• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.825-837
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• 2011

Seonakdong river consists of stagnant sections whose flowrate is controlled by the Daejeo and Noksan gates. As a result, there is not a minimum flow during normal times. The Daejeo and Noksan gates are located at the upstream head and the downstream end of Seonakdong river, respectively. Seonakdong river is an estuarine tributary of Nakdong river, which is a reservoir-like river used for agricultural irrigation, with the gate at the estuary of the river to prevent the intrusion of saline. Since the construction of the water gates, the water quality of the river has become degraded. This could also be due to the internal loading of pollutants, especially nutrients, from the sediments of the river because of the elongated detention time by the water gates. This study was thus conducted for the purpose of evaluating the current hydrologic-cycle system and providing measures for the rehabilitation of the hydrologic cycle. In this research, the daily outflow in Seonakdong River was simulated using the SWAT and SWMM models, and the water quality concentration including BOD, SS, TN, and TP were analyzed. The possibility of the application of SWAT-SWMM hybrid simulation was determined through the verification of both models. The error analysis shows that the results of both SWAT and SWAT-SWMM simulations make good agreements with those of field observations. For the single simulation results of SWAT, $R^{2}$ and NSE are 0.758, 0.511, respectively. For the hybrid simulation results of SWAT-SWMM, those are 0.880, 0.452, which means that the hybrid simulation can give more accurate results for the watershed where both the agricultural and urban areas exist.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.437-448
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• 2017

A high quality Na-X zeolite membrane was synthesized on a seeded ${\alpha}-alumina$ disc by the secondary growth method. Structural characterization was done by X-ray spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM and AFM imaging. The performance evaluation of the membrane was firstly tested in separation of glucose/water solutions by pervaporation process. There was obtained a separation factor $182.7{\pm}8.8$, while the flux through the membrane was $3.6{\pm}0.3kg\;m^{-2}\;h^{-1}$. The zeolite membrane was then used for desalination of aqueous solutions consisting of $Na^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $Cs^+$ and $Sr^{2+}$ because of the importance of these ions in water and wastewater treatments. The effects of some parameters such as temperature and solution concentration on the desalination process were studied for investigating of diffusion/adsorption mechanism in membrane separation. Finally, high water fluxes ranged from 2 up to $9kg\;m^{-2}\;h^{-1}$ were obtained and the rejection factors were resulted more than 95% for $Na^+$ and $Ca^{2+}$ and near to 99% for $Cs^+$ and $Sr^{2+}$. Based on the results, fluxes were significantly improved due to convenient passage of water molecules from large pores of NaX, while the fouling was declining dramatically. Based on the results, NaX zeolite can efficiently use for the removal of different cations from wastewaters.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.222-230
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• 2023

Capacitive deionization of saline water is one of the most promising water purification technologies due to its high energy efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This study synthesizes porous carbon composites composed of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and activated carbon (AC) with various rGO/AC ratios using a facile chemical method. Surface characterization of the rGO/AC composites shows a successful chemical reduction of GO to rGO and incorporation of AC into rGO. The optimized rGO/AC composite electrode exhibits a specific capacitance of ~243 F g^-1 in a 1 M NaCl solution. The galvanostatic charging-discharging test shows excellent reversible cycles, with a slight shortening in the cycle time from the ~260^th to the 530^th cycle. Various monovalent sodium salts (NaF, NaCl, NaBr, and NaI) and chloride salts (LiCl, NaCl, KCl, and CsCl) are deionized with the rGO/AC electrode pairs at a cell voltage of 1.3 V. Among them, NaI shows the highest specific adsorption capacity of ~22.2 mg g^-1. Detailed surface characterization and electrochemical analyses are conducted.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.310-318
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• 2023

Microalgae are attracting much attention as promising, eco-friendly producers of bioenergy due to their fast growth, absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and production capacity in wastewater and salt water. However, microalgae can only accumulate large quantities of lipid in abiotic stress, which reduces productivity by decreasing cell growth. In this study, the strategy was investigated to increase cell viability and lipid production by overexpressing S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) synthetase (SAMS) in the microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. SAM is a substance that plays an important role in various intracellular biochemical reactions, such as cell proliferation and stress response, and the overexpression of SAMS could allow cells to ithstand the abiotic stress and increase productivity. Compared to wild-type C. reinhardtii, recombinant cells overexpressing SAMS grew 1.56-fold faster and produced 1.51-fold more lipids in a nitrogen-depleted medium. Furthermore, under saline-stress conditions, the survival rate and lipid accumulation were 1.56 and 2.04 times higher in the SAMS-overexpressing strain, respectively. These results suggest that the overexpression of SAMS in recombinant C. reinhardtii has high potential in the industrial-scale production of biofuels and various other high-value-added materials.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2020

This paper presents a screening protocol for the selection of solvents available for the solvent extraction desalination process. The desalination solvents hypothetically and theoretically require the capability of (1) Forming hydrogen bonds with water, (2) Absorbing some water molecules into its non-polar solvent layer, (3) Changing solubility for water-solvent separation, and (4) Rejecting salt ions during absorption. Similar to carboxylic acids, amine solvents are solvent chemicals applicable for desalination. The key parameter for selecting the potential solvent was the octanol-water partitioning coefficient (Kow) of which preferable value for desalination was in the range of 1-3. Six of the 30 amine solvents can absorb water and have a variable, i.e., temperature swing solubility with water molecule for water-solvent separation. Also, the hydrogen bonding interaction between solvent and water must be stronger than the ion-dipole interaction between water and salt, which means that the salt ions must be broken from the water and only water molecules absorbed for the desalination. In the final step, three solvents were selected as desalination solvents to remove salt ions and recover water. The water recovery of these three solvents were 15.4 %, 2.8 %, 10.5 %, and salt rejection were 76 %, 98 %, 95 %, respectively. This study suggests a new screening protocol comprising the theoretical and experimental approaches for the selection of solvents for the desalination method which is a new and challenges the desalination process in the future.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2018

We observed the concentrations of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) in coastal seawater and groundwater around a volcanic island, Jeju, Korea. The sampling of surface seawater and coastal groundwater was conducted in Woljeongri, Pyoseon, and Kwakgi beaches, in three sampling campaigns (June, July, and October 2016). The concentrations of DOC in groundwater were relatively higher in June and October than in July. Salinity and DOC concentrations in the coastal groundwater of Woljeongri and Pyoseon beaches did not show a marked relationship, whereas those in Kwakgi beach showed a good positive correlation (July: $R^2=0.64$, P < 0.01; October: $R^2=0.95$, P < 0.01). In addition, the concentrations of CDOM (C and M peaks) in the groundwater of Woljeongri and Pyoseon beaches, where saline groundwater discharge dominates, were relatively higher than those of Kwakgi beach, where fresh groundwater discharge dominates. The relatively higher DOC concentrations in the coastal groundwater of Woljeongri and Pyoseon, with higher CDOM concentrations, seem to be mainly from anthropogenic sources such as local pollution sources (i.e., aquaculture wastewater or domestic sewage). In order to understand the behavior of DOC in the coastal groundwater of a volcanic island, extensive studies are necessary in the future over a larger-area and greater time-scales using various isotopic tracers.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.167-175
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• 2022

Background: Disinfection is essential to provide drinking water from a water source. The disinfection process mainly consists of the use of chlorine and ozone, but when chlorine is used as a disinfectant, the problem of disinfection by-products arises. In order to resolve the issue of disinfection by-products, electro-chlorination technology that produces chlorine-based disinfectants from salt water through electrochemical principles should be applied. Objectives: This study surveys the possibility of optimally producing active chlorine from synthetic NaCl solutions using an electro-chlorination system through RSM. Methods: Response surface methodology (RSM) has been used for modeling and optimizing a variety of water and wastewater treatment processes. This study surveys the possibility of optimally producing active chlorine from synthetic saline solutions using electrolysis through RSM. Various operating parameters, such as distance of electrodes, sodium chloride concentration, electrical potential, and electrolysis time were evaluated. Results: Various operating parameters, such as distance of electrodes, sodium chloride concentration, electrical potential, and electrolysis time were evaluated. A central composite design (CCD) was applied to determine the optimal experimental factors for chlorine production. Conclusions: The concentration of the synthetic NaCl solution and the distance between electrodes had the greatest influence on the generation of hypochlorite disinfectant. The closer the distance between the electrodes and the higher the concentration of the synthetic NaCl solution, the more hypochlorous acid disinfectant was produced.