• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1107-1108
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• 2006

As expanding municipal and industrial areas since started the economic development plan in earnest in 1970's, the water resource, mainly river surface water has been seriously polluted. Nevertheless, being upgraded in their treatment technologies for the drinking water, the safety has been issued one of crucially social problem in Korea. The water authorities has tried to improve the quality such as amending the drinking water quality standard to be monitored; hazardous chemicals and microorganis have been added and now 55 items, before 47 items, since in 2002. The Water Authorities of Seoul, the capital city of Korea, planned to assess the safty of drinking water quality after amended the standard. This study was conducted to assess the risk due to polluted chemicals including 21 heavy metals, VOCs, pesticides, PAHs, DBPs and organic chemicals among the regulated items. The risk assessment were undertaken hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment and risk characterization. For the exposoure assessment, tap water, bottled water and purified water were sampled and analyzed in February, 2004. Risk characterization of detected chemicals was categorized into carcinogenecity and noncarcinogenecity, and estimated the excess of carcinogens and compapared with the reference dose (RfD) of noncarcinogenns. The excess risk of carcinogens from samples were considered comparatively in the acceptable levels; $10^{-6}$ for cancer risk and hazard quotient (HQ) 1.0 for noncancer risk. The deteced levels were estimated in $10^{-5}{\sim}10^{-6}$ of cancer risk and below 1.0 of HQ of noncancer risk. While three kinds of water were determined within the acceptal levels, DBPs were detected in tap water and purified were and some undesireable chemicals such as more fluoride detected rather than the quality stanadard. For the drinking water safety, it shoud be continuously monitored, assessed and managed as well risk communiction between the authoritis and public.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1996.11a
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• pp.39-49
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• 1996

Hundreds of contaminated sites have been generated due to the past mismagement of toxic substances, the lack of adequate environmental controls and ignorance of the potential environmental impacts of general activities in Canada. The general public, industry and governments have been addressing the contaminated sites with a number of cleanup responses. Environmental protection and remediation have become top priorities for the public and private sectors alike in Canada. Between the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and Canada's Green Plan were followed by provincial and territorial laws and policies to regulate contaminated sites. The National Contaminated Site Remediation Program(NCSRP) was initiated in 1989. It has been administered through bilateral agreements between the federal and participating provincial/territorial governments. They have committed a total of $250 million toward orphan site cleanup and technology development/demonstration over a five year period. The federal government has committed an additional $25 million to assess contaminated sites on federal crown land. Over 40 orphan high-risk contaminated sites, over 230 federal sites and over 35 technology development/demonstration projects have been addressed. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment has developed a series of guidance documents to ensure a consistent and successful implementation of the Program. The management/regulation scheme of contaminated sites generally consists of： 1) identifying and investigating sites, 2) determining site contamination, 3) recognizing responsibility and liability, 4) assessing priority for remediation, 5) activation, evaluation and implementing remediation options, and 6) documenting remediation completion. The NCSRP supported the successful development/demonstration of a wide range of innovative remedial technologies. They are related to stabilization/solidification, thermal washing/flushing, advanced oxidation, sonics, and groundwater contaminated with hydrocarbons, PAHS, PCBs, heavy metals, and other hazardous pollutants in a variety of site environments.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.762-772
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• 2016

Purpose: Adolescence is a critical period for growth and development; hence, knowledge about good food habits is essential amongst children. This study was conducted to investigate prevalence of awareness among food sellers, which could probably influence children's health and perceptions on food around schools towards adulterated food management beliefs, competencies, and food safety practices. Methods: Data was collected from 195 dealers around 25 elementary, middle and high schools in Daegu and Gyeongbuk provinces using a self-administered questionnaire in July and August, 2015. The data was analyzed using frequency analysis, one-way analysis of variance, $x^2$-test, factor analysis, and reliability analysis by SPSS Statistics (ver. 23.0). Results: A total of 121 people (62.1%) reported satisfaction of providing information and education on adulterated food. The perception of hazardous substances was found to be related to food poisoning bacteria and viruses (65.6%), heavy metals (42.1%), environmental hormones (36.4%), residual pesticides (27.2%), and irradiated food (26.7%). The perceived score on hygiene practices for processed food seller was $4.04{\pm}0.56/5.00$ and for cooked food seller was $4.09{\pm}0.45$. The capacity of adulterated food management practice of food sellers was significantly correlated with food knowledge on adulteration and public relation capacity, necessity of adulterated food management, and perception of hygiene practices (p<0.01). Similarly, knowledge and public relation capacity were significantly different according to ages (p<0.01). The perception of the necessity of adulterated food management was significantly different according to education levels (p<0.05), and the evaluation of hygiene practices was significantly different according to age (p<0.01). Conclusion: In order to solve the problem of adulterated food, which is one of the four social evils, and to strengthen the capacity of children to solve social problems, various practices like campaign on health promotion, goof food habits, education, and adulterated food management, should be actively promoted not only for children but also for food sellers around the schools.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2006

Biosorption technology was used to remove hazardous materials from wastewater, herbicide, heavy metals, and radioactive compounds, based on binding capacities of various biological materials. Biosorption process can be explained by two steps; the first step is that target contaminants is in contact with microorganisms and the second is that the adsorbed target contaminants is infiltrated with inner cell through metabolically mediated or physico-chemical pathways of uptake. Until recently, no information is available to explain the definitive mechanism of biosorption. The purpose of this study is to evaluate biosorption capabilities of organic matters using activated sludge and to investigate affecting factors upon biosorption. Over 49% of organic matter could be removed by positive biosorption reaction under anoxic condition within 10 minutes. The biosorption capacities were constant at around 50 mg-COD/mg-MLSS for all batch experiments. As starvation time increased under aerobic or anaerobic conditions, biosorption capacity increased since higher stressed microorganisms by starvation was more brisk. Starvation stress of microorganisms was higher at aerobic condition than anaerobic one. As temperature increased or easily biodegradable carbon sources were used, biosorption capacities increased. Consequently, biosorption can be estimated by biological -adsorbed capability of the bacterial cell-wall and we can achieve the cost-effective and non -residual denitrification with applying biosorption to the bio-reduction of nitrate.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.27-35
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• 1998

EAF dust generated from electric arc steelmaking process is classified as "hazardous" materials by tbe environmental regulation because of the existence of water leachable heavy metals such as Fe, Zn, Pb, and Cd. However, Fe and Zn among t the elements in the dust can be recovered to high valuable materials by applying a proper process. Therefore, in order to study t the possibility of recovery of iron from EAF dust, the effect oE carbon content and basicity, of synthesized EAF dust on the reduction rate of iron oxide was studied. Experimental results are as follows: TIle softening and melting temperature of the slag w was illcreased with increasing carbon addition amount [or carbon reduction eqUIvalent. At the carbon addition amount of 100% for carbon reduction equivalent and basicity of 1.7, reduction rate of $Fe_2O$ in the slag was the highest. The reaction order fur reduction of $Fe_2O$ by carbon was nearly first order.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.396-406
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• 2004

Current physical and chemical methodologies, conventionally used to clean up metal contaminated soils, are generally too expensive to apply in large hazardous waste sites including agricultural lands adjacent to closed or abandoned metal mines. Phytoremediation using plants to extract, sequester and detoxify environmental pollutants is one of the cost-effective and aesthetically-pleasing alternatives, compared with environmentally destructive remedial methods currently being practiced. But, phytoremediation has some limitations such as time consuming and low performance: in general, it is seasonally dependent and slower in removing metals than other methods, and metal accumulating plants are slow growers. Improvement of plants for metal tolerance, accumulation, and translocation using genetic engineering techniques recently opened up new possibilities for phytoremediation. In this paper, we have discussed about recent developments in conventional and genetically engineered phytoremediation. For the conventional phytoremediation, focuses are on the natural hyperaccumulator and the chemically assisted phytoremediation. Some pros and cons on the phytoremediation using transgenic plants, coupled with focusing on the mechanistic view points, are also discussed. It might be concluded that the transgenic plants will be effective tools in the practical application of phytoremediation especially for the highly contaminated soils but mechanisms involved should be deeply understood in advance.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.73-81
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• 2018

The giant mealworm beetle, Zophobas atratus (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), is a tropical beetle. As this beetle can be used as an ingredient in animal feed, the effects of brewer's spent grain (BSG) on the development and nutritional value of Z. atratus were investigated. As results, there were no significant differences on the larval survival rate, body weight, and duration at different content of BSG, mixed with conventional feed, wheat bran (WB). Based on these results, BSG can be mixed with wheat bran as a Z. atratus food ingredient without any problems. The nutritional value was compared between 100% wheat bran control and 50% BSG experimental groups. The moisture, crude protein, carbohydrates, and amino acids were 1.1-1.4 times higher in the 50% BSG group. In the BSG group, the linoleic acid content was 1.6 times higher than that in the control group. In the wheat bran group, the oleic acid content was 38.4%, which was 1.3 times higher than that in the BSG group. As minerals, the control and BSG groups showed high potassium and phosphorus contents. In terms of hazardous materials, four heavy metals (lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium) and two microorganisms (Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp.) were not detected. There were no significant differences in developmental characteristics between the wheat bran and BSG mixed groups, and the nutritional values were better in the BSG mixed group. Therefore, BSG can be used as alternative food source for rearing Z. atratus.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.20-35
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• 2021

Objectives: Waste treatment by incineration is gradually increasing as the emission of harmful substances has decreased owing to developments in incineration technology. However, residents living near incinerators continue to express anxiety regarding the effects on their health. Therefore, we attempted to summarize the health impact of incinerators by comprehensively reviewing the recently reported literature. Methods: Sixty-two epidemiological research papers related to incineration and health effects were selected from the Google Scholar database and analyzed (from between January 2001 and December 2019). Results: When compared to older incinerators, newer incinerators established after 2000 are considered relatively safe in terms of health effects. Nevertheless, there have been some studies that have linked them to various diseases, such as malignant tumors including soft tissue cancer and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, reproductive disorders, respiratory diseases, and more. In addition, incinerator workers and local residents are considered to be exposed to dioxins and some heavy metals from the incinerator. Since most studies included subjects exposed to older incinerators, it is difficult to apply these results to the health impact assessment of new incinerators. However, it is not appropriate to conclude that new incinerators made with state-of-the-art technology are safe, as chronic environmental diseases caused by hazardous substances tend to appear only after prolonged exposure. Conclusions: In terms of environmental health, it is necessary to continuously monitor the health effects of incinerators. Also, there is a need to develop a research methodology that can minimize various confounders in incineration-related epidemiological study.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.501-509
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• 2021

In 2018, total 263 micro and emerging contaminants were selected as target substances by the Ministry of Environment, and 80 of them were first-class substance including endocrine disruptors, residual Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs), residual organic pollutants, pesticides and heavy metals. In this study, in order to evaluate the Hazard Quotient (HQ) of the 80 types in the domestic water environment the concentration of discharged effluent and nearby water environment reported by Korean institutes since 2010 was investigated. There were 45 substances reported to be detected, and Measurement Environment Concentration (MEC) were obtained by collectively converting them into water environment concentration. For biotoxicity, half maximal Effective Dose (EC50) to Daphnia magna, a water fleas species widely adopted in Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) was applied. As for the biotoxicity level, the Predicted No-Effect Concentration (PNEC) was obtained by applying the Assessment Factor (AF) and the HQ was derived by dividing it from the MEC. As a result of calculating the HQ, more than 1 substances were Cabamazepine, Mefenamic acid, Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Nonylphenol, Nickel, Erythromycin, Acetylslic acid, etc. Meanwhile, perfluorinated compounds were identified as hazardous substances in the water env ironment, with 5 out of 14 species included in the 20 ranks of first-class substance.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.39-50
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• 2024

Slags from steel-making industry have been recycled at a target rate of 95% and most of them are recycled as media-contact type such as fill and cover materials in Korea. However, as they contain free phase CaO during their generation, they may not only expand and collapse upon contact with water, but high pH leachate and heavy metals leaching may occur. In this study, the Korean leaching procedure (KLP) and up-flow percolation test were performed for the samples collected from 17 steel-making production plants in Korea. The waste quality criteria were met in all tests, but pH of the samples was above 10. There are no regulations on the pH of leachate in most of the countries, however, Germany, Italy, and Australia have set a pH range of 10 to 13 for the leachates. Although slag leachate cannot be considered hazardous based only on its high pH, it is necessary to reduce the pH of leachate to minimize the impact on the surrounding environment. Furthermore, conflicting regulations on wastes handling and management in Korea created confusion on the types of wastes subject to recycling. Therefore, an appropriate management plan for steel-making slags needs to be established. To this end, this study attempted to provide a guideline for managing steel-making slag waste by considering international guidelines and current management practices in Korea.