• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2011

The accidental releases of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) due to oil spills frequently ended up with soil and ground water pollution. TPH may be degraded through physicochemical and biological processes in the environment but with relatively slow rates. In this study an attempt has been made to develop an integrated chemical and biological treatment technology in order to establish an efficient and environment-friendly restoration technology for the TPH contaminated soils. A Fenton-like reaction was employed as a preceding chemical treatment process and a bioaugmentation process utilizing a diesel fuel degrader consortium was subsequently applied as a biological treatment process. An efficient chemical removal of TPH from soils occurred when the surfactant OP-10S (0.05%) and oxidants ($FeSO_4$ 4%, and $H_2O_2$ 5%) were used. Bioaugmentation of the degrader consortium into the soil slurry led to an increase in their population density at least two orders of magnitude, indicating a good survival of the degradative populations in the contaminated soils ($10^8-10^9$ CFU/g slurry). TPH removal efficiencies for the Fenton-treated soils increased by at least 57% when the soils were subjected to bioaugmentation of the degradative consortium. However, relatively lower TPH treatment efficiencies (79-83%) have been observed in the soils treated with Fenton and the degraders as opposed to the control (95%) that was left with no treatment. This appeared to be due to the presence of free radicals and other oxidative products generated during the Fenton treatment which might inhibit their degradation activity. The findings in this study will contribute to development of efficient bioremediation treatment technologies for TPH-contaminated soils and sediments in the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.116-124
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• 2017

A plate-type inorganic pigment complex was manufactured in a manner that treats the surface of the complex by adjusting zeta potential between talc, an inorganic pigment used as a material for color cosmetics, and hydrophobic silica. Talc, which is usually used in the prescription of color cosmetics, is a plate-type, white-colored inorganic substance with good application and spreadability to skin. Furthermore, it features excellent dispersibility and extensibility as well as outstanding heat tolerance, light stability, and chemical resistance. In general, silica contributes to durable makeup and stabilized formulation. This paper covers a process of manufacturing an inorganic pigment complex, where hydrophobic silica was applied to the surface of talc by using differences in zeta potential after the surface charges of talc and hydrophobic silica had been adjusted with cationic and anionic surfactants, respectively. The resulting inorganic pigment complex was composed of talc whose surface is coated hydrophobic silica to the thickness of $1{\mu}m$ or less, which developed an effective hydrophobic property. Zeta potential was measured to analyze the surface charge of an inorganic pigment, and FT-IR, used to check the functional group of a surfactant, was applied to treat the surface of the pigment. The surface of the inorganic pigment complex was observed employing SEM, EDS, and FIB, while its structure was confirmed with XRD and FT-IR.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 2020

When CO₂ foam is injected into the saline aquifer, the relative permeability of CO₂ decreases and its viscosity increases, thereby reducing mobility in porous media and ultimately improving CO₂ storge with enhanced sweep efficiency. In general, surfactants were used to fabricate CO₂ foam. Recently, nanoparticles have been used to form stable foam than surfactant. This paper introduces CO₂ storage technology using nanoparticle stabilized CO₂ foam. If the surface of the hydrophilic nanoparticles is partially modified into a CO₂-philic portion, the particles have an affinity for CO₂ and water, thus forming a stable CO₂ foam even in deep saline aquifers under high temperature and high salinity conditions, thereby it can be stored in the pores of the rock. In terms of economics, injection method using nanopaticle-stabilized CO₂ foam is more expensive than the conventional CO₂ injection, but it is estimated that it will have price competitiveness because the injection efficiency is improved. From an environmental point of view, it is possible to inject chemical substances such as surfactants and nanomaterials into aquifers or reservoirs for specific purposes such as pollutant removal and oil production. However, some studies have shown that nanoparticles and surfactants are toxic to aquatic animals, so environmentally proven substances should be used. Therefore, further research and development will be needed to study the production and injection of nanoparticle-stabilized CO₂ foam that are environmentally safe and economically reasonable.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2017

4-Nonylphenol (NP) is a surfactant that is a well-known and widespread estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC). Although it has been known that the affinity of NP to ERs is low, it has been suggested that low-dose NP has toxicity. In the present study, the endocrine disrupting effects on reproduction, and the weight of gonads, epididymis, and uterus were evaluated with the chronic lower-dose NP exposing. This study was designed by following the OECD test guideline 443 and subjected to a complete necropsy. In male, NP had an effect on the weight of the testis and epididymis in both $F_0$ and $F_1$. In females, NP decreased the weight of ovary and uterus in $F_0$ but not in pre-pubertal $F_1$ pubs. Fertility of male and female in $F_0$ or $F_1$ was no related with NP administration. The number of caudal-epididymal sperm by body weight (BW) was not different between groups in both $F_0$ and $F_1$. Besides, the difference of the sperm number between generations was not detected. The number of ovulated oocytes was similar between groups in $F_0$, but significantly decreased in NP 50 group of $F_1$. The litter size and sex ratios of offspring in $F_1$ and $F_2$ were not different. The accumulated mating rate and gestation period were not affected by the NP administration. Those results shows that chronic lower-dose NP administration has an effect of endocrine disruptor on the weight of gonads and epididymis of $F_0$ and $F_1$ but not in reproduction. Based on the results, it is suggested that chronic lower-dose NP exposing causes endocrine disruption in the weight of gonad and epididymis but not in the reproductive ability of next generations.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.595-601
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• 2014

The microstructures of NATM were examined by SEM, FT-IR spectra, tensile properties, mole % of [NCO/OH], and particle size analyzer. Growing concerns in the environment-friendly industries have led to the development of solvent-free formulations that can be cured. We had synthesized NATM(New Austria Tunnel Method) resin having the ability to protect stainless steel against corrosion. Comparing with general NATM resin and coatings, this resin that synthesized with polyurethane and epoxy was highly stronger in intensity and longer durability. Hybrid resin was composed of polyols, MDI, epoxy, silicone surfactant, catalyst and crosslink agent, and fillers. Moreover, fillers such as fume silica not only accelerated the curing rate but also improved the physical property as thermal barriers. The rigid segments of synthetic resin in mechanical properties were due to fume silica and the increase the mole% of [NCO/OH] for corrosion protection. In conclusion, the hybrid resin microstructure with crosslink agent and fume silica are good material for thermosetting coating of metal substrates such as stainless steel.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.584-594
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• 2014

To increase of surface hydrophilicity of polymeric thin films is an important approaching technique for introduction of self-cleaning and/or antifogging properties on the surfaces of those films. In general, hydrophilic surface can be produced by coating non ionic surfactants or by increasing surface energy. Various non-ionic surfactants, such as Tween, Span, and PEG-PPG block copolymers were selected for our experiments, because they are cheap and well soluble in toluene system as well as they contain several reactive hydroxy fuctional groups with coupling agents. Blending conditions influence the PET film surface hydrophilicities. However, the introduction of only these surfactants on the surface of PET films did not show the high durability of hydrophilic properties after washing with water. To improve the durability two types of coupling agents such as epoxide and diisocyanate were adopted. Contact angle of water on hydrophilically coated PET film surface with 6 wt% of isophrone diisocyanate(IPDI) containing coating solution was reached to $8.7^{\circ}$, which was an indirect evidence for very high surface hydrophilicity. A light(500 nm of wavelength) transmittance value of coated PET film was changed only from 87% to 85% with keeping a good transparent property. This film can be usable for self-cleaning film industries.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.301-310
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• 2014

In this study, the silica nanoparticles were considerably chosen to improve a dimensional stability, proton transport and electrochemical performance of the resulting inorganic-organic nanocomposite membranes. For this purpose, hydrophobic silica (Aerosil$^{(R)}$ 812, Degussa) and hydrophilic silica (Aerosil$^{(R)}$ 380, Degussa) nanoparticles were, respectively, introduced into a Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) polymer matrix. The $SiO_2$ particles are evenly dispersed in a SPAES matrix by the aid of a non-ionic surfactant (Pluronics$^{(R)}$ L64). A $SiO_2$ content plays an important role in membrane microstructures and membrane properties such as proton conductivity and water uptake. Therefore, to study nanocomposite membranes with excessive amount of silica, the content of silica nanoparticles were increased up to 5 wt%. Interestingly, a hydrophobic $SiO_2$ containing nanocomposite membrane showed better electrochemical performance (29% higher than pristine SPAES) despite of low proton conductivity due to its adhesive properties with a catalyst layer in a single cell test. All the silica-SPAES membranes exhibited better performance than a pristine SPAES membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.154-166
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• 2017

Polymeric films for gas barrier applications such as food packaging and electronic devices have attracted great interest due to their cheap, light and easy processability among gas barrier materials. Especially in electronic devices, extremely low gas permeance is necessary for maintaining the device performance. However, current polymeric barrier films still suffer from relatively high gas permeance than other materials. Therefore, there have been strong needs to enhance the gas barrier performance of polymeric barrier films while keep their own advantages. Recently, graphene is highlighted as a 2D-layered material for gas barrier applications. However, owing to the poor workability and difficulty to produce in engineering scale, graphene oxide (GO) is on the rise. GO consists of oxygen-containing functional groups on surface with intrinsic 2D-layered structure and high aspect ratio, and it can be well-dispersed in aqueous polar solvents like water, resulting in scalable mass production. Here, we prepared GO incorporated polyimide (PI) nanocomposites. PI is widely used barrier polymer with high mechanical strength and thermal and chemical stability. We demonstrated that PI/GO nanocomposites could perform as a gas barrier. Furthermore, surfactants (Triton X-100 (TX) and Sodium deoxycholate (SDC)) are introduced to enhance the gas barrier performance by improving the degree of dispersion of GO in PI matrix. As a result, TX enhanced the gas barrier performance of PI/GO nanocomposites which is similar to predicted value. This finding will provide new insight to polymer nanocomposites for gas barrier applications.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.529-535
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• 1998

This study was made to investigate the effect of variation in pulping process conditions such as wastepaper blending treatments, temperature, and chemical blending treatments on the deinked pulp. Design of experiments was used to select the major factors which significantly influenced on the deinked pulp. As one of the statistical analysis technique, analysis of variance and multiple comparison technique was used to find the best process condition and the predicted values and confidence intervals for brightness and strength were obtained. In the condition of $Na_2SiO_3$ 2.0%, $H_2O_2$ 0.5% and wastepaper blending treatments (KONP : AONP : OMG = 40 : 30 : 30 wt %) the highest brightness of 50.5% was predicted with 90% confidence interval (49.0, 52.0). On a concentration of $H_2O_2$ 0.5%, the highest tensile index of $35.7N{\cdot}m/g$ was predicted with 90% confidence interval (34.6, 36.6) at the pulping temperature of $50^{\circ}C$. On a concentration of surfactant 0.1%, the highest burst index of $0.129kPa{\cdot}m^2/g$ was predicted with 90% confidence interval (0.125, 0.133) at the pulping temperature of $50^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.110-115
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• 2013

A microorganism (strain AR1) producing an extracellular lipolytic enzyme was isolated from hot springs located in Beppu, Japan. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rDNA sequence and biochemical studies indicated that AR1 belongs to the genus Geobacillus. This study focused on novel strategies to increase extracellular lipolytic enzyme production by this novel Geobacillus sp. AR1. Cultures of the AR1 strain grew within a wide temperature range (from 35 to $75^{\circ}C$); the optimum temperature was $65^{\circ}C$. The pH for optimal growth was 6.5, whereas the optimum pH for lipolytic enzyme production was 8.5. The presence of oils in the culture medium led to improvements in lipolytic enzyme activity. Soybean oil was the most efficient inducer, and it yielded better results when added in the exponential phase. On the other hand, the addition of chemical surfactants led to lipolytic enzyme production. Their addition to the culture could affect the location of the enzyme activity. The addition of Tween 20 in the stationary phase significantly increased the proportion of the extracellular enzyme activity. According to the results, following the addition of soybean oil and Tween 20 in the exponential and stationary phases, the extracellular lipolytic activity was increased 2.4-fold compared with that of a control.