the less-reported gaseous studies have primarily dealt with chemical process stream concentrations than indoor air quality (IAQ) concentration levels. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to establish the feasibility of applying visible-light-induced TiO₂ doped with sulfur (S) element to cleanse toluene and ehtyl benzene at IAQ levels. The S-doped TiO₂ was prepared by applying two popular processes and two well-known methods. For both target compounds, the two coating methods exhibited different photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) efficiency. Similarly, the two S-doping processes showed different PCO efficiency. These results indicate that the coating method and doping process are important parameters which can influence PCO efficiency. Meanwhile, it was found that the PCO efficiency of ethyl benzene was higher than that of toluene. In addition, the degradation efficiency of the target compounds increased as the relative humidity (RH) decreased. The PCO efficiency varied from 44% to 74% for toluene and from 68% to 95%, as the RH decreased. Consequently, it is suggested that with appropriate RH conditions, the visible-light-assisted photocatalytic systems can also become an important tool for improving IAQ.

수질오염을 일으키는 휘발성 유기 화합물(Volatile Organic Compounds; VOCs)의 대표적인 종류의 하나인 저농도의 톨루엔이 함유된 수용액을 소수성 폴리이미드공중합체막을 이용한 투과증발법으로 분리하였다. 이를 위해 폴리실록산디아민(SIDA)과 과불소알킬기를 가진 방향족 디아민(PFDAB)의 비율에 따른 폴리이미드 공중합체 막을 제조하였다. 막제조에 사용된 SIDA/PFDAB 비에 따른 선택투과특성의 변화를 살펴보았다. 얻어진 투과특성을 용해확산이론으로 해석하기 위해 톨루엔 수용액의 수착특성을 조사하였으며 이를 토대로 확산도 특성을 조사하였다. 그 결과 실록산 고분자에 대한 톨루엔의 친화도의 증가로 SIDA의 함량이 많을수록 막 내의 톨루엔에 대한 용해도 및 톨루엔/물의 수착선택도가 커졌으며, 자유부피가 큰 실록산의 함량증가로 인해 톨루엔의 확산계수, 확산선택도가 증가하는 것을 확인하였다. 이러한 결과로 SIDA의 함량이 증가함에 따라 톨루엔에 대한 투과도는 0.005 kg/m2h에서 0.049 kg/m2h로 증가하고, 톨루엔/물의 투과선택도는 9에서 6380로 증가함을 관찰하였다.

The removal efficiency of VOC was tested for five air cleaners selected in terms of type and cleaning performances. Toluene, representative VOCs, was selected and used as the test gas. In order to indicate toluene removal capacity, toluene removal efficiency in a chamber and a duct was investigated with different measurement devices such as gas detecting tubes and GC/MSD. Changes in toluene concentration in the chamber were measured with GC/MSD. The test results showed that the performances of the test models in the test chamber were superior to those in the duct, however, they did not differentiate the performances of test models. According to our test study, toluene removal capacity calculated from the changes in toluene concentration with time was a good indicator for VOCs removal performance.

This study was performed to estimate the emission rate of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and to evaluate the risk level affected by indoor air pollutants (IAPs) in 27 new apartments (prior to residence) in Seoul City from December 2004 to March 2005. The indoor air pollutants investigated in this study include formaldehyde, several aromatic VOCs (benzene, toluene, styrene, xylene, and ethylbenzene). All measurements were made based on the standard method of Ministry of Environment in Korea. The indoor concentration levels for benzene, xylene, toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and formaldehyde have significant increase trend 5 hours after closing windows and doors. Levels of air pollutants did not exhibit significant difference between living rooms and bedrooms. The air exchange rates by the concentration decay method using SF6 were 0.37 for low floor, 0.32 for middle floor, and 0.75 for high floor. The emission rate showed the highest level in the middle floor and second one in the low floor, when estimated by the IAQ model for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, styrene, and formaldehyde. Considering the above result, it is suggested that the estimation of emission rate be considered when the new apartment is designed and constructed with respect to construction materials to emit low VOCs. Moreover, the related regulation should be established for IAQ management.

The deodorization performances of ammonia, acetic acid and acetaldehyde were tested for each of all forty five air cleaners sold in the online shops and department stores. The removal performances of toluene and formaldehyde were also investigated and the results were compared to the deodorization performances for the air cleaners. Filter-type and complex type air cleaners which used activated carbon filters showed superior in odor removal performances to those of ionizer type and wet type air cleaners. Toluene and formaldehyde were readily removed for the most of filter-type and complex type air cleaners. Ionizer air cleaners had little removal ability for the toluene and formaldehyde.

The characteristics of adsorption and desorption of benzene and toluene were investigated at a fixed bed packed with the activated carbon and activated carbon fiber. Through breakthrough experiments under various feed concentration conditions, it was found that the slope of mass transfer zone and the tailing in the breakthrough curves were different from the feed conditions due to different heats of adsorption. In hot nitrogen desorption, the regeneration time and mass transfer zone of the toluene desorption curve were longer than those of the benzene desorption curve because of the difference in adsorption affinity. With an increase in the regeneration temperature, the height of roll-up and the sharpness of desorption curves increased but the regeneration times decreased. The adsorption capacities of the activated carbon and activated carbon fiber after three-time thermal regenerations decreased about 25% and 37% for benzene and 18% and 25% for toluene, respectively. To investigate the effect of the regeneration temperature on the energetic efficiency, the characteristic desorption temperatures of toluene and benzene were investigated by calculating purge gas consumption and temperature.

The VOCs(Volatile Organic Compounds) is one of the major cause for the atmosphere pollution. Breakthrough behavior of benzene and toluene in adsorption bed packed with activated carbon was experimentally studied. Composition and temperature of the gas flowing in the bed was measured and breakthrough curves for each component was obtained. Breakthrough time of benzene was earlier than that of toluene due to relatively weak adsorptivity. The relationship between breakthrough time and flow rate was obtained. The shape of temperature change with time was dependent on the position in the bed. Temperature changed faster and sharper in the inlet than in the outlet. It was noted that breakthrough behavior could be affected by the heat transfer properties.

In the separation of toluene/n-heptane mixture by the emulsion type liquid membrane in a batch system, the effect of surfactants on the separation factor and membrane stability were studied over the surfactant concentration ranging from 0.1 to 1.5 wt% at the contact time of 5 and 10 minutes and the settling time 5 and 10 minutes. The surfactants used were triethanol amine lauryl sulfate. The separation factor reached its maximum value at the surfactant concentration of 0.5 wt%. It was found that the percentage of membrane breakup reached its minium values and the separation factor showed its maximum value at the surfactant concentration of 0.5 wt%, which confirmed that efficient separation could be effect when emulsion liquid membrane were stable because of low membrane break up.

In the separation of toluene/n-heptane mixture by the emulsion type liquid membrane in an batch system, the effect of surfactant on the separation factor and membrane stability was studied over the surfactant concentration ranging form 0.1 to 1.5wt％ at the contact time of 5 and 10 minutes. and the settling time of 5 and 10 minutes. The surfactant used was sodium lauryl sulfate. The separation factor reached its maximum value at the surfactant concentration of 0.5wt％ for surfantant. It was found that the percentage of membrane breakup reached its minimum values and the separation factor showed its maximum value at the surfactant concentration of 0.5wt%. which confirmed that efficient separation could be effect when emulsion liquid membrane was stable because of low membrane breakup.

Ulmus davidiana Nakai (UDN) has been traditionally used as a herbal medicine to treat inflammatory diseases in Korea. In the present study, we investigated the anti-ecotoxic potential of a 116 kDa glycoprotein isolated from UDN (UDN glycoprotein) in human intestinal epithelial INT-407 cells. We demonstrated that UDN glycoprotein (20 μg/mL) could inhibit the production of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) induced by toluene, an ecotoxic substance. Additionally, we found that the toluene-induced intestinal cytotoxicity was mediated by the phosphorylation of p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) via the production of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The UDN glycoprotein significantly decreased the levels of ROS production and p38 MAPK activation in toluene-stimulated INT-407 cells. Moreover, the UDN glycoprotein inhibits the phosphorylation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), which is responsible for the production of LDH, in toluene-stimulated INT-407 cells. Collectively, our data indicate that UDN glycoprotein is a natural antioxidant and a modulator of ecotoxicity signaling pathways in human intestinal epithelial cells.

The photocatalytic decomposition characteristics of toluene, acetone, and methyl mercaptan (MM) by UV reactor installed with TiO2-coated perforated plane were studied. The removal efficiency of single toluene, acetone, and MM vapor was increased with increasing oxygen concentration, but decreased with increasing inlet concentration. Elimination capacity of single toluene, acetone, and MM vapor was obtained to be 628 g/m3․day, 1,041 g/m3․day, and 2,158 g/m3․day, respectively. Also, the photocatalytic decomposition of binary vapor consisted of toluene and acetone, toluene and MM, acetone and MM were observed. Elimination capacity of toluene mixed with acetone, toluene mixed with MM, acetone mixed with toluene, acetone mixed with MM, MM mixed with toluene, and MM mixed with acetone was 327 g/m3․day, 512 g/m3․day, 128 g/m3․ day, 266 g/m3․day, 785 g/m3․day and 883 g/m3․day, respectively. The inhibitory effect of acetone was higher than MM in photocatalytic decomposition of toluene, the inhibitory effect of toluene was higher than MM photocatalytic decomposition of acetone, and the inhibitory effect of toluene was higher than acetone in photocatalytic decomposition of MM.

In this study, the photocatalytic decomposition characteristics of single toluene, toluene mixed with benzene, toluene mixed with acetone, and toluene mixed methyl mercaptan (MM) by UV reactor installed with TiO2-coated perforated plate were studied. The photocatalytic decomposition rate of single toluene, toluene mixed with benzene, toluene mixed with acetone, and toluene mixed with MM fitted well on Langmuir-Hinshelwood (L-H) kinetics equation. The maximum elimination capacity was obtained to be 628 g/m3·d for single toluene, 499 g/m3·d for toluene mixed with benzene, 318 g/m3·d for toluene mixed with acetone, and 513 g/m3·d for toluene mixed with MM, respectively. The negative effect in photocatalytic decomposition of toluene are found to be in the order of acetone>benzene>MM.

Alumina-supported catalysts containing different transition metals such as Cu, Cr, Mn, Zn, Co, W were investigated for their activity in the selective oxidation of toluene. Catalytic oxidation of toluene was investigated at atmospheric pressure in a fixed bed flow reactor system over transition metals with Al2O3 catalyst. The result showed the order of catalytic activities for the complete oxidation of toluene was Mn > Cu> Cr> Co> W> Zn for 5wt.% transition metals/Al2O3. Mn/Al2O3 catalysts containing different amount of Mn were characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy for decision of loading amount of metal to alumina. 5 wt.%Mn/Al2O3 catalyst exhibits the highest catalytic activity, over which the toluene conversion was up to 90% at a temperature of 289℃.