• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1460-1463
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• 2003

In this study, plastic detection technique was developed, applying remote sensing technology as a method to extract plastic wastes, which is one of the big causes of concern contributing to environmental destruction. It is possible to extract areas where plastic (including polypropylene and polyethylene) wastes are prominent, using ASTER data by taking advantage of its absorptive characteristics of ASTER/SWIR bands. The algorithm is applicable to define large industrial wastes disposal sites and areas where plastic greenhouses are concentrated. However, the detection technique with ASTER/SWIR data has some research tasks to be tackled, which includes a partial secretion of reference spectral, depending on some conditions of plastic wastes and a detection error in a region mixed with vegetations and waters. Following results were obtained after making comparisons between several detection methods and plastic wastes in different conditions; (a)'spectral extraction method' was suitable for areas where plastic wastes exist separated from other objects, such as coastal areas where plastic wastes drifted ashore. (single plastic spectral was used as a reference for the 'spectral extraction method') (b)On the other hand, the 'spectral extraction method' was not suitable for sites where plastic wastes are mixed with vegetation and soil. After making comparison of the processing results of a mixed area, it was found that applying both 'separation method' using un-mixing and ‘spectral extraction method’ with NDVI masked is the most appropriate method to extract plastic wastes. Also, we have investigated the possibility of reducing the influence of vegetation and water, using ASTER/TIR, and successfully extracted some places with plastics. As a conclusion, we have summarized the relationship between detection techniques and conditions of plastic wastes and propose the practical application of remote sensing technology to the extraction of plastic wastes.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.11 no.E
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• pp.13-21
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• 1995

This Pilot study identifies potential dioxin and furan sources and medical plastic wastes produced from hospital solid waste streams. In this study, air emissions of dioxins and furans from sources in the U.S., which were estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), were summarized. Potential loading routes of dioxins and furans to the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes region have also been identified in trcent surveys. In addition, medical and hospital solid wastes produced in typical large city hospitals were characterized as important potential sources of dioxins and furans. Plastic contents in medical Plastics Characterization Survey (MMPCS), plastics composition data were obtained from a survey of five Massachusetts Hospitals and Medical Centers. By identifying plastic wastes as a percentage of total hospital wastes, we were able to use data from a preliminary study that analyzed the waste stream of 16 major New York City hospitals (NYCMWS) characterizing the plastic content of the wasters. This study determined the types of plastic wastes included in each medical waste stream (regulated medical waste or non regulated medical waste) and it discussed the potential for recyclibility of hospital plastic wastes. The combination of the NYCMWS and the MMPCS surveys provides for the first overview of the size of the recycling task of hospital plastic wastes and the potential of dioxin elimination if dioxin generating plastics were to be eliminated from hospital use.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.759-771
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• 2004

This study analyzed concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced from incineration of plastic wastes at $600^{\circ}C$. The plastic wastes used in this study included polyethyleneterephthlate (PETE), high density polyethylene (HOPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low density polyethylene (LOPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and other. Plastic wastes were heated from room temperature upto $600^{\circ}C$ providing the compressed air inside of a small-scale electric furnace for 90 minutes and then they were oxidized (incinerated) for 60 minutes at $600^{\circ}C$ maintaining the same air supply. VOCs emitted from the incineration process were sampled using an air sampling pump and Tedlar air bags for 150 minutes and then the components and concentrations of the VOCs were analyzed by a GC-MS. The most prominent chemical structure of the VOCs obtained from the incineration process of the HOPE, LOPE and PP, which include ethylene groups in their main chains, was identified as aliphatic hydrocarbons such as 1-hexene. However, aromatics such as benzene were major chemical structure from the incineration of PETE, PVC and PS which include benzene rings in their main chains. This study estimated the total VOC production from the incineration of the plastic wastes based on the real plastic waste production and the emission factors. 64% and 27% of the total VOC emissions consisted of aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatics, respectively, which have double bonds within their molecular structure and thus a high ground level ozone formation potential.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.51-56
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• 2007

Plastics are widely used in everyday life as very useful material. In Korea, about 4 million tons of plastic wastes are generated annually. However, recycling ratio is below 30%, and most of plastic wastes are disposed by landfill and incineration. Hence, the development of material separation technique that can recycle plastic wastes is a necessary situation. In this study, Triboelectrostatic separation for recovery of PET from final plastic wastes obtained from the sink product after wet-type gravity separation has been carried out. In the charging properties, the charge polarity and charge density of PET and PVC were very effective with the tirbo-charger made of PP and HDPE with the decrease in relative humidity. In material separation using HDPE cyclone charger, a PET grade of 96.80% and a recovery of 85.0% were achieved at 30 kV and the splitter position -2cm from the center. In order to obtain PET grade of 98.5%, PET recovery should be sacrificed by 24% with moving the splitter from the center to -6cm position.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1872-1879
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• 2016

The techniques to recycle and reuse plastics attract public attention. These public attraction and needs result in improving the recycling technique. However, the identification technique for black plastic wastes still have big problem that the spectrum extracted from near infrared radiation spectroscopy is not clear and is contaminated by noise. To overcome this problem, we apply Raman spectroscopy to extract a clear spectrum of plastic material. In addition, to improve the classification ability of fuzzy Radial Basis Function Neural Networks, we apply supervised learning based clustering method instead of unsupervised clustering method. The conditional fuzzy C-Means clustering method, which is a kind of supervised learning based clustering algorithms, is used to determine the location of radial basis functions. The conditional fuzzy C-Means clustering analyzes the data distribution over input space under the supervision of auxiliary information. The auxiliary information is defined by using k Nearest Neighbor approach.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.106-115
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• 1996

This study was carried out to provide fundamental data for reuse of resources and prevention of environmental pollution Actual states of environmental pollution by biological production facilities were investigated. Various pollution loads and quantity of wastes from greenhouse and animal housings estimated. In greenhouse contents of investigation were wastes of plastic cover, noise of heater and fan, air pollutant of heater, and wastes of soilless culture system, etc. In animal housings, those were actual state of livestock waste treatment and reuse, pollutant mass unit discharge, noise pollution, and malodorant, etc. The main pollutants discharged from greenhouses were wastes of plastic cover, rockwool, and waste fluid of nutrient solution. Developments of waste disposal methods for plastic cover and rockwool are required. And recycle technique of nutrient solution for soilless culture should be developed and propagated. With the buildup of legal control, pollutant mass discharged from livestock wastes are, on the decrease. The other side, reuse of livestock excreta increased. Most animal housings are located near the dwelling house. Malodorant and noise from animal housings have bad effects on the rural living conditions. So developments of integrated complex for small scale livestock farms are required.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.420-428
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• 2022

Plastic wastes have a negative impact on marine environments; however, they can be used as carbon sources and habitats by certain microbes. Microbes in the marine plastisphere can migrate worldwide through the ocean and cause serious environmental problems when they encounter suitable environments. Therefore, efforts to investigate the microbes inhabiting the marine plastisphere are increasing. In the present study, fungal strains were isolated from plastic wastes buried in Korean sea sands and mudflats and identified using molecular and morphological analyses. Five species were identified that were previously unrecorded from South Korea: Cladosporium funiculosum, Neosetophoma poaceicola, Neosetophoma rosigena, Parasarocladium gamsii, and Trichoderma fomiticola. Their molecular phylogenies and morphological characteristics are described in this study.

• 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.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.75-80
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• 2012

Gasification is a therm-chemical conversion process to convert various solid fuels into gaseous fuels under limited supply of oxygen in high temperature environment. Considering current availability of biomass resources in this country, the gasification is more attractive than any other technologies in that the process can accept various combustible solid fuels including plastic wastes. Mixed fuels of biomass and polyethylene pellets were used in gasification experiments in this study in order to assess their potential for synthesis gas production. The results showed that higher reaction temperatures were observed in mixed fuel compared to woodchip experiments. In addition, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and methane concentrations were increased in the synthesis gas. Heating values of the synthesis gas were also higher than those from woodchip gasification. There are hundred thousand tons of agricultural plastic wastes generated in Korea every year. Co-gasification of biomass and agricultural plastic waste would provide affordable gaseous fuels in rural society.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.71-77
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• 2014

It is believed to have the international competitiveness of the domestic petrochemical in conjunction with the production of high value-added new product and variety of application by supercritical fluid process and the reaction of infusible/insoluble plastic wastes recycling. In this article, the patents and papers for the recycling of organic residues from the plastic wastes using supercritical fluids were collected and analyzed. The open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), and Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1993 to 2012 were investigated. The patents and journals were collected using key-words and filtered by the definition of the technology. The patents and journals were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies and the technical trends were discussed in this paper.