• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.113-118
• /
• 2017

BACKGROUND: The carbon (C) isotope ratio (${\delta}^{13}C$) of dissolved organic C (DOC) is an indicator of water pollution source. In this study, the potential use of two pre-treatments for the ${\delta}^{13}C$ analysis, alkaline persulfate oxidation coupled with carbonate precipitation (precipitation) and freeze drying (drying), were compared to suggest a more feasible pre-treatment method. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two reference materials with different ${\delta}^{13}C$ values were used for the experiments; chemical grade glucose ($-12.0{\pm}0.02$‰) and pig manure compost extract ($-23.3{\pm}0.04$‰). In the precipitation method, the measured ${\delta}^{13}C$ values were consistently lower than the theoretically calculated values as dissolved $CO_2$ could not be removed due to the alkaline property of the reagents and the dissolution of air $CO_2$ into the alkaline solution. The drying method also resulted in more negative ${\delta}^{13}C$ than the calculated ${\delta}^{13}C$; however, the difference was systematic ($3.9{\pm}0.3$‰) and there was a strong correlation (${\delta}^{13}C_{calculated}=0.87{\times}{\delta}^{13}C_{measured}-0.624$, $r^2=0.98$) between the calculated and measured ${\delta}^{13}C$. Calibration of ${\delta}^{13}C$ using the relationship between the calculated and the measured ${\delta}^{13}C$ values produced reliable and accurate ${\delta}^{13}C$ values. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the drying method is more accurate pre-treatment method to minimize the influence of air $CO_2$ compared to the precipitation method for the determination of ${\delta}^{13}C$ of DOC.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.297-305
• /
• 2014

In order to understand the contribution of seaweed aquaculture to nutrients and carbon cycles in coastal environments, we measured the nutrients & carbon uptake rates of Porphyra yezoensis Ueda sampled at Nakdong-River Estuary using a chamber incubation method from November 2011 to April 2012. It was observed that the production rate of dissolved oxygen by P. yezoensis (n=30~40) was about $68.8{\pm}46.0{\mu}mol\;{g_{FW}}^{-1}h^{-1}$ and uptake rate of nitrate, phosphate and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was found to be $2.5{\pm}1.8{\mu}mol\;{g_{FW}}^{-1}h^{-1}$, $0.18{\pm}0.11{\mu}mol\;{g_{FW}}^{-1}h^{-1}$ and $87.1{\pm}57.3{\mu}mol\;{g_{FW}}^{-1}h^{-1}$, respectively. There was a positive linear correlation existed between the production rate of dissolved oxygen and the consumption rates of nitrate, phosphate and DIC, respectively, suggesting that these factors may serve as good indicators of P. yezoensis photosynthesis. Further, there was a negative logarithmic relationship between fresh weight of thallus and uptake rates of nutrients and $CO_2$, which suggested that younger specimens (0.1~0.3 g) were much more efficient at nutrients and $CO_2$ uptake than old specimens. It means that the early culturing stage than harvesting season might have more possibilities to be developed chlorosis by high rates of nitrogen uptake. However, N & C demanding rates of Busan and Jeollabuk-do, calculated by monthly mass production and culturing area, were much higher than those of Jeollanam-do, the highest harvesting area in Korea. Chlorosis events at Jeollabuk-do recently might have developed by the reason that heavily culture in narrow area and insufficient nutrients in maximum yield season (Dec.~Jan.) due mostly to shortage of land discharge and weak water circulation. The annual DIC uptake by P. yezoensis in Nakdong-River Estuary was estimated about $5.6{\times}10^3\;CO_2$ ton, which was about 0.03% of annual carbon dioxide emission of Busan City. Taken together, we suggest more research would be helpful to gain deep insight to evaluate the roles of seaweed aquaculture to the coastal nutrients cycles and global carbon cycle.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.11-31
• /
• 1999

Removal of hexavalent chromium from artificial groundwater (AGW) by granular activated carbon (GAC) was investigated in batch and continuous-flow column studies. Experimental parameters that were examined included solution pH, presence of dissolved oxygen (DO), and GAC pretreatment with Fe(II). As the solution pH increased from 4 to 7.5, the amount of Cr(VI) removed by both GACs decreased significantly. Exclusion of DO from the experimental systems resulted in greater removal of Cr(VI) from solution, possibly as a result of reduction to Cr(III). However, pretreatment of the GAC with a reductant (Fe(II)) did not improve Cr(VI) removal. Equilibration With 0.01 M $K_2$$HPO_4$[to extract adsorbed Cr(VI)] followed by a wash with 0.02 N $K_2$$HPO_4$[to remove precipitated/sorbed Cr(III)] proved to be a viable approach for the regeneration of carbons whose Cr(VI) removal capacities had been exhausted. The performance of the regenerated carbons exceeded that of the virgin carbons, primarily because of the favorable adsorption of Cr(VI) at lower pH values and the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III), The presence of Cr(III) in acid wash solutions provides direct evidence that Cr(VI) is reduced to Cr(III) in GAC systems under relatively acidic conditions. GAC performance over five complete cycles was consistently high, which suggests that such a system will be able to function over many operation cycles without deleterious effects.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.158-162
• /
• 2005

The objective of this study was to assess the assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in processing water, a measurement of biostability, at several stages of a full-scale nanofiltration (NF) water treatment plant. The NF membrane plant investigated was a $45,400\;m^3$/day (12 mgd) water softening facility at Plantation City in southern Florida, which utilized an organic rich groundwater (dissolved organic carbon (DOC) = 17.6 mg/L) originated from a surficial aquifer. The average AOC concentration of raw feed water was estimated at 158 g/L acetate-C. After pretreatment(acid and antiscalant addition), AOC levels increased by 12.7%, suggesting that pretreatment chemicals used to control scaling may deteriorate feed water biostability. The results also demonstrated that nanofiltration was capable of effectively removing 63.4% of AOC and 94.8% of DOC from the raw water. AOC rejection in stage 1 (${\approx}\;68%$) was slightly higher than that of stage 2 (${\approx}\;58%$) indicating that AOC was removed less at the solution environment (i.e. low pH, high ionic strength and high hardness), which was often created in the $2^{nd}$ stage of full-scale membrane plants due to pretreatment (acid addition) and high recovery operation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.11
• /
• pp.1141-1147
• /
• 2006

In order to applicate a newly method for powdered activated carbon(PAC) selection based on economic efficiency, PAC adsorption tests were performed for removal of MIB and dissolved organic carbon(DOC) in drinking water supplies. The removal rate of MIB increased when the PAC dose increased. The Coal-based PACs were superior for adsorption of MIB compared to wood-based PACs. PAC adsorption of DOC and $UV_{254}$ were a little different for different PACs and types of raw water, but both were lower than adsorption of MIB. Among the tested PACs, the one called P-1000 was most effective for removal of MIB, DOC and $UV_{254}$. Most of the organics in the tested samples were proven by excitation emission matrix(EEM) results to be fulvic-like materials. Especially, fulvic-like materials, humic-like materials, and soluble microbial byproduct(SMP)-like materials decreased after contact with PAC. P-1000 which had the lowest MIB cost index(MCI) was selected as the optimum PAC for the target water. PAC efficiency and treatability, particle size and distribution, and the cost associated with PAC dosing for MIB removal according to DOC concentration should all be considered before making the final selection of the best PAC for the target water.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 2010

Wetlands are a well known ecosystem which have high spatial-temporal heterogeneity of chemical characteristics. This high heterogeneity induces diverse biogeochemical processes, such as aerobic decomposition, denitrification, and plant productivity in wetlands. Understanding the dynamics of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and inorganic nitrogen in wetlands is important because DOC and inorganic nitrogen are main factors controlling biological processes in wetlands. In this study, we assessed spatial distribution of DOC and inorganic nitrogen with relation to the different hydrology and vegetation in created wetlands. Both DOC and nitrate contents were significantly higher in vegetated areas than open areas. Different water levels also affected DOC contents and their quality. Average DOC contents were $0.37mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$ in deep riparian (DR) and $0.31mg{\cdot}g^{-1}$ in shallow riparian (SR). These results appeared to be related to the interaction between carbon supply by vegetation and microbial decomposition. On the other hand, inorganic nitrogen contents were not affected by water level differences. This result indicates that presence/absence of vegetation could be a more important factor than hydrology in the spatial dynamics of inorganic nitrogen. In conclusion, we observed that vegetation and hydrology differences induced spatial distribution of carbon and nitrogen which are directly related to biogeochemical processes in wetlands.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.162-174
• /
• 2023

In order to prevent water pollution caused by organic matter, Total Organic Carbon(TOC) has been adopted indicator and monitored. TOC can be divided into Dissolved Organic Carbon(DOC) and Particulate Organic Carbon(POC). POC is largely precipitated and removed during stream flow, which making DOC environmentally significant. However, there are lack of studies to define spatio-temporal distributions of DOC in stream affected by various land use. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the past DOC concentration using other water quality indicators to evaluate status of watershed management. In this study, DOC was estimated by correlation and regression analysis using three different organic matter indicators monitored in mixed land-use watersheds. The results of correlation analysis showed that DOC has the highest correlation with TOC. Based on the results of the correlation analysis, the single- and multiple-regression models were developed using Biochemical Oxygen Demand(BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD), and TOC. The results of the prediction accuracy for three different regression models showed that the single-regression model with TOC was better than those of the other multiple-regression models. The trend analysis using extended average concentration DOC data shows that DOC tends to decrease reflecting watershed management. This study could contribute to assessment and management of organic water pollution in mixed land-use watershed by suggesting methods for assessment of unmeasured DOC concentration.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.19-29
• /
• 2024

Total organic carbon (TOC) represents the total amount of organic carbon contained in water and is a key water quality parameter used, along with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), to quantify the amount of organic matter in water. In this study, a model to predict TOC was developed using XGBoost (XGB), a representative ensemble machine learning algorithm. Independent variables for model construction included water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen concentration, BOD, COD, suspended solids, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and discharge. To quantitatively analyze the impact of various water quality parameters used in model construction, the feature importance of input variables was calculated. Based on the results of feature importance analysis, items with low importance were sequentially excluded to observe changes in model performance. When built by sequentially excluding items with low importance, the performance of the model showed a root mean squared error-observation standard deviation ratio (RSR) range of 0.53 to 0.55. The model that applied all input variables showed the best performance with an RSR value of 0.53. To enhance the model's field applicability, models using relatively easily measurable parameters were also built, and the performance changes were analyzed. The results showed that a model constructed using only the relatively easily measurable parameters of water temperature, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, and suspended solids had an RSR of 0.72. This indicates that stable performance can be achieved using relatively easily measurable field water quality parameters.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.393-399
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to evaluate the pollutant removal efficiencies of the advanced drinking water treatment using ozonation. for raw water, Nakdong River was used. By conducting batch ozonation test, the following results were obtained. when ozone dosage of 5mg/$\ell$was used, preozonation of raw water reduced turbidity, KMnO$_4$consumption, DOC(dissolved organic carbon), UV254 absorbance, THMFP(trihalomethane formation potential) as much as 3.9NTU, 5.5mg/$\ell$, 1.15mg/$\ell$, 0.112 and 0.065mg/$\ell$, respectively. In case of postozonation of sand filtered water, water quality was also improved with decrease in turbidity, KMnO$_4$consumption, DOC, UV254 absorbance and THMFP at the amount of 0.08NTU, 2.6mg/$\ell$, 0.88mg/$\ell$, 0.042 and 0.018mg/$\ell$, respectively. On the other hand, contents of dissolved oxygen increased at the level of 1.3mg/$\ell$ after preozonation process and 1.0mg/$\ell$ after postozonation process. The effect of ozone dosage was higher than that of its contact time for the removal of the pollutants.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2005.05b
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2005

It is important to understand groundwater conditions such as recharge, flow and hydrochemical process occurred within an aquifer for groundwater protection and groundwater resource management. Groundwater from the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone aquifer of North Yorkshire has been used for industrial purposes and domestic water supply. Tn order to understand the processes affecting groundwater chemistry and identify the sources of high chloride, sulphate and nitrate concentrations hydrochemical and isotopic measurements were carried out. Hydrochemical and isotopic measurements indicated that five groundwater types exist within the Sherwood Sandstone aquifer of study area. The results of hydrochemical and isotopic measurements showed that older groundwaters have different hydrochemical and isotopic characteristics from recent recharge water. It was also found that water-rock interactions are the dominant mechanism controlling the ${\delta}^{13}C$ composition of dissolved inorganic carbon, the ${\delta}^{34}S\;and\;{\delta}^{18}O$ composition of dissolved sulphate and the strontium isotope ratios ($^{87}Sr/^{86}Sr$) in recent recharge water and old groundwater. Several abstraction boreholes within the Selby wellfield have been contaminated by saline water. The isotopic data of saline groundwater samples taken from these abstraction boreholes indicate that saline waters are derived from the dissolution of the Triassic evaporites within the Mercia Mudstone.