• Advances in environmental research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.77-93
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• 2023

The water can be contaminated by natural sources or by industrial effluents. One such contaminant is fluoride. Fluoride contamination in the water environment due to natural and artificial activities has been recognized as one of the major problems worldwide. Among the commonly used treatment technologies applied for fluoride removal, the adsorption technique has been explored widely and offers a highly efficient simple and low-cost process for fluoride removal from water. This review paper the recent developments in fluoride removal from surface water by adsorption methods. Studies on fluoride removal from aqueous solutions using various carbon materials are reviewed. Various adsorbents with high fluoride removal capacity have been developed, however, there is still an urgent need to transfer the removal process to an industrial scale. Regeneration studies need to be performed to more extent to recover the adsorbent in field conditions, enhancing the economic feasibility of the process. Based on the review, technical strategies of the adsorption method including the Nano-surface effect, structural memory effect, anti-competitive adsorption and ionic sieve effect can be proposed. The design of adsorbents through these strategies can greatly improve the removal efficiency of fluoride in water and guide the development of new efficient methods for fluoride removal in the future. This paper describes brief discussions on various low-cost adsorbents used for the effective removal of fluoride from water.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.50
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• pp.8.1-8.7
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• 2020

Two thickness measurement methods using an electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and 10a convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) were compared in an Fe-18Mn-0.7C alloy. The thin foil specimen was firstly tilted to satisfy 10a two-beam condition. Low loss spectra of EELS and CBED patterns were acquired in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and TEM-CBED modes under the two-beam condition. The log-ratio method was used for measuring the thin foil thickness. Kossel-Möllenstedt (K-M) fringe of the $13{\ba{1}}$ diffracted disk of austenite was analyzed to evaluate the thickness. The results prove the good coherency between both methods in the thickness range of 72 ~ 113 nm with a difference of less than 5%.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.561-567
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• 2021

The edible sargasso seaweed hijiki Sargassum fusiforme is known to have high concentration of arsenic, which is a threat to human health, particularly due to inorganic arsenic. In this study, various methods were used to remove inorganic arsenic from steamed hijiki concentrate. The highest concentration of arsenate [As(V)] in both raw and processed hijiki during steamed hijiki manufacturing process was within the range of 8.213-14.356 mg/kg, and it is a potential source of inorganic arsenic, which can result in re-contamination and cause environmental pollution. The removal efficiencies of the various removal methods were within the range of 57.3-83.4%, and 19.0% reduction was achieved using activated carbon and alginate bead. Further, activated carbon showed the best adsorption effect of inorganic arsenic. Therefore, we suggest that activated carbon is a suitable efficient method for removing inorganic arsenic and has low operational costs in field applicability.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2019

Clean soil environment is of crucial importance to sustain lives of ecosystem and humans. With rapid industrialization, there has been a great increase of soil contamination by accidental releases of petroleum products. In general, soil remediation is an expensive and time-consuming process as compared to cleanup of water and air. Moreover, determining the source and responsible parties of soil pollution often turns into legal conflicts and that further delay the cleanup process of contaminated sites. In practice, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) analysis has been employed to determine the petroleum species and to track down the responsible polluters. However, this approach often suffers from differentiating similar TPH species. In this study, we analyzed TPH chromatogram patterns of 24 domestic petroleum products in specific carbon ranges (${\sim}C_{10}$, $C_{10}-C_{12}$, $C_{12}-C_{36}$, and $C_{36}{\sim}$) and the fractional changes of THP ratio in the mixture products of gasoline, kerosene and diesel. The proposed TPH analysis method in this study could serve as a useful tool to better analyze the petroleum species in soils contaminated with complex oil mixtures, and ultimately be used to identify the polluters of soil.

• Journal of Venture Innovation
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.91-106
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• 2022

Cryptocurrency, stood out the sharp cost rising of Bitcoin has been spotlighted by means of the solution for stagflation because it is decentralized with an existing currency differently. Especially getting into 4th industrial revolution, technologies using block chain and internet of things have been used in the many fields, and the power of influence is also widespread. Nevertheless like a remark of Elon Musk of Tesla CEO, the problems of environmental contamination for cryptocurrency have been pointed out continuously and the most representative of them is an enormous electric usage as the use of fossil fuels. Also the amount generated of carbon dioxide result in the acceleration of global warming mainly based on the climate changes of earth if the existing mining method is continued. On the other hand, review researches have been conducted restrictively as the connection with environmental contamination as the mining of cryptocurrency. In this study, it intended to review problems for environmental contamination as the diversification of ecological system of cryptocurrency concretely. Upon investigation existing prior documents on the putting recent data first, the mining of cryptocurrency has affected on the environmental contamination conflicting with carbon neutrality as increasement of the electric usage and electronic wastes. And POS method without the mining process appeared, but it had a demerit collapsing a decentralization and then we met turning point on appearing various environmental-friendly cryptocurrency. Finally the appearance of cryptocurrency using new renewable energy acted on the opportunity of the usage maximization of energy storage apparatus and the birth of national government intervention. Based on these results, we mention clearly that hereafter cryptocurrency will regress if not go abreast the value of currency as well as environmental approach.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.127-132
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• 2015

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are persistent environmental pollutants, extremely stable, and possibly adversely affect human health. They are widely used in many industries and consumer goods, including sunscreen products. These substances are stable chemicals made of long carbon chains, having both lipid- and water-repellent qualities. The research objectives are (1) to find the most effective method for the preparation of semi-liquid samples by comparing solid phase extraction (SPE) and centrifugation after Pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), and (2) to determine the contamination levels of PFOS and PFOA in waterproof sunscreen samples. All sunscreen samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Sunscreen samples were purchased from domestic and international brands sold in Thailand. Special chemical properties were considered for the selection of samples, e.g., those found in waterproof, sweat resistant, water resistant, and non-stick products. Considering the factors of physical properties, e.g., operation time, chemical consumption, and recovery percentage for selecting methods to develop, the centrifugation method using 2 mL of extracted sample with the conditions of 12,000 rpm and $5^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour after PLE was chosen. The highest concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were detected at 0.0671 ng/g and 21.0644 ng/g, respectively. Even though present concentrations are found at ng/g levels, the daily use of sunscreen products is normally several grams. Therefore, a risk assessment of PFOS and PFOA contamination in sunscreen products is an important concern, and more attention needs to be paid to the long-term effects on human health.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.93-104
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• 2020

As water resources are limited and legal regulations are strengthened, there is a growing need to reuse residuals in WTP(Water Treatment Plant). In this study, membrane filtration system was constructed and its operation method was studied for water quality stabilization and reuse of WTP residuals. The operation parameters were stable for 1 year and 6 months. Membrane fouling was identified as particulate pollution (activated carbon) and inorganic pollution (manganese). The membrane system was operated steadily with raw water of high concentration SS(Suspended solid) containing activated carbon because membrane fouling was reduced by the effect of End-Free type. In the case of inorganic contamination, dissolved manganese eluted by chemicals and acted as a membrane fouling source, and the operating conditions for minimizing membrane fouling. were confirmed by newly developing application methods and types of cleaning chemicals. Based on the results, design parameters for reducing manganese membrane fouling were derived.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.164-170
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• 2021

Vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) have emerged as large-scale energy storage systems (ESS) due to their advantages such as low cross-contamination, long life, and flexible design. However, Hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in the negative half-cell causes a harmful influence on the performance of the VRFB by consuming current. Moreover, HER hinders V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction between electrode and electrolyte by forming a bubble. To address the HER problem, carbon nanotube/graphite felt electrode (CNT/GF) with oxygen functional groups was synthesized through the hydrothermal method in the H₂SO₄ + HNO₃ (3:1) mixed acid solution. These oxygen functional groups on the CNT/GF succeed in suppressing the HER and improving charge transfer for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. As a result, the oxygen functional group applied electrode exhibited a low overpotential of 0.395 V for V²⁺/V³⁺ redox reaction. Hence, this work could offer a new strategy to design and synthesize effective electrodes for HER suppression and improving the energy density of VRFB.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2007

The partitioning tracer method has been studied as an alternative method for detecting and characterizing the distribution of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) contaminants in subsurface. The reliability of the partitioning tracer method depends on accurate measurements of partition coefficients of the partitioning tracers between water and NAPLs. In this study, partition coefficients of several alcohol tracers between water and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and BTEX mixtures are estimated using the modified approach of equivalent alkane carbon number (EACN). Agreements between the measured and estimated partition coefficients were generally observed in experiments. Based on these results, it is confirmed that the partition coefficients of tracers are readily obtained without experiments if the EACN values for the tracers and LNAPLs are known.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.9-21
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• 2022

In this study, a novel antiviral coating method for the air filtration system of subway station was investigated. Using dry aerosol coating process, we developed a high-performance antiviral air filter with spark discharger and carbon brush type ionizer. Silver nanoparticles were produced by a spark discharge generation system with ion injection system and were used as antiviral agents coated onto a medium grade air filter. The pressure drop, filtration efficiency, and antiviral ability of the filter against aerosolized MS2 virus particles as a surrogate of SARS-CoV-2 virus were tested with dust contamination. Dust contamination caused the increase of the filtration efficiency and pressure drop, while the antiviral agents (in this study, silver nanoparticles) coating did not have any significant effect on the filtration efficiency and pressure drop. Using these properties, we suggested a novel method to maximize the antiviral performance of the antiviral air filter that was contaminated by dust particles. Moreover theoretical analysis of antiviral ability with dust contamination and re-coated antiviral agents was carried out using a mathematical model to calculate the time-dependent antiviral effect of the filter under actual conditions of subway station. Our model can be used to apply on antiviral air filtration system of subway station for prevention of pandemic diffusion, and predict the life cycle of an antiviral filter.