• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.19 no.E2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2003

Ambient polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured during the winter and summer of 2002 in Chongju. A filter pack and polyurethane foam (PUF) system was employed to collect simultaneously the particulate and gas phase PAHs. The samples were then analyzed using a gas chromatograph equipped with mass spectrometer detectors (GC/MSD). A total of 29 samples were collected and 11 PAH species were identified. The lower molecular weight PAH compounds (3∼4 rings) dominated the total PAH mass. The higher molecular weight PAH compounds (5∼6 rings) were less abundant. The PAHs were showed to exhibit seasonal variations. The concentrations of all com-pounds were significantly higher in winter than summer. The lower molecular weight PAHs were mostly found in the gas phase whereas the heavier ones were mainly associated with particulate phase. Vehicle emissions are likely to be the primary contributor of PAHs in Chongju. This study also demonstrated that it is necessary to perform simultaneously particulate and gas phase measurements to determine the accurate concentrations of ambient PAHs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.9-14
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• 2010

Numerical simulations of freely propagating fuel-rich $CH_4/CH_3Cl$ premixed flames were performed at atmospheric pressure in order to understand the effect of the oxygen enrichment on the production of PAH. A chemical kinetic mechanism was used, which involved 157 gas-phase species and 1693 forward reactions. The calculated flame speeds were compared with the experiments for the flames established on the equivalence ratios of 1~1.6, the results of which were in good agreement. As the level of oxygen enrichment was increased, the concentrations of one or four ring aromatic hydrocarbons were decreased. This might cause the fact that the contribution of PAH species to soot was weakened.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.5-11
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• 2019

The main objective of this study was to analyse polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments obtained from near Nakdong estuary, and to estimate ecological risks of PAHs using PAHs concentrations. The main constituents of sediments were $SiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$, CaO, $Fe_2O_3$, and ignition loss of sediments ranged from 2.97% and 8.39%. Total concentrations of PAHs ranged from $128.4ng\;g^{-1}$ and $507.4ng\;g^{-1}$, and the major PAHs were 2 ring and 4 ring aromatic hydrocarbons. Each concentrations of PAHs are all below effect range low, which indicated that each PAHs in 8 studying sites show low ecological risk. From M-ERM-Q analyses, M-ERM-Q values of 8 studying sites are below 0.1 indicating low ecological risk. From source apportionment analyses, PAHs come from grass, wood, charcoal combustion for N-1 and N-7, petroleum combustion for N-5 and N-6, petroleum pollution for N-2, N-3, N-4, N-8.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.196-204
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• 2010

In this study, the following concentrations of some PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) were investigated; [benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenzo(a,h)anthracene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene, indeno(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene] in processed foods (n=165) and cooked meats (n=45) and established the analytical method by characteristics of processed foods. The methodology involved extraction (alkali digestion, liquid-liquid extraction, microwave extraction), clean-up on Sep-Pak Florisil Cartridges and determination by HPLC/FLD (High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Fluorescence Detector). The recovery of overall method for 8 PAHs spiked into these products ranged from 92 to 103%. The mean level of detected foods was found to be benzo(b)fluoranthene $0.9\;{\mu}g/kg$ in smoked salmon, benzo(b)fluoranthene $1.0\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(k)fluoranthene $0.3\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(a)pyrene $0.9\;{\mu}g/kg$ in dried banana, benzo(b)fluoranthene $0.2\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(k)fluoranthene $0.1\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(a)pyrene $0.2\;{\mu}g/kg$ in smoked chicken, benzo(b)fluoranthene $1.3\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(k)fluoranthene $0.3\;{\mu}g/kg$, benzo(a)pyrene $0.9\;{\mu}g/kg$ in charcoal grilled pork, respectively.

• BMB Reports
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2003

The causative role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in human carcinogenesis is undisputed. Measurements of PAH-DNA adduct levels in easily accessible white blood cells therefore represent useful early endpoints in exposure intervention of chemoprevention studies. The successful applicability of DNA adducts as early endpoints depends on several criteria:i.adduct levels in easily accessible surrogate tissues should reflect adduct levels in target-tissues, ii. toxicokinetics and the temporal relevance should be properly defined.iii. sources of inter- and intra-individual variability must be known and controllable, and finally iv. adduct analyses must have advantages as compared to other markers of PAH-exposure. In general, higher DNA adduct levels or a higher proportion of subjects with detectable DNA adduct levels were found in exposed individuals as compared with non-exposed subjects, but saturation may occur at high exposures. Furthermore, DNA adduct levels varied according to changes in exposure, for example smoking cessation resulted in lower DNA adduct levels and adduct levels paralleled seasonal variations of air-pollution. Intra-individual variation during continuous exposure was low over a short period of time (weeks), but varied significantly when longer time periods (months) were investigated. Inter-individual variation is currently only partly explained by genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in PAH-metabolism and deserves further investigation. DNA adduct measurement may have three advantages over traditional exposure assessment: i. they can smooth the extreme variability in exposure which is typical for environmental toxicants and may integrate exposure over a longer period of time. Therefore, DNA adduct assessment may reduce the monitoring effort. ii. Biological monitoring of DNA adducts accounts for all exposure routes. iii. DNA adducts may account for inter-individual differences in uptake, elimination, distribution, metabolism and repair amongst exposed individuals. In conclusion, there is now a sufficiently large scientific basis to justify the application of DNA adduct measurement as biomarkers in exposure assessment and intervention studies. Their use in risk-assessment, however, requires further investigation.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.219-228
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• 2001

Surface sediments (0- 5 cm), mussels (Mytilus coruscus and M. edulis) and oysters (Crassostrea gigas) were sampled at 20 stations in Korean coast during a period of February to July 2000. Samples were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer detector (GC/MSD). The sediment $\sum PAH$ concentration varied from 7 to 1,214 ng/g dry weight and the level of carcinogenic PAHs of six species ranged from 1 to 563 ng/g dry weight in surface sediments. In organisms, the levels of $\sum PAH$ were in the range of 63-876 ng/g dry weight and the concentrations of carcinogenic PAHs of six species were in the range of 4-582 ng/g dry weight. The highest PAH concentrations in sediments and organisms were in samples from Station 5 in Pohang coast and Station 8 in Jinhae coast, respectively. $\sum PAH$ concentrations in sediments and organisms collected from Korean coast were slightly low or comparable to those in other countries. The contribution of ring aromatic groups to sum of 16 PAHs in sediments and organisms showed a similar pattern for most stations. In sediments, the predominant contributions were four and five ring aromatics like fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene. In the organisms, four ring aromatics like fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene and chrysene were predominant PAH species. Several molecular indices such as phenanthrene/anthracene, fluoranthene/pyrene and LMW/HMW ratio were used to identify the origin of PAH contamination in sediments. The results indicate that PAHs of Korean coast were mainly of pyro1ytic contaminants with slight petrogenic input. A high correlation within individual PAH compound in marine sediments was observed, while correlation in organisms showed a highly significant relationship for heavier molecular weight PAHs.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.244-251
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• 2015

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have described the importance of bacteria that can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Here we screened bacterial isolates from commercial gasoline for PAH degraders and characterized their ability to degrade PAHs, lipids and proteins as well as their enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity, salt tolerance, and seawater survival. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred two bacteria isolates from commercial gasoline were screened for PAH degraders by adding selected PAHs on to the surface of agar plates by the sublimation method. A clear zone was found only around the colonies of PAH degraders, which accounted for 13 isolates. These were identified as belonging to Bacillus sp., Brevibacterium sp., Micrococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., Arthrobacter sp., and Gordonia sp. based on 16S rRNA sequences. Six isolates belonging to Corynebacterium sp., 3 of Micrococcus sp., Arthrobacter sp. S49, and Gordonia sp. H37 were lipid degraders. Arthrobacter sp. S49 was the only isolate showing high proteolytic activity. Among the PAH-degrading bacteria, Arthrobacter sp. S49, Brevibacterium sp. S47, Corynebacterium sp. SK20, and Gordonia sp. H37 showed enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity with biocatalytic resolution of racemic styrene oxide. Among these, highest enantioselective hydrolysis activity was seen in Gordonia sp. H37. An intrinsic resistance to kanamycin was observed in most of the isolates and Corynebacterium sp. SK20 showed resistance to additional antibiotics such as tetracycline, ampicillin, and penicillin. CONCLUSION: Of the 13 PAH-degraders isolated from commercial gasoline, Arthrobacter sp. S49 showed the highest lipid and protein degrading activity along with high active epoxide hydrolase activity, which was the highest in Gordonia sp. H37. Our results suggest that bacteria from commercial gasoline may have the potential to degrade PAHs, lipids, and proteins, and may possess enantioselective epoxide hydrolase activity, high salt tolerance, and growth potential in seawater.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.18
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• pp.8605-8611
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• 2016

The reliability of using diagnostic binary ratios of particulate carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as chemical tracers for source characterisation was assessed by collecting PM10 samples from various air quality observatory sites in Thailand. The major objectives of this research were to evaluate the effects of day and night on the alterations of six different PAH diagnostic binary ratios: An/(An + Phe), Fluo/(Fluo + Pyr), B[a]A/(B[a]A + Chry), B[a]P/(B[a]P + B[e]P), Ind/(Ind + B[g,h,i]P), and B[k]F/Ind, and to investigate the impacts of site-specific conditions on the alterations of PAH diagnostic binary ratios by applying the concept of the coefficient of divergence (COD). No significant differences between day and night were found for any of the diagnostic binary ratios of PAHs, which indicates that the photodecomposition process is of minor importance in terms of PAH reduction. Interestingly, comparatively high values of COD for An/(An + Phe) in PM10 collected from sites with heavy traffic and in residential zones underline the influence of heterogeneous reactions triggered by oxidising gaseous species from vehicular exhausts. Therefore, special attention must be paid when interpreting the data of these diagnostic binary ratios, particularly for cases of low-molecular-weight PAHs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 1999

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous contaminants in coastal marine environment. PAHs enter estuarine and nearshore marine environment via several routes such as combustion of fossil fuels, domestic and industrial effluents and oil spills. In August of 1997, sediment and mussels (Mytilus edulis) were collected at 6 sites near Kori nuclear power plant in order to analyze the PAH content by HPLC with uv/vis detection. The concentrations of 15 PAH in sediment ranged from < 1 to 5,900 ppb ( mean 173.5$\pm$99.7 ppb), and in mussels, from < 0.5 to 4,125 ppb (mean 105$\pm$60.5 ppb). Compared with other studies world over, the concentrations of carcinogenic PAHs were relatively low in both sediment and mussels from the intertidal zone of Kori. This study presents preliminary data for the PAH levels in sediment and mussels from the intertidal zone of Kori, and the data will hopefully be utilized for the assessment of oil pollution in the Southeast East Sea, Korea (especially for the PAHs).

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.149-157
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• 1999

Surface sediment samples collected from the eastern half of the Yellow Sea proper in 1998 were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), ubiquitous pollutants. Total PAHs concentrations varied from 1.0 to $320.5ng\;g^{-1}$ dw. Relatively high concentrations of PAHs were found in the muddy central part of the Yellow Sea. Sedimentary total PAHs concentrations in the Yellow Sea proper were similar to those of Californian offshores and the central Mediterranean Sea, albeit an order of magnitude lower than the Yellow Sea nearshore areas. Phenanthene/Anthracene concentration ratio of PAHs in bottom sediments suggested that pyrolytic PAHs might be dominant over petrogenic ones in the eastern Yellow Sea. Downcore depth distributions of PAHs from the relatively undisturbed core samples of the central Yellow Sea showed decreasing PAHs concentrations with core depths and suggested that the Yellow Sea has been increasingly exposed to PAH for decades. Annual total PAH flux to these sediments was estimated to be $166{\mu}gm^{-2}yr^{-1}$ in the central part of the Yellow Sea for the recent decade.