농산물 재배, 수확 후 세척 등에 사용되는 농업용수는 미생물에 오염될 경우 병원균을 농산물로 전파하여 식중 독을 유발할 수 있기 때문에 관리가 필요하다. 이 연구는 2021년부터 2023년까지 하천수, 저수지, 지하수 등 다양 한 수원의 농업용수에서 대장균군과 대장균의 오염 수준 을 조사하고 자외선(ultraviolet, UV) 소독이 농업용수 내 미생물을 저감시키는 데 얼마나 효과적인지 평가하였다. 농업용수의 미생물 수질조사 결과 대장균 오염도는 수원 에 따라 차이가 있는 것으로 나타났다. 하천수의 대장균 농도는 평균 0.95±1.23 log CFU/100 mL였으며, 저수지는 평균 0.76±1.07 log CFU/100 mL, 지하수는 평균 0.1±0.47 log CFU/100 mL, 기타수원은 평균 0.6±0.87 log CFU/100 mL로 조사되었다. 수원별로 보면 하천수, 저수지, 지하수 순으로 높은 미생물 오염을 보였다. 다양한 용수 조건에 서 자외선 소독을 테스트한 결과, 99.9% 미생물 비활성화 에 필요한 UV 선량은 증류수에서 1.2-1.6 mW/cm2·sec, 농 업용수 원수에서 2.0-2.7 mW/cm2·sec 범위 였다. 고형물 응집제를 통해 전처리된 농업용수는 처리되지 않은 농업 용수 원수에 비해 자외선 투과율이 높았으며, 미생물을 99.9% 감소시키는 데 필요한 자외선 선량이 더 낮아지는 것으로 나타났다. 용수 자외선 투과도가 감소함에 따라 소독 효율이 감소함에도 불구하고 본 실험에서 조사된 선량 은 수질에 상관없이 수초 내 99.9%의 미생물 감소를 달 성하는 것으로 나타나, UV 소독기술은 농업용수의 미생 물 위험을 줄이는 데 효과적인 방법으로 판단된다.

Biomimetic study is being conducted in various fields and applied to the development of technology for the realization of a sustainable society. In this study, we analyzed the cuticular surface structure and wax layer composition of the leaves of Myriophyllum verticillatum and Azolla imbricata to investigate the antifouling characteristics. Field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis (FE-SEM) and contact angle measurement revealed that the surface of M. verticillatum had an irregular and curved layered structure with non-directional filament structures and showed high hydrophobicity. On the leaves of A. imbricata, amphiphilic structures with nano-sized hydrophobic plate-like filament structures and micro-sized irregular hydrophilic spikes were observed. The dorsal surface of the A. imbricata leaves had a denser distribution of hydrophobic nano-structures compared to the ventral surface. The dorsal surface of the leaf showed high hydrophobicity, while the ventral surface showed wettability. Due to the habitat characteristics of A. imbricata, which is a floating plant, the ventral surface is constantly in contact with water, while the front surface has a hydrophobic surface. Analysis of the wax composition of plants revealed that M. verticillatum and A. imbricata were mainly composed of saturated fatty acids, ketones (2-Nonadecanone and 2-Heptadecanon), and sugar alcohols such as 1,30-Triacontanediol. These substances have high antimicrobial activity, and saturated fatty acids form stable and rough anisotropic crystalline surfaces. The hierarchical amphiphilic structure and the non-toxic stable hydrophobic surface observed in the cuticle of aquatic plants are expected to be utilized as materials for the development of sustainable antifouling technologies.

바이폴라막은 양이온교환층과 음이온교환층 및 양극접합층으로 이루어진 이온교환막으로 물 분해 특성을 기반으 로 하여 프로톤과 수산화 이온을 생성시키는 막이다. 이러한 특성을 이용하여 화학 산업, 식품 가공, 환경 보호, 에너지 변환 및 저장과 같은 다양한 응용 분야에서 연구가 되고 있다. 본 논문에서는 바이폴라막 기술에 대한 종합적인 이해를 제공하기 위해 바이폴라막의 개념 및 물 분해 메커니즘과 물 분해 촉매에 대한 조사하였다. 마지막으로 최근 에너지 기술에 적용되고 있는 바이폴라막 프로세스를 조사하였다.

Economical radioactive soil treatment technology is essential to safely and efficiently treat of high-concentration radioactive areas and contaminated sites during operation of nuclear power plants at home and abroad. This study is to determine the performance of BERAD (Beautiful Environmental construction’s RAdioactive soil Decontamination system) before applying magnetic nanoparticles and adsorbents developed by the KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) which will be used in the national funded project to a large-capacity radioactive soil decontamination system. BERAD uses Soil Washing Process by US EPA (402-R-007-004 (2007)) and can decontaminate 0.5 tons of radioactive soil per hour through water washing and/or chemical washing with particle size separation. When contaminated soil is input to BERAD, the soil is selected and washed, and after going through a rinse stage and particle size separation stage, it discharges decontaminated soil separated by sludge of less than 0.075 mm. In this experiment, the concentrations of four general isotopes (A, B, C, and D which are important radioisotopes when soil is contaminated by them.) were analyzed by using ICP-MS to compare before and after decontamination by BERAD. Since BERAD is the commercial-scale pilot system that decontaminates relatively large amount of soil, so it is difficult to test using radioactive isotopes. So important general elements such as A, B, C, and D in soil were analyzed. In the study, BERAD decontaminated soil by using water washing. And the particle size of soil was divided into a total of six particle size sections with five sieves: 4 mm, 2 mm, 0.850 mm, 0.212 mm, and 0.075 mm. Concentrations of A, B, C, and D in the soil particles larger than 4 mm are almost the lowest regardless of before and after decontamination by BERAD. For soil particles less than 4 mm, the concentrations of C and D decreased constantly after BERAD decontamination. On the other hand, the decontamination efficiency of A and B decreased as the soil particle became smaller, but the concentrations of A and B increased for the soil particle below 0.075 mm. As a result, decontamination efficiency of one cycle using BERAD for all nuclides in soil particles between 4 mm and 0.075 mm is about 45% to 65 %.

중수는 경수와 다른 물리화학적 특징으로 다양한 생물화학적 변화를 유도할 수 있다. 기존 분리공정의 단점인 에 너지소비량을 줄이고자 전기방사 폴리아마이드 분리막을 이용하여 정삼투공정을 이용하였다. 유도용액으로 NaCl과 인산을 사용하였다. 중수농도를 정량화하기 위해 FT-IR 분광법을 활용하였다. 인산과 수소/중수소의 특별한 상호작용력을 분광학적 으로 확인하였으며, 정삼투공정으로 농축이 가능할 수 있다는 것을 관찰하였다.

In the field of 3H decontamination technology, the number of patent applications worldwide has been steadily increasing since 2012 after the Fukushima nuclear accident. In particular, Japan has a relatively large number of intellectual property rights in the field of 3H processing technology, and it seems to have entered a mature stage in which the growth rate of patent applications is slightly reduced. In Japan, tritium is being decontaminated through the Semi-Pilot-class complex process (ROSATOM, Russia) using vacuum distillation and hydrogen isotope exchange reaction, and the Combined Electrolysis Catalytic Exchange (CECE, Kurion, U.S.) process. However, it is not enough to handle the increasing number of HTOs every year, so the decision to release them to the sea has been made. Another commercial technology in foreign countries is the vapor phase catalyst exchange process (VPCE) in operation at the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant in Canada. This process is a case of applying tritium exchange technology using a catalyst in a high-temperature vapor state. The only commercially available tritium removal technology in Korea is the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant’s Removal Facility (TRF). However, TRF is a process for removing HTO from D2O of pure water, so it is suitable only for heavy water with high tritium concentration, and is not suitable for seawater caused by Fukushima nuclear power plant’s serious accident, and surface water and groundwater contaminated by environmental outflow of tritium. Until now, such as low-temperature decompression distillation method, water-hydrogen isotope exchange method, gas hydrate method, acid and alkali treatment method, adsorption method using inorganic adsorbent (zeolite, activated carbon), separator method using electrolysis, ion exchange adsorption method using ion exchange resin, etc. have been studied as leading technologies for tritium decontamination. However, any single technology alone has problems such as energy efficiency and processing capacity in processing tritium, and needs to be supplemented. Therefore, in this study, four core technologies with potential for development were selected to select the elemental technology field of pilot facilities for treating tritium, and specialized research teams from four universities are conducting technology development. It was verified that, although each process has different operating conditions, tritium removal performance is up to 60% in the multi-stage zeolite membrane process, 30% in the metal oxide & electrochemical treatment process, 43% in the process using hydrophilic inorganic adsorbent, and 8% in the process using functional ion exchange resin. After that, in order to fuse with the pretreatment process technology for treating various water quality tritium contaminated water conducted in previous studies, the hybrid composite process was designed by reflecting the characteristics of each technology. The first goal is to create a Pilot hybrid tritium removal facility with 70% tritium removal efficiency and a flow rate of 10 L/hr, and eventually develop a 100 L/hr flow tritium removal system with 80% tritium removal efficiency through performance improvement and scale-up. It is also considering technology for the postprocessing process in the future.

Curcumin is not soluble in water. Therefore, curcumin emulsion that can dissolve well in water were prepared using multi-emulsification technology, and the antioxidant activities and physical properties of emulsion were measured. Although curcumin was not dissolved in water, it was confirmed to be well dispersed in water when prepared in an aqueous dispersion curcumin emulsion. After dissolving curcumin using water and ethanol as solvents, respectively, the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of the filtrate and the curcumin emulsion were measured. Because it was not dissolved in water, activities were not shown. However, when curcumin was dissolved in ethanol, the activities increased as the concentration of curcumin increased. On the other hand, when the curcumin emulsion was dissolved in water, it was found to have abilities. The curcumin emulsion was nano-homogenized and the size and distribution of the emulsified spheres were measured. It was confirmed to be nano-sized as it appeared as 9.083 nm/100%. In the results of the DPPH radical and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of curcumin nano-emulsion, it was confirmed that there was no change in the antioxidant abilities. In conclusion, water-dispersible curcumin prepared using multi-emulsification technology, and it was confirmed to exhibit antioxidant activity and emulsion stability.

This study investgates Korean water technology through the water market perspective and analyses its competitiveness. Based on the water technology classification, water technology competitiveness is analysed through the technological influence index and market dominance index which are based on the extracted water technology patents from the US, Europe, Korea, and Japan for the last decade. As a result, the Korean water technology patents were lack in influence and competitiveness in global market considering the large volume of patents. There are two most tech-influential industries in Korea; manufacturing industry consisting pipes, sterilization, disinfection, and advanced water purification equipment, and construction industry including seawater desalination and water resource development. Due to the domestic usage of the patents, the Korean water technology patents scored low in global market PFS(Patent Family Size) index compared to their CPP(Cites Per Patent) index. The study is meaningful in a way that the analysis on Korean water technology competitiveness using water technology classification system and patent analysis was conducted based on the perspective of the global water market.

기후 변화는 비정상적인 날씨 패턴을 야기하며 연간 강수량에 지대한 영향을 미친다. 이와 더불어 산업화의 가속화는 에너지 수요를 증가시키며 석유화학 산업폐수의 누수와 유조선의 유출을 초래함으로써 수질 오염을 악화시킨다. 이러한 부정적인 여건 속에서 정수를 효율적으로 추출해내는 해결책을 강구하는 것이 요구된다. 기름/물 분리를 위해 화학적 침전 및 흡착에 의한 분리 등과 같은 방식을 운용할 수 있지만 분리막 기술이 비용 및 에너지 측면에서 더 효율적이다. 분리막의 양친성은 전기 전도성과 친수성이 뛰어난 MXene이라는 2차원소재를 도입하여 향상시킬 수 있다. 본 총설에서는 향상된 분 리막 성능의 사례를 크게 순수 MXene이 적용된 사례와 변형된 MXene이 적용된 사례로 나누어진 목차로 전개할 것이다. 복합 분리막을 제조하기 위해 다양한 고분자가 사용되었으며 각 사례에서 MXene은 특정 용도에 적합한 특성을 더욱 강화시켜 주었다.

국내 생태계의 환경유전자 적용도 가속화되고 있으나 생산된 데이터를 처리하고 분석하는데 한계를 느끼고 있으며, 분석 생산된 생물데이터의 신뢰성에 대한 의구심이 제기되기도 하고 시료 매체 (대상 시료, 물, 공기, 퇴적물, 위내용물, 분변 등) 간의 방법에 따른 차이와 분석 방법의 정량화와 개선 등이 필요한 상태이기도 하다. 따라서 국내 생태계의 환경 유전자를 활용한 생물다양성 연구의 신뢰성과 정확성을 확보하기 위해서는 생태분류학으로 축적된 데이터베이스를 적 극적으로 활용하여 검증 절차를 거치고, 유전자 서열 분석으로 높아진 데이터의 해상력을 전문가들이 검증하는 과정이 반드시 필요하다. 환경유전자 연구는 분자생물학적인 기술 적용으로만 해결될 수 없으며, 생산된 데이터의 신뢰성을 확보하기 위한 생태-분류-유전학-인포메틱스 등 학제 간의 연구 협력이 중요하며, 다양한 매체를 다루는 연구자들이 함께 접근할 수 있는 정보 공유 플랫폼이 절실한 분야이며, 발전의 속도도 급격하게 진행될 것이고 축적되는 데이터는 수년 내에 빅테이터로서 성장할 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

기름/물 분리막은 다른 분리 기술들에 비해 낮은 에너지 비용과 높은 성능 수준을 갖고 있다. 초친수성과 수중에 서 소유성은 효과적인 기름/물 분리막을 개발하는 데 가장 중요한 요인으로 작용한다. 이와 더불어 방오속성과 생분해성도 효과 적인 기름/물 분리막을 개발할 때에 고려되는 중요한 요소들이다. 본 리뷰 논문에서는 다양한 화학성분과 형태를 변형시켜 개발된 기름/물 분리막의 특성과 분리 효율을 개선한 연구들을 소개한다.