• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.291-296
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• 2021

Recently, there has been increasing demand for advancing photocatalytic techniques that are capable of the efficient removal of organic pollutants in water. TiO₂, a representative photocatalytic material, has been commonly used as an effective photocatalyst, but it is rather expensive and an alternative is required that will fulfill the requirements of both high performing photocatalytic activities and cost-effectiveness. In this work, ZnO, which is more cost effective than TiO₂, was synthesized by using a microreactor-assisted nanomaterials (MAN) process. The process enabled a continuous production of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) with a flower-like structure with high uniformity. In order to resolve the limited light absorption of ZnO arising from its large band gap, Ag NPs were uniformly decorated on the flower-like ZnO surface by using the MAN process. The plasmonic effect of Ag NPs led to a broadening of the absorption range toward visible wavelengths. Ag NPs also helped inhibit the electron-hole recombination by drawing electrons generated from the light absorption of the flower-like ZnO NPs. As a result, the Ag-ZnO nanocomposites showed improved photocatalytic activities compared with the flower-like ZnO NPs. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed the successful synthesis of Ag-ZnO nanocomposites with high uniformity. Ag-ZnO nanocomposites synthesized via the MAN process offer the potential for cost-effective and scalable production of next-generation photocatalytic materials.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.38-48
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• 2021

In this study, we determine the optimal process conditions for selectively recovering Si from a solar cell surface by removal of impurities (Al, Zn, Ag, etc.). To selectively recover Si from solar cells, leaching is performed using HCl solution and an ultrasonic cleaner. After leaching, the solar cells are washed using distilled water and dried in an oven. Decompression filtration is performed on the HCl solution, and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission spectroscopy) full scan analysis is performed on the filtered solution. Furthermore, XRD (X-ray powder diffraction), XRF (X-ray fluorescence), and ICP-OES are performed on the dried solar cells after crushing, and the purity and recovery rate of Si are obtained. In this experiment, the concentration of acid solution, reaction temperature, reaction time, and ultrasonic intensity are considered as variables. The results show that the optimal process conditions for the selective recovery of Si from the solar cells are as follows: the concentration of acid solution = 3 M HCl, reaction temperature = 60℃, reaction time = 120 min, and ultrasonic intensity = 150 W. Further, the Si purity and recovery rate are 99.85 and 99.24%, respectively.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.571-581
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• 2020

Vegetation affects water level change and flow resistance in rivers and impacts waterway ecosystems as a whole. Therefore, it is important to have accurate information about the species, shape, and size of any river vegetation. However, it is not easy to collect full vegetation data on-site, so recent studies have attempted to obtain large amounts of vegetation data using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). Also, due to the complex shape of vegetation, it is not easy to obtain accurate information about the canopy area, and there are limitations due to a complex range of variables. Therefore, the physical structure of vegetation was analyzed in this study by reconfiguring high-resolution point cloud data collected through 3-dimensional terrestrial laser scanning (3D TLS) in a voxel. Each physical structure was analyzed under three different conditions: a simple vegetation formation without leaves, a complete formation with leaves, and a patch-scale vegetation formation. In the raw data, the outlier and unnecessary data were filtered and removed by Statistical Outlier Removal (SOR), resulting in 17%, 26%, and 25% of data being removed, respectively. Also, vegetation volume by voxel size was reconfigured from post-processed point clouds and compared with vegetation volume; the analysis showed that the margin of error was 8%, 25%, and 63% for each condition, respectively. The larger the size of the target sample, the larger the error. The vegetation surface looked visually similar when resizing the voxel; however, the volume of the entire vegetation was susceptible to error.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.23-35
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• 2021

In order to measure the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of a sample which is too large to use commercially available chamber, a stainless steel vacuum chamber (VC) (with an internal diameter of 205 mm and a height of 50 mm) was manufactured and the temperature of the chamber was controlled using an oven. After concentrating the volatiles of the sample in the chamber by helium gas, it was made possible to remove residual volatile substances present in the chamber under reduced pressure ((2 ± 1) × 10-2 mmHg). The chamber was connected to a purge & trap (P&T) using a 6 port valve to concentrate the VOCs, which were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after thermal desorption (VC-P&T-GC-MS). Using toluene, the toluene recovery rate of this device was 85 ± 2 %, reproducibility was 5 ± 2 %, and the detection limit was 0.01 ng L-1. The method of removing VOCs remaining in the chamber with helium and the method of removing those with reduced pressure was compared using Korean drinking water regulation (KDWR) VOC Mix A (5 μL of 100 ㎍ mL-1) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 2 μL of 500 ㎍ mL-1). In case of using helium, which requires a large amount of gas and time, reduced pressure ((2 ± 1) × 10-2 mmHg) only during the GC-MS running time, could remove VOCs and BHT to less than 0.1 % of the original injection concentration. As a result of analyzing volatile substances using VC-P&T-GC-MS of six types of cell phone case, BHT was detected in four types and quantitatively analyzed. Maintaining the chamber at reduced pressure during the GC-MS analysis time eliminated memory effect and did not affect the next sample analysis. The volatile substances in a cell phone case were also analyzed by dynamic headspace (HT3) and GC-MS, and the results of the analysis were compared with those of VC-P&T-GC-MS. Considering the chamber volume and sample weight, the VC-P&T configuration was able to collect volatile substances more efficiently than the HT3. The VC-P&T-GC-MS system is believed to be useful for VOCs measurement of inhomogeneous large sample or devices used inside clean rooms.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2021

Urban stormwater runoff contains heavy metals that accumulate in on-site treatment systems, thus resulting to facility deterioration and maintenance problems. In order to resolve these problems, low impact development (LID) technologies that promote natural materials circulation are widely used. LID facilities are capable of treating heavy metals in the runoff by means of plant uptake; however, the uptake or phytoremediation capabilities of plants have not been studied extensively, making it difficult to select the most suitable plant species for a certain LID design. This study investigated the vegetative components of an LID facility, roadside plants, and plants in landscape areas with different heavy metal exposure and frequency to determine the uptake capabilities of different plant species. The plants harvested inside the LID facilities and roadsides with high vehicular traffic exhibited greater heavy metal concentrations in their tissues as compared with the plants in landscape areas. Generally, the accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues were found to be influenced by the environmental characteristics (i.e. influent water quality, air pollution level, etc.). Dianthus, Metasequoia, Rhododendron lateritium, and Mugwort were found to be effective in removing Zn in the urban stormwater runoff. Additionally, Dianthus, Metasequoia, Mugwort, and Ginkgo Biloba exhibited excellent removal of Cu. Cherry Tree, Metasequoia, and mugwort efficiently removed Pb, whereas Dianthus was also found to be effective in treating As, Cr, and Cd in stormwater. Overall, different plant species showed varying heavy metal uptake capabilities. The results of this study can be used as an effective tool in selecting suitable plant species for removing heavy metals in the runoff from different land use types.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.40-48
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• 2022

In this study, the effects of solution components were investigated in the recovery of vanadium as ammonium metavanadate from vanadium-ore-salt roasting-water leaching solution. The vanadium-containing solution is strongly alkaline (pH 13), so the pH must be lowered to 9 or less to increase the ammonium metavanadate precipitation efficiency. However, in the process of adjusting the solution pH using sulfuric acid, aluminum ions are co-precipitated, which must be removed first. In this study, aluminum was precipitated in the form of an aluminum-silicate compound using sodium silicate, and the conditions for minimizing vanadium loss in this process were investigated. After aluminum removal, the silicate was precipitated and removed by adjusting the solution pH to 9 or less using sulfuric acid. In this process, the concentration and addition rate of sulfuric acid have a significant influence on the loss of vanadium, and vanadium loss was minimized as much as possible by slowly adding dilute sulfuric acid. Ammonium metavanadate was precipitated using three equivalents of ammonium chloride at room temperature from the aluminum-free, aqueous solution of vanadium following the pH adjustment process. The recovery yield of vanadium in the form of ammonium metavanadate exceeded 81%. After washing the product, vanadium pentoxide with 98.6% purity was obtained following heat treatment at 550 ℃ for 2 hours.

• Journal of Naturopathy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.86-92
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• 2021

Background: The presence of antioxidants was not confirmed in the medicinal plant Equisetum hyamale grass. Purposes: This study was to determine the antioxidant and elastase inhibition effects of extracts of E. hyemale. Methods: Antioxidant functions of E. hyemale stems and roots were measured and extracted with hot water (HW) and ethyl alcohol (70EOH, 100EOH). Results: The extraction yield of stems was higher in HW extraction than in ethyl alcohol extraction. The polyphenol content was significantly higher in the root extract than in the stem. Total flavonoid content of 70EOH extract was significantly higher in root extract than in stem. The elastase inhibitory function of the extract was 46% in the root and 49% in the stem at 100 ppm of the extract. The ABTS free radical scavenging function was in the order of HW<70EOH<100EOH

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.253-263
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• 2022

This study suggests a guideline for designing unit process of wastewater reuse in terms of a maintenance of the process based on critical parameters to draw a high quality performance of RO unit. Defining the parameters was done by applying membrane integrity test (MIT) in pretreatment process utilizing lab-scale MF. SDI is utilized for judging whether permeate is suitable to RO unit. However, result said TOC concentration matching with particle count analysis is better for judging the permeate condition. When membrane test pressure (P_test) was measured to derive log removal value in PDT, virgin state of membrane fiber was used to measure dynamic contact angle utilizing surface tension of the membrane fiber. Actually, foulant affects to the state of membrane surface, and it decreases the P_test value along with time elapsed. Consequently, LRV_DIT is also affected by P_test value. Thus, sensitivity of direct integrity test descends with result of P_test value change, so P_test value should be considered not the virgin state of the membrane but its current state. Overall, this study focuses on defining design parameters suitable to MF pretreatment for RO process in wastewater reuse by assessing its impact. Therefore, utilities can acknowledge that the membrane surface condition must be considered when users conduct the direct integrity test so that P_test and other relative parameter used to calculate LRV_DIT are adequately measured.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.314-324
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• 2022

This study is aimed to design a membrane process that systematically removes contaminants including microplastics in sun-dried salt using a separation membrane. In this study, we selected the separation membrane material, pore size, and module suitable for the sun-dried salt fields, and proceeded with the experiments under the salt fields and laboratory conditions. A pilot plant was constructed and tested in our lab and in the actual saltern with the selected 200 kDa, 4 kDa ultrafiltration membranes, and 3 kDa nanofiltration membranes. Most of the impurities in the sea salt were 0.1 ㎛ in size, and more than 7 types of various microplastics were detected in the impurities. After that, as a result of checking the filtered water through the separation membrane process, no impurities were detected. As a result of comparing the existing sea salt component and the sea salt component prepared with separation membrane filtrate, impurities were effectively removed without change in the sea salt component.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.26-34
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• 2023

This study conducted interviews with former and current managers of Cheongwadae landscape architecture to provide basic information necessary to preserve, manage, and utilize Gyeongbokgung Palace's back garden, and the main conclusions summarized are as follows. First, the topography changed a lot with the construction of the main building and the official residence under President Roh Tae-woo. The water system was connected to Gyeongbokgung Palace in the past, but is now disconnected. Second, in the case of planting, the most important principles were the president's security and protocol, and accordingly, trees were placed or managed. Trees were planted by introducing excellent trees in various regions, and wildflowers and ground cover plants were frequently replaced according to the season. Third, facilities and roads were arranged for the president's protocol, hobbies, and workers' rest, and fire-fighting facilities were installed to prevent disaster in the forest area of Baegaksan Mountain. Fourth, the biggest inflection point of Gyeongbokgung Palace's back garden during Cheongwadae period was the change in topography due to the new construction of the main building and official residence during President Roh Tae-woo, the removal of A and B barbed wire fences that separated space during President Roh Moo-hyun, and the extensive landscaping carried out for the G20 Summit under President Lee Myung-bak. The area of Gyeongbokgung Palace's back garden is expected to face another inflection point due to the opening of Cheongwadae on May 10, 2022, and the work of evaluating the historical, academic, and landscape values of Gyeongbokgung Palace's back garden should be carried out while preserving the status.