• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.549-556
• /
• 2017

Rivers continuously transport terrestrial organic carbon matter to the estuary and the ocean, and they play a critical role in productivity and biodiversity in the marine ecosystem as well as the global carbon cycle. The amount of terrestrial organic carbon transporting from the rivers to ocean is an essential piece of information, not only for the marine ecosystem management but also the carbon budget within catchment. However, this phenomenon is still not well understood. Most large rivers in Korea have a well-established national monitoring system of the river flow and the TOC (Total Organic Carbon) concentration from the mountain to the river mouth, which are fundamental for estimating the amount of the TOC flux. We estimated the flux of the total terrestrial organic carbon of five large rivers which flow out to the Yellow Sea, using the data of the national monitoring system (the monthly mean TOC concentration and the monthly runoff of river flow). We quantified the annual TOC flux of the five rivers, showing their results in the following order: the Han River ($18.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Geum River ($5.9{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Yeongsan River ($2.6{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>Sumjin River ($2.0{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$)>>Tamjin River ($0.2{\times}10^9gC\;yr^{-1}$). The amount of the Han River, which is the highest in the Korean rivers, corresponds to be 4% of the annual total TOC flux of in the Yellow River, and moreover, to be 0.6% of Yangtze River.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.497-507
• /
• 2015

Real-time and quantitative measurement of the chemical composition in ambient aerosols represents one of the most challenging problems in the field of atmospheric chemistry. In the present study, time resolved application by Aerosol-into-Mist System (AIMS) following by total organic carbon analyzer (TOC) has been developed. The unique aspect of the combination of these two techniques is to provide quantifiable water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) information of particle-phase organic compounds on timescales of minutes. We also demonstrated that the application of the AIMS method is not limited to water-soluble organic carbon but inorganic ion compounds. By correlating the volume concentrations by optical particle sizer (OPS), water soluble organic carbon can be highly related to the secondary organic products. AIMS-TOC method can be potentially applied to probe the formation and evolution mechanism of a variety of SOA behaviors in ambient air.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.625-633
• /
• 2011

A long-term water quality monitoring in the Han River Basin reveals a consistent increasing trend for the concentration of refractory organic matter (R-OM) in major monitoring sites of the watershed. Because the determination of R-OM concentrations typically requires a long time of microbial incubation, it is essential to present the estimation indices for R-OM for an efficient watershed management. In this study, a number of surface water samples were classified into three groups, each of which were collected from Lake Paldang, rivers at rain and non-rain events, respectively. The corresponding R-OM concentrations were correlated with biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total organic carbon (TOC) concentrations as well as ultraviolet and fluorescence intensities of the filtered samples. Among the traditional organic matter parameters, TOC exhibited the highest correlation coefficient with the R-OM concentrations regardless of the types of the sample groups. The equations for conversing TOC into R-OM concentrations were finally suggested as $0.43{\times}TOC+1.12$, $0.44{\times}TOC+0.61$, $0.24{\times}TOC+1.28$ for river samples at rain and non-rain events, and lake samples, respectively. TOC-BOD(C), the values of the TOC concentrations subtracted by carbon-converted BOD concentrations, was a good index for estimating the absolute concentrations of R-OM. UV absorbance at 254 nm was well correlated with R-OM concentrations of river samples while fluorescence intensities at 350 nm showed an excellent relationship with R-OM concentration of the lake samples. Our results suggests that simple spectroscopic parameters could be applied for in-situ monitoring tool techniques in watersheds.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.261-266
• /
• 2018

In this study, the organic matter of effluents from sewage treatment plants, located in the Nakdong watershed was investigated. Regression equations were computed using treated sewage data to convert the chemical oxygen demand(COD) concentrations, which are mostly available from an open database, into total organic carbon(TOC) concentrations. The average concentration of organic matter in the sewage treatment plant effluents were 2.2~16.8 mg/L for COD and 3.4~14.3 mg/L for TOC. The concentrations of COD were positively correlated with the TOC concentrations. The correlation between COD and TOC was relatively high, at 0.865(p<0.01). Based on these results, regression analysis was conducted. The regression equation for TOC was $1.651{\times}COD_{Mn}-0.084$ ($R^2=0.84$). Furthermore, organic matter-related databases for more sewage treatment plants need to be built in order to establish TOC standards and manage the water quality.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.46 no.5
• /
• pp.327-332
• /
• 2013

This survey was conducted to obtain basic data about organic matter such as BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand), DOC (Dissolved Organic Carbon) and TOC (Total Organic Carbon) in agricultural water in Gyeongnam province. BOD and COD are currently used for water quality indices, but adoption of TOC is being suggested. The surface water samples were collected at 39 locations in Gyeongnam province in April, July and October. Average concentrations of BOD, COD, DOC and TOC were 1.6, 3.3, 5.3 and $5.7mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. In July, average concentrations of BOD and COD were 2.4 and $3.9mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively, showing these values were higher than other months. Average concentrations of TOC in April, July and October were 4.8, 7.4 and $4.8mg\;L^{-1}$, respectively. This suggested that the highest value of TOC was in July. Average decomposition efficiencies for BOD-C/TOC and COD-C/TOC were 11.4 and 23.9%, respectively. Correlation coefficient of TOC and DOC was higher by 0.995, whereas that of TOC and COD was lower by 0.763. Especially, TOC and DOC were highly related than others.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.320-325
• /
• 2021

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) methods are conventional analytical methods to analyze water quality. Both of these methods are technically indirect measurement methods, require complicated preconditions, and are time-consuming. On the other hand, the total organic carbon (TOC) method is a direct and fast measurement method which is more intuitive and accurate than the BOD and COD methods. However, general TOC analysis methods involve complicated processes and high power consumption owing to the process of phase transition from liquid to gas by a high-temperature heater. Furthermore, periodic consumables are also required for the removal of inorganic carbon (IC). Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is one of the most suitable photocatalysts for simple processes. Its usage involves low power consumption because it only reacts with the organic carbon (OC) without the requirement of any other reagents and extra processes. We investigated a TiO₂ photocatalyst-based TOC analysis for simple and affordable products. TiO₂-coated fiber substrate maintained under carbon included water was exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of wavelength 365 nm. This method is suitable for the real-time monitoring of water pollution because of its fast reaction time. Its linear property is also sufficient to match the real value.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.653-661
• /
• 2007

The Disinfectants/Disinfection By-products (D/DBP) Rule proposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency requires the implementation of enhanced coagulation as a control strategy for natural organic matter (NOM) removal and as a means of limiting the formation of all DBPs, i.e., not just the trihalomethanes and haloacetica acids. To control DBP formation, several best available technologies (BATs) were determined for removal of DBPs and DBP precursors. The enhanced coagulation is one of the BATs for DBP precursors removal. Treatment facilities that achieve a specified percent removal of total organic carbon (TOC) prior to the application of a continuous disinfectant or that achieve a residual TOC concentration < 2mg/L prior to the application of a continuous disinfectant are considered to be in compliance with enhanced coagulation. The enhanced coagulation was applied to raw water in Korea, the Han River. Raw water were examined and effects of different raw water qualities on enhanced coagulation were investigated. Three analyses were used for raw water characteristics, water quality measurement, molecular weight distributions, hydrophobic/hydrophilic fractionation. The Han River had the relatively low alkalinity and low organic carbon concentration. The results of molecular weight distributions showed significant portions of low molecular weight organics, which is very different from most water in USA. The alum doses for the required TOC removal guided from USEPA manual were quite low (i.e. 10~30 mg/L alum) for the water, probably due to the specific water quality of the Han River.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2008.05a
• /
• pp.2254-2257
• /
• 2008

홍수와 가뭄, 수질오염 등의 피해에 대한 대책과 보다 효율적인 수자원 관리를 위해서 원자료에 대한 분석이 선행되어야 한다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 나주지점을 대상으로 하여 총유기탄소(Total Organic Carbon: TOC) 자료와 유출량 자료를 수집하였으며, 각 자료에 대하여 상세한 주기성분을 파악하기 위하여 웨이블렛 변환을 적용하였다. 대상지점으로 선정한 나주지점은 전라남도 나주시 나주대교 상류에 위치하고 있으며, 유역면적이 $2,0587.2km^2$이며, 유로 연장은 65.5km이다. 유출량과 수질자료의 주기성 분석을 위해 유기물의 양을 나타내는 수질지표인 TOC와 나주수위관측소에서 관측된 2003년${\sim}$2004년의 시수위자료를 유출량으로 환산한 값을 사용하였으며, 이 자료의 상세한 주기성 파악을 위해 웨이블렛 변환을 사용하였다. 일반적으로 주기성을 파악하기 위하여 푸리에 변환을 사용하지만, 푸리에 변환은 시간정보와 주파수를 동시에 파악할 수 없을 뿐만 아니라, 자료에 불연속성과 고주파수 성분이 포함될 경우 분석이 난이하다. 이러한 푸리에 변환의 단점을 보안한 것이 웨이블렛 변환이며, 푸리에 변환보다 계산속도가 빠르다. 또한 주어진 자료에 대하여 시간과 주파수 영역에서 동시에 파악하는 것이 가능하며, 불규칙한 자료를 평탄하게 함으로서 보다 상세한 주기성을 찾아낼 수 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서 추출한 각 자료의 상세 주기성분들은 향후 수자원 관리를 위한 기초자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.661-666
• /
• 2009

In this study, total organic carbon (TOC) and potassium permanganate ($KMnO_4$) demand were examined for raw and finished tap water and the range of $KMnO_4$ demand in drinking water was investigated. By analyzing the relationship between TOC and $KMnO_4$ demand, the applicability of TOC as a drinking water standard and its regulation level was proposed. The average $KMnO_4$ demand was 1.3 mg/L in 4,638 samples from finished drinking water, tap water and finished water from small facilities. $KMnO_4$ demand of 95% of samples was 2.9 mg/L which was 29% of the drinking water standard (10 mg/L). At 12 major drinking water treatment plants, the average $KMnO_4$ demand in July and August was 8.1 and 2.4 mg/L for raw and finished water, respectively. TOC in July and August was 2.0 and 1.15 mg/L for raw and finished water, respectively. The correlation coefficient between $KMnO_4$ demand and TOC was as high as 0.8 in both raw and finished water and $KMnO_4$ demand was twice of TOC in finished water. Because the correlation coefficient and ratio between $KMnO_4$ demand and TOC varied according to season and the characteristics of raw water, it would be difficult to establish TOC standard just from the ratio of $KMnO_4$ demand to TOC. However, it is possible to set the TOC range based on the accumulated $KMnO_4$ demand data or from the satisfactory correlation results. Then, it would be reasonable to establish TOC standard level as 4 ~ 5 mg/L.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.339-347
• /
• 2023

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a key component in the biogeochemical cycling in freshwater ecosystem. However, it has been rarely explored, particularly complex river watershed dominated by natural and anthropogenic sources, such as various effluent facility and livestock. The current research developed a new analytical method for TOC/TN (Total Organic Carbon/Total Nitrogen) stable isotope ratio, and distinguish DOM source using stable isotope value (δ¹³C-DOC) and spectroscopic indices (fluorescence index [FI] and biological index [BIX]). The TOC/TN-IR/MS analytical system was optimized and precision and accuracy were secured using two international standards (IAEA-600 Caffein, IAEA-CH-6 Sucrose). As a result of controlling the instrumental conditions to enable TOC stable isotope analysis even in low-concentration environmental samples (<1 mgC L^-1), the minimum detection limit was improved. The 12 potential DOM source were collected from watershed, which includes top-soils, groundwater, plant group (fallen leaves, riparian plants, suspended algae) and effluent group (pig and cow livestock, agricultural land, urban, industry facility, swine facility and wastewater treatment facilities). As a result of comparing characteristics between 12 sources using spectroscopic indices and δ¹³C-DOC values, it were divided into four groups according to their characteristics as a respective DOM sources. The current study established the TOC/TN stable isotope analyses system for the first time in Korea, and found that spectroscopic indices and δ¹³C-DOC are very useful tool to trace the origin of organic matter in the aquatic environments through library database.