• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1599-1606
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• 2011

To evaluate the effects of microorganism agents on oil biodegradation, treatability and microcosm studies were conducted. Petroleum oil degrading bacteria were isolated from enriched cultures of oil-contaminated sediment samples using a mineral salts medium (MSM) containing 0.5% Arabian heavy crude oil as the sole carbon source. After a 5 day-incubation period using MSM, mixed microorganisms of three species (strains BS1, BS2 and BS4) degraded 48.4% of aliphatic hydrocarbons and 30.5% of aromatic hydrocarbons. Treatability and microcosm tests were performed in the three different treatment conditions (AO: Arabian heavy crude oil, AO+IN: Arabian heavy crude oil+inorganic nutrient, AO+IN+MM: Arabian heavy crude oil+inorganic nutrient+mixed microorganism agents). Among these, significantly enhanced biodegradation of aliphatic hydrocarbons were observed in AO+IN and AO+IN+MM conditions, without showing any different biodegradation rates in either condition. However, the degradation rates of aromatic hydrocarbons in an AO+IN+MM condition were increased by 50% in the treatability test and by 13% in the microcosm test compared to those in an AO+IN condition. Taken together, it can be concluded that mixed microorganism agents enhance the biodegradation of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in laboratory, a treatability test, and a microcosm test. This agent could especially be a useful tool in the application of bioremediation for removal of aromatic hydrocarbons.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.307-311
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• 2004

The objective of this work is to evaluate the hypothesis that a good technique for supplying oxygen to the saturated zone in the presence of light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) pool contamination at the water table is to pass air through the unsaturated zone above the pool. This hypothesis was evaluated in experimental studies performed using a bench-scale, sand-tank reactor, Steady-state abiotic experiments in the sand-tank reactor with air flowing through the reactor headspace demonstrated that oxygen supply through the water table interface into the saturated zone was enhanced when an LNAPL (dodecane) pool was present at the water table. These experimental results confirmed the hypothesis that an LNAPL pool can serve as a high concentration oxygen source to the oxygen-limited area beneath the pool and, as a result, enhance the in situ biodegradation rate.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.281-288
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• 2012

Phytoremediation-the use of plants for the in situ treatment of contaminated soil and water-has recently emerged as an inexpensive and user-friendly alternative to traditional methods of environmental clean-up. The present article outlines the characteristics of phytoremediation based on accumulated research evidence, along with discussions on its advantages and disadvantages. It further reviews various mechanisms involved in the phytoremediation processes: phytoextraction, rhizofiltration, phytostabilization, phytovolatilization and phytodegradation. Along the way, the author summarizes examples of its applications to environmental pollution control. These include wastewater treatment, removal of heavy metals, and hydrocarbons, remediation of recalcitrant contaminants, phytoremediation of radionuclides, and application of transgenic plants for enhanced biodegradation and phytoremediation. The remainder of the article briefly concludes with directions for future research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.368-371
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• 2003

Leaking underground storage tanks are a major source of groundwater contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons. Bioremediation of aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater and sediments is often limited by dissolved oxygen. Aerobic bioremediation has been highly effective in the remediation of many fuel releases, but Many aromatic hydrocarbons degrade very slowly under anaerobic conditions. Nitrate is a good alternative electron acceptor to oxygen and denitrifying bacteria are commonly found in the subsurface and in association with contaminated aquifer materials. Because nitrate is less expensive and more soluble than oxygen. it may be more economical to restore fuel-contaminated aquifers using nitrate rather than oxygen. This study show that biodegradation of BTEX and MTBE is enhanced by the nitrate-amended microcosms under aerobic/anaerobic conditons. Although aromatic hydrocarbons degrade very slowly under anaerobic conditions. Biodegradaton was observed for all of the test compounds.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of a microbial fermentation procedure to improve the functional qualities of seaweeds. Aspergillus oryzae, which has been used in traditional Korean fermented foods, was inoculated and cultivated in an aqueous extract of sea tangle (Laminaria japonica). Fermentation of the sea tangle extract by A. oryzae for 4 days resulted in a 3-fold increase in $\gamma$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content. GABA is known to be a bioactive compound. Fungal fermentation of the extract also enhanced its antioxidant activity and increased its total content of phenolic compounds. It was assumed that these changes stemmed from the biodegradation of active compounds of the sea tangle packaged within its rigid structural matrix or occurred as result of fungal fermentation. These results suggested that the application of microbial fermentation to the processing of seaweeds will help in the development of processed foods to meet consumer demands.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.53-60
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• 1998

The effect of chemically oxidized intermediated of PAH compounds on the degradation of the parent PAHs was characterized and evaluated for the context of cooxidation. Anthracene and pyrene exhibited extensive degradation (mean percent removal of 57.5%) after 28 days of incubation by introducing the Fenton oxidation intermediate of the PAH compounds, while unoxidized anthracene and pyrene exhibited 12.5% removal. Dehydrogenase activities for the oxidized PAH studies ware enhanced two to five folds to the unoxidized PAHs studies. The chemical oxidation products can serve as a structually very similar analogue substrates for a consortia of soil microorganisms and as a metabolic intermediates in the biodegradation sequence of the parent PAH compounds. These results may be interpreted in the context of cooxidation mechanism whereby high recalcitrant PAH compounds are biodegraded in the soil and suggest a potential tool for bioremediation of PAHs contaminated soils and protection of groundwater.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.7-11
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• 2006

To see effect of marine rock powder and fungal culture supernatant, we analyzed the biodegradation rates of harmful marine dinoflagellate, Heterosigma akashiwo and Prorocentrum minimum for developing the effective control methodology of algal bloom. Relatively low removal rates were observed in the treatment of marine rock powder or buffer solution alone. However, the lysis of H. akashiwo and P. minimum was enhanced in the combined treatments of marine rock powder with fungal supernatant. The effective concentration and exposure time of fungal supernatant for the lysis of H. akashiwo and P. minimum were 5 ml/l and 30 minutes, respectively. These results suggest that the fungal supernatant may be a biocontrol agent for the control of algal blooms in seawater.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 1998

The biodegradation of ($C^{14}$)phenanthrene was studied in water and soil-water systems with nonionic surfactants and biosurfactant : polyoxyethylene alkyl ester($C_{17}$$H_33$COO($C_2$$H_4$O)nH) and sophorolipid. The extents of so1ubilization and biodegradation were monitored by radiotracer technique. Experimental results showed that surfactant concentrations above the critical micelle concentration were toxic to the phenanthrene-degrading bacteria in soil or active sludge and the presence of surfactant micelles inhibited mineralization of PAHs. Solubility and bioavailibility of phenanthrene in water and soil-water system were enhanced by mixed surfactants system. The optimum water content and hydrogen concentration were 30% (w/v) , pH 7, respectively.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2001

According to a series of batch-scale washing tests, SDS+$POE_5$ and $POE_5$+$POE_14$ were determined for the applicable mixed surfactants. Because SDS+$POE_5$ showed slightly negative effects on the microbes in the toxicity tests, $POE_5$+$POE_14$((1:1) 1%) was chosen for this study. In the in-situ flushing experiments, the removal rate of endosulfan was 67% for the injection rate of 1.5L/min/$\textrm{km}^2$. And when methanol and ethanol were added as cosolvent, 75% and 81% removal efficiencies were achieved, respectively. In the tests of bioremediation after the application of in-situ flushing, the removal rates of contaminated soils having 13mg/kg dry soil and 3mg/kg dry soil as initial concentrations were 86% and 81%, respectively. There were no significant degradation after 24 hours. The major rate-limiting factor for the biodegradation of endosulfan might be the mass transfer from soil phase to liquid phase after 24 hours. With the addition of surfactant, 89% removal was achieved after 120 hours. Because the surfactant improved the mass transfer rate, the biodegradation of endosulfan was enhanced. When surfactant and cosolvent were added together, the adaptation period of microorganisms to the surfactant became longer and the removal rates were 84% and 83% for methanol and ethanol, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2018

Climate change is believed to increase the amount of dissolved organic matter in surface water, as a result of the release of bulk organic matter, which make difficult to achieve a high quality of drinking water via conventional water treatment techniques. Therefore, the natural water treatment techniques, such as managed aquifer recharge (MAR), can be proposed as a alternative method to improve water quality greatly. Removal of bulk organic matter using managed aquifer recharge system is mainly achieved by biodegradation. Biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) and assimilable organic carbon (AOC) can be used as water quality indicators for biological stability of drinking water. In this study, we compared the change of BDOC and AOC with respect to pretreatment methods (i.e., ozone or peroxone). The oxidative pretreatment can transform the recalcitrant organic matter into readily biodegradable one (i.e., BDOC and AOC). We also investigated the differences of organic matter characteristics between BDOC and AOC. We observed the decreases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and the tryptophan-like fluorescence intensities. Liquid chromatographic - organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) analysis also showed the reduction of the low molecular weight (LMW) fraction (15% removed, less than 500 Da), which is known to be easily biodegradable, and the biopolymers, high molecular weight fractions (66%). Therefore, BDOC consists of a broad range of organic matter characteristics with respect to molecular weight. In AOC, low molecular weight organic matter and biopolymers fraction was reduced by 11 and 6%, respectively. It confirmed that biodegradation by microorganisms as the main removal mechanism in AOC, while BDOC has biodegradation by microorganism as well as the sorption effects from the sand. $O_3$ and $O_3+H_2O_2$ were compared with respect to biological stability and dissolved organic matter characteristics. BDOC and AOC were determined to be about 1.9 times for $O_3$ and about 1.4 times for $O_3+H_2O_2$. It was confirmed that $O_3$ enhanced the biodegradability by increasing LMW dissolved organic matter.