• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.29-43
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• 2014

Pharmaceutical wastewater effluents are well known for their difficult elimination by traditional biotreatment methods and their important contribution to environmental pollution due to its fluctuating and recalcitrant nature. OTC is one of the nonbiodegradable antibiotics that makes antibiotic-resistant, so it can make be high risk for environment. NZVI can be a good choice for removal of OTC in aqueous solution. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the amounts of NZVI and OTC to be used at pH 3 and under 200 W, UV-A irradiation. The responses were removal percent of absorption at 290 and 348 nm, TOC and COD of OTC. In the optimum condition, Linear model was performed 155 ppm of OTC were removed by 1000 ppm NZVI after 6.5 hours and the removal efficiency of absorption at 290 and 348 nm, TOC and COD were 87, 95, 85 and 89 percent, respectively. In the similar process, there is no organic compound after 14 hours. The parameters ORP, DO and pH were investigated for 6:30 hours to study the type of NZVI reaction in process. In the beginning of reaction, oxidation was the dominant reaction after 3 hours, photocatalytic reaction was remarkable. The mechanism of OTC degradation is proposed by HPLC/ESI-MS and four by products were found. Also the rate constants (first order kinetic chain reaction model) were 0.0099, 0.0021, 0.0010, 0.0049 and $0.0074min^{-1}$, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.67-73
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• 2022

Underwater environmental pollution caused by microplastic particles is considered to be one of the most serious problems in many oceans and countries nearby. Previous academic studies or field technologies tried to remove the micro-sized particles are often energy-consuming and costly, so it is hard to be employed for the actual uses. In this study, the mechanism of removal of micro-sized polyethylene spheres (size in order of 100㎛) using a rising bubble is experimentally investigated. It is found that the particles are either affected by bubble wake, thus translocated close to the water surface, or pushed far away by the surrounding fluid flow, depending on their initial position relative to the bubble. By scrutinizing the visualized behaviors of bubble-particle interaction, we draw the governing parameter, i.e., the polar angle between the particle and the bubble, to determine the effective capturing of the particles with a rising bubble.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.980-987
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• 2012

Nonpoint source pollution causes leaks and overtopping, depending on the state of the sewer network as well as aggravates the pollution load of the aqueous water system as it is introduced into the sewer by wash-off. According, the need for efficient sewer monitoring system which can manage the sewage flowrate, water quality, inflow/infiltration and overflow has increased for sewer maintenance and the prevention of environmental pollution. However, the sewer monitoring is not easy since the sewer network is built in underground with the complex nature of its structure and connections. Sewer decontamination mechanism as well as pipe network monitoring and fault diagnosis of water network system on system analysis proposed in this study. First, the pollution removal pattern and behavior of contaminants in the sewer pipe network is analyzed by using sewer process simulation program, stormwater & wastewater management model for expert (XP-SWMM). Second, the sewer network fault diagnosis was performed using the multivariate statistical monitoring to monitor water quality in the sewer and detect the sewer leakage and burst. Sewer decontamination mechanism analysis with static and dynamic state system results showed that loads of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) during rainfall are greatly increased than non-rainfall, which will aggravate the pollution load of the water system. Accordingly, the sewer outflow in pipe network is analyzed due to the increased flow and inflow of pollutant concentration caused by rainfall. The proposed sewer network monitoring and fault diagnosis technique can be used effectively for the nonpoint source pollution management of the urban watershed as well as continuous monitoring system.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

Mercury is a toxic pollutants present in different types of industrial effluents and is responsible for environmental pollution. Removal of Hg(II) ions from synthetic wastewater was studied using the activated biocarbon produced from the leaves of Tridax procumbens (Asteraceae). The particle size of the biocarbon (BC) is in the range of $100-120{\mu}m$. The effects of initial metal ion concentration, pH, contact time, and amount of biocarbon on the biosorption process were studied at temperature of $28{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. Batch experimental studies showed that an equilibrium time of 160 min was required for the maximum removal of Hg(II) at the optimized biocarbon dose of 2.5 g per 100 mL of synthetic wastewater. The optimum pH required for maximum removal (96.5%) of Hg(II) ions was found to be 5.5. The biosorption of metal ions onto activated biocarbon surface is probably via an ion exchange mechanism. The biocarbon can be regenerated with minimum loss. Further, it can be reused without any chemical activation. The findings of the research suggested that, the biocarbon produced from cost effective renewable resources can be utilized for the treatment of industrial wastewater.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.685-690
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• 2017

Ammonia is a useful substance which is widely used in various industries. It is generally released by the decomposition of agricultural wastes and known to have toxic effects on human beings. Due to the common usage, it is possible to cause water pollution through either direct or indirect leakage. Such cases, it is preferable to use the adsorption capacity of zeolite to rapidly remove ammonium ions, but it is not sufficiently removed by the adsorption only. In this paper, the removal efficiency of ammonium ion through both the adsorption capacities of commercial synthetic zeolites and the biological mechanism of microorganisms were compared. In addition, microorganisms were immobilized on the zeolite in order to enhance the removal efficiency by applying a chemo-biological process. As a result, the standard commercial zeolite showed 67~81% of the removal efficiency in 2~4 hours at a 100 ppm concentration of ammonium, whereas the selected microorganism Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. Pneumoniae showed up to 97% within 8 hours. When the microorganism was immobilized on the zeolite, the highest removal efficiency of approximately 98.5% were observed within 8 hours.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.163-172
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• 2014

Magnetite was chosen as a typical adsorbent to study its phosphate adsorption capacity in water body with low concentration of phosphorus (below $2mg\;PL^{-1}$). Magnetite was collected from Luoyang City, Henan Province, China. In this research, three factors have been studied to describe the adsorption of phosphate on magnetite, which was solution concentration (concentration ranging from 0.1 to $2.5mg\;PL^{-1}$), suspension pH (1 to 13) and temperature (ranging from $10^{\circ}C$ to $40^{\circ}C$). In addition, the modified samples had been characterized with XRD and FE-SEM image. The results show that iron ions contains in magnetite were the main factors of phosphorus removal. The behavior of phosphorus adsorption to substrates could be fitted to both Langmuir and Freundlich isothermal adsorption equations in the low concentration phosphorus water. The theoretical saturated adsorption quantity of magnetite is 0.158 mg/g. pH has great influence on the phosphorus removal of magnetite ore by adsorption. And pH of 3 can receive the best results. While temperature has little effect on it. Magnetite was greatly effective for phosphorus removal in the column experiments, which is a more practical reflection of phosphorous removal combing the adsorption isotherm model and the breakthrough curves. According to the analysis of heavy metals release, the release of heavy metals was very low, they didn't produce the secondary pollution. The mechanism of uptake phosphate is in virtue of chemisorption between phosphate and ferric ion released by magnetite oxidation. The combined investigation of the magnetite showed that it was better substrate for water body with low concentration of phosphorus.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 1992

A study on acidity in fog, dew and frost was carried out. Samples were taken during May 1990-February 1991 at two sites in Chongwon, Choongbook. The acidity of dew and of fog collected from grass at site A was 4.89 and 5.46, respectively. Dew in summer showed very strong acidity. The volume of dew deposited on grass was much less than the volume of rain, but dew is effective to diffuse acid predursors and acid materials. Dew and fog can remove more effectively atmospheric acid materiasl deoposited on grass by diurnal turbulent motion rather than direct absorption of acid predursors and materials in the atmosphere. In a polluted area, acidic dew and fog can be occurred by the direct absorption and oxidation of acidic predursors in the atmosphere as well as the role of wet removal on grass surface. Acidity of frost collected on teflon surface showed little difference to acidity of dew and fog on teflon surface. This suggests a similar absorption mechanism of atmospheric precursors and materials into dew and frost in the atmosphere. Strong acidity in dew, fog and frost appeared to occur from local pollution sources of several ten kilometres. In particular, strong acidity in dew, fog, and frost together with acid rain can accelerate a damage in ecosystems. Discussion is made on scientific analyses and seasonal variations of acidity of fog, dew and frost. A mechanism on acidification of fog, dew and frost is also discussed.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2007

There is a growing interest to develop an eco-friendly air cleaner with high performance through a remanufacturing process. Two kinds of polyurethane filter media, a coarse (Filter-A) and a fine filter media (Filer-B), are used in this study to protect a vehicle engine from airborne particles. In order to improve the collection performance of the filters (Filter-A, Filter-B), an oil coating technology on the filter surface was introduced. As a result, inertial force is a dominant collection mechanism for a dry filter media, so that collection efficiency increases with increasing filtration velocity. However, intra-structure change of an oil-coated filter media influences on the collection mechanism, which shows a non-linear collection efficiency curve in terms of filtration velocity. The result shows that the developed filter media are eco-friendly and effective to protect a vehicle engine from airborne particles especially at low filtration velocity.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.49-58
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• 2014

PURPOSES : In areas of high traffic volume, such as expressway across large cities, the amount of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted into the atmosphere as air pollution can be significant since NOx gases are the major cause of smog and acid rain. Recently, the importance of NOx removal has arisen in the world. Titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$), that is one of photocatalytic reaction material, is very efficient for removing NOx. The NOx removing mechanism of $TiO_2$ is the reaction of solar photocatalysis. Therefore, $TiO_2$ in road structure concrete need to be contacted with ultraviolet rays (UV) to be activated. In general, $TiO_2$ concretes are produced by replacement of $TiO_2$ as a part of concrete binder. However, considerable portion of $TiO_2$ in concrete cannot contact with the pollutant in the air and UV. Therefore, $TiO_2$ penetration method using the surface penetration agents is attempted as an alternative in order to locate $TiO_2$ to the surface of concrete structure. METHODS : This study aimed to evaluate the NOx removal efficiency of photocatalytic concrete due to various $TiO_2$ application method such as mix with $TiO_2$, surface spray($TiO_2$ penetration method) on hardened concrete and fresh concrete using surface penetration agents. The NOx removal efficiency of $TiO_2$ concrete was confirmed by NOx Analyzing System based on the specification of ISO 22197-1. RESULTS : The NOx removal efficiency of mix with $TiO_2$ increased from 11 to 25% with increasing of replacement ratio from 3 to 7%. In case of surface spray on hardened concrete, the NOx removal efficiency was about 50% due to application amount of $TiO_2$ with surface penetration agents as 300, 500 and 700g/m2. The NOx removal efficiency of surface spray on fresh concrete due to all experimental conditions, on the other hand, which was very low within 10%. CONCLUSIONS : It was known that the $TiO_2$ penetration method as surface spray on hardened concrete was a good alternative in order to remove the NOx gases for concrete road structures.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.456-461
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• 2022

Heavy metal pollution is caused due to anthropogenic activities and is considered as a serious environmental problem which endangers human health and environment. The present study deals with biosorption, an eco-friendly technique for the removal of heavy metal Zn(II) from aqueous medium. Various natural materials have been explored for the uptake of metal ions, where most of them are physically or chemically enhanced. Dry cowdung powder (DCP) has been utilized as a low-cost, environmentally friendly humiresin without any pre-treatment, thus demonstrating the concept of Green Chemistry. Batch biosorption studies using ⁶⁵Zn(II) tracer were performed and the impact of different experimental parameters was studied. Results revealed that at pH 6, 94 ± 2% of Zn(II) was effectively biosorbed in 5 min, at 303 K. The process was spontaneous and exothermic, following pseudo-second-order reaction. The mechanism of heavy metal biosorption employing green adsorbent was therefore elucidated in order to determine the optimal method for removing Zn(II) ions. DCP has a lot of potential in the wastewater treatment industry, as seen by its ability to meet 3A's affordability, adaptability, and acceptability criteria. As a result, DCP emerges as one of the most promising challengers for green chemistry and the zero-waste idea.