Concentrations of perfluoroalkyl compounds in maternal and umbilical cord sera and birth outcomes in Korea

This study analyzed the concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) in maternal and umbilical cord sera at delivery from the general population in Korea. Seventy samples were analyzed with ion-pairing and LC/MS/MS. PFOS, PFOA and PFHxS were detected in both maternal and umbilical cord sera. There was a high correlation of PFC concentrations between maternal and cord serum samples, implying transplacental transport. Ranking of transplacental transfer efficiency was PFOA > PFHxS > PFOS. Student’s t-tests revealed that concentrations of maternal PFOA were related with decreases in birth weight, birth length and ponderal index, suggesting a possible impact on fetal growth. With multiple logistic regression models, maternal PFOS concentration showed a significant inverse association with ponderal index (OR = 0.22; 95% CI, 0.05–0.90). Umbilical cord PFHxS concentration showed a significant inverse association with birth weight (OR = 0.26; 95% CI, 0.08–0.85) or a marginally significant inverse association with birth length (OR = 0.33; 95% CI, 0.09–1.17). This is the first report demonstrating an inverse association of birth outcomes with PFHxS exposure. Concentrations of maternal PFOA were decreased with parity, implying that delivery is one of the major routes for PFOA elimination in women. This study demonstrated prenatal exposure of PFCs through placental transfer which could result in possible developmental effects in the population sampled. Our results may provide data basis to conduct a larger scale investigation into developmental effects of PFCs in the future and contribute to understanding levels of PFC contaminations from a variety of populations in the globe.     

Enhancement of aerobic biodegradation in an oxygen-limiting environment using a saponin-based microbubble suspension

This study investigated the ability of a saponin-based microbubble suspension to enhance aerobic biodegradation of phenanthrene by subsurface delivery. As the microbubble suspension flowed through a sand column pressure buildup and release was repeatedly observed, which delivered oxygen to the less permeable regions. Burkholderia cepacia RPH1, a phenanthrene-degrading bacterium, was mainly transported in a suspended form in the microbubble suspension. When three pore volumes of the microbubble suspension containing B. cepacia RPH1 was introduced into a column contaminated with phenanthrene (100 mg/kg), the oxygen content declined to 5% from an initial value of 20% within 5 days and correspondingly, 34.4% of initial phenanthrene was removed in 8 days. The addition of two further three pore volumes enhanced the biodegradation efficiency by a factor of 2.2. Our data suggest that a saponin-based microbubble suspension could be a potential carrier for enhancing the aerobic biodegradation under an oxygen-limiting environment.     

Environmental assessment on a soil washing process of a Pb-contaminated shooting range site: a case study

In this study, an environmental assessment on a soil washing process for the remediation of a Pb-contaminated shooting range site was conducted, using a green and sustainable remediation tool, i.e., SiteWise ver. 2, based on data relating specifically to the actual remediation project. The entire soil washing process was classified into four major stages, consisting of soil excavation (stage I), physical separation (stage II), acid-based (0.2 N HCl) chemical extraction (stage III), and wastewater treatment (stage IV). Environmental footprints, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy consumption, water consumption, and critical air pollutant productions such as PM₁₀, NO _x , and SO _x , were calculated, and the relative contribution of each stage was analyzed in the environmental assessment. In stage I, the relative contribution of the PM₁₀ emissions was 55.3 % because the soil excavation emitted the fine particles. In stage II, the relative contribution of NO _x and SO _x emissions was 42.5 and 52.5 %, respectively, which resulted from electricity consumption for the operation of the separator. Stage III was the main contributing factor to 63.1 % of the GHG emissions, 67.5 % of total energy used, and 37.4 % of water consumptions. The relatively high contribution of stage III comes from use of consumable chemicals such as HCl and water-based extraction processes. In stage IV, the relative contributions of GHG emissions, total energy used, and NO _x and SO _x emissions were 23.2, 19.4, 19.5, and 25.3 %, respectively, which were caused by chemical and electricity demands for system operation. In conclusion, consumable chemicals such as HCl and NaOH, electric energy consumption for system operation, and equipment use for soil excavation were determined to be the major sources of environmental pollution to occur during the soil washing process. Especially, the acid-based chemical extraction process should be avoided in order to improve the sustainability of soil washing processes.     

Male-Specific and Somatic Coliphage Profiles from Major Aquaculture Areas in Republic of Korea

Human and animal feces are important sources of various types of microbial contamination in water. Especially, enteric viruses, the major agents of waterbo     

Estimating the amount of WEEE generated in South Korea by using the population balance model

We estimated the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) generated in South Korea by using the population balance model (PBM) based on a lifespan distribution analysis. This is the first study to apply PBM to estimate WEEE generation in South Korea. The lifespan distribution analysis of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) was based on the results of a questionnaire survey of 1000 households, which were analyzed with the Weibull distribution. As a result, we could estimate the domestic service lifespan and lifespan distribution shape parameter for eight selected products. Using the lifespan distribution analysis and other data, such as the shipment volume and the number of products owned by households, we estimated the amount of WEEE generated for the eight selected items from 2000 to 2020. We found that 1.2 million air conditioners, 2.5 million televisions, 1.3 million microwave ovens, 1.2 million kimchi refrigerators, 17.0 million mobile phones, 1.7 million refrigerators, 2.0 million vacuum cleaners, and 1.4 million washing machines were generated as WEEE in 2010. We also compared our WEEE estimates with the number of items collected through the official WEEE recycling program from 2003 to 2009 and found that in 2009 washing machines had the highest collection rate (28%) and air conditioners had the lowest rate (7%).     

From the enclave to the city: the economic benefits of immigrant flexibility

While much attention has been paid to the entrepreneurial “base” of the ethnic economy, the enclave is primarily composed of thousands of hourly employees working in small co-ethnic or multi-ethnic immigrant firms. The US economy benefits from over 10?billion dollars in taxed income and wages from immigrants whose social security numbers do not match up with their employee tax identification numbers. Multiple mismatches and misinformation about immigrants (from an economic, cultural, and political standpoint) demonstrate the need to understand the unique potential of immigrant communities in facilitating urban growth. Koreatown in Los Angeles, an ethnic enclave economy that is also a central business district for many immigrant workers, is one emergent example of new types of flexibility around citizenship status and semi-formal jobs as they are negotiated on a daily basis in the neighbourhood. Previous studies of the ethnic enclave have maintained that there is a singular importance to the co-ethnic network (Korean to Korean, or Cuban to Cuban, for example), and yet this traditional characterisation of the ethnic enclave does not hold true in most urban ethnic enclaves, which include multiple ethnic groups working side by side. Interviews with Korean and Latino workers demonstrate the ways in which people (including undocumented individuals) contribute to the local economy, and informally communicate in neighbourhoods and cities to build a broader social and economic network outside of enclave boundaries.     

Development of EMC-based empirical model for estimating spatial distribution of pollutant loads and its application in rural areas of Korea

An integrated approach to easily calculate pollutant loads from agricultural watersheds is suggested and verified in this research. The basic concepts of this empirical tool were based on the assumption that variations in event mean concentrations (EMCs) of pollutants from a given agricultural watershed during rainstorms were only attributable to the rainfall pattern. Fifty one sets of EMC values were obtained from nine different watersheds located in the rural areas of Korea, and these data were used to develop predictive tools for the EMCs in rainfall runoff. The results of statistical tests of these formulas show that they are fairly good in predicting actual EMC values of some parameters, and useful in terms of calculating pollutant loads for any rainfall event time span such as daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. This model was further checked in for its field applicability in a reservoir receiving stormwater after a cleanup of the sediments, covering 17 consecutive rainfall events from 1 July to 15 August in 2007. Overall the predicted values matched the observed values, indicating the feasibility of this empirical tool as a simple and useful solution in evaluating timely distribution of nonpoint source pollution loads from small rural watersheds of Korea.     

Comparison of different disinfection processes in the effective removal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes

This study compared three different disinfection processes(chlorination, E-beam, and ozone) and the efficacy of three oxidants(H2O2, S2O-8, and peroxymonosulfate(MPS)) in removing antibiotic resistant bacteria(ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes(ARGs) in a synthetic wastewater. More than30 mg/L of chlorine was needed to remove over 90% of ARB and ARG. For the E-beam method, only1 dose(kGy) was needed to remove ARB and ARG, and ozone could reduce ARB and ARG by more than 90% even at 3 mg/L ozone concentration. In the ozone process, CT values(concentration × time)were compared for ozone alone and combined with different catalysts based on the 2-log removal of ARB and ARG. Ozone treatment yielded a value of 31 and 33(mg·min)/L for ARB and ARGs respectively. On the other hand, ozone with persulfate yielded 15.9 and 18.5(mg·min)/L while ozone with monopersulfate yielded a value of 12 and 14.5(mg·min)/L. This implies that the addition of these catalysts significantly reduces the contact time to achieve a 2-log removal, thus enhancing the process in terms of its kinetics.     

Anoxic gas recirculation system for fouling control in anoxic membrane reactor

Anoxic gas recirculation system was applied to control the membrane fouling in pilot-scale 4-stage anoxic membrane bioreactor(MBR). In the anaerobic-anoxic-anoxic-aerobic flow scheme,hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) membrane(0.2 μm, 7.2 m2/module) was submerged in the second anoxic zone. During 8 months operation, the average flux of the membrane was 21.3L/(m2·hr). Chemical cleaning of the membrane was conducted only once with sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite. Dissolved oxygen(DO) concentration in the second anoxic zone was maintained with an average of 0.19 ± 0.05 mg/L. Gas chromatography analysis showed that the headspace gas in the second anoxic reactor was mainly consisted of N2(93.0% ± 2.5%), O2(3.8% ± 0.6%), and CO2(3.0% ± 0.5%), where the saturation DO concentration in liquid phase was 1.57 mg/L. Atmospheric O2 content(20.5% ± 0.8%) was significantly reduced in the anoxic gas. The average pH in the reactor was 7.2 ± 0.4. As a result, the recirculation of the anoxic gas was successfully applied to control the membrane fouling in the anoxic MBR.     

Response of antibiotics and resistance genes to high-intensity and low-intensity manure management

The purpose of this study was to determine the response of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) to manure management. A pilot field study was conducted using horse manure containing no antibiotics, into which chlortetracycline (CTC), tylosin (TYL), and monensin (MON) were spiked and compared to unspiked controls. Subsequently, a large-scale field study was conducted comparing manure from a dairy with minimal use of antibiotics and a feedlot with regular subtherapeutic use of antibiotics. The manures were subjected to high-intensity management (HIM) (amending, watering, and turning) and low-intensity management (LIM) (no amending, watering, or turning) and were monitored for antibiotic concentrations and levels of tetracycline ARG [tet(W) and tet(O)] using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. All three antibiotics in the pilot study dissipated more rapidly in HIM manure, with half-lives ranging from 4 to 15 d, compared to LIM manure, with half-lives ranging from 8 to 30 d. Levels of tet(W) were significantly higher after 141 d of treatment, but levels of tet(O) were significantly lower in all treatments. In the large-scale study, the feedlot manure had higher initial concentrations than the dairy manure of tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC), and CTC as well as tet(W) and tet(O). Tetracycline and OTC dissipated more rapidly in HIM manure, with half-lives ranging from 6 to 15 d, compared to LIM manure, with half-lives ranging from 7 to 31 d. After 6 mo of treatment, tet(W) and tet(O) decreased significantly in feedlot manure, whereas dairy manure required only 4 mo of treatment for similar results.