Kokyo Oh/ Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Japan

Prof. Dr. Kokyo Oh is a senior researcher in Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Japan. He obtained Ph.D. degree (soil science) in 1995, and was honored as a research fellow by Japan Science and Technology Agency (STA) from 1997 to 1999. His research areas include soil science, environmental conservation, environmental chemistry and biology, and environmental agronomy. He has published more than 200 major academic papers, has presided over and participated in more than 100 scientific research fund projects, and has been invited to be the chairman of more than 20 international conferences.

Speech title "Economic Phytoremediation: An Innovative Strategy for Contaminated Soil Restoration, Environmental Conservation, and Food Securityquot"

Abstract-Soil supports nearly 95% of global food production and plays a vital role in environmental conservation by maintaining biodiversity, regulating biogeochemical cycles, and contributing to climate-change mitigation through carbon sequestration. Total food demand is projected to increase by 50–60% between 2019 and 2050 due to population growth. However, Approximately 14–17% of cropland worldwide is estimated to be contaminated with toxic metals, posing significant risks not only to food security and public health but also to soil resource sustainability and overall ecological resilience. Conventional soil remediation technologies, including excavation, soil washing, solidification, and landfilling, are costly and often degrade soil structure and biological productivity, resulting in the loss of precious soil resources. In this study, we developed an economic phytoremediation system using biofuel crops and ornamental plants instead of traditional hyperaccumulators, enabling both soil remediation and biomass utilization. This approach allows contaminated landowners to generate income, promoting practical application of phytoremediation. Field trials with maize, sorghum, sunflower, soybean, rapeseed and commercial chrysanthemum demonstrated effective decontamination and economic benefit. The results demonstrated (i) the use of suitable biofuel and ornamental plants eliminated the need for incineration of contaminated biomass, (ii) the plants exhibited superior decontamination efficiency compared with hyperaccumulators while enabling safe and economically viable biomass utilization, and (iii) remediated soils were restored for agricultural use, producing crops that are safe for consumption. This approach is expected to be applied to diverse contaminated sites, including urban soils and former industrial lands, providing a sustainable, economically viable, and environmentally compatible remediation strategy for the contaminated soils.

Prof. Hyunook Kim/ University of Seoul, Korea

Dr. Hyunook Kim is Professor at Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Korea, and Director of R&D Center of Core Technologies for Water Treatment. Professor Kim earned his B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Yonsei University, Korea in 1994, and an M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1997, and a Ph.D. from University of Maryland at College Park in 2000. Before he joined the faculty member at University of Seoul in 2002, he worked as Environmental Engineer for US Dept. of Agriculture, MD, USA.
Professor Kim’s research in the area of water pollution control includes a number of projects on process control and operation of water and wastewater treatment plants. Especially he is interested in monitoring and control of contaminants of emerging concern. He has published numerous journal papers and made conference presentations. He has been received a few awards for his academic and research achievements.

Speech title "Fate and Process-Specific Variations of Microplastics in a Drinking Water Treatment Plant"

Abstract-Public concern about the presence of microplastics (MPs) in drinking water has been increasing. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and removal efficiency of MPs across the unit processes of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) in Korea. Water samples of 100 L were collected from each major process. MPs with the size ≥ 20 μm were analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy, while MPs of 5–20 μm were done using Raman microscopy. Although the absolute MP concentrations and the specific size ranges of MP peaks differed between the two analytical techniques, both consistently showed an overall decrease in MP abundance over the intake to the clear well. Coagulation, sedimentation, and filtration showed a clear decreasing trend relative to the raw water, indicating that these processes are the major contributors to the MP reduction. However, both analytical techniques also revealed abnormal increases in MP counts at certain downstream processes. These increases coincided with locations where material debris were observed during field inspection. Despite differences in the exact stages showing increases, both analytical methods supported that MPs could have been secondarily introduced through material degradation occurring within the DWTP. These findings suggest that, while the DWTP effectively reduces MPs originating from the source water, internal material degradation may contribute to the reappearance of MPs at specific processes. Therefore, the study highlights the importance of managing infrastructure integrity to prevent MPs from occurring internally.

Prof. Yi Huang/ Chengdu University of Technology, China

Yi Huang, female, professor, doctoral supervisor at Chengdu University of Technology (CDUT). She is the academic and technical leader in Sichuan Province, China. She is the deputy director of the Key Laboratory of Synergistic Control and Joint Remediation of Soil and Water Pollution of National Environmental Protection, the member of Chinese Society of Mineralogical and Petrographic Geochemistry, the director of the Soil Fertilizer Society of Sichuan, and the member of the European Geological Union (EGU) and the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Prof. Huang is mainly engaged in the research of environmental geochemistry and ecological restoration of mining area. In the past ten years, she has presided more than 15 research projects. She has established a new isotope tracer method to quantitatively identify the source of heavy metals, revealed the migration and transportation pathways and the laws of heavy metals in the ecological chain, and created a triple barrier technology to prevent and control the migration of heavy metals in multiple environmental media. She has published more than 110 academic papers, 3 monographs, and authorized 12 invention patents. She was awarded the second prize of National Environmental Protection Science and Technology, and the second prize of Sichuan Provincial Scientific and Technological Progress.