• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.145-153
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• 2004

H$_2$SO$_4$ and citric acid were used as additives for the electrokinetic remediation experiment to increase removal efficiency of $^{137}$ Cs and $^{60}$ Co from the radioactive soil waste stored for more than 10 years. The average effluent velocity discharged from the elctrokinectic remediation experimental column was 2.0${\times}$10$^{-2}$ cm/min and the discharged soil wastewater volume for 10 days is 3.6 pore volume of the column. 97% of $^{60}$ Co in the column was decontaminated for 10 days of operation, while only 54% of $^{137}$ Cs was decontaminated. These results are considered that the absorption equilibrium coefficient of $^{137}$ Cs is higher than that of $^{60}$ Co. The predicted values of the residual concentration by the proposed mathematical model were well coincided with the experimental results within the experimental error range

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.85-94
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• 2002

Overall objective of this study was to evaluate the electrochemical characteristics of fine soils during the electrokinetic(EK) remediation. Zeta potential of kaolinite as a function of solution pH and surfactant concentration was investigated to make a relationship with electroosmotic flow direction and rate. During the EK experiments, pH of pore solution, electroosmotic permeability($k_e$), electric conductivity($\delta_e$) and voltage distribution was measured, respectively, The point of zero charge(PZC) of kaolinite was estimated to be about 4.2 and the zeta potential of kaolinite above PZC was more negative as solution pH increased. Sorption of surfactants on the kaolinite altered the zeta potential of kaolinite. resulting from the variation of electrochemical characteristics of kaolinite surface. hs the EK experiment progressed, low pH was predominant over most of the kaolinite specimen and thus resulted in very low mass and charge flow. The $k_e$ and $\delta_e$ was also affected by the variation of voltage drop across the EK column with time. Results from this study implied that zeta potential of kaolinite affected by the pH variation of pore solution and voltage distribution in soil column played important role in the determination of mass and charge flow during EK process. It was also suggested that pH adjustment or addition of suitable sorbates could alter the electrochemical characteristics of soil surface and thus maintain high mass and charge flow rate with time.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

A large amount of acidic waste solution is generated from the practical electrokinetic decontamination equipments for the remediation of soil contaminated with uranium. After filtration of uranium hydroxides formed by adding CaO into the waste solution, the filtrate was recycled in order to reduce the volume of waste solution. However, when the filtrate was used in an electrokinetic equipment, the low permeability of the filtrate from anode cell to cathode cell due to a high concentration of calcium made several problems such as the weakening of a fabric tamis, the corrosion of electric wire and the adhension of metallic oxides to the surface of cathode electrode. To solve these problems, sulfuric acid was added into the filtrate and calcium in the solution was removed as $CaSO_4$ precipitate. A decontamination test using a small electrokinetic equipment for 20 days indicated that Ca-removed waste solution decreased uranium concentration of the waste soil to 0.35 Bq/g, which is a similar to a decontamination result obtained by distilled water.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.21 no.6 s.101
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• pp.428-432
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• 2006

This study investigated the effect of sulfate source on removal efficiency in electrokinetic bioremediation which needs sulfate to degrade contaminants by an applied microorganism. The representative contaminant and the applied microorganism were phenanthrene and Sphingomonas sp. 3Y, respectively. When magnesium sulfate was used, the magnesium ion combined with hydroxyl ion electrically-generated at cathode to cause the decrease of electrolyte pH, and then the microbial activity was inhibited by that. When ammonium sulfate and disodium sulfate were used to solve the pH control problem, the pH values of electrolyte and soil solution were maintained neutrally, and also the high microbial activity was observed. With the former sulfate source, however, ammonium retarded the phenanthrene degradation, and so the removal efficiency decreased to 12.0% rather than 21.8% with magnesium sulfate. On the other hand, the latter improved the removal efficiency to 27.2%. This difference of removal efficiency would be outstanding for an elongated treatment period.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.68-77
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• 2009

For the reservoir sediment highly contaminated with total Cr, Pb, and Cd, the applicability of electrokinetic remediation method was evaluated. Also, BCR sequential extraction method was adopted to compare the heavy metal speciation in between before and after electrokinetic reaction that is operated under constant current condition for the sediment. After reaction, total Cr and Pb moved toward the direction of anode, while Cd tended to cathode and stayed highest in the midst of sediment specimen. From the BCR sequential extraction analysis, it was known that for total Cr and Pb the residual fraction that showed high fraction before reaction decreased and changed to the oxidation fraction. On the other hand, for Cd the fraction of exchangeable/carbonate that dominated most fractions before reaction changed to the residual and oxidation fractions.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.1C
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• pp.17-25
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• 2010

Electrophoresis may offer a new technique to repair in service leaking geomembrane liner of municipal solid waste (MSW) impoundment. The method involves introducing a suspended clay particles, which are charged negatively, into the leakage in geomembrane liners by electrokinetic phenomena and formation of clay cake around leakage for prevention of leachate outflows. Therefore, the 3-dimensional leakage simulation experiments are conducted to evaluate the field applicability of sealing leaks of waste impoundment. In addition, the adequateness of optimum influence factors deduced from 1-dimensional experiments is evaluated. After the test, the total size (width, length) of clay cake formation around leak is increased with enlargement of leakage diameter and distance decrease detween anode and cathode.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.330-333
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• 2003

Recently electrokinetic process is known to be a promising remediation technology for the contaminated soils with heavy metals, radionuclides, organic matters, and so on. The contaminants in electrokinetic technology are removed mainly by three mechanisms; electroosmosis, electromigration, and electrophoresis. When direct current is introduced between two electrodes planted in soil, a large amount of hydrogen ions is formed and moves from anode to cathode with the other cations contained in electrolyte. The water flow caused by tile movement of cations is called as electroosmosis. Especially for non-ionic pollutants, the electroosmotic flow(EOF) is the most important removal mechanism among them and transports contaminants from anode to cathode along the water flow. In this study, characteristics of electroosmotic flow was investigated according to the resistance state of soil. The decrease, maintenance, and increase of soil resistance could be obtained by controlling ions in soil. When the resistance of soil was decreasing or maintained, the EOF is proportional to electric current and voltage, respectively and when the resistance was increasing, the EOF is proportional to only electric current not voltage.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.186-190
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• 2004

The electrokinetic bioremediation employing electrolyte circulation method was carried out for the cleanup of phenanthrene-contaminated kaolinite, and microorganism used in the biodegradation of phenanthrene was Sphingomonas sp. 3Y. The electrolyte circulation method supplied ionic nutrientsand the microorganism into soil, and inhibited the significant pH change of soil by increasing the soil buffering capacity by providing phosphate buffer compounds. When the remediation process was conducted without surfactant, the removal efficiency of phenanthrene, at the initial concentration of 200 ppm, was 69% for only 7 days. Higher microbial population and lower phenanthrene concentration were observed in the anode and middle regions of soil specimen than in the cathode region. The higher density of microorganism was because the microbial movement was in the direction of the anode part due to the negative surface charge. When Triton X-100 and APG of 20 g/1 were used to improve the bioavailability of phenanthrene strongly adsorbed onto soil surface, about 90 and 39% of phenanthrene removal were obtained. Consequently, it was confirmed that the microorganism preferred APC to phenanthrene as carbon source and so the removal efficiency with APG decreased less than that without APG.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.181-185
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• 2004

Electrokinetic bioremediation was conducted on phenanthrene-contaminated soil to study the effects of soil temperature and pH on microbial population and removal efficiency at different current densities from 0.63 to 3.13 mA cm$^{-2}$ . Microorganism used in the biodegradation of phenanthrene was Sphingomonas sp. 3Y, which was isolated from a diesel-contaminated site. The microorganism was successfully penetrated into the contaminated soil by electrokinetic phenomena and the highest microbial population was observed in the middle region of soil specimen where soil pH was near neutral. Therefore, phenanthrene removal occurred mainly at anode and middle parts of soil specimen due to a relatively high microbial population. Also, the highest removal efficiency of 68.8% was obtained at 1.88 mA cm$^{-2}$ while low degradation was detected at 3.13 mA cm$^{-2}$ . It was presumably because the soil temperature at 1.88 mAcm$^{-2}$ was close to the appropriate temperature of about 30'c while the temperature increase to above 45$^{\circ}C$ at 3.13 mA cm$^{-2}$ inhibited the microbial activity severely.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.696-700
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• 2003

$H_2SO_4$ and citric acid had higher extraction efficiency of $^{137}Cs$ from soil than the other chemicals. Thus, $H_2SO_4$and citric acid were used as additives on remediation experiment by electrokinetic method to increase removal efficiency of $^{137}Cs$ from the radioactive soil being stored during a long time. An average velocity of effluent discharged from experimental column $2.0{\times}10^{-2}$/cm/min and a volume of the discharged soil wastewater for 10 days is 3.6 Pore Volume. The 54% of a total of $^{137}Cs$ in the column was decontaminated for 10 days. Furthermore, the predicted values of residual concentration by the developed model were quite similar to those obtained from experiments.