• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.243-251
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• 2019

Microplastics (MP) are found in large quantities in the oceans, posing a major threat to the ecosystem. In Korea, MPs have been reported to be detected in sea salts. In order to analyze MPs, information on their composition, size, and shape is required. FT-IR microscopy is used frequently to measure sizes larger than 20 ㎛. Recently, however, Raman microscopy, which can analyze ultrafine plastics below 20 ㎛, has been applied extensively. In this study, 10.0 g samples of commercially available salts were dissolved and filtered through a 45 ㎛ mesh filter with a size of 25.4 mm × 25.4 mm. These filtered samples were then analyzed by both FT-IR microscopy and Raman microscopy. A total of four MPs, including three polyethylene (PE) of size 70-100 ㎛ and a polypropylene (PP) of size 170 ㎛, were detected by FT-IR microscopy, while 10 MPs, including nine PE of size 10-120 ㎛ and one polystyrene (PS) of size 40 ㎛, were detected by Raman microscopy. Approximately, 1,000 MPs/kg was estimated, which was almost two times higher than the previous reported levels (~550-681 particles/kg in sea salts); this is because Raman microscopy can detect much smaller MPs than FT-IR microscopy. A total of 113 particles were found using Raman microscopy: Carbon (35, 31.5 %), minerals (28, 25 %), and glass (16, 14.4 %) were dominant, forming around 70% of the total, but MPs (10, 8.8 %) and cellulose (5, 4.5 %) were also found. Raman microscopy has great potential as an accurate method for measuring MPs, as it can measure smaller size MPs than FT-IR microscopy. It also has a reduced sample preparation time.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2021

Due to the negative impacts of microplastics (MPs) on the ecosystem, the investigation of its occurrence and its treatment from sewage and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have received a lot of attention in the recent years. Most MPs are precipitated and removed with the sludge during the treatment process. Proper sludge management is immensely necessary to avoid MP exposure in the environment. However, the domestic research on this aspect is limited. This study reviews appropriate sludge management approaches to decrease environmental MP exposure. This can be achieved through investigating sludge generation and treatment, regulation laws and government policy trends with an emphasis on WWTPs. The ratio of sludge in sewage treatment plants has been observed to be highest in recycling followed by incineration and landfills. Recycling is the highest in fuel followed by construction materials and composting. For WWTPs, the highest ratio is in recycling followed by fuel and landfills, and recycling is confirmed in the following order: incineration > after composting > after solidification > earthworm breeding. Treatment approaches that can increase the exposure of MPs to the ecosystem are considered to be used in landfills and agricultural fields. However, this method is not appropriate given the insufficient capacity of domestic landfills and the sufficient supply of existing chemical and animal manure fertilizers. Instead, it would be rational in terms of environmental preservation to expand the use of fuel and energy in connection with the new and renewable energy policy, and to actively seek the use of sub-materials for construction materials. In order to secure the basic data for the effectiveness of future planning and revision of related laws, it is required to perform an in-depth investigation of the sludge supply and demand status along with the environmental and economic effects.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.104-114
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• 2023

As plastic usage increases globally, the amount of plastic waste entering the marine environment is steadily rising. Microplastics, in particular, can be ingested by marine organisms and accumulated in their digestive tracts, causing harmful effects on their growth and reproduction. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes are known to metabolize various environmental pollutants as detoxification enzymes, but their role in crustaceans is not well understood. In this study, sequences of nine CYP genes (CYP370A4, CYP370C5 from clan 2; CYP350A1, CYP350C5, CYP361A1 from clan 3; CYP4AN-like, CYP4AP2, CYP4AP3, CYP4C33-like1 from clan 4) were analyzed using conserved domains in the brackish water flea Diaphanosoma celebensis. Additionally, after exposure to three different sizes of polystyrene beads (0.05-, 0.5-, 6-㎛ PS beads; 0.1, 1, and 10 mg/L) for 48 hours, the expression of these nine CYP genes were investigated using real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed that all CYP genes possessed conserved motifs, indicating that D. celebensis CYP has evolutionarily conserved functions. Among these CYP genes, the expression of CYP370C5, CYP360A1, and CYP4C122 showed a significant increase after exposure to 0.05-㎛ PS beads, suggesting their involvement in PS metabolism. This research will contribute to understanding the molecular mode of actions of microplastics on marine invertebrates.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2020

Most studies defined microplastic (MP) as plastic particles less than 5 mm. The ubiquity of MP is raising awareness due to its potential risk to humans and the environment. MP can cause harmful effects to humans and living organisms. This paper review aimed to provide a better understanding of the sources, pathways, and impacts of MP in the environment. MP can be classified as primary and secondary in nature. Moreover, microplastic can also be classified as based on its physical and chemical characteristics. Stormwater and wastewater are important pathways of introducing MP in large water bodies. As compared to stormwater, the concentrations of MP in wastewater were relatively lower since wastewater treatment processes can contribute to the removal of MP. In terms of polymer distribution, wastewater contains a wider array of polymer varieties than stormwater runoff. The most common types of polymer found in wastewater and stormwater runoff were polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The continuous discharge and the increasing number of MP in the environment can pose greater hazards and harmful effects on humans and other living organisms. Despite the growing number of publications in relation to MP, further studies are needed to define concrete regulations and management strategies for mitigating the detrimental effects of MP in the environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.731-736
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• 2021

Oil fences effectively prevent the spread of oil spilled in the sea, thereby reducing the damage to the marine environment. However, the fence is damaged by oil and structures at the accident site and is discarded. When incinerated disposal method for discarded fences, fine dust, and harmful materials are generated. Moreover, as a part of the damaged fence is dumped into the sea, it may cause secondary environmental pollution, such as microplastics. Therefore, in this study, durability was measured using the most common solid foam type oil fences. As a result, the reduction rate of after five days of contact was 13 % in seawater and 3 % in oil, affected by temperature changes. Thus, the durability of the fence should be improved because it is exposed to seawater and oil and affected by wind, light, and waves depending on the weather conditions. Therefore, we suggest a method to improve the oil fence inspection to strengthen the durability of the fence's fabric part.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.15-26
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• 2020

In recent years, there is an increasing interest in environmental friendly treatment of waste-plastics in terms of the generation of microplastics. Accordingly, the recycling of waste-plastics is very important because it provides advantages of volume reduction, mitigation of carbon dioxide emission, and reproduction of value-added products. In particular, in order to recycle the eco-friendly waste-plastics, it is necessary to use a physical separation methods, and among them, flotation separation, which can separate material (i.e., polymer component) in waste-plastics is well known as a very effective separation method in terms of material recycle. Therefore, in this review, the research trend of flotation separation for effective separation of mixture waste-plastics was investigated. In addition, through the reported research results, approaches to use as new functional materials from polymers, which are raw materials for waste-plastics, are summarized.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.680-691
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• 2023

Peak oil, climate change, and microplastics caused by the production and usage of petroleum-based plastics have threatened the sustainability of our daily life, and this has emerged as a recent global issue. To solve this global issue, the production and usage of biodegradable eco-friendly bioplastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) has been suggested as an alternative. Therefore, in this review, the present status of global PHA manufacturers, the advantages of the production of PHAs using marine-origin microorganisms (with their productivity potential) and further required research and development strategies for cost-competitive production of PHAs using marine-based microorganisms were investigated. In this review, PHAs produced from marine microorganisms were found to have similar physical properties to petroleum-based plastics but with several advantages that can reduce the costs of PHA production. Those advantages include, seawater used in the medium preparation step, and osmotic-based cell lysis technology used in the separation and purification steps. However, the PHA productivities from marine microorganisms showed somewhat lower efficiencies than those from the commercial strains isolated from terrestrial environments. In order to solve the problem, further research strategies using synthetic microbiology-based technology, the development of long-term continuous culture technology, and solutions to improve PHA efficiency are required to meet future market demands for alternative bioplastics.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-30
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• 2022

This study is to investigate consumers' acceptance and their willingness to pay for clothes made of materials with low microplastic emissions as an alternative to synthetic fibers made of plastics by applying the contingent valuation method. A nationwide web-based survey was conducted for 1,052 respondents proportional to region, age, and gender during February 2021. More than 75% of the sample expressed intentions to purchase microplastic emission-reducing clothing instead of synthetic fiber clothing, and more than 80% of them have stated their willingness to pay for additional prices. A variation of Heckman's sample selection model was adopted to estimate factors affecting respondents' intentions to pay for additional prices, in which the probit model of intentions to purchase the clothing with alternative materials was used as a sample selection equation. While respondents were sensitive to the amounts of price increases suggested in the CV scenario, they expressed high acceptance and preferences for eco-friendly materials regardless of the microplastic emission-reducing levels. Consumers in the circular economy were willing to pay for the range of 41,000 to 51,000 won for a pair of clothing made with microplastic emission-reducing materials. In addition, as the microplastic emission-reducing rate has increased from 50% to 80%, the willingness to pay estimates were also significantly increased, ranging from 41,000~50,500 to 42,000~51,700 won.