• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.63-82
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• 2024

Objective : Saengkankunbi-tang (SKT) is used as a traditional Korean herbal formula for treatment of liver diseases. We investigated the hepatoprotective effects of SKT plus Epimedium koreanum Nakai (EKE) against arachidonic acid (AA) + iron-mediated cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells and carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-mediated acute liver damage in mice. Methods : The cyto-protective effects of SKT + EKE were determined by MTT assay, western blot and fluorescence activated cell sorting analysis. In mice, blood biochemistry and western blot were assessed in CCl₄-induced acute hepatic damage. The animal groups included vehicle-treated control, CCl₄, SKT (200 mg/kg/day), EKE (100 mg/kg/day), SKT (200 mg/kg/day) + EKE (100 mg/kg/day) and silymarin (200 mg/kg/day). Results : In HepG2 cells, pretreatment with SKT + EKE significantly suppressed cytotoxicity induced by AA + iron and reduced the expression of proteins related to apoptosis. In addition, pretreatment with SKT + EKE significantly prevented the increase in H₂O₂ production, GSH depletion, and lower mitochondrial membrane potential induced by AA + iron. In CCl₄-induced liver damage mice, the administration of SKT + EKE prevented the liver damage by inhibition of hepatocyte damage and expression of apoptosis proteins in liver. More importantly, in vitro and in vivo assay, SKT + EKE showed significant effect compare with SKT alone or EKE alone in all parameters. Conclusions : These results indicated that SKT + EKE could protect against oxidative stress-induced liver damage, and SKT + EKE is more effective than SKT alone or EKE alone.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1280-1286
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• 2006

Three different virgin activated carbons made of each coal(Calgon), coconut(Samchully) and wood(Picabiol) based activated carbon(AC) were tested for an adsorption performance of 1,4-dioxane in a continuous adsorption column. Breakthrough behavior was Investigated that the breakthrough points of coal, coconut and wood based AC were observed as 3600 bed volumn(BV), 1440 BV and 144 BV respectively. Adsorption capacity(X/M) of coal, coconut and wood based AC was observed. The reported results of adsorption capacity showed that coal based AC was highest(578.9 ${\mu}g/g$), coconut based AC was intermediate(142.3 ${\mu}g/g$) and wood based AC was lowest(7.4 ${\mu}g/g$) due to increasing specific surface area. Moreover, carbon usage rates(CURs) for coal, coconut and wood based AC had been shown as 0.48 g/day, 1.41 g/day and 6.9 g/day respectively. The constant characteristic of the system, k of coal based AC was found to be 91.5 and k of coconut based AC was found to be 17.9. Removal efficiencies of 1,4-dioxane with different ozonation dosages(2 and 5 mg/L) for 20 min ozonation had been shown 38% and 87% respectively. There was no observation for biological removal of 1.4-dioxane by attached micro-organisms when used(3.1 years and over 5 years) biological activated carbon(BAC) without pretreatment of oxidation were employed. When a combination of ozonation(2 mg/L and 5 mg/L) and BAC process for $10{\sim}30$ min was applied, removal efficiency for 1,4-dioxine increased only $2{\sim}6%$ compared to only applying ozonation. Therefore removal efficiency of BAC process prior to using oxidation was proven to negligible. Consequently, the results presented in this paper provide a better insight into the adsorption performance of 1,4-dioxane. This observation suggests that using virgin activated carbon made of coal is the best selection for removal of 1,4-dioxane in the water treatment for an advanced treatment. It is clear from this research that longer EBCT for ozonation or higher ozone concentration are more effective operation methods for removal of 1,4-dioxane than longer EBCT in the BAC process.

• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2019

Bamboo is an evergreen perennial plant, and it is known as one of the most productive and fastest-growing plants in the world. It grows quickly in moderate climates with only moderate water and fertilizer. Traditionally in Asia, bamboo is used for building materials, as a food source, and as versatile raw materials. Bamboo as a biomass feedstock can be transformed to prepare activated carbon using the thermal treatment of pyrolysis. The effect of process variables such as carbonization temperature, activation temperature, activation time, the amount of steam, and the mixing ratio of phosphoric acid and bamboo were systematically investigated to optimize the preparation conditions. Steam activation was proceeded after carbonization with a vapor flow rate of $0.8{\sim}1.8mL-H_2O\;g-char^{-1}\;h^{-1}$ and activation time of 1 ~ 3 h at $700{\sim}900^{\circ}C$. Carbon yield and surface area reached 2.04 ~ 20.59 wt% and $499.17{\sim}1074.04m^2\;g^{-1}$, respectively, with a steam flow rate of $1.4mL-H_2O\;g-char^{-1}\;h^{-1}$ for 2 h. Also, the carbon yield and surface area were 24.67 wt% and $1389.59m^2\;g^{-1}$, respectively, when the bamboo and phosphoric acid were mixed in a 1:1 weight ratio ($700^{\circ}C$, 2 h, $1.4mL-H_2O\;g-char^{-1}\;h^{-1}$). The adsorption of methylene blue into the bamboo activated carbon was studied based on pseudo first order and second order kinetics models. The adsorption kinetics were found to follow the pseudo second order model, which is governed by chemisorption.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.513-523
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• 1995

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are the most concerned toxic organic pollutants to human. Because of their extremely high toxicity and uncertain genotoxic potential, their determination in environmental and biological samples is of great interest. Municipal solid waste incinerator facilities have been reported as the major contributors of dioxins and furans to the environment, and their formation from combustion is a universal phenomenon, everywhere. In this study dioxins and furans were analyzed from the bottom ash produced during combustion in an municipal waste incinerator located in Seoul. The EPA method was modified for sample pretreatment: the soxhlet method was used for extraction and clean-up procedures were performed by using silica and basic alumina, excluding active-carbon. The extract was then analyzed by HRGC/HRMS. A general trend of increase in the amounts of 6∼7 chlorine-substituted dioxins and furans was observed. Total dioxins, furans and 2,3,7,8-TCDD were determined as 8.05 ng/g, 4.75 ng/g, and 6.93 pg/g, respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.371-379
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• 2016

In this article, the foamed body of glass was manufactured from the waste borosilicate glass produced by wet pulverization process without additional pretreatment which can be used as a recycling method for waste LCD panel glass. Each 100 g of pulverized waste borosilicate glass with the size of less than 270 mesh were mixed with 0.3 weight fraction of carbon and 1.5 weight fraction of $Na_2CO_3$, $Na_2SO_4$ and $CaCO_3$ and let them foamed for 20 minutes at $950^{\circ}C$ to manufacture the foamed body having the density of less than $0.3g/cm^3$. Additionally, adding $SiO_2$ or $H_3BO_3$ to the mixture enabled the foamed body to have efficient formation of open pores which showed the possibility for producing the foamed body with new functionalities such as sound absorption.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.10-17
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• 2011

Korea is the 11th largest energy consumption country and 96% of its total energy consumption depends on imports from overseas. Therefore it is a very important task to secure renewable energy sources which can reduce both the carbon-dioxide emission and dependency on overseas energy imports. Among the various renewable energy sources, organic wastes are important sources. In Korea, 113 million toe of methane is generated from organic wastes annually, but only 3.7% is effectively used for energy conversion. Thus, it is very important to make better use of organic wastes, especially for power generation. The goals of this project are to develope the fuel supplying system of Bio Gasturbine (GT) for 5MW-class co-generation system. The fuel supplying system mainly consists of $H_2S$ removal system, Bio Gas compression system, Siloxane removal system and moisture separating systems. The fuel requirement of 5MW-class GT is at around 60% of $CH_4$, $H_2S$ (<30 ppm), Siloxane(<10 mg/$nm^3$) and supply pressure (> 25 bar) from biogas compressor. Main mechnical charateristics of Bio Gasturbine system have the specific performance; 1) high speed turbine speed (12,840 rpm) 2) very clean emmission NOx (<50 ppm) 3) high efficiency of energy conversion rate. This paper focuses on the development of design technology for food waste biogas pretreatment system for 5MW-class biogas turbine. The study also has the plan to replace the fuel of gas turbine and other distributed power systems. As the increase of bioenergy, this system help to contribute to spread more New & Renewable Energy and the establishment of Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) for Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.164-168
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• 2015

Citric acid is produced via submerged fermentation using yeasts. Among eight different strains of yeast, Candida zeylanoides was chosen as the strain for producing citric acid and optimized for various C/N ratios and effects of phosphate or Fe²⁺ ions in a clean carbon source medium (glucose: fructose, 1:1). The yield of citric acid was maximized at a C/N ratio of 40/1, a phosphate addition of 1.0 g/l, and an Fe²⁺ ion concentration of less than 50 mg/l, yielding up to 91 g/L in the broth with 18.5 g/l of isocitric acid in a six-day fermentation period using a pre-treated molasses medium. The yield of batch culture was 0.51 (Y_p/s, g/g) in a 5 L-Jar fermenter.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.424-429
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• 2012

The intention of this research was to investigate the solubilization of primary sewage sludge using lactic acid bacteria cultured in a glucose and yeast extract medium. Glucose as the carbon source and yeast extract as the source of nitrogen were chosen as an economic medium with the potential for the mass production of lactic acid bacteria. The optimal concentrations of the medium were 3% (w/v) glucose and 2% (w/v) yeast extract. In this study, in order to improve field applications for the solubilization of sludge at sewage treatment plants, a powdered form of lactic acid bacteria was produced. The optimal inoculum of the powder for the maximum efficiency of solubilization was 1% (w/v). In that condition, the SCOD value increased from 8600 (mg/L) at the beginning of experiment to 10290 (mg/L) at 96 h, with the highest solubilization rate (20.6% DDCOD) and 11.2% (SCOD). Also, the TVFAs of the lactic acid bacteria inoculation group were produced more than that of the control group. In particular, acetic acid was produced 5 times more in the experimental group than in the control group. In this research, the potential of lactic acid bacteria in the pretreatment of primary sewage sludge as a solubilizer, and as an energy source producer for microbial fuel cells was revealed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2018

In this study, we performed various extraction condition experiments such as types and concentrations of extractants, amounts of extraction sources, pretreatment processes, to optimize the calcium ion extraction for precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) production. CaO was used as a calcium extraction source, The extraction amount of calcium ions and the particle size of CaO were determined by ICP and SEM results. As a result, 100% calcium ion was extracted when 2 M hydrochloric acid was used as an extractant, and the optimum amount of the extraction source was 6 g. On the other hand, it was confirmed that the reaction time, reaction temperature, particle milling and heat treatment process had no significant effect on the calcium ion extraction amount.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.164-169
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• 2008

The tumor suppressor gene p53 regulates apoptotic cell death and the cell cycle. In this study, we investigated the role of p53 in nitric oxide (NO)-induced apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We found that the NO donor S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP) increased apoptotic cell death in p53-deficient VSMCs compared with wild-type cells. The heme oxygen-ase (HO) inhibitor tin protoporphyrin IX reduced the resistance of wild-type VSMCs to SNAP-induced cell death. SNAP promoted HO-1 expression in both cell types. HO-2 protein was increased only in wild-type VSMCs following SNAP treatment; however, similar levels of HO-2 mRNA were detected in both cell types. SNAP significantly increased the levels of non-heme-iron and dinitrosyl iron-sulfur clusters in wild-type VSMCs compared with p53-deficient VSMCs. Moreover, pretreatment with FeSO4 and the carbon monoxide donor CORM-2, but not biliverdin, significantly protected p53-deficient cells from SNAP-induced cell death compared with normal cells. These results suggest that wild-type VSMCs are more resistant to NO-mediated apoptosis than p53-deficient VSMCs through p53-dependent up-regulation of HO-2.