, their physicochemical properties cannot only the decline of air quality but also damage human health. Airborne particles were collected by two different commercial air samples, high volume sampler(for TSP) and low volume sampler(for P $M_{10}$ ) at the campus of Kunsan National University during February to September, 2000. In most cases, TSP and P $M_{10}$ were sampled once a week for the duration of 24 hours from 9:00 a.m. In addition samples were collected more intenisve, when the yellow dust was expected. Each sample was analyzed for pH and major ions concentration (C $l^{[-10]}$ , S $O_4$$^{2-}$, N $O_3$$^{[-10]}$ , N $a^{+}$, N $H_4$$^{+}$, $K^{+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Ca^{2+}$) by ion chromatography and atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Acidity (pH) of TSP and P $M_{10}$ ranged from 5.09 to 8.51 and from 6.22 to 7.54, respectively. The concentrations of airborne particles were found to satisfy both the short and long-term air quality standards during the sampling period. If the ratio of ionic concentrations originating from None sea salt(Nss) to sea salt(ss) in aerosol samples was concerned, it was found that the ionic concentrations from marine environment contributed dominantly in total mass concentration in the airborne particles. When seasonal trends were examined, the TSP concentrations in spring were higher than those of other seasons. It may result form frequent occurrences of yellow dust and during the spring season. The concentration ratio of P $M_{10}$ to TSP ranged from 0.78 to 1 during the sampling period. pH in the airborne particle was highest during spring, but the other seasons maintained almost same level. These results suggest that alkaline species in yellow dust can directly neutralize aerosol acidity. During spring season, yellow dust could be a positive factor that can defer the acidification of surface soil and water by neutralizing acidic aerosols in the atmosphere.osphere.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.172-183
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• 1995

The airborne concentrations of the welding fumes produced during $CO_2$ arcwelding process at shipbuilding, shiprepairing, container manufacturing and car accessary manufacturing industry were investigated. The effects how much reduced the welding fume were checked when the portable fan was used. The results were as follows; 1.The geometric mean of welding fume concentration in shipbuilding factory was $10.05mg/m^3$. This exposure concentration was higher than other 3 manufacturing industries at 95% confidence level. 2. The sampling filters for welding fume could be digested with acid within 1 hour by microwave oven. The recoveries for investigated metal elements were all over 95%. 3. The optimal wavelength could be selected for the simultaneous analysis of 8 metal elements by ICP(Inductively Coupled Plasma). 4. Noxious gases($O_1,NO_2$) produced during $CO_1$ gas arc welding process were detected that the concentration of ozone($O_1$) was less than 0.01 ppm and that of nitrogen dioxide($NO_2$) was 0.01-0.03 ppm. 5. The geometric mean of welding fume particle diameter was $1.26{\mu}m$ and geometric standard deviation was 1.51 for the counts when particle an analyzer(ELZONE) had been used. 6. When the portable fan had been used,the reduced percent of total welding fume for workers was about 47.8% when portable fan was applied to blow and 71.7% when to exhaust.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2014

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate quartz concentrations in airborne respirable dust and particle size-related quartz concentrations. Methods: Respirable dust samples were collected using a 10 mm Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone equipped with a 37 mm, $5{\mu}m$ pore size PVC filter. Dust samples were collected with a Marple's personal cascade impactor from stone grinding operations in five stone-related business located in the Gyeongsangbuk-do area. Results: The geometric mean of quartz concentration in the respirable dust was $0.170mg/m^3$, and the rate of exceeding the Korean Occupational Exposure Limit(KOEL) was 93.3%. The quartz concentration by particle size shows that it was the highest($0.115mg/m^3$) in stage 5($3.50-6.00{\mu}m$), which corresponds with the size of respirable particle. The smaller the particle sizes were, the higher quartz the content became. The mass fractions of inhalable, thoracic, and respirable dust were 72.1%, 36.0%, and 14.4%. Conclusions: The rate of the quartz concentration in respirable dust from stone grinding operations exceeding the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Threshold Limit Values was 100%, which means proper work environmental management is required through regular working environmental measurements. Given that the stone grinding operations had a higher small size dust concentrations, there is a need to reduce respirable dust, such as through wet operation and local exhaust ventilation.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2004

Asian Dust samples were collected in the ambient air of Seosan, Western Korea, in spring of 2000∼2002. PM (Particulate Matter) concentrations were 199,8$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ in the first Asian Dust period (March, 23∼24) and 249.4$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ in the second period (April, 7∼9) of 2000. Compared with the concentrations in 2000, relatively low PM concentrations, 157.3$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ were measured in the periods of 2001 (April, 24∼26). Especially high PM concentration 953.1$\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥ were measured in the periods of 2002 (March, 21∼22). The variation in the PM concentration was observed according to the time for the formation of Asian dust. Considering the particle size distributions of Asian dust, a high concentration was also observed in coarse particle region. The results of backward trajectory model showed the route of the dust storms from northern area of Mongol and Gobi desert. Various mycelia grown from fungal spores were observed on the PM samples and identified at the genus level. All the genera from the three years (2000∼2002), Fusarium, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Basipetospora, Epicoccum and Monotospora are hyphomycetes in the division Fungi imperfecti (Deuteromycota). Fungal composition on the dust sample in March, 2000 was similar to the result of March, 2002. However, the result of April, 2001 was obviously different from the other dust periods. The variations of fungal compositions between the dust periods could be caused by the trajectories of the dust storms.