• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.3-8
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• 2019

Recently, plastic waste in Korea has been recognized as a critical issue due to an increase in massive production of plastics, difficulty in disposal of waste plastics, and public recognition of toxicity in micro-plastics, etc. To resolve those problems, the regulation to reduce plastics consumption may be primarily considered but, in this case, clarification should be made on the rationales and the action plans in the regulation for individual waste plastic items. Another problem is the small capital sizes of domestic recycling companies, which leads to poor R&D capacity, low recycling yields and thus lowering values of recycling items. This adversely affects consumers' perception. The R&D toward recycling technical progress should take into account the environmental friendliness and recyclability from the early product design stages. Certainly, this should be supported in governmental policy and public action plans. In addition, by referring to advanced policies of i.e. European Union, the recycling industry should be recognized as an opportunity toward new investment & employment. If necessary, the regulation of plastic consumption through a formal evaluation process such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will also be helpful. The values of recycled plastics should be improved through the identification and elimination of harmful chemical substances potentially contained in the products.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2008

It is said that polymer modified asphalt using polyethylene as modifier would show phase separation due to density difference and incompatibility between asphalt and polyethylene. In this study, to prevent coalescence of polyethylene in asphalt, we employed peroxides as phase separation inhibitor. On microscope, peroxides (dicumyl peroxide, lauroyl peroxide) with waste vinyl (comprising low density polyethylene) did not show phase separation, however, rheometer test showed phase separation at molecular level, i.e., polyethylene and asphalt are immiscible ultimately. Mechanical properties (tensile strength, Marshall stability, dynamic stability) showed waste vinyl-modified asphalts are highly resistant to plastic deformation and these properties are even better than those of Superphalt.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.24-28
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• 2005

Waste of the hydroponic solution from the plastic film house cultivation was recycled to grow the red pepper(Capsicum annum L.) in upland fields as supplement for plant nutrients and irrigation sources. Application of hydroponic waste solution increased the pH and EC of the soils, coupled with the increases in the concentrations of exchangeable cations(Ca, Mg, and K), total nitrogen, $NH_4-N,\;and\;NO_3-N$. Growth and yield of red pepper were highest when the treatment of chemical fertilizer(70%) was combined with hydroponic waste solution(30%). Amounts of the daily producing hydroponic waste solution were 2,880 L $ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$ from the experimental facilities and this could irrigate $409.86m^2$ of area to compensate for the amount of water loss by evapotranspiration(3%). The overall results demonstrated that hydroponic waste solution could be recycled as plant nutrients and irrigation water resources for enhancing soil fertility and environmental quality.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.22 no.E2
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• pp.49-56
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• 2006

This pilot study focuses on emissions characterization of air pollutants produced from incineration of some municipal solid wastes (MSWs). The MSWs incinerated by an electric furnace maintained up to $600^{\circ}C$ included food, paper, and plastic wastes. The pollutants analyzed in this study included concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), bottom ash contents, and heavy metals extracted from the bottom ash of each waste. The VOCs identified were classified based on their chemical structure. The total emissions of VOCs produced from incineration of the papers were identified as the highest followed by those from the plastics and the food wastes. Aliphatic alkenes were major VOC compounds produced from incineration of plastic or food wastes, while furans were major VOCs produced from incineration of papers. The second major VOCs produced from incineration of food, plastics, and papers were aromatics. In particular, hazardous air pollutants such as benzene were produced with considerable amount of emission concentration. The bottom ash contents of papers were usually much higher than those of food or plastic wastes. The bottom ash contents produced from incineration of food and plastics were much lower than those of other MSWs. In analysis of heavy metals extracted by an ultrasonic method from the bottom ashes of the papers, high concentrations of heavy metals were identified from incineration of newspapers and box (cardboard). In addition, it was identified that the general public might be exposed to considerable amounts of lead concentrations during incineration processes and uses of paper cup and from ashes.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2005

Objective of this research was to evaluate the fate of nitrogen and phosphorous in hydroponic waste solution from the plastic film house cultivation applied to the upland soil by column leaching and field experiment. The pH and EC of leachate were decreased by the reaction with the upland soil in the column leaching experiment. The EC and concentrations of $H^+,\;K^+,\;and\;{NH_4}^+$ of leachate were decreased as the column length (soil depth) was increased. But these were increased as the amounts of the hydroponic waste solution were increased field experiment growing red pepper (Capsicum annum L.) to monitor the nutrients movement using ion exchange resin capsule demonstrated that the nutrient concentration of soil solution was increased in the orders of $PO_4-P. Nitrate concentration of resin capsule inserted into the soil was relatively higher than other nutrients $(NH_4-N\;and\;PO_4-P)$ at the 45 cm of soil depth. The overall results demonstrated that the hydroponic waste solution could be recycled as plant nutrients to enhance fertility of soils. But nitrate leaching was a major factor for safe use of the hydroponic waste solution in soil.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1227-1240
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• 2014

Abandoned mines often cause environmental problems, such as alteration of landscape, metal contamination, and landslides due to a heavy rainfall. Geotechnical and rheological tests were performed on waste materials corrected from Imgi waste rock dump, located in Busan Metropolitan City. Debris flow mobility was examined with the help of 1-D BING model which was often simulated in both subaerial and subaqueous environments. To determine flow curve, we used a vane-penetrated rheometer. The shear stress (${\tau}$)-shear rate (${\dot{\gamma}}$) and viscosity(${\eta}$)-shear rate (${\dot{\gamma}}$) relationships were plotted using a shear stress control mode. Well-known rheological models, such as Bingham, bilinear, Herschel-Bulkley, Power-law, and Papanastasiou concepts, were compared to the rheological data. From the test results, we found that the tested waste materials exhibited a typical shear shinning behavior in ${\tau}$-${\dot{\gamma}}$ and and ${\eta}$-${\dot{\gamma}}$ plots, but the Bingham behavior is often observed when the water contents increased. The test results show that experimental data are in good agreement with rheological models in the post-failure stage during shearing. Based on the rheological properties (i.e., Bingham yield stress and viscosity as a function of the volumetric concentration of sediment) of waste materials, initial flowing shape (5 m, 10 m, and 15 m) and yield stress (100 Pa, 200 Pa, 300 Pa, and 500 Pa) were input to simulate the debris flow motion. As a result, the runout distance and front velocity of debris flow are in inverse propositional to yield stress. In particular, when the yield stress is less than 500 Pa, most of failed masses can flow into the stream, resulting in a water contamination.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.423-434
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• 2012

This study was carried out to develop for the emission factor of greenhouse gas (GHG) from medium and smallscaled incineration facility using RPF which is considering as a part of renewable energy in UNFCC. The actual concentration of the exhaust gas and the fuel composition of RPF were measured for the calculation of GHG emission factor in RPF incinerators, and were compared with the IPCC guideline. The $CO_2$ and $N_2O$ emission factors by the actual concentration of exhaust gas were $2.3575{\pm}1.0070tCO_2/tRPF$ and $0.0014{\pm}0.0014tN_2O/tRPF$ respectively. Also, $CO_2$ emission factor by the RPF composition was $2.7057{\pm}0.0540tCO_2/tRPF$. The GHG emission factor per energy by the actual concentration was $83.0867{\pm}26.0346tCO_2e/TJ$ which showed higher consistency with the GHG emission factor ($80.3967tCO_2e/TJ$) of waste plastic in the IPCC guideline (2006b). The $CO_2$ and $N_2O$ emission factor calculated in this study is considered as a meaningful data for GHG emission factor of RPF incineration facility because of not being developed in ROK.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.175-180
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• 2016

Waste bumpers from out-of-service vehicles are recycled in the manufacturing process of plastic parts by incorporating pristine materials after removing the coated paint on a bumper. This study examined the chemical properties and mechanical properties of a mixture of recycled bumper and pristine materials as a function of the mixing ratio. When the pristine materials and the recycled bumper pieces were mixed, the stiffness (tensile strength and the flexural modulus) was provided by their composition averages. On the other hand, the toughness (Izod impact strength and the elongation-at-break) was lower than their composition averages (i.e., negative deviation). FTIR analysis showed that these results were due to the absence of the compatibility between the pristine materials and recycled bumper pieces. When the recycled bumper pieces were loaded at more than 30 wt. %, the toughness decreased drastically. A previous study showed that a paint removal efficiency up to 80 wt.% was easily attainable. The other 20 wt.% of paint on the bumper is very difficult to remove. Therefore, this study examined the mechanical properties of a mixture of recycled bumper pieces containing the unremoved paint and recycled bumper pieces without paint. When the recycled bumper pieces containing the unremoved paint were incorporated in only small quantities, the mechanical properties were decreased to a great extent. These results show that the paint removal efficiency is very important in the recycled bumper industry.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.13-19
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• 2008

The objectives of this paper are to investigate states of these open dumping landfills for managing, utilizing and stabilization of a municipal solid waste landfill site in environmentally secure conditions. The result of the physical analysis of the landfill showed that it is composed of between 29.72-63.84% organic matter, 32.88% vinyl plastic. The environmental assessment of the landfill site confirmed that the landfill is at a maturation phase due to 0.18 of $BOD_5$/CODcr of leachate. VS and FS of TS Was respectively 30.37%, 32.34% and C/N ratio was 21.8. Surface water around landfill was BOD 10.7 mg/g, SS 37.8 mg/g, E-Coli 31,157(MPN/$100m{\ell}$) and Ground water was $COD_{Mn}$ 1.13-1.38 mg/g, $NO_3-N$ 1.025-4.075 mg/g. Leachat indicated T-P 0.002-0.028 mg/g, $NH_3-N$ 4.0-21.0 mg/g. The soil contamination of around landfill didn't appear as below of the regulation of Soil Environment Conservation Act. The Landfill Gas was $CH_4$ 13.25%, $CO_2$ 6.17%, H2S and CO was not detected. Also Surface Water was not detected $CO_2$, $CH_4$, $H_2S$, CO.