• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.195-204
• /
• 2012

Biomineralization has been explored for geochemical cycles and microbial tolerance mechanisms to metal toxicity. Here, we are introducing NanoFermentation which enables economic, environmentally friendly, requiring low input energy, and scalable manufacturing of nano-dimensioned magnetite. We are also focusing on controlling factors of crystallite size which can determine superparamagnetism and ferrimagnetism. Controlling factors are such as microbial species, temperature, incubation time, medium composition, substituted elements and their concentration, precursor type, reaction volume, precursor concentration density and their combinations. Crystallite size distribution of biomagnetite depends on the balance between nuclei generation and crystal growth. Biomineralization will elucidate elemental cycles on earth crust and microbial ecology as well as it will be applied to material sciences and devices via massive production of nanomaterials.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.21-32
• /
• 2000

Rock composition of the Hwangsang-dong Granite Standing Sculptured Buddha (Treasure No. 1122) in the Kumi City is biotite-hornblende granodiorite which consists of about 30 pieces of individual rock blocks of same compositions. However, the cap rocks is pebble-bearing coarse sandstone. Rock blocks of the Standing Buddha and surrounding out crops occur well developed several joint systems of $N25^{\circ}$ to $45^{\circ}W$ strike and nearly vertical (70 to $85^{\circ}SE$) dipping. Rock blocks of the Standing Buddha showed vertical, horizontal and oblique joints, and those blocks are well supported by individual blocks. However, the junction part of the blocks are under dangerous situation due 10 seriously mechanical and chemical weathering. Host rock of the Standing Buddha belongs to the HW grade, therefore mostly rock-forming minerals of the granodiorite Standing Buddha altered with clay and iron hydroxide minerals by mineralogical and chemical weathering. Near surface of the Standing Buddha show spore and mycelium of green algaes, and a joint plane alive with weeds. We suggest that if structural stability for the Standing Buddha remove essentially a unstable rock blocks from the main body, and the main body necessitate supporting by rock bolting method because of repeated unstability and minimizing stress to the rock blocks. For the opened joint planes, fractured surface and alive weeds will attempt to fill in a petro-epoxy, petro-filler and biochemical treatments for the algaes, and ground water curtain and wall seems to be necessary for water flow and diminishing humidity of the Standing Buddha.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.529-534
• /
• 2008

The normal shell and the regenerated oyster shell, Crassostrea gigas, are separated according to the characteristics of inner shell morphology. To study characteristics of chitin obtained from the regenerated shell, chitin prepared by acid and alkali process is analyzed by FT-IR (Fourier transform infrared spectrometer) and XRD (X-ray Diffractometer). The content of insoluble protein in the normal shell was more than doubled as compared with that in the regenerated shell. A comparison of secondary structure of the normal shell and the regenerated shell revealed that the content of random of the regenerated shell was above 47%, indicating an amount in the structural unordered state. Through amino acid composition analysis and secondary protein structure of soluble protein isolated from the normal shell and the regenerated shell, it was found that there are differences in biomineralization strategy of the regenerated shell as compared to the normal shell. The relatively low hardness of the regenerated shell is caused by the change of amino acid composition and ordered secondary protein structure as compared to hardness of the normal shell.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.205-210
• /
• 2008

Pearl is the organic gemstone which does not come from mines but from the biomineralization inside mollusc. Mollusc with nacre on inner surface of the shell is inevitable to make pearl. In this paper we researched and analyzed the pearls cultured using Pen shell (Atrina pectinata) which is not used in pearl farming industry but has potential to make pearls because it has thick and beautiful nacre inside the shell. SEM analysis was conducted to reveal the pattern of nacre on the Atrina pectinata pearl. Specific characteristics as sea-water pearl are detected by further analysis with ED-XRF. Aragonite specific peaks such as $1083cm^{-1}$ and $705cm^{-1}$ were shown by Raman analysis. UV-Vis analysis of Atrina pectinata pearl showed different pattern of spectrum compared with Pinctada margaritifera pearl. The reason for this discrepancy is assumed by the metabolic difference of each species.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.221-227
• /
• 2016

Copper is an essential transition metal involving in various biogeochemical processes. With the recent advances in analytical techniques and mass spectrometry, such as MC-ICP-MS, it is possible to measure Cu isotopes, which allows us to understand various biogeochemical processes in detail. Nonetheless, few studies have been performed in South Korea. In this study, we compared two purification methods previously reported using an anion exchange resin ($AG^{(R)}$ MP-1M), developed the best method in our lab environment, and then verified it by measuring Cu isotopic compositions in two USGS geological reference materials (BHVO-2 and BIR-1a). Although all matrix cations causing mass bias were effectively removed through both two methods with the yield of better than 95%, the method using the mixture of HCl and $H_2O_2$ only displays Cu isotopic compositions, in excellent agreement with reported values within the error. The method developed in this study is expected to be commonly applied to earth and environmental sciences.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.265-273
• /
• 2001

The sea urchin has been used as sea food in many countries. This species has also been an important organism of embryological studies for more than a century. In recent years, sea urchin embryos are being used as testing materials for toxicity of pollutants and toxins. Usefulness of sea urchin embryos as experimental models comes from the easiness in obtaining sea urchin samples and a lot of gametes, in rearing embryos in the laboratory, in observing the cellular movement and organ formation during the embryogenesis and in manipulating blastomeres and genetic maferials. The sea urchin in itself is a key organism for the understanding of deuterostome evolution from the protostomes and of indirect development of marine invertebrates which undergo the planktotrophic larval stage. A fertilized sea urchin egg goes through rapid cleavage and becomes a 60 cell embryo 7hr after fertilization. It then develops into a morula, a blastula, a gastrula and finally a pluteus larva approximately 70 hr after fertilization. At the 60 cell stage, the embryo comprises of five territories that express territory-speciflc genes and later form different organs. Micromeres at the vegetal pole ingress into the blastoceol and become the primary mesenchyme cells(PMCs). PMCs express genes involved in skeletogenesis such as SM30, SM37, SM50, PM27, msp130. Among the genes, SM37 and SM50 are considered to be members of a gene family which is characterized by early blastula expression, Glycine-Proline-Glutamine rich repeat structures and spicule matrix forming basic proteins. Genetic studies on the sea urchin embryos help understand the molecular basis of indirect development of marine invertebrates and also of the biomineralization common to the animal kingdom.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2009

This research was performed to assess a Fenton-like oxidation using naturally present iron in the field to treat remained oils throughout silty clay residues which finally resided even after a series of soil washing process. Biodegradability was thus tested for reaction products to investigate a possible treatment of the Fenton-like oxidation coupled with a biological treatment process. For those purposes, two types of field soil samples (e.g., dewatered cake after conditioning with a polymer and not-dewatered residue) were tested to remove TPH by adding the various concentration of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Moreover the biodegradability of treated samples was observed based on the ratio of $BOD_5/COD_{Cr}$ after Fenton-like oxidation. The Highest removal of TPH was at 1% of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) when hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was continuously injected for a period of time rather than that of spot introduction with the same amount of it. For the dewatered cake, TPH was effectively treated when the ratio of solid and water was mixed at 1 : 2. Employing cooking oil could increase solubility of TPH due to enhanced surface-active escalating TPH desorption from silty clay. Nonetheless, the biodegradability was decreased as long as the oxidation duration being extended regardless of operational conditions. It was therefore proved that Fenton-like oxidation using $H_2O_2$ and natural iron minerals was able to remove adsorbed oils in silty clay but the removal efficiency of TPH was low. And if a biological treatment process followed after Fenton-like oxidation, microorganisms would need enough time for acclimation.