• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.13-20
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• 2009

There have been increasing interests in the odor generation problems as concerns about the quality of life has been increased recently. Especially, approximately 67% of the odor complaints from environmental facilities are those from sewage treatment facilities and food waste treatment facilities. Moreover, sewage ocean dumping will be prohibited from 2012 by the international and domestic ocean laws, and thus, demand for alternative management plans is increasing. Therefore, it was first selected 5 sewage treatment facilities and 5 food waste treatment facilities where the amounts of waste are relatively immense in Busan, and collect their sludge samples. Then it was investigated the samples' physical and chemical characteristics through proximate analysis, elemental analysis, XRF analysis, and calorific value analysis. Finally, estimate the $H_2S$ emission rates were estimated in order to apply the results as the basic data for providing the fundamental solution for the oder complaints. As a result, the concentration of $H_2S$ in sewage sludge and in food waste treatment facility were 57.3 mg/kg and 19.7 mg/kg in average, respectively. Finally, the units of $H_2S$ in wastes stored in total 10 waste treatment facilities was estimated 16,017,910.0 mg/d.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.80 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 1991

Major statutory nature protection areas include Nature Parks, Nature Reserves. Nature Ecological System Protected Areas. Biosphere Reserves, Nature Protected Forests, Wildlife Sanctuaries, and Protection Forests with total area of 1,124,000 ha. These protected areas cover almost 18% of the forested area. The number of visitors of NPs reached over 33 million per year with sharp increasing rate over the years. To protect the deteriorated hiking trails and camp grounds caused by overuse, two management policies have been implemented : cooking prohibition and natural rest rotation system. While prohibition of cooking is based on the fact that most of the solid wastes in nature parks are leftovers of cooking, natural rest rotation system is mainly for rehabilitation of deteriorated areas by natural processes. The system has closed 47 trails(in 27 mountains) throughout the country since January 1991, which is scheduled to continue 3 years. Due to the lack of accumulated scientific knowledge on how, when and where to close, application of the system leaves much to be desired. This paper discusses the current efforts to protect the natural resources for recreational use and suggests future directions for an effective policy implementation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1034-1038
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• 2008

Degradative Solidification/Stabilization(DS/S) is a modification of conventional Solidification/Stabilization(S/S) that incorporates degradative processes for organic contaminant destruction with the low cost of conventional S/S. Inorganic contaminants are immobilized and chlorinated organic contaminants are destroyed by DS/S treatment. In this study, a DS/S using cement/slag/Fe(II) systems as binder was investigated to assess its effectiveness in degrading chloroform(CF) and methylene chloride(MC) contained in hazardous liquid wastes. The initial concentration of CF was 0.26 mM, 1.0 mM, 8.4 mM, 25 mM and 42 mM and Fe(II) was 200 mM. The result showed that degradation of CF in various concentration was in one kind reaction as pseudo-first-order and 95% of 0.26 mM initial concentration of CF was removed in five days. 50 mg/L of heavy metal was added in order to accelerate the rate of degradation of MC and initial concentration of MC was 3.50 mM however, degradation did not occur in system. Thus additional studies needed for degradation of MC and more studies on other reaction pathways products will help elucidate reaction mechanisms and pathways for chlorinated methanes in cement/slag/Fe(II) systems.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2021

In this study, an eco-friendly combustion process of waste 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT: 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) was developed, and fundamental data for the quantity of the organic matter in the final combustion residues is presented. Because complete combustion of TNT is not possible theoretically, the combustion process was optimized to reduce organic matter content in the combustion residue by performing measures such as heating time changes, addition of propellant material, and after treatment using a high-temp electrical furnace. From the results, it was confirmed that the organic matter content in the residue could be decreased to 7 ~ 10% with each method. The quantity of the organic matter could be minimized by optimizing the combustion conditions of the process. With only a combustion time increase, the amount of organic matter in the combustion residues was measured at about 9 wt%. The environmental friendliness of the final exhaust gas was also confirmed by real time gas component analyses. In addition, the organic contents could be reduced by a further 2 wt% by applying an additional heat treatment using an external electric furnace after the first incineration treatment. In the combustion process of propellant added waste TNT, it was found that various TNT wastes could be treated using the same eco-friendly protocols because the organic content in the residue decreased in accordance with the amount of propellant. The amount of the organic matter content produced by all these methods fulfilled the requirements under the Waste Management Act.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.87-97
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• 2021

This study was conducted to prepare an incentive system (proposal) for the activation of waste-to-energy. Weights for each type of energy use were prepared by conducting prior research and economic analysis. In addition, the waste-to-energy incentive (proposal) was calculated in consideration of energy efficiency for each type of energy use. As a result of economic analysis of 11 biogasification facilities, the B/C value was found to be very diverse, ranging from 0.16 to 1.69. In terms of benefits, imports of waste treatment import fees were very high at 68.4 to 99.3% of the total, and four facilities with a surplus (+) or higher in the management balance. In order to convert energy consumption into units of sales volume, 0.58 Nm³/KW for power generation, 0.17 Nm³/kg for steam, and 1.00 Nm³/Nm³ for external supply were calculated using the 'scale factor'. The 'weight factor' was calculated as 0.249 for power generation, 0.656 for steam, and 0.806 for external supply, respectively, by use type.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2019

In order to respond to the global environmental issues, developed countries have been helped the developing countries as the Official Development Assistance (ODA). It is important to understand technology needs of the developing countries to provide the optimum solutions. In this study, the information of the environmental R&D dealing with appropriate technology were comprehensively collected based on the conducted R&D projects from the ministry of environment in Korea. The technology needs by UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) and Korean government were analyzed named as TNA and CPS according to the target developing countries. In South-East Asia and Africa region, there were technology needs on water, biota, air, solid wastes, infrastructures and resources. And they were related to the issues such as environmental pollution, construction, climate change, biodiversity, energy and water management. The technology needs by UNFCCC and Korean government were also compared. Furthermore, the environmental R&D on appropriate technology should be focused on localization and maintenance to provide sustainable solutions to the developing countries.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.394-407
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• 2023

Ecological restoration is an ecological technology that diagnoses problematic ecological spaces and restores the damaged ecosystem to a healthy appearance similar to its original appearance based on reference information obtained by analyzing intact nature. To achieve successful restoration, the project must be carried out in respect of a series of procedures. However, in Korea, restoration projects are usually actively promoted regardless of diagnostic evaluation, which wastes cost and energy, and the effect is not significant. As the reference information is not utilized, ecological restoration to return the damaged nature makes features different greatly from the appearance of nature, causing another damage. As the restoration effect is not evaluated, it is impossible to determine whether it is successful or not, and as a result, even if the project continues, there is no development and no effect. However, advanced societies have not only made academic progress by respecting these procedures but also have great economic effects along with the improvement of environmental conditions as ecological restoration has become an industry. Therefore, the international society recognizes ecological restoration as an important means of solving environmental problems at the global level, including climate change, and international organizations are actively promoting projects to treat the injured planet. However, most of the restoration projects promoted in Korea were evaluated below the level as a result of the evaluation of the effect. Nevertheless, those who have led low-quality projects are blocking plans to establish ecological restoration as a new industry that can contribute significantly to improving these levels, and thus the problem is expected to worsen. To solve this problem, it is necessary to filter out defective businesses by introducing a strict and correct project evaluation system by dividing it into before and after. Furthermore, it is necessary to establish ecological restoration as an industry and leave the process in the principles of the market.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.343-356
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• 2016

The Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD) has developed a dual-purpose metal cask for the dry storage of spent nuclear fuel that has been generated by domestic light-water reactors. The metal cask was designed in compliance with international and domestic technology standards, and safety was the most important consideration in developing the design. It was designed to maintain its integrity for 50 years in terms of major safety factors. The metal cask ensures the minimization of waste generated by maintenance activities during the storage period as well as the safe management of the waste. An activation evaluation of the main body, which includes internal and external components of metal casks whose design lifetime has expired, provides quantitative data on their radioactive inventory. The radioactive inventory of the main body and the components of the metal cask were calculated by applying the MCNP5 ORIGEN-2 evaluation system and by considering each component's chemical composition, neutron flux distribution, and reaction rate, as well as the duration of neutron irradiation during the storage period. The evaluation results revealed that 10 years after the end of the cask's design life, $^{60}Co$ had greater radioactivity than other nuclides among the metal materials. In the case of the neutron shield, nuclides that emit high-energy gamma rays such as $^{28}Al$ and $^{24}Na$ had greater radioactivity immediately after the design lifetime. However, their radioactivity level became negligible after six months due to their short half-life. The surface exposure dose rates of the canister and the main body of the metal cask from which the spent nuclear fuel had been removed with expiration of the design lifetime were determined to be at very low levels, and the radiation exposure doses to which radiation workers were subjected during the decommissioning process appeared to be at insignificant levels. The evaluations of this study strongly suggest that the nuclide inventory of a spent nuclear fuel metal cask can be utilized as basic data when decommissioning of a metal cask is planned, for example, for the development of a decommissioning plan, the determination of a decommissioning method, the estimation of radiation exposure to workers engaged in decommissioning operations, the management/reuse of radioactive wastes, etc.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.548-556
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• 2021

This study was conducted to investigate the applicability of lignocellulosic fiber and coconut shell activated carbon (CSA) for the production of a particulate matter (PM)-reducing air-filter as raw materials to solve the environmental problems of non-woven fabrics. CSA had a good potential to use as a raw material of air-filter for reducing volatile organic compounds as well as noxious metals, and reduction capability of the CSA was 5 times higher than that of wood fiber. Natural adhesives formulated with proteinaceous wastes mostly were applied successfully to fabricate air-filters with the shape of fiberboard. The air-filter fabricated with the minimum target density of 200 kg/m³ and the maximum CSA-content of 40 wt% in fiberboard had a good manageable strength. However, the fiberboard filters was required to make vent-holes for improving an air-permeability of the filters. Size of the CSA particles was adjusted to greater than 2 mesh with the consideration of strength and formability of the fiberboard. Three-layers fiberboard that only wood fiber and the mixture of wood fiber and CSA were formed in the surface and middle layers, respectively, was determined to the optimal condition for the production of air-filters. In addition, traditional Korean paper handmade from mulberry trees (TKP) showed a good PM-reducing property as an air-filter. It is concluded that air-filtering set composed of fiberboard with vent-holes and TKP instead of conventional air-filters made with non-woven fabrics can be used as a filter for reducing the concentrations of PM, VOC and noxious metals existed in indoor and outdoor spaces.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.139-153
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• 2023

This study aimed to understand the spatiotemporal variations in nitrogen content in the Gyeongan stream along the main stream and at the discharge points of the sub-basins, and to identify the origin of the nitrogen. Field surveys and laboratory analyses, including chemical compositions and isotope ratios of nitrate and boron, were performed from November 2021 to November 2022. Based on the flow duration curve (FDC) derived for the Gyeongan stream, the dry season (mid-December 2021 to mid-June 2022) and wet season (mid-June to early November 2022) were established. In the dry season, most samples had the highest total nitrogen(T-N) concentrations, specifically in January and February, and the concentrations continued to decrease until May and June. However, after the flood season from July to September, the uppermost subbasin points (Group 1: MS-0, OS-0, GS-0) where T-N concentrations continually decreased were separated from the main stream and lower sub-basin points (Group 2: MS-1~8, OS-1, GS-1) where concentrations increased. Along the main stream, the T-N concentration showed an increasing trend from the upper to the lower reaches. However, it was affected by those of the Osan-cheon and Gonjiamcheon, the tributaries that flow into the main stream, resulting in respective increases or decreases in T-N concentration in the main stream. The nitrate and boron isotope ratios indicated that the nitrogen in all samples originated from manure. Mechanisms for nitrogen inflow from manure-related sources to the stream were suggested, including (1) manure from livestock wastes and rainfall runoff, (2) inflow through the discharge of wastewater treatment plants, and (3) inflow through the groundwater discharge (baseflow) of accumulated nitrogen during agricultural activities. Ultimately, water quality management of the Gyeongan stream basin requires pollution source management at the sub-basin level, including its tributaries, from a regional context. To manage the pollution load effectively, it is necessary to separate the hydrological components of the stream discharge and establish a monitoring system to track the flow and water quality of each component.