• Title/Summary/Keyword: Indoor pollution

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Control of Airborne Organic Pollutants Using Plug-Flow Reactor Coated With Carbon Material-Titania Mixtures Under Visible-Light Irradiation

  • Jo, Wan-Kuen;Kang, Hyun-Jung;Kim, Mo-Keun
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.22 no.10
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    • pp.1263-1271
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    • 2013
  • Graphene oxide (GO)-titania composites have emerged as an attractive heterogeneous photocatalyst that can enhance the photocatalytic activity of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles owing to their potential interaction of electronic and adsorption natures. Accordingly, $TiO_2$-GO mixtures were synthesized in this study using a simple chemical mixing process, and their heterogeneous photocatalytic activities were investigated to determine the degradation of airborne organic pollutants (benzene, ethyl benzene, and o-xylene (BEX)) under different operational conditions. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results demonstrated the presence of GO for the $TiO_2$-GO composites. The average efficiencies of the $TiO_2$-GO mixtures for the decomposition of each component of BEX determined during the 3-h photocatalytic processes were 26%, 92%, and 96%, respectively, whereas the average efficiencies of the unmodified $TiO_2$ powder were 3%, 8%, and 10%, respectively. Furthermore, the degradation efficiency of the unmodified $TiO_2$ powder for all target compounds decreased during the 3-h photocatalytic processes, suggesting a potential deactivation even during such a short time period. Two operational conditions (air flow entering into the air-cleaning devices and the indoor pollution levels) were found to be important factors for the photocatalytic decomposition of BEX molecules. Taken together, these results show that a $TiO_2$-GO mixture can be applied effectively for the purification of airborne organic pollutants when the operating conditions are optimized.

Adsorption characteristics of the sericite and diatomite for ammonia gas (견운모와 규조토에 대한 암모니아 기체의 흡착특성)

  • Lee, Suseung;Kim, Jinsoo;Yun, Chang Yeon;Yi, Jongheop
    • Clean Technology
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.175-181
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    • 2006
  • The feasibility of the use of porous fossil diatoms for indoor air pollution control was investigated via the characterization of physical and chemical properties. The fossil diatoms were observed by SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope). Diatomite had well-distributed pores below 5 nm and relatively large surface area compare to sericite. However, no porosity in sericite was found. Results showed that diatomite had better performance than sericite in respect to porosity and large surface area. But diatomite which is thermally treated at $950^{\circ}C$ has no porosity and low surface area because of combustion of fossil diatoms or calcination of inorganic oxide at high temperature, and has poor adsorption capability of ammonia gas. In conclusion, porous diatomite has relatively high performance to adsorb noxious chemical compounds, such as ammonia gas and VOCs.

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Development of the Sentiment Indicators of Housing Welfare (주거복지지표 개발에 관한 연구 II - 수요자 측면의 주거복지체감지표와 지수를 중심으로 -)

  • Jee, Eun-Young;Eun, Nan-Soon;Hong, Hyung-Ock
    • Journal of the Korean housing association
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    • v.19 no.5
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    • pp.85-92
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    • 2008
  • The aim of this research is to develop the sentiment indicators of housing welfare for evaluating housing welfare policies conducted by the Korean government. The methods of this research are used by analysis of related documents, FGI (Focus Group Interview), and survey. The survey was made by experts and consumers. To analyze the survey, this research also uses confirmatory factor analysis by SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) program, AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) by Expert Choice program, frequency, average, percentages, Factor analysis etc. As a result of this research, selected housing welfare indicators are settled as follows: In the housing welfare aspect, 11 indicators in the department of 'Housing Satisfaction' and 11 indicators in the department of 'Community Satisfaction' (22 in total) are suggested. The indicators are 1) Water Supply and Distribution Equipment 2) Heating equipment 3) the size of the exclusive residential area 4) the number of rooms 5) Ventilation and Lighting 6) Sound Insulation (Indoor Noise) 7) Air Pollution/Odor 8) House Deposit 9) Rent Paid 10) Maintenance (Dwelling) Cost 11) The length of Occupation 12) Proximity to Welfare Facilities 13) Educational Environment 14) Convenience of Facilities (shops, hospitals etc.) 15) Convenience of Transportation and Commuting 16) Distance from Workplace 17) Landscape and Green Space (Tree, Flowers, Grass etc.) 18) Vandalism (Destruction Behavior, graffiti etc.) 19) Privacy 20) Noise in Public Places (Drinking, Loudly Talking etc.) 21) Safety from Crime 22) Safety from a Disaster. As of 2007, the housing welfare sentiment index is measured by the survey of 1,000 inhabitants in the public housing, which shows 3.51.

Paint booth volatile organic compounds emissions in an urban auto-repair center

  • Cho, Minkyu;Kim, Ki-Hyun;Szulejko, Jan E.;Dutta, Tanushree;Jo, Sang-Hee;Lee, Min-Hee;Lee, Sang-hun
    • Analytical Science and Technology
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    • v.30 no.6
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    • pp.329-337
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    • 2017
  • A major concern regarding most auto-repair shops in residential areas is the emission of odorous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the local atmosphere, especially during painting operations. VOCs contribute to poor local air quality and are responsible for the perceived odor and discomfort experienced by local residents. Sixteen major VOCs (6 aromatic hydrocarbons and 10 aliphatic carbonyl compounds) were selected as potential target compounds. The site was an auto-repair shop located in a central region of Seoul, South Korea, where the air quality of the site has been a subject of residents' complaints. The sampling points were as follows: 1) in the painting booth with new (NB) or old (OB) removal system, (2) in the exhaust duct after new (ND) or old (OD) odor removal filter, and (3) 2 m below the discharge vent (4 m above the ground) (outdoor air, OA). Each sample was coded: (1) before painting (BP), (2) during painting (DP), and (3) after painting (AP). The toluene level in the duct with the new removal filter during painting (ND-DP) was 1.5 ppm (v/v), while it was 3.8 ppm (v/v) in the right duct with an old removal filter during painting (OD-DP). Accordingly, the effect of filter replacement was reflected by differences in VOC levels. Therefore, accurate monitoring of odorous VOCs is an important step to reduce odor nuisance from local sources.

Fabrication and Verification of a Water Quality Sensor Equipped with Active RFID Function for Real Time Location (위치추적용 능동형 RFID 기능을 장착한 수질 측정 센서의 제작 및 검증)

  • Jung, Young-Sub;Chang, Hun;Kim, Jin-Young;Kang, Joon-Hee
    • Journal of Korean Society for Geospatial Information Science
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    • v.17 no.1
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    • pp.113-120
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    • 2009
  • Through the automatic sensing of the environment, USN technology can give the best services. In this work, we have developed an active RFID system and examined its performance. By implementing it into water quality sensors, we constructed a system that can detect diverse indoor/outdoor environment and provide information about the pollution level obtained from the temperature and PH sensors. Our RF system had an internal Print-on-PCB antenna for the miniaturization of the tag. We used a RF transceiver CC2510 chipset of TI company to realize the active RFID function. By using RSSI constants obtained, we performed the evaluation of real time location accuracy with a software written in Labview. Among 10 arbitrary locations, we obtained average measurement errors of 1.69 m in x axis and 1.66 m in y axis. This technology can be applied to logistics, environmental monitoring, prevention of missing children and various applications.

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Study on Emission Control for Precursors Causing Acid Rain (VI) : Suitability of Aquatic Plant Biomass as a Co-combustion Material with Coal

  • Hauazawa, Atsushi;Gao, Shidong;Sakamoto, Kazuhiko
    • Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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    • v.2 no.2
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    • pp.102-108
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    • 2008
  • In China, energy and environmental problems are becoming serious owing to rapid economic development. Coal is the most problematic energy source because it causes indoor and outdoor air pollution, acid rain, and global warming. One type of clean coal technology that has been developed is the coal-biomass briquette (or bio-briquette, BB) technique. BBs, which are produced from pulverized coal, biomass (typically, agricultural waste), and a sulfur fixation agent (slaked lime, $Ca(OH)_2$) under high pressure without any binder, have a high sulfur-fixation effect. In addition, BB combustion ash, that is, the waste material, can be used as a neutralization agent for acidic soil because of its high alkalinity, which originates from the added slaked lime. In this study, we evaluated the suitability of alternative biomass sources, namely, aquatic plants, as a BB constituent from the perspective of their use as a source of energy. We selected three types of aquatic plants for use in BB preparation and compared the fuel, handling, and environmental characteristics of the new BBs with those of conventional BBs. Our results showed that air-dried aquatic plants had a higher calorific value, which was in proportion to their carbon content, than agricultural waste biomass; the compressive strength of the new BBs, which depends on the lignin content of the biomass, was high enough to bear long-range intracontinental transport in China; and the new BBs had the same emission control capacity as the conventional BBs.

An Comparative Analysis of Certification Results for Pre-Certified Office Buildings according to G-SEED Revisions (녹색건축 인증제도 업무용 건축물 개정 전·후 인증결과 비교분석)

  • Yun, Yo-Sun;Chae, Chang-U;Kim, Yu-Jin
    • Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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    • v.34 no.8
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    • pp.51-58
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    • 2018
  • G-SEED has been introduced with the aim of reducing energy use and resources since 2002, as the system of certificating environmental friendliness of buildings to create comfortable environment. This study analyzed the changes of certification standard of G-SEED since the revision in 2016, comparing certification results of office buildings by grade, category and certification items between G-SEED 2013-2 version and revised version of 2016. Also, this study analyzed the average points and their standard deviation of certification items including both deleted items and newly added items and extracted items needed to be reviewed in the future revision. In the revision, G-SEED has been extended its certification system to involve existing buildings and Innovative Design categories newly introduced with revising the certification items and difficulties. In revised version of G-SEED, the certification grade appeared to change its acquisition ratio decreasing Green2 and increasing Green4, during Green1 and Green3 were similar in proportion. The average scores by categories appeared decrease in Energy and Environmental Pollution category and Materials and Resources category, on the other hand, Maintenance category appeared the highest increase in the average score. Otherwise, Land Use and Transportation, Water Circulation, Ecology, Indoor Environment categories appeared similar average scores both version of G-SEED. In addition, the Innovative Design which was newly introduced category, seems to expect gradual gaining high scores according to technology development in future, although its possession has shown lower scores in revised version.

Performance Evaluation of Fine-Dust Blocking Effect of Functional Clothing (미세먼지 차단 기능성 의류 제품의 성능 평가에 관한 연구)

  • Seok-Ju, Hwang;Chang-Hoon, Lee;Jin-Kyung, Kwon;Young-Sil, Kim;Eun-Jin, Choi;Da-Jin, Kim;Min, Kim;Se-Jin, Yook
    • Particle and aerosol research
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.137-145
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    • 2022
  • As many studies on the harmfulness of fine dust have been reported, awareness of its seriousness is spreading. Recently, interest in indoor air quality as well as air pollution is increasing, and research on measures to block fine dust flowing into the room from the outside is being conducted. The clothing company is launching functional clothing to prevent fine dust attached to clothing from entering the room through outdoor activities. However, it is difficult to confirm whether there is actually fine-dust blocking performance, and there is no evaluation standard. In this study, the contamination rate caused by fine dust was quantitatively compared through image processing after contamination of the outer fabric for 4 types of commercially available functional clothing with fine-dust blocking effect. The difference in particle contamination according to the material of the outer fabric was analyzed by comparing the surface resistance, and it was found that the higher the surface resistance of the outer fabric material, the more fine dust was attached. The analysis method of this study is expected to be able to quantitatively compare and evaluate the fine-dust blocking performance of functional clothing.

Constructing an Internet of things wetland monitoring device and a real-time wetland monitoring system

  • Chaewon Kang;Kyungik Gil
    • Membrane and Water Treatment
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    • v.14 no.4
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    • pp.155-162
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    • 2023
  • Global climate change and urbanization have various demerits, such as water pollution, flood damage, and deterioration of water circulation. Thus, attention is drawn to Nature-based Solution (NbS) that solve environmental problems in ways that imitate nature. Among the NbS, urban wetlands are facilities that perform functions, such as removing pollutants from a city, improving water circulation, and providing ecological habitats, by strengthening original natural wetland pillars. Frequent monitoring and maintenance are essential for urban wetlands to maintain their performance; therefore, there is a need to apply the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to wetland monitoring. Therefore, in this study, we attempted to develop a real-time wetland monitoring device and interface. Temperature, water temperature, humidity, soil humidity, PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were measured, and the measurements were taken at 10-minute intervals for three days in both indoor and wetland. Sensors suitable for conditions that needed to be measured and an Arduino MEGA 2560 were connected to enable sensing, and communication modules were connected to transmit data to real-time databases. The transmitted data were displayed on a developed web page. The data measured to verify the monitoring device were compared with data from the Korea meteorological administration and the Korea environment corporation, and the output and upward or downward trend were similar. Moreover, findings from a related patent search indicated that there are a minimal number of instances where information and communication technology (ICT) has been applied in wetland contexts. Hence, it is essential to consider further research, development, and implementation of ICT to address this gap. The results of this study could be the basis for time-series data analysis research using automation, machine learning, or deep learning in urban wetland maintenance.

Recent Progress in Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Research: A Review of Papers Published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering in 2008 (설비공학 분야의 최근 연구 동향: 2008년 학회지 논문에 대한 종합적 고찰)

  • Han, Hwa-Taik;Choi, Chang-Ho;Lee, Dae-Young;Kim, Seo-Young;Kwon, Yong-Il;Choi, Jong-Min
    • Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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    • v.21 no.12
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    • pp.715-732
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    • 2009
  • This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2008. It is intended to understand the status of current research in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation, and indoor environments of buildings and plant facilities. Conclusions are as follows. (1) Research trends in thermal and fluid engineering have been surveyed in the categories of general fluid flow, fluid machinery and piping, new and renewable energy, and fire. Well-developed CFD technologies were widely applied in developing facilities and their systems. New research topics include fire, fuel cell, and solar energy. Research was mainly focused on flow distribution and optimization in the fields of fluid machinery and piping. Topics related to the development of fans and compressors had been popular, but were no longer investigated widely. Research papers on micro heat exchangers using nanofluids and micro pumps were also not presented during this period. There were some studies on thermal reliability and performance in the fields of new and renewable energy. Numerical simulations of smoke ventilation and the spread of fire were the main topics in the field of fire. (2) Research works on heat transfer presented in 2008 have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics, industrial heat exchangers, and ground heat exchangers. Research on heat transfer characteristics included thermal transport in cryogenic vessels, dish solar collectors, radiative thermal reflectors, variable conductance heat pipes, and flow condensation and evaporation of refrigerants. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, examined are research on micro-channel plate heat exchangers, liquid cooled cold plates, fin-tube heat exchangers, and frost behavior of heat exchanger fins. Measurements on ground thermal conductivity and on the thermal diffusion characteristics of ground heat exchangers were reported. (3) In the field of refrigeration, many studies were presented on simultaneous heating and cooling heat pump systems. Switching between various operation modes and optimizing the refrigerant charge were considered in this research. Studies of heat pump systems using unutilized energy sources such as sewage water and river water were reported. Evaporative cooling was studied both theoretically and experimentally as a potential alternative to the conventional methods. (4) Research papers on building facilities have been reviewed and divided into studies on heat and cold sources, air conditioning and air cleaning, ventilation, automatic control of heat sources with piping systems, and sound reduction in hydraulic turbine dynamo rooms. In particular, considered were efficient and effective uses of energy resulting in reduced environmental pollution and operating costs. (5) In the field of building environments, many studies focused on health and comfort. Ventilation. system performance was considered to be important in improving indoor air conditions. Due to high oil prices, various tests were planned to examine building energy consumption and to cut life cycle costs.