• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.727-733
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• 2007

In this study, a newly developed biotrickling system, combined with a non-thermal plasma reactor, was investigated to effectively treat gaseous contaminants such as VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Three kinds of non-thermal plasmas (NTPs) such as a rod type dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, a packed bead type DBD plasma and a gliding arc (GA) plasma, were tested and compared in terms of power consumption. The rod type DBD plasma was selected as one for integration with biotrickling system due to its relatively high VOC removal efficiency, low power consumption and low pressure drop. Toluene and xylene as representatives of VOCs were used as test gases. The experiment results showed that the efficiency of biotrickling system was especially very low at the high gas concentration and high flow rate and the removal efficiencies of VOCs were considerably enhanced in the biotrickling system, when the DBD plasma was worked in front of that even at the high gas concentration and high flow rate.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 1999

A biological filter for treatment of toluene among volatile organic compounds was studied. The investigation was conducted using specially built stainless steel columns packed with granular activated carbon and cold for removal of toluene. The G.A. and mold as filter material was also coated with Pseudomonas putida microorganisms.The biofilter unit was operated in the condition of moisture content vairation at gas loading rate of 12.5 l/min. Gaseous toluene taken from tedlar bag was analyzed by the use of G.C equipped with F.I.d detector. The removal efficiency of gaseous toluene was 95% at average inlet concentration of 950 ppm during bio-degradation operating condition. Effective removal efficiency was obtained with moisture content 27.5% at activated carbon and 32% at mold in this study. The effective operating condition were obtained with pH 6-8, temperature 28-42℃ for microbial degradation at gas loading rate of 12.5 l/min in packed material.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.506-512
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• 2018

The fine dust generated in the home and restaurant business occupies a low ratio of about 4% of the total fine dust emissions. However, at the foodservice business, the rate of change of the pollutant concentration is very high, so that the temporary fine dust concentration can be measured up to 60 times. The pollutants generated from non-industrial combustion plants consist of particulate fine dust and gaseous organic compounds. To remove these pollutants, cleaning dust collection system, which is an effective system for simultaneous removal of gaseous and particulate matter, is applied. This is a method of increasing the probability of diffusion capture of the Brownian motion by pressurized liquid injection method using the atomizing nozzle. The dust removal efficiency of the fine dust collecting system was analyzed by nozzle spraying air pressure condition and angle using the manufactured fine dust removing system. As a result, it was confirmed that the efficiency of removal of fine dust and gaseous organic compounds was more than 90%. The developed system is expected to be highly usable in the future because it can remove particulate dust from the existing plant hood system without any installation cost.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.420-426
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• 2017

A colorimetric sensor was investigated to achieve a low-cost warning device for harmful gaseous formaldehyde (HCHO). The sensor is based on selective reactions between hydroxylamine sulfate and HCHO, leading to the production of sulfuric acid. The produced acid results in color-changing response through the acid-base reaction with dye molecules impregnated on a solid membrane substrate. For attaining this purpose, sensors were fabricated by drop-casting a dye solution prepared using different pH indicators on various commercially available polymer sheets, and their colorimetric responses were evaluated in terms of sensitivity and reliability. The colorimetric sensor using bromophenol blue (BPB) and nylon sheet was found to exhibit the best performance in HCHO detection. An initial bluish green of a sensor was changed to yellow when exposed to gaseous formaldehyde. The color change was recorded using an office scanner and further analyzed in term of RGB distance for quantifying sensor's response at different HCHO(g) concentrations. It exhibited a recognizable colorimetric response even at 50 ppb, being lower than WHO's standard of 80 ppb. In addition, the sensor was found to have quite good selectivity in HCHO detection under the presence of common volatile organic compounds such as ethanol, toluene, and hexane.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.21 no.E2
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• pp.57-65
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• 2005

An experimental study was performed on the decomposition of gaseous ammonia and two selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs: toluene and acetone) in a combined nonthermal plasma reactor with corona and glow discharges. A lab pilot scale reactor (206 liter) equipped with a high electric power pack was used to determine the decomposition efficiency in relation with the inlet concentration and applied voltage. Three different types of discharging electrode such as wired rack, wire strings for corona discharge, and thin plate for glow discharge were put in order in the reactor. While decomposition of ammonia decreased with an increase in the initial concentration, acetone showed an opposite result. In the case of toluene however no explicit tendency was found in toluene and aceton. Negative discharge resulted in high decomposition efficiency than the positive one for all gases. A better removal of gas phase element could be achieved when fume dust were present simultaneously.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.501-507
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• 2010

Formaldehyde responsive protein(FRP) 1 belongs to the family of universal stress protein(USP) and is known to respond to stress caused by fumigation of gaseous volatile organic compounds(VOCs) such as formaldehyde and toluene. However, the molecular function of this protein is not well understood at cellular and molecular level. In this study, loss of function mutant of FRP1 generated by T-DNA insertion(frp1-4) has been isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana and the function of FRP1 was characterized. The loss-of-function mutant of FRP1 appeared slight growth defects with shorter stem and rosette leaves compared to wild type. In addition, the damage caused by exogenous VOCs was more severe in frp1-4 than in control. Therefore, Arabidopsis FRP1 seems to be the protein involved not only in the growth and development of plant but also the stress resistance against toxic volatile organic compounds.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.513-525
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• 2006

In recent decades, biofiltration has been widely accepted for the treatment of contaminated air stream containing low concentration of odorous compounds or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this study, conventional biofilters packed with flexible synthetic polyurethane (PU) foam carriers were operated to remove toluene from a contaminated air stream. PU foams containing various amounts of pulverized activated carbon (PAC) were synthesized for the biofilter media and tested for toluene removal. Four biofilter columns were operated for 60 days to remove gaseous toluene from a contaminated air stream. During the biofiltration experiment, inlet toluene concentration was in the range of 0-150 ppm and EBRT (i.e., empty bed residence time) was kept at 26-42 seconds. Pressure drop of the biofilter bed was less than 3 mm $H_2O/m$ filter bed. The maximum removal capacity of toluene in the biofilters packed with PU-PAC foam was in the order of column II (PAC=7.08%) > column III (PAC=8.97%) > column I (PAC=4.95%) > column IV (PAC=13.52%), while the complete removal capacity was in the order of column II > column I > column III > column IV. The better biofiltration performance in column II was attributed to higher porosity providing favorable conditions for microbial growth. The results of biodegradation kinetic analysis showed that PU-PAC foam with 7.08% of PAC content had higher maximum removal rate ($V_m$=14.99 g toluene/kg dry material/day) than the other PU-PAC foams. In overall, the performance of biofiltration might be affected by the structure and physicochemical properties of PU foam induced by PAC content.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.452-456
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• 2008

Mesoporous silicate materials have been used as adsorbents due to the advantage of high specific surface area and regular mesopores. In this study, conventional mesoporous silicates (MCM-41, and SBA-15) were utilized as adsorbents for gaseous benzene, one of volatile organic compounds. In the results of the breakthrough curves of gaseous benzene, SBA-15 showed a higher benzene adsorption capacity in adsorption condition of this study. Especially, compared to benzene adsorption of zeolite X, that of SBA-15 was higher by a factor of 2.7. With increasing adsorption temperature, adsorption capacity for benzene of SBA-15 was decreased rapidly. This indicates that benzene adsorbed weakly on SBA-15.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.83-90
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• 1997

Aiming at the treatment of large volumes of gas with a low concentration of poorly water soluble VOC(Volatile Organic Compound), a new system is proposed: the combination absorption tower/bioreactor. In the scrubber part of the bioscrubbing system, the contaminating compounds are absorbed in a aqueous phase. The contaminated scrubbing liquid is transported to the bioreactor, where the compounds are biodegraded by aerobic microorganisms (mainly to carbon dioxide, water, and biomass). In this study, separation of a volatile organic compound(VOC) out of a waste gas stream has been carried out using a re-cyclable high boiling point extrant(HBE). The liquid stream containing a high boiling point entrant(HBE) scrubs the gas stream in a direct gas-liquid countercurrent contacting operation in a packed tower for the removal of said component from the gaseous stream. A packed-bed column using Pall Ring was set up in order to simulate practical conditions for the scrubbing tower. The liquid stream transported to the bioreactor is recovered and recycled to the scrubber. The model gas, which contained 400 mg/$\textrm{m}^3$ of toluene, at a rate of 100 L/min, flowed into the packed column where the scrubbing liquid trickled over the packing in countercurrent to the rising gas at 10~15L/min. The bioscrubber designed for large volume air streams containing VOCs showed removal efficiency up to 80% in an optimum operating conditions during the tests fer removing toluene from an air stream by scrubbing the air stream with HBE.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.63-69
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• 1999

To offer a general guideline for the quantitative analysis of airborne pollutants, we designed and conducted a comprehensive QA/QC test using two different strategic approaches, namely (1) field-based comparative measurement and (2) laboratory-based comparative analysis. The former task was performed to make meaningful comparison of combined errors occurring from both sampling and analytical techniques in the measurements of such components as: (1) criteria pollutants, (2) volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and (3) particulate matters with the associated metals and ions. The latter task was also conducted to compare various types of bias arising mainly from the laboratory analytical procedures of (1) gaseous standards of VOCs and (2) of aqueous standards of metals and ions. The concentration data derived from each of these two different types of major tasks were evaluated per chemical species categorized as above. While the very details of these studies are to be reported on an individual basis according to the above classification of the project, this paper is presented to provide an overview of the whole project - its aim and direction.