Although fine dust pollution in Korea is increasing, there is no information regarding nutritional standards for fine dustrelated disease patients. This study analyzed the food and nutrient intake status in adult men with disease associated with fine dust in the area with the increased level of fine dust pollution using the sixth and seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2017). The daily intakes, and average nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) and mean adequacy ratio (MAR) values of energy were significantly increased in the control group compared with patient groups. Compared with the control group, protein, fat and cholesterol intakes were significantly increased in the patient groups. Daily intakes of cereals and grain products in the control group were increased, whereas seasoning intake was decreased in the control group compared with patient groups. The patient groups had low daily water and vitamin B1 intakes, and the niacin intake of patient groups was significantly lower than that of the control group. Nutrition density and nutritional quality of vitamin C were significantly reduced in patient groups. This study can be used as basic data for nutrition education that emphasizes sufficient calorie, water and antioxidant vitamin intakes for patients related to fine dust pollution.

In this paper, a survey on students’ perceptions of air pollution, particulate matter (PM) and indoor air quality (IAQ) in school classrooms was analyzed. A total of 174 students participated in the survey, where 127 and 47 participants were elementary school students and middle school students, respectively. The elementary school was located in a rural area of Korea, whereas the middle school was located in an urban area. The questionnaire of the survey was mainly composed of three parts: (1) students’ perceptions of air pollution, (2) students’ perceptions of IAQ in the classroom, and (3) students’ perceptions of how to improve IAQ in the classroom. Based on our study, the responses of the students for the given questionnaire showed an opposite tendency. The students in the rural area tended to have positive perceptions regarding IAQ in the classroom as well as air pollution, whereas the students in the urban area revealed negative perceptions for the same items. Our survey results can be used by school officials in order to maintain and improve IAQ in school classrooms based on the perceptions of the students.

This study analyzed the health characteristics and comorbidity of adult men aged 40 years by dividing them into a control group of those without any disease related to fine dust and a patient group with one or more diseases related to fine dust in areas with high levels of fine dust pollution using the sixth and seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2013-2017). Among the general characteristics, the mean age of the patient group was significantly older than that of the control group (p<0.001), and in terms of the health-related characteristics, the frequency of breakfast consumption in the patient group was higher than in the control group (p<0.043). The body measurements were similar in the patient and control groups. Regarding the prevalence of comorbidity, the patient group showed a higher prevalence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and diabetes than the control group, but the differences were not statistically significant. On the other hand, the prevalence of other cancers (except stomach cancer, liver cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer) in the patient group was higher than in the control group (p<0.05). In terms of the clinical characteristics, the glycated hemoglobin levels in the patient group were significantly higher than in the control group (p<0.048). Information on nutrition and health in areas with frequent occurrences of fine dust was obtained through the study results, which can be used as basic data for measures of health and diet management against diseases that will increase in relation to fine dust.

We developed a wet scrubber by applying cyclone flow to the gas flow and using a spiral filter structure. While the size of a new scrubber was about half that of a conventional scrubber, the device showed relatively high efficiency in pollutants removal such as particulate matter and compounds inducing odor. The new scrubber installed in a plating industry showed a higher removal efficiency of about 5% for dust, about 23% for hydrogen chloride, and about 23% for sulfur dioxide compared to the conventional scrubber. Plurality of tubes in the spiral filer housing are arranged to be vertically shifted from each other. Because the upward residual gas does not directly rise vertically, the residence time of gas between the filter plates is extended. Thus, the purification efficiency of the pollutants was enhanced in the new scrubber. In addition, the new scrubber developed in this study is more cost effective because the cost saving in manufacturing it compared with a conventional scrubber increases with increasing the size of equipment. It is expected that a scrubber with better dust collecting efficiency can be obtained by carrying out a study in connection with facilities capable of controlling acidity of washing water.

The urban railway system is a convenient public transportation system, as it carries many people without increasing traffic congestion. However, air quality in urban railway environments is worse than ambient air quality due to the internal location of the source of air pollutants and the isolated space. In this paper, characteristics of particulate matter (PM) pollution in urban railway environments are described from the perspective of diurnal variation, chemical composition and source apportionment of PM. PM concentrations in concourse, platform, passenger cabin, and tunnel are summarized through an analysis of 34 journal articles published in Korea and overseas. This information will be helpful in developing effective policies to reduce PM pollution in urban railway environments.

본 연구는 강원도 소재 동해항만에서 발생하는 미세먼지 관리를 위한 환경비용편익을 산출하는 것이다. 항구 인근에 부유하는 미세먼지의 농도는 매우 높은 편이며, 지점에 따라 국가 기준인 100μg/m3 이상으로 관측되는 곳도 있다. 시험대상 항구는 주로 석회석과 석탄을 취급함으로써 미세입자상 물질이 하역시 다량 발생한다. 연구결과 PM10을 기준으로 년간 12톤의 미세먼지가 하역작업 시 발생하는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 덧붙여서 원료물질을 비롯한 다양한 화물을 운송하는 대형차량 및 중장비는 디젤 검댕이를 발생하고, 도로먼지의 비산을 유발한다. 지방정부는 해마다 20억원 이상의 비용을 투자하여 대기중 미세먼지를 제거하고 있다. 편익대비 비용을 산출한 결과 그 효과는 최소 240%에서 최대 720%까지 얻을 수 있는 것으로 나타났다.

2008년 동아시아 대륙에서 발생기원이 다른 먼지(황사)와 인위적 오염입자의 광역적 이동 사례를 NOAA위성 RGB 합성영상과 지상 입경별 분진(TSP, PM10, PM2.5)의 질량농도 관측으로 분석하였다. 또한 Terra/Aqua 위성 MODIS(Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) 센서의 AOD(Aerosol Optical Depth)와 FW(Fine aerosol Weighting)를 통해 동아시아 지역에서 발생기원이 다른 대기 에어로졸의 분포와 입자 크기 특성을 분석하였다. 중국 북부와 몽골, 그리고 중국 황토고원에서 모래폭풍이 발생하여 광역적으로 이동하여 청원에 먼지입자(황사)로 영향을 주는 6 개의 사례분석을 실시하였다. 질량농도 TSP중 PM10은 70%, PM2.5는 16%로 조대입자(〉 2.5 μm)의 비율이 큰 것은 사막과 반사막의 자연적 발생원에서 생성되었기 때문이다. 그러나, 모래 폭풍이 이동 과정에서 중국 동부의 산업 지역을 거쳐 유입하는 사례에서는 TSP 중 PM2.5가 23%까지 증가하기도 했다. 중국 동부로부터 황해를 거쳐 한반도로 유입한 5개 다른 사례의 경우, TSP 중 PM10, PM2.5가 각각 82, 65%로 나타났다. 이와 같이 PM2.5의 상대적 비율이 증가한 것은 인위적 오염입자의 영향 때문이다. 동아시아 지역에서 인위적 오염입자의 광역적 이동 사례에 대한 평균 AOD는 0.42±0.17로 황사에 의한 AOD(0.36±0.13)와 비교하여 대기 에어로졸에 대한 비율이 높게 나타났다. 특히, 중국 동부에서 황해, 한반도, 동해에 이르는 광역적 지역에 AOD값이 높게 분포했다. 인위적 오염입자의 사례는 FW가 평균 0.63±0.16로 모래폭풍의 이동 사례의 0.52±0.13 보다 높은 값을 보였다. 이는 대기 에어로졸에 대한 인위적 미세 오염 입자의 기여도가 클 수 있음을 제시하고 있다.

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.

From November 2013 to December 2016, ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) was sampled in the downtown area of Jeju City, South Korea, which has seen rapid urbanization. The atmospheric concentrations of elements were measured in the PM2.5 samples. This study focused on Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, As, Sb, Sn, V, and Zn. The concentrations of Al, Na, K, Fe, Ca, Mg, Sr, and La were also obtained for reference. The objectives of this study were to examine the contributions of these elements to PM2.5 concentrations in downtown Jeju City, and to investigate the inter-element relationships and the elemental sources by using enrichment factors and principal components analysis (PCA). A composition analysis showed that the 19 elements constituted 6.65 % of the PM2.5 mass, and Na, K, Al, Fe, Ca, Mg, and Zn constituted 98 % of the total ion mass. Seasonal trend analysis for the sampling period indicated that the concentrations of the elements increased from November to April. However, no substantial seasonal variations were found in the concentrations of the elements. The composition ratios of some elements (Cu/Zn, Cu/Cd, Cu/Pb, V/Ni, and V/La) were found to be out of range when compared to the literature from other urban areas. The ratios between the elements and the PCA results showed that local contaminant sources in Jeju City rarely influence the composition of PM2.5. This suggests that the major sources of PM2.5 in Jeju City may include long-range transport of fine particulate matter produced in other areas.