The present study was performed to investigate the effects of NH3-N and nitrifying microorganisms on the increased BOD of downstream of the Yeongsan river in Gwangju. Water samples were collected periodically from the 13 sampling sites of rivers from April to October 2021 to monitor water qualities. In addition, the trends of nitrogenous biochemical oxygen demand (NBOD) and microbial clusters were analyzed by adding different NH3-N concentrations to the water samples. The monitoring results showed that NH3-N concentration in the Yeongsan river was 22 times increased after the inflow of discharged water from the Gwangju 1st public sewage treatment plant (G-1-PSTP). Increased NH3-N elevated NBOD levels through the nitrification process in the river, consequently, it would attribute to the increase of BOD in the Yeongsan river. Meanwhile, there was no proportional relation between NBOD and NH3-N concentrations. However, there was a significant difference in NBOD occurrence by sampling sites. Specifically, when 5 mg/L NH3-N was added, NBOD of the river sample showed 2-4 times higher values after the inflow of discharged water from G-1-PSTP. Therefore, it could be thought other factors such as microorganisms influence the elevated NBOD levels. Through next-generation sequencing analysis, nitrifying microorganisms such as Nitrosomonas, Nitroga, and Nitrospira (Genus) were detected in rivers samples, especially, the proportion of them was the highest in river samples after the inflow of discharged water from G-1-PSTP. These results indicated the effects of nitrifying microorganisms and NH3-N concentrations as important limiting factors on the increased NBOD levels in the rivers. Taken together, comprehensive strategies are needed not only to reduce the NH3-N concentration of discharged water but also to control discharged nitrifying microorganisms to effectively reduce the NBOD levels in the downstream of the Yeongsan river where discharged water from G-1-PSTP flows.

This study was conducted to analyze the characteristics of odorous components that have been generated from the downtown sewer system based on twenty-three survey items for complex odor and designated offensive odor. As a result of the research, the contribution rates for the causative materials of the odor indicated 73.5% of hydrogen sulfide, 26.0% of methyl mercaptan, 0.4% of dimethyl sulfide, and 0.1% of dimethyl disulfide. The occurrence for the odorous materials according to sampling site revealed data of which contribution rates showed 56.9% of hydrogen sulfide and 36.8% of methyl mercaptan from the combined sewer system in the business district; whereas the combined sewer system in the residential area showed 16.4% of dimethyl sulfide and 4.3% of dimethyl disulfide. The seasonal occurrence rate of the odor materials was observed higher in summer and lower in winter And, the combined sewer system in the business district recorded the highest concentration of 4.61 ppm of hydrogen sulfide among the sampling site. An hourly occurrence rate for the odor materials consistently showed the greatest increase between 11:00 and 14:00 at each location and showed a decreasing tendency afterward.

In this study, indoor radon concentrations were measured in 56 multiple-use facilities located in Gwangju area from December 2017 to December 2018. The average indoor radon concentration in underground space was 51.70 Bq/m3, and that of the 1st floor was 38.73 Bq/m3, indicating that the indoor radon concentration of underground space was higher than that of the 1st floor. The indoor radon concentration was investigated according to the presence or absence of underground space. The concentration of radon on the 1st floor with underground space was 37.25 Bq/m3, and the concentration of radon on the ground floor without underground space was 47.94 Bq/m3. In the absence of underground space, indoor radon concentration was high. The indoor radon concentration of buildings over 30 years old was 87.26 Bq/m3, indicating a significantly higher indoor radon concentration compared to those of buildings less than 30 years old. The indoor radon concentration was investigated according to the operation of a ventilator. The indoor radon concentration of space without an operating ventilator was 52.17 Bq/m3, and that of space with a ventilator in operation for more than 8 hours per day was 36.31 Bq/m3. This result shows that the indoor radon concentration in the space with an operating ventilator is lower than the space where the ventilator is not in operation. The indoor radon concentration in the space with an operating ventilation system was lower than that on the same floor of the same building, and the indoor radon concentration of enclosed space was about 4.4 times higher than that of open space in the same building. In addition, the indoor radon concentration was measured according to the spatial features. The concentration of indoor radon of enclosed space was 64.76 Bq/m3, which is higher than those of an open space and an active space.

This study was conducted to propose a way to increase the accuracy and precision of β-ray measurement equipment. Statistical processing results of equivalent evaluation data from 2016 to 2021 confirmed that the concentration of micro dust measured by β-ray measurement equipment was higher than that of micro dust sampler. According to quarterly data, it was confirmed that the data from the third quarter (July to September) showed a different trend from other periods, which is assumed to be due to weather conditions. This study indicates that automatic micro-dust measurement equipment evaluation at air pollution measuring stations during the third quarter should be excluded. The evaluation cycle should be changed from once every two years to quarterly. In addition, when the criterion for determining equivalence evaluation falls within the range of the slope and intercept values of the existing trend line, it is necessary to evaluate the R2 value together and reduce the slope from 0.9-1.1 to 0.9-1.0.

Industrial emissions, mainly from industrial complexes, are important sources of ambient Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Identification of the significant VOC sources from industrial complexes has practical significance for emission reduction. VOC samples were collected from July 2019 to June 2020. A Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) receptor model was used to evaluate the VOC sources in the area. Four sources were identified by PMF analysis, including coating-1, coating-2, printing, and vehicle exhaust. The coating-1 source was revealed to have the highest contribution (41.5%), followed by coating-2 (23.9%), printing (23.1%), and vehicle exhaust (11.6%). The source showing the highest contribution was coating emissions, originating from the northwest to southwest of the sample site. It also relates to facilities that produce auto parts. The major components of VOC emissions from the coating facilities were toluene, m,p-xylene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, and butyl acetate. Industrial emissions should be the top priority to meet the relevant control criteria, followed by vehicular emissions. This study provides a strategy for VOC source apportionment from an industrial complex, which is helpful in the development of targeted control strategies.

This study analyses the characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from the painting and printing facilities, as well as ambient VOCs at industrial complexes in Gwangju. The major components of VOCs emissions from painting facilities were toluene, acetone, 2-butanone, ethyl acetate, ethyl benzene, o-xylene and m,p-xylene. The printing facilities mostly emitted ethyl acetate, 2-butanone, acetone and toluene. Aromatics (49.9%) and oxygenated VOCs (43.6%) were dominant in painting facilities, while oxygenated VOCs (92.7%) were the largest group in printing facilities. The total hydrocarbon concentration (THC) in printing facilities was approximately six times higher than in the painting facilities. The painting and printing facilities use many solvents. Their THC concentrations differed considerably depending on the type of prevention facilities. To reduce THC, it is necessary to improve the prevention facilities and operating conditions. The dominant species of ambient VOCs in industrial complexes were investigated with toluene, ethyl acetate, 2-butanone, ethyl benzene, m,p-xylene, butyl acetate, o-xylene, hexane and acetone. Factor analysis of ambient VOCs showed that the main sources of the VOCs were organic solvents used in painting, coating, and printing, as well as automobile emissions.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of fine dust PM10 and heavy metals in PM10 in Asian dust flowing into Gwangju from 2013 to 2018. The migration pathways of Asian dust was analyzed by backward trajectory analysis using HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model, and the change of heavy metal concentration and heavy metal content per 1 μg/m3 of fine dust PM10 in Gwangju area were analyzed. Also, the characteristics of the heavy metals were analyzed using the correlation between the heavy metals in PM10. As a result of analyzing Asian dust entering the Gwangju region for 6 years, the average concentration of PM10 measured in Asian dust was 148 μg/m3, which was about 4.5 times higher than in non-Asian dust, 33 μg/m3. A total of 13 Asian dust flowed into the Gwangju during 6 years, and high concentration of PM10 and heavy metals in that were analyzed in the C path flowing through the Gobi/Loess Plateau-Korean Peninsula. As a result of the correlation analysis, in case of Asian dust, there was a high correlation between soil components in heavy metals, so Asian dust seems to have a large external inflow. On the other hand, in case of non-Asian dust, the correlation between find dust PM10 and artificial heavy metal components was high, indicating that the influence of industrial activities in Gwangju area was high.

The objective of this study was to estimate the trends of air quality in the study area by analyzing monthly and seasonal concentration trends obtained from sampled data. To this aim, the mass concentrations of PM2.5 in the air were analyzed, as well as those of metals, ions, and total carbon within the PM2.5. The mean concentration of PM2.5 was 22.7 ㎍/㎥. The mass composition of PM2.5 was as follows: 31.1% of ionic species, 2.2% of metallic species, and 26.7% of carbonic species (EC and OC). Ionic species, especially sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate, were the most abundant in the PM2.5 and exhibited a high correlation coefficient with the mass concentration of PM2.5. Seasonal variations of PM2.5 showed a similar pattern to those of ionic and metallic species, with high concentrations during winter and spring. PM2.5 also had a high correlation with the ionic species NO3 - and NH4 +. In addition, NH4 + was highly correlated with NO3 -. Through factor analysis, we identified four controlling factors, and determined the pollution sources using the United States Environmental Protection Agency(U.S. EPA) pollution profile. The first factor, accounting for 19.1% of PM2.5 was attributed to motor vehicles and heating-related sources: the second factor indicated industry-related sources and secondary particles, and the other factors indicated soil, industry-related and marine sources. However, the pollution profile used in this study may be somewhat different from the actual situation in Korea, since it was obtained from US EPA. Therefore, to more accurately estimate the pollutants present in the air, a pollution profile for Korea should be produced.

The objective of this study was to estimate air quality trends in the study area by surveying monthly and seasonal concentration trends. To do this, the mass concentration of PM10 samples and the metals, ions, and total carbon in the PM10 were analyzed. The mean concentration of PM10 was 33.9 ㎍/㎥. The composition of PM10 was 39.2% ionic species, 5.1% metallic species, and 26.6% carbonic species (EC and OC). Ionic species, especially sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate, were the most abundant in the PM10 and had a high correlation coefficient with PM10. Seasonal variation of PM10 showed a similar pattern to those of ionic and metallic species. with high concentration during the winter and spring seasons. PM10 showed high correlation with the ionic species NO3 - and NH4 +. In addition, NH4 + was highly correlated with SO4 2- and NO3 -. We obtained four factors through factor analysis and determined the pollution sources using the United States Environmental Protection Agency(U.S. EPA) pollution profile. The first factor accounted for 51.1% of PM10 from complex sources, that is, soil, motor vehicles, and secondary particles: the second factor indicated marine sources; the third factor, industry-related sources; and the last factor, heating-related sources. However, the pollution profile used in this study may be somewhat different from the actual situation in Korea because it was from US EPA. Therefore, to more accurately estimate the pollutants present, it is necessary to create a pollution profile for Korea.

This study identified concentrations, toxicities, and sources of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals in roadside sediment from different areas of Gwangju City. Samples were collected from 13 sites of heavy traffic area (TA), downtown area (DA) and park area (PA) during February and June in 2014. The results showed a wide distribution range of PAHs concentrations between 0.139 mg/kg and 1.740 mg/kg. The highest concentration of PAHs appeared in heavy traffic area (TA). The toxic equivalent quotients (TEQs) of PAHs in the roadside sediment ranged from 27 ng/g to 159 ng/g. The TEQs and PAHs ratio of heavy traffic area and downtown area was 9.1 to 11.0%, respectively. The contributions from potential sources to PAHs in roadside sediment were estimated by the principal component analysis (PCA) and diagnostic ratios between PAHs. Vehicular (gasoline and diesel engine) emissions were found to the predominant contributor of PAHs. The concentrations of heavy metals were highest in the heavy traffic areas. The correlation analysis among traffic intensity and heavy metals, showed that AADT correlates very strongly with Cr, Cu and Pb concentrations. From the results of pollution index (PI) calculation for roadside sediment, heavy traffic area was severly polluted by heavy metals such as Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn. Contaminants in roadside sediment were found to be much affected by the vehicles. Therefore, roadside deposited sediments would be expected to be managedon a regular basis.