• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.447-456
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• 2018

Elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC) thermal/optical methods for the analysis of ambient particulate matter were used to analyze twenty-two $PM_{2.5}$ samples along collected from May 28 to June 20 of 2016 at the Anmyeon measurement site ($36.32^{\circ}N$; $126.19^{\circ}E$). The three laboratory OCEC protocols, which are the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH5040), the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments_A(IMPROVE_A), and European Supersites for Atmospheric Aerosol Research2 (EUSAAR2), were utilized for the aerosol characterization experiment as in intercomparisons between three protocols. There are excellent agreement for total carbon (i.e. sum of EC and OC), but statistically significant differences were observed in the split between the measured EC and OC. IMPROVE_A EC values were always larger than both NIOSH5040 and EUSAAR2 protocols. These methods exhibited significantly different temperature-distributions based on thermogram analysis, which is normalized to total carbon. In this study, a protocol for carbonaceous analysis is suggested for the Korean Peninsula.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.79-95
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• 2017

A number of field studies have provided evidence that biomass burning is one of the major global sources of atmospheric particles. In this study, we have collected $PM_{2.5}$ emitted from biomass burning combusted at open burning and laboratory chamber situations. The open burning experiment was conducted with the cooperation of 9 farmers in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, while the chamber experiment was designed to evaluate the characteristics of chemical components among 14 different plant species. The analyzed categories were $PM_{2.5}$ mass concentration, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), ionic components ($Na^+$, ${NH_4}^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $K^+$, $Cl^-$, ${NO_3}^-$ and ${SO_4}^{2-}$), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), water-insoluble inorganic carbon (WIOC), char-EC and soot-EC. OC was the dominant chemical component, accounting for the major fraction of primary $PM_{2.5}$ derived from biomass burning, followed by EC. Ionic components contributed a small portion of $PM_{2.5}$, as well as that of $K^+$. In some cases, $K^+$ is used as biomass burning tracer; however, the observations obtained in this study suggest that $K^+$ may not always be suitable as a tracer for biomass burning emissions. Also, the results of all the samples tested indicate relatively low values of char-EC compared to soot-EC. From our results, careful consideration should be given to the usage of $K^+$ and char-EC as indicators of biomass burning. The calculated ratios of WSOC/OC and WIOC/OC were 55.7% and 44.3% on average for all samples, which showed no large difference between them. The organic materials to OC ratio, which is often used for chemical mass closure model, was roughly estimated by two independent methods, resulting in a factor of 1.7 for biomass burning emissions.

• Journal of Environmental Analysis, Health and Toxicology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.229-236
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• 2018

In this study, inter-laboratory comparison was done using elemental analyzer-isotope ratio mass spectrometers (EA-IRMSs) to determine carbon and nitrogen contents as well as stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions (${\delta}^{13}C$ and ${\delta}^{15}N$) of five environmental samples containing lake and marine sediments, higher plant leaves, and fish muscle, and one organic analytical standard (Protein (Casein) Standard OAS). Five national laboratories participated in this comparison study, and each laboratory analyzed all five samples and the analytical standard. Results showed that variations in total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents as well as ${\delta}^{13}C_{TOC}$ and ${\delta}^{15}N_{TN}$ values among the laboratories were large compared to the analytical uncertainties. The results highlighted the inhomogeneity of the test samples and thus, the need to select suitable standard reference materials for future inter-laboratory studies. Further inter-laboratory comparison exercises could promote good measurement practices in the acquisition of stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic composition data.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1349-1368
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• 2016

Concentrations of fine particulate matter ($PM_{2.5}$) and several of its particle constituents measured outside homes in Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles, California, were characterized using multiple regression analysis with proximity to point and mobile sources and meteorological factors as the independent variables. $PM_{2.5}$ mass and the concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), benzo-[a]-pyrene (BaP), perylene (Per), benzo-[g,h,i]-perylene (BghiP), and coronene (Cor) were examined. Negative associations of wind speed with concentrations demonstrated the effect of dilution by high wind speed. Atmospheric stability increase was associated with concentration increase. Petrochemical source proximity was included in the EC model in Houston. Area source proximity was not selected for any of the $PM_{2.5}$ constituents' regression models. When the median values of the meteorological factors were used and the proximity to sources varied, the air concentrations calculated using the models for the eleven $PM_{2.5}$ constituents outside the homes closest to influential highways were 1.5-15.8 fold higher than those outside homes furthest from the highway emission sources. When the median distance to the sources was used in the models, the concentrations of the $PM_{2.5}$ constituents varied 2 to 82 fold, as the meteorological conditions varied over the observed range. We found different relationships between the two urban areas, illustrating the unique nature of urban sources and suggesting that localized sources need to be evaluated carefully to understand their potential contributions to $PM_{2.5}$ mass and its particle constituents concentrations near residences, which influence baseline indoor air concentrations and personal exposures. The results of this study could assist in the appropriate design of monitoring networks for community-level sampling and help improve the accuracy of exposure models linking emission sources with estimated pollutant concentrations at the residential level.

• Carbon letters
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2011

Activated carbon fibers (ACFs) were prepared from cost effective commercial textiles through stabilization, carbonization, and subsequently activation by carbon dioxide. ACFs were characterized for surface area and pore size distribution by physical adsorption of nitrogen at 77 K. ACFs were also examined for various surface characteristics by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and CHNO elemental analyzer. The prepared ACFs exhibited good surface textural properties with well developed micro porous structure. With improvement in physical strength, the commercial textile grade acrylic precursor based ACFs developed in this study may have great utility as cost effective adsorbents in environmental remediation applications.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.196-203
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• 2007

We have studied a method for the preparation of hybrid $carbon/TiO_2$ complexes involving pitch coating, pitch binding and the penetration of titanium n-butoxide(TNB) solution with porous carbon. The photocatalysts were investigated with surface textural properties and SEM morphology, structural crystallinity and elemental identification between porous carbon and $TiO_2$, and dye decomposition performance. For the all $carbon/TiO_2$ complexes prepared by some kinds of different methods, the excellent photocatalytic effect for dye degradation should be attributed to the both effects between photo-decomposition of the supported $TiO_2$ and adsorptivity of the porous carbons.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.571-578
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• 2009

$PM_{2.5}$ black carbon (BC) concentrations were measured to investigate the filter spot loading effect in raw BC data at 5-minute time-based resolution using a single-wavelength aethalometer at a Gwangju site. Also the elemental carbon (EC) concentrations from 24-hr integrated filter-based measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ particles were determined to compare with the loading compensated BC values. Close examination of the time-series BC data showed clearly the "gaps" when the filter tape advances, suggesting the correction of raw BC data. Therefore, we calculated the average BC concentration in each range of attenuation (ATN) to decide if there was (or was not) an effect on the aethalometer data according to the loading of the filter spot. A consistent decrease of average BC concentration was found with increasing ATN values for every month, suggesting there was a consistent "spot loading effect" in the raw BC data. The loading compensated BC concentration according to a simple compensation model with loading effect was 1.01~1.15 times greater than the raw BC data. The 24-hr average concentration of EC observed during summer sampling period was about 3% higher than the original 24-hr average BC value and 2% lower than the loading compensated BC concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.392-402
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• 2010

Black carbon (BC) concentrations were measured with an aethalometer (AE-16, 880 nm) at time interval of 5-min at an urban site of Gwangju over a year 2008. 24-hr filter-based integrated measurements of $PM_{2.5}$ particles were also made at the same site during the winter and summer intensive periods to test any optical loading bias in the raw BC data measured by aethalometer. BC concentration was higher in winter than in summer, possibly due to increase in emissions from energy consumption and poor dispersion with reduction of boundary layer in winter. Also temporal cycles of BC indicate that short-term transient spikes were common, occurring primarily during the rush-hour periods. A similar feature was also observed in diurnal concentration cycle of CO, mainly emitted from motor vehicles. When both low wind speed and weather patterns such as mist, haze and etc were combined, high BC concentrations frequently occurred. The amount of optical loading effect described by the "k" factor showed the seasonal variation, ranging from 0.0003 to 0.0036. This implies that optical loading effect is not seen at all times. From the comparison between the filter-based elemental carbon (EC) and aethalometer BC data, it was found that the loading compensated BC values were more reasonable than the raw BC ones reported from the aethalometer.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.845-861
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• 2021

This study investigated the variations in monthly PM_2.5 concentrations and their characteristics at the sampling site (35.075°N, 129.080°E) around the Busan seaport area for six months (from August 2020 to January 2021). Monthly PM_2.5 concentrations in the filtered samples ranged from 8.4 to 42.3 ㎍/m³ (average=19.6±8.2 ㎍/m³, n=50) and were generally high in August, December, and January, and low in September, October, and November. The variations of monthly PM_2.5 concentrations showed similar patterns to those of the neighboring national air quality monitoring sites. The contents of Total Carbon (TC), Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), and OC/EC ratios in PM_2.5 showed large variability during the study period. The OC/EC ratios ranged from 4.2 to 34.4, suggesting that the relative contributions of OC and EC to the PM_2.5 concentrations changed temporally and might be related to their formation sources. Variations in the chemical components of and particle size distributions in PM_2.5 showed that high PM_2.5 concentrations were affected by various sources, such as sea salt and ship emission. The precursor gas concentrations were discussed in terms of monthly variations and their contributions to PM_2.5 concentrations. However, further research is needed to understand the characteristics and behaviors of PM_2.5 concentrations around the Busan seaport area.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.341-342
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• 2002

미세탄소입자는 원소탄소(elemental carbon)와 유기탄소(organic carbon)로 분류할 수 있다. 원소탄소는 불완전연소 과정에 발생하는 검댕(black soot), 원유의 정제과정에 발생하는 흑연(graphite), 자연상태에서 만들어진 다이아몬드의 3가지 형태로 존재한다. 이들 중 대기환경에 영향을 미치는 요소는 검댕입자로서 입경은 l$\mu\textrm{m}$이하이며, 일정한 형태를 지니고 있지 않다. (중략)