• Toxicological Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations in the particulate matter inside the subway stations of Seoul. In particular, we examined the correlation between the heavy metals and studied the effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation. In six selected subway stations in Seoul, particulate matter was captured at the platforms and 11 types of heavy metals were analyzed. The results showed that the mean concentration of iron was the highest out of the heavy metals in particulate matter, followed by copper, potassium, calcium, zinc, nickel, sodium, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium in that order. The correlation analysis showed that the correlations between the heavy metals was highest in the following order: (Cu vs Zn), (Ca vs Na), (Ca vs Mn), (Ni vs Cr), (Na vs Mn), (Cr vs Cd), (Zn vs Cd), (Cu vs Cd), (Ni vs Cd), (Cu vs Ni), (K vs Zn), (Cu vs K), (Cu vs Cr), (K vs Cd), (Zn vs Cr), (K vs Ni), (Zn vs Ni), (K vs Cr), and (Fe vs Cu). The correlation coefficient between zinc and copper was 0.937, indicating the highest correlation. Copper, zinc, nickel, chromium and cadmium, which are generated from artificial sources in general, showed correlations with many of the other metals and the correlation coefficients were also relatively high. The effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation was also investigated in this study. Cultured cell was exposed to 10 mg/l or 100 mg/l of iron, copper, calcium, zinc, nickel, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium for 24 hours. The cell proliferation in all the heavy metal-treated groups was not inhibited at 10 mg/l of the heavy metal concentration. The only exception to this was with the cadmium-treated group which showed a strong cell proliferation inhibition. This study provides the fundamental data for the understanding of simultaneous heavy metal exposure tendency at the time of particulate matter exposure in subway stations and the identification of heavy metal sources. Moreover, this study can be used as the fundamental data for the cell toxicity study of the subway-oriented heavy metal-containing particulate matter.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.330-334
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• 2021

BACKGROUND: More recently, it has been shown that atmospheric ammonia (NH₃) plays a primary role in the formation of secondary particulate matter by reacting with the acidic species, e.g. SO₂, NOx, to form PM2.5 aerosols in the atmosphere. The Jeonbuk region is an area with high concentration of particulate matter. Due to environmental changes in the Saemangeum reclaimed land with an area of 219 km², it is necessary to evaluate the impact of the particulate matter and atmospheric ammonia in the Jeonbuk region. METHODS AND RESULTS: Atmospheric ammonia concentrations were measured from June 2020 to May 2021 using a passive sampler and CRDS analyzer. Seasonal and annual atmospheric ammonia concentration measured using passive sampler was significantly lower in Jangjado (background concentration), and the concentration ranged from 11.4 ㎍/m³ to 18.2 ㎍/m³. Atmospheric ammonia concentrations in Buan, Gimje, Gunsan, and Wanju regions did not show a significant difference, although there was a slight seasonal difference. The maximum atmospheric ammonia concentration measured using the CRDS analyzer installed in the IAMS near the Saemangeum reclaimed land was 51.5 ㎍/m³ in autumn, 48.0 ㎍/m³ in summer, 37.6 ㎍/m³ in winter, and 32.7 ㎍/m³ in spring. The minimum concentration was 4.9 ㎍/m³ in spring, 4.2 ㎍/m³ in summer, and 3.5 ㎍/m³ in autumn and winter. The annual average concentration was 14.6 ㎍/m³. CONCLUSION(S): Long term monitoring of atmospheric ammonia in agricultural areas is required to evaluate the formation of fine particulate matter and its impact on the environment. In addition, continuous technology development is needed to reduce ammonia emitted from farmland.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2021

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the emissions characteristics of total particulate matter (TPM), fine dust (PM₁₀, PM_2.5), and gaseous pollutants (SOx, NOx) in iron and steel manufacturing facilities in order to investigate emissions factors suitable for domestic conditions. Methods: Total particulate matter (TPM), fine dust (PM₁₀, PM_2.5), and gas phase materials were investigated at the outlet of electric arc furnace facilities using a cyclone sampling machine and a gas analyzer. Results: The concentrations of TPM ranged from 1.64 to 3.14 mg/Sm³ and the average was 2.47 mg/Sm³. Particulate matter 10 (PM₁₀) averaged 1.49 mg/Sm³ with a range of 0.92 to 1.99 mg/Sm³, and the resulting ratio of PM₁₀ to TPM was around 60 percent. PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ranged from 33.7 to 47.9% and averaged 41.6%. Sulfur oxides (SOx) were not detected, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) averaged 6.8 ppm in the range of 5.50 to 8.67 ppm. TPM emission coefficients per product output were in the range of 0.60 to 1.26 g/kg, 0.13 to 0.79 g/kg for PM₁₀ and 0.12 to 0.36 g/kg for PM_2.5, and showed many differences from the emissions coefficients previously announced. An emissions coefficient for NOx is not currently included in the domestic notices, but the results were calculated to be 0.42 g/kg per product output. Conclusions: Investigation and research on emissions coefficients that can reflect the characteristics of various facilities in Korea should be conducted continuously, and the determination and application of unique emissions coefficients that are more suitable for domestic conditions are needed.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_3
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• pp.873-885
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• 2022

The particulate matter (PM) has emerged as a hot topic around the world as it has been reported that PM is related to an increase in mortality and prevalence rates. In South Korea, the importance of PM has been recognized since the late 1990s, and various studies on PM have been conducted. This study investigated the PM research topics and trends for papers (D=2,764) published in Research Information Sharing Service (RISS) using topic modeling based on Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). As a result, a total of 10 topics were identified in the whole papers, and the PM research topics were classified as 'PM reduction (Topic 1)', 'Government policy and management (Topic 2)', 'Characteristics of PM (Topic 3)', 'PM model (Topic 4)', 'Environmental education (Topic 5)', 'Bio (Topic 6)', 'Traffic (Topic 7)', 'Asian dust (Topic 8)', 'Indoor PM (Topic 9)', 'Human risk (Topic 10)'. In particular, the proportion of papers on topics 'Government policy and management (Topic 2)', 'PM model (Topic 4)', 'Environmental education (Topic 5)', and 'Bio (Topic 6)' to the toal number of papers increased over time (linear slope > 0). The results of this study provide the new literature review methodology related to particulate matter and the history and insight.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.279-287
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• 2023

Fine dust emitted from coal combustion is classified into filterable particulate matter (FPM) and condensable particulate matter (CPM). CPM is difficult to control with existing air pollution control devices, so research is being conducted to understand the characteristics of CPM. Components constituting condensable particulate matter (CPM) are divided into inorganic and organic components. There are many quantitative analysis results for the ionic components, which account for a significant proportion of the CPM inorganic components, but little is known about the organic components. Thus, there is a need for a quantitative analysis of CPM organic components. In this study, aromatic hydrocarbons (toluene, ethyl benzene, m,p-xylene, and o-xylene) and n-alkanes with 10 to 30 carbon atoms were quantitatively analyzed to understand the organic components of CPM emitted from a lab-scale coal combustor. Of the aromatic hydrocarbons, toluene accounted for 1.03% of the CPM organic components. On the other hand, the contents of ethyl benzene, m,p-xylene, and o-xylene showed low values of 0.11%, 0.18%, and 0.51% on average, respectively. Among the n-alkanes, triacontane (C₃₀) showed a high content of 2.64% and decane (C₁₀) showed a content of 2.05%. The next highest contents were shown with dodecane (C₁₂), tetradecane (C₁₄), and heptacosane (C₂₇), all of which were higher than that of toluene. The n-alkane substances that had detectable concentrations showed higher contents than ethyl benzene, m,p-xylene, and o-xylene except for tetracosane (C₂₄).

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 1994

Sungnam city, as a major satellite town, is located in the southeast of Seoul. Atmospheric conditions are so stable that air pollutants from various emissions are tend to resist change because Sungnam city is located in the Namhansansung valley. The industrial distribution of Sungnam city are composed of various manufactories such as foods, fibers, chemicals, machinery and electronics etc. The heavy metal concentrations and size distribution are the most important parameters influencing among the way in which respirable suspended particulate matter interact with the human respiratory system. Respirable suspended particulate matter was collected on glass fiber filters from April 1993 to February 1994 according to particle size using Anderson sampler during 10 days per month at Sungnam city. 6 heavy metals, Fe, Zn, Pb Mn, Cu and Cd, were analyzed by particle size with atomic absorption spectrophotometry . The results could be summarized as follows: 1. The annual arithmetic mean concentration of total suspended particulate was 116.3$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ m', seasonal variation was the highest in spring season(196.5$\mu $g/m$^{3}$) and the lowest in Summer Season(72.9$\mu $g/m$^{3}$). 2. The ratio of airborne particulate concentrations respirable to nonrepairable( Res/Non- Res) of annual arithmetic mean value was 5.8'1, seasonal variation was highest in the spring season(6.3 : 1) and lowest in the summer season(4.6 : 1). 3. During the spring season the shape of the size distribution was trimodal which showed peaks at 3 size groups, which were below of 0.43$\mu $m, 3.3∼4.7$\mu $m and above of 11.0$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ respectively. 4. Respirable suspended particulate matter concentrations of Zn, Pb Cu and Cd were the highest in below of 0.43$\mu $m as follows; 0.517$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.411 $\mu $g/m$^{3}$, 0.062$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.0310$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ , respectively, Fe and Mn were the highest in the particle size range of 4.7 ∼ 7.0$\mu $m as follows; 2.504$\mu $g/m$^{3}$ and 0.095$\mu $g/m$^{3}$, respectively. 5. The Pt Cd, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations of annual arithmetic mean value respirable to non- respirable( Res/Non- Res ) were 33.65, 19.27, 17.74, 10.54, 3.20 and 5.20, respectively.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.155-160
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• 1991

Particulate is the foreign insoluble material in injectable solution inadvertently present in a given product. Considerable efforts have been made to avoid or minimize particulate contamination by pharmaceutical manufacturers during the production of parenteral products. Particulate contamination of the parenteral products can occur mainly during the opening (cutting) the container immediately before clinical use. In this study, particulate contamination generated during the opening process of ampoules (conventional type, 1-point and color-break ampoules) was compared with that of a prefilled injectable container (prefilled syringe). The particles were examined under a microscope after filtration of the total fluids in the containers. Particles having wide range of size distribution were found from all the ampoules tested. The contamination from the I-point ampoule and colorbreak ampoule was much less than from the conventional ampoule. Glass particles generated by cutting the glass-made ampoules seemed a principal source of the particulate contamination. The glass-partiaulte contamination could be improved substantially by replacing the ampoule containers with the prefilled syringe. Prefilled syringe, which can be used without any cutting process. did not generate particulates during the use. Therefore, it was concluded that prefilled syringe is most preferable container for the small volume parenteral (SVP) fluids in terms of particulate contamination.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.9-18
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• 1986

For identification and apportionment of sources emitting particulate matters in environment, the multi-elemental characterization of size-density fractionated particulate matters was carried out. Eight types of samples were tested; soil, flyash released from burning of bunker-Coil, diesel oil, coal, and soft coal, urban road-way dust, urban dust fall, and airborne particulate matter. The fractions of particulate matters obtained by heavy liquid separation methos with a series of dichloromethane-bromoform were then analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry for Ni, Cr, Cu, An, Fe, Al, and Mg. Each sample showed a different concentration profile as a function of density, and a number of useful conclusions concerning characterization of elemental distribution were obtained. From the density distributions of elements in soil, the maximum value was found for all elements in the density range of 2.2 $\sim 2.9g.cm^{-3}$, including the density of $SiO_2$. However, the distribution of metallic compounds with the density lower than $2.2g.cm^{-3}$ was prevalent in urban roadway dust, urban dust fall, and airborne particulate matter. And the density distribution curves of these urban dusts also have the higher distribution at the density of 2.2 - 2.9g.cm^{-3}$, including the density of wind-blown silica. This tendency generally was prevalent in the natural source elements, such as Al, Fe, Mn, and Mg. The maximum values were found in the density ranges of 1.3 $\sim 2.2g.cm^{-3}$ from the density distribution of elements in oil fired flyash. These distributions of anthropogenic source elements, such as Zn, Ni, Cu, and Cr were higher predominately than those of natural source elements. And the higher distribution was found in the density range of $2.2 \sim 2.9g.cm^{-3}$ from the density distribution of elements in coal and soft-coal fired flyash. These distributions showed similar patterns to soil. But anthropogenic source elements somewhat predominated at the density ranges of $1.3 \sim 2.2g.cm{-3} and 2.9g.cm^{-3}$ to soil. Therefore the higher distribution of anthropogenic source elements in the density ranges of $1.3 \sim 2.2g.cm^{-3} and 2.9g.cm^{-3}$ was considered as anthropogenic origin.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.143-149
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• 2018

Air quality conditions and pollution status have been evaluated in the industrial area between Sharjah and Ajman border in UAE. Daily concentrations of $O_3$, CO, $NO_2$, $SO_2$, $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$, Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) and Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) have been monitored from Sept. 2015 to April 2016. The monthly average concentrations of $O_3$, CO, $NO_2$, $SO_2$, TVOC were within the UAE ambient air quality standards during the survey period. However, $PM_{10}$ and TSP levels exceeded the recommended limits in Sept. 2015, Oct. 2015 and March 2016. Temporal variations in air quality parameters showed highest levels in March 2016 for $PM_{2.5}$, $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, TVOC and TSP, whereas $O_3$, $SO_2$ and CO showed relatively low values in this month. $PM_{2.5}$ levels in ambient air were above the EPA guideline of $35{\mu}g/m^3$ in all months. $PM_{2.5}$ was the critical ambient air pollutant with Index for Pollutant ($I_p$) values varying from 103-209, indicating Air Quality Index categories of unhealthy for sensitive groups (62.5%) to unhealthy (25%) to very unhealthy (12.5%). The $I_p$ average values of $PM_{2.5}$ decreased from Sept. 2015 to reach lowest value in Dec. 2015 before increasing gradually, peaking in March 2016. These results suggest the potential health risks associated with $PM_{2.5}$ is low in winter, where the prevailing meteorological conditions of lower temperatures, higher humidity, higher wind speed reduced particulate matter. The results revealed the industrial area is impacted by anthropogenic and natural sources of particulate matter.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 1994

In order to investigate the regional level of air pollutants at Kangwha island situated on the western coast in Korea, the suspended particulate matter samples were collected by using the low volume air sampler on ten interval from March 1992 to February 1993 and the mass concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and the chemical composition of water-soluble major ionic components in SPM samples were measured. During the sampling period, the average concentration of SPM under diameter 10 $\mu$m was found to be 48 $\mu$g/m$^3$ (+ 12). The seasonal concentration of SPM was showed in order of spring>fall>winter>summer. It was considered that higher concentration on spring than other season was affected by the long-range transport of Yellow sand particulate from China continent and lower concentration on summer by the washout and rainout effect of large rainfall. The content of water-soluble component in SPM samples was founded to be about 31% (14.69 $\mu$g/m$^3$) and 65% was unknown or unanalyzed. The content of cationic component showed in order of NH$_4^+$ (44.6%)>Na$^+$ (21.2%)>K$^+$ (14.7%)>Ca$^{2+}$ (13.6%)>Mg$^{2+}$ (5.9 %) and the content of anionic component SO$_4^{2-}$ (62.5%)>NO$_3^-$ (22.3%)>Cl$^-$ (15.2%), respectively. This fact indicates that ammonium and sulfate ion of water-soluble component in SPM sample were dominant in this region. From the chemical composition of water-soluble component, the most of Na$^+$, Mg$^{2+}$ and Cl$^-$ were originated from seawater source but K$^+$, Ca$^{2+}$ and SO$_4^{2-}$ were originated from other non-marine source. The contribution of seasalt to the composition of precipitation was 23%.