• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.31-39
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• 1990

An analytical method for particulate carbon and other elements by using elemental analyzer was investigated. Carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen was determined as CO$_{2}$, H$_{2}$, and N$_{2}$, respectively. Organic was determined after scparation from elemental carbon(Cae) by volatilization and thermal decomposition in a heated helium flow. With organic materials examined in this reprot, more than 90% of carbon was detected as above 600$^{\circ}$C. But it is considered that a few percents of some compounds were charred above 550$^{\circ}$C. A small amount of Cae was oxidized in the inert atmosphere above 850$^{\circ}$C, but the reason was not explained clearly. Based on the thermal chracteristics of Cao it was found that the optimum temperature of heating in the helium flow of an elemental analyzer for Cao analysis is 630$^{\circ}$C. Carbon in a sample after removing Cao was assumed as Cae and the gramatom ratio of hydrogen to carbon in the sample was 0.4 and less. Rescovery of nitrogen derived from some ammonium salts and nitrates was 100% by two-step measurement with elemental analyzer. By the analytical method investigated in this report, carbon and other elements in suspended particulates(S.P) collected at an urban area in Seoul were measured. There was a good correlation between total nitrogen in SP measured by elemental analyzer and nitrogen estimated form ammonium ions and nitrate ions in SP. The nitrogen from these ions accounts for 80% of the total nitrogen. It is further suggested that the residue(20%) of the total nitrogen is attributed to the other nitrogeneous compounds.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 2006

The precise estimation of total and organic carbon contents in sediments is fundamental to understand the benthic environment. To test the precision and accuracy of CHN analyzer and the procedure to quantify total and organic carbon contents(using in-situ acidification with sulfurous acid($H_2SO_3$)) in the sediment, the reference material s such as Acetanilide($C_8H_9NO$), Sulfanilammide($C_6H_8N_2O_2S$), and BCSS-1(standard estuary sediment) were used. The results indicate that CHN analyzer to quantify carbon and nitrogen content has high precision(percent error=3.29%) and accuracy(relative standard deviation=1.26%). Additionally, we conducted the instrumental comparison of carbon values analyzed using CHN analyzer and Coulometeric Carbon Analyzer. Total carbon contents measured from two different instruments were highly correlated($R^2=0.9993$, n=84, p<0.0001) with a linear relationship and show no significant differences(paired t-test, p=0.0003). The organic carbon contents from two instruments also showed the similar results with a significant linear relationship($R^2=0.8867$, n=84, p<0.0001) and no significant differences(paired t-test, p<0.0001). Although it is possible to overestimate organic carbon contents for some sediment types having high inorganic carbon contents(such as calcareous ooze) due to procedural and analytical errors, analysis of organic carbon contents in sediments using CHN Analyzer and current procedures seems to provide the best estimates. Therefore, we recommend that this method can be applied to measure the carbon content in normal any sediment samples and are considered to be one of the best procedure far routine analysis of total and organic carbon.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.461-476
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• 2014

Continuous Water-Soluble Organic Carbons (WSOC) by the Particle Into Liquid Sampler - Total Organic Carbon (PILS-TOC) analyzer were measured at the Seoul intensive monitoring site from June 17 through July 5 in 2014. In addition, the 24 hour integrated PM2.5 collected by Teflon and Quartz filters were analyzed for water soluble ions by Ion chromatography (IC), WSOC by TOC from water extracts, organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) by carbon analyzer using the thermal optical transmittance (TOT) method, and mass fragment ions (m/z) related to alkanes and PAHs (Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons) by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer-Thermal Desorption (GC/MS-TD). Based on the statistical analysis, four different Carbonaceous Thermal Distributions (CTDs) from OCEC thermal-gram were identified. This study discusses the primary and secondary sources of WSOC based on the Classified CTD, organic mass fragments, and diurnal patterns of WSOC. The results provide knowledge regarding the origins of WSOC and their behaviors.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.673-684
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• 2012

Quantitative understanding of total carbon, total inorganic carbon and total organic carbon contained in ocean sediments is a basic data for interpretation of oceanic sediment environments. Elemental analyzer(EA) is frequently used for the analysis of carbon contents in inland soils and ocean sediments. Carbon and nitrogen contents of the soil reference material analyzed by an EA were 2.30% and 0.21% with standard deviations of 0.02 and 0.01, respectively. Relative standard deviations were 0.01 and 0.06, respectively, representing a high precision. Regression analysis of TOC and TC analysis results for the samples with TOC of less than 2.0% for the site in Hyung-Do showed a linear relationship with a slope of 0.9743($R^2$=0.9989, n=38), and the results of a relationship regression analysis between total organic carbon contents less than 0.5% and average grain size except for two samples showed a linear relationship with a slope of 0.0444($R^2$=0.6937 n=36). TOC contents of surface sediments were in the ranges of 0.10~1.67%(Average $0.26{\pm}0.37%$) with TOC values of 1.67% at S02 sampling site, 1.13% at S07 sampling site, and less than 1.00% at remaining sites. In the case of PC 01 core sediments, TOC showed the highest value of 0.20% near 70 cm. In the case of PC 02 core sediments, the highest value of 0.24% was indicated near 60 cm. The analysis method of organic carbon obtained from Hyung-Do Intertidal zone sediment sample results may be considered applicable to an organic carbon analysis for ocean sediments and useful for organic carbon analysis experiments of ocean sediments with a reduction in time required for the analysis and a high precision coupled with a high accuracy.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

A thermal-optical transmittance carbon analyzer has been developed to determine particulate organic (OC) and elemental (EC) carbon. Several analysis factors affecting the sensitivity of OC and EC determination were investigated for the carbon analyzer. Although total carbon (TC) is usually consistent in the determination, OC and EC split is sensitive to adopted analysis protocol. In this study the maximum temperature in oxygen-free He in the analysis was examined as a main cause of the uncertainty. Prior to the sensitivity analysis consistency in OC-EC determination of the carbon analyzer and the uniformity of carbonaceous aerosol loading on a sampled filter were checked to be in acceptable range. EC/TC ratios were slightly decreased with increasing the maximum temperature between $550-800^{\circ}C$. For the increase of maximum temperature from $500^{\circ}C$ to $800^{\circ}C$, the EC/TC ratio was lowered by 4.65-5.61% for TC loading of 13-44 ${\mu}g/cm^2$ with more decrease at higher loading. OC and EC determination was not influenced by trace amount of oxygen in pure He (>99.999%), which is typically used in OC and EC analysis. The facing of sample loaded surface to incident laser beam showed negligible influence in the OC-EC split, but it caused elevated PC fraction in OC for forward facing relative to backward facing.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.380-383
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• 1998

For the evaluation of the quality of compost, the determination of C/N ratio is mandatory in Korea. Accordingly it is necessary to measure the total carbon content of compost for the quality control of composts. It is, however, not easy to measure the carbon content of compost. For practical purposes total carbon content of compost can be estimated from the total organic matter content, which is estimated by way of ignition loss. For this, it is necessary to establish the factor for conversion of organic matter into carbon. We studied the relationship between the organic matter content determined by ignition method and total carbon content measured by elemental analyzer using 160 compost sample collected from the markets. The relationship between the carbon content and organic matter in those composts was found to be "y(% carbon)=1.995+0.484%(% organic matter)"($r^2=0.943$). This result suggests that total carbon contents of composts can be estimated from the organic matter content.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Biology Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.26-26
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• 2004

This study was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of dissolved orgamc matters based on their origins. The dissolved organic carbon(DOC) represents an index for dissolved organic matter and basically regarded as a source of organic pollution. The monthly variations and vertical profiles of dissolved organic carbon(DOC) in Kumoh reservoir were surveyed from May 2001 to April 2002. In addition, other areas such as river, reservoir, sewage and industrial wastewater were also surveyed in summer 2001. Kumoh reservoir was divided with depth into three layers .: epilimnion, metalimnion and hypolimnion. The proportion of total DOC(T-DOC) was classified by labile DOC(L-DOC) and refractory DOC(R-DOC) on the basis of long-term incubation. DOC of freshwater and Kumoh reservoir was ranged to be 1.6~4.1 mgC/L and 2.1~4.0 mgC/L, respectively. L-DOC accounted for 3~30% of DOC from watershed. Therefore, refractory dissolved organic carbon(R-DOC) was major component of DOC in the watershed. The decomposition rate(k) ranged from 0.008 $d^{-1}$ to 0.083 $d^{-1}$ in Kumoh reservoir. The highest decomposition rate(k) was observed at River Hoein III freshwater. Therefore, modified total organic carbon analyzer is needed to be applied for effective management of dissolved organic matter.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.497-507
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• 2015

Real-time and quantitative measurement of the chemical composition in ambient aerosols represents one of the most challenging problems in the field of atmospheric chemistry. In the present study, time resolved application by Aerosol-into-Mist System (AIMS) following by total organic carbon analyzer (TOC) has been developed. The unique aspect of the combination of these two techniques is to provide quantifiable water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) information of particle-phase organic compounds on timescales of minutes. We also demonstrated that the application of the AIMS method is not limited to water-soluble organic carbon but inorganic ion compounds. By correlating the volume concentrations by optical particle sizer (OPS), water soluble organic carbon can be highly related to the secondary organic products. AIMS-TOC method can be potentially applied to probe the formation and evolution mechanism of a variety of SOA behaviors in ambient air.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2023

Water quality is crucial for human health and the environment. Accurate measurement of the quantity of organic carbon in water is essential for water quality evaluation, identification of water pollution sources, and appropriate implementation of water treatment measures. Total organic carbon (TOC) analysis is an important tool for this purpose. Although other methods, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) are also used to measure organic carbon in water, they have limitations that make TOC analysis a more favorable option in certain situations. For example, COD requires the use of toxic chemicals, and BOD is time-consuming and can produce inconsistent and unreliable results. In contrast, TOC analysis is rapid and reliable, providing accurate measurements of organic carbon content in water. However, common methods for TOC analysis can be complex and energy-intensive because of the use of high-temperature heaters for liquid-to-gas phase transitions and the use of acid, which present safety risks. This study focuses on a TOC analysis method using TiO₂ photocatalysis, which has several advantages over conventional TOC analysis methods, including its low cost and easy maintenance. For TiO₂, rutile and anatase powders are mixed with an inorganic binder and spray-coated onto a glass fiber substrate. The TiO₂ powder and inorganic binder solutions are adjusted to optimize the photocatalytic reaction performance. The TiO₂ photocatalysis method is a simple and low-power approach to TOC analysis, making it a promising alternative to commonly used TOC analysis methods. This study aims to contribute to the development of more efficient and cost-effective approaches for water quality analysis and management by exploring the effectiveness and reliability of the developed equipment.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.482-492
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• 2015

Ground-based measurements were conducted from January 6 to 12 of 2015 for understanding characteristics of nitrogen containing carbonaceous aerosols as 16 amino acids at the Mokpo National University, Korea. The detailed amino acid components such as Cystine ($(SCH_2CH(NH_2)CO_2H)_2$) and Methionine ($C_5H_{11}NO_2S$) and their sources were analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection (HPLC-FLD) for behavior of secondary products in particulate matter. In addition, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) based on the carbonaceous thermal distribution (CTD), which provides detailed carbon signature characteristics relative to analytical temperature, and water soluble organic carbon (WSOC) by total organic carbon (TOC) analyzer were used to understand the carbon compound behaviors. The backward trajectories were discussed for originations of carbonaceous aerosols as well. Different airmasses were classified with the amino acids and OC thermal signatures. The results can provide to understand the aging process influenced by the long-range transport from East Sea area.