• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2010

The Myoungbong mine located in Boseong-gun, Jellanamdo consists of Au-Ag bearing quartz veins which filled the fissures of Bulguksa granitic rocks of Cretaceous. The tailings obtained from the Myungbong mine were used to investigate the effects of various processes, such as oxidation of primary sulfides and formation(alteration) of secondary and/or tertiary minerals, on arsenic immobilization in tailings. This study was conducted via both mineralogical and chemical methods. Mineralogical methods used included gravity and magnetic separation, ultrasonic cleaning, and instrumental analyses(X-ray diffractometry, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, and electron probe microanalyzer) and aqua regia extraction technique for soils was applied to determine the elemental concentrations in the tailings. Iron (oxy)hydroxides formed as a result of oxidation of tailings were identified as three specific forms. The first form filled in rims and fissures of primary pyrites. The second one precipitated and coated the surfaces of gangue minerals and the final form was altered into yukonites. Initially, large amounts of acid-generating minerals, such as pyrite and arsenopyrite, might make the rapid progress of oxidation reactions, and lots of secondary minerals including iron (oxy)hydroxides and scorodite were formed. The rate of pH decrease in tailings diminished, in addition, as the exposure time of tailings to oxidation environments was prolonged and the acid-generating minerals were depleted. Rather, it is speculated that the pH of tailings increased, as the contribution of pH neutralization reactions by calcite contained in surrounding parental rocks became larger. The stability of secondary minerals, such as scorodite, were deteriorated due to the increase in pH, and finally arsenic might be leached out. Subsequently, calcimn and arsenic ions dissociated from calcites and scorodites were locally concentrated, and yukonite could be grown tertiarily. It is confirmed that this tertiary yukonite which is one of arsenate minerals and contains arsenic in high level plays a crucial role in immobilizing arsenic in tailings. In addition to immobilization of arsenic in yukonites, the results indicate that a huge amount of iron (oxy)hydroxides formed by weathering of pyrite which is one of typical primary minerals in tailings can strongly control arsenic behavior as well. Consequently, this study elucidates that through a sequence of various processes, arsenic which was leached out as a result of weathering of primary minerals, such as arsenopyrite, and/or redissolved from secondary minerals, such as scorodite, might be immobilized by various sorption reactions including adsorption, coprecipiation, and absorption.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.1B
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• pp.91-96
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• 2009

Layered double hydroxide is synthesized and used in the arsenate adsorption experiments. The shapes of two materials analyzed by TEM showed that unheated material is amorphous in shape, micro-sized while heat treated material showed more crystallized in shape and nano-sized. X-ray diffraction showed this result more obvious. $N_2$ adsorption-desorption results showed that the materials are mesoporous and the specific surface area of the heated material is more than two times larger than the unheated material. Adsorption of As(V) is expected to be more in the heated material than the unheated material. Kinetic test of arsenate adsorption showed very fast reaction. The reactivity of Fe with As(V) might be the main factor for this result. The reaction kinetic of the heated and the unheated materials were similar and even the adsorption isotherms showed similar results for both materials. Both materials are found to be useful in remediation of soil and groundwater polluted by waste mine tailings consist of high concentration of As(V).

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.425-434
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• 2008

Arsenic contamination in soil and groundwater has recently been one of the most serious environmental concerns. This arsenic contamination can be originated from natural or anthropogenic sources. It has been well known that arsenic behavior in geo-environmental is controlled by various oxides or hydroxides, such as those of iron, manganese, and aluminum, and clay minerals. Among those, particularly, iron (oxy)hydroxides are the most effective scavengers for arsenic. For this reason, this study characterized arsenic adsorption of magnetite which is a kind of iron oxide in nature. The physicochemcial features of the magnetite were investigated to evaluate adsorption of arsenite [As(III)] and arsenate [As(V)] onto magnetite. In addition to experiments on adsorption equilibria, kinetic experiments were also conducted. The point of zero charge (PZC) and specific surface area of the laboratory-synthesized magnetite used as an arsenic adsorbent were measured 6.56 and $16.6\;g/m^2$, which values seem to be relatively smaller than those of the other iron (oxy)hydroxides. From the results of equilibria experiments, arsenite was much more adsorbed onto magnetite than arsenate, indicating the affinity of arsenite on magnetite is larger than arsenate. Arsenite and arsenate showed adsorption maxima at pHs 7 and 2, respectively. In particular, adsorption of arsenate decreased with increase in pH as a result of electrical repulsion caused by anionic arsenate and negatively-charged surface of magnetite. These results indicate that the surface charge of magnetite and the chemical speciation of arsenic should be considered as the most crucial factors in controlling arsenic. The results of kinetic experiments show that arsenate was adsorbed more quickly than arsenite and adsorption of arsenic was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 4 hours, regardless of chemical speciation of arsenic. When the results of kinetic experiments were fitted to a variety of kinetic models proposed so far, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto magnetite.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2008

Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.111-123
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• 2022

Carbonate green rust (CGR) and sulfate green rust (SGR) commonly occur in nature. In this study, CGR and SGR were synthesized through co-precipitation, and their formation mechanisms and physicochemical properties were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement showed both CGR and SGR with layered double hydroxide structure were successfully synthesized without any secondary phases under each synthetic condition. Refined structural parameters (unit cell) for two green rusts were a (=b) = 3.17 Å and c = 22.52 Å for CGR and a (=b) = 5.50 Å and c = 10.97 Å for SGR with the crystallite size 57.8 nm in diameter from (003) reflection and 40.1 nm from (001) reflections, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) results showed that both CGR and SGR had typical hexagonal plate-like crystal morphologies but their chemical composition is different in the content of C and S. In addition, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analysis revealed that carbonate (CO₃^2-) and sulfate (SO₄^2-) molecules were occupied as interlayer anions of CGR and SGR, respectively. These SEM/EDS and FT-IR results were in good agreement with XRD results. Changes in the solution chemistry (i.e., pH, Eh and residual iron concentrations (Fe(II):Fe(III)) of the mixed solution) were observed as a function of the injection time of hydroxyl ion (OH^-) into the iron solution. Three different stages were observed in the formation of both CGR and SGR; precursor, intermediator, and green rust in the formation of both CGR and SGR. This study provides co-precipitation methods for CGR and SGR in a way of the stable synthesis. In addition, our findings for the formation mechanisms of the two green rusts and their physicochemical properties will provide crucial information with researches and industrials in utilizing green rust.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.363-373
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• 2013

This study investigates the dispersion and behavior of Au and heavy metals in the water system (soil, AMD and stream sediment) at the abandoned Bonjeong gold mine, based on XRD, aqua regia, sequential extraction, and physico-chemical analyses. The XRD analyses targeted quartz and kaolinite in the mine waste soil and quartz and goethite in stream sediment. The physico-chemical analyses of AMD with increasing distance from water system showed that pH increased from 3.00 to 3.19 and Eh decreased from 450 to 396 mV. The Au content in AMD ranged from 0.68 to 0.97 mg/L upstream, but was not detected downstream. The Au content of stream sediment was 13.76 to 22.85 mg/kg. Sequential extraction from stream sediment revealed 10.84% exchangeable (STEP I), 11.09% carbonates (STEP II), 25.53% Fe-Mn oxides (STEP III), 26.62% organic matter (STEP IV), and 24.61% residual (STEP V).

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.27-36
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• 2007

A recent study showed that MTBE can be degraded by Fenton's Reagent (FR). The treatment of MTBE with FR, however, has a definite limitation of extremely low pH requirement (optimum pH $3{\sim}4$) that makes the process impracticable under neutral pH condition on which the ferrous ion precipitate forming salt with hydroxyl anion, which result in the diminishment of the Fenton reaction and incompatible with biological treatment. Consequently, this process using only FR is not suitable for in-situ remediation of MTBE. In order to overcome this limitation, modified Fenton process using NTA, oxalate, and acetate as chelating reagents was introduced into this study. Modified Fenton reaction, available at near neutral pH, has been researched for the purpose of obtaining high performance of oxidation efficiency with stabilized ferrous or ferric ion by chelating agent. In the MTBE degradation experiment with modified Fenton reaction, it was observed that this reaction was influenced by some factors such as concentrations of ferric ion, hydrogen peroxide, and each chelating agent and pH. Six potential chelators including oxalate, succinate, acetate, citrate, NTA, and EDTA were tested to identify an appropriate chelator. Among them, oxalate, acetate, and NTA were selected based on their remediation efficiency and biodegradability of each chelator. Using NTA, the best result was obtained, showing more than 99.9% of MTBE degradation after 30 min at pH 7; the initial concentration of hydrogen peroxide, NTA, and ferric ion were 1470 mM, 6 mM, and 2 mM, respectively. Under the same experimental condition, the removal of MTBE using oxalate and acetate were 91.3% and 75.8%, respectively. Optimum concentration of iron ion were 3 mM using oxalate which showed the greatest removal efficiency. In case of acetate, $[MTBE]_0$ decreased gradually when concentration of iron ion increased above 5 mM. In this research, it was showed that modified Fenton reaction is proper for in-situ remediation of MTBE with great efficiency and the application of chelatimg agents, such as NTA, was able to make the ferric ion stable even at near neutral pH. In consequence, the outcomes of this study clearly showed that the modified Fenton process successfully coped with the limitation of the low pH requirement. Furthermore, the introduction of low molecular weight organic acids makes the process more available since these compounds have distinguishable biodegradability and it may be able to use natural iron mineral as catalyst for in situ remediation, so as to produce hydroxyl radical without the additional injection of ferric ion.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.260-267
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• 2001

The biochemical composition and antioxidative activity of marine microalgae were investigated for the effective utilization of marine resources. Two species of marine microalgae, Nannochloris oculata (N. oculata) of Chlorophyceae and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (P. tricornutum) of Bacillariophyceae, were selected. Because these species showed the high growth rate and easy to continuous culture. The contents of crude protein, lipid, and carbohydrate were $54.91\%,\;11.29\%,\;and\;10.15\%$, for N. oculata and $38.07\%,\;13.19\%,\;and\;7.13\%$, for P. tricornutum, respectively. Glutamic acid was the highest concentration for both species. Galactose (3,712.02 mg/100g), fucose (1,966.03 mg/100g), and glucose (1,814.35 mg/100g) were the major carbohydrates for N. oculatae, and glucose (5,295.45 mg/100g) and mannose (841.34 mg/100g) were for P. tricornutum. K (12,906.86 mg/100g), Mg (1,039.15 mg/100g), Ca (882.57 mg/100g) and Fe (747.20 mg/100g) were the major minerals for N. oculata, and K (11,718.65 mg/100g), Ca (2,003.32 mg/100g), Mg (1,570.84 mg/100g) and Fe (552.58 mg/100g) were for P. tricornutum. In the composition of nucleotides, ADP ($4.77{\mu}mol/g$) was the highest in N. oculata and hypoxanthine (11.74{\mu}mol/g) in P. tricornutum. Large amount of linoleic acid (18: 2, $\omega-6$) was contained in N. oculata. In contrast 16: 1 ($\omega-7$) and 20: 5 ($\omega-3$) were major fatty acid in P. tricornutum. The antioxidative activities of organic solvent extracts of two microalgae were measured by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay method. The chloroform extract obtained from P. tricornutum was identified to be the most effective in DPPH radical scavenging activity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.285-290
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• 2001

To utilize canned oyster processing waste water effectively, this study was carried out to prepare instant powdered soup using the waste water (IPSW), Instant powdered souu from oyster hot-water extracts (IPSE) was prepared by mixing hot-water extracts powder (15 g) with table salt (5 g), cream powder (19 g), milk replacer (12 g), wheat flour (20 g), corn flour (15 g), starch (5 g), glucose (7.5 g) and onion powder (1.5 g). In preparing IPSW, mixed powder from wash water and boiling liquid waste, instead of powder from hot-water extracts and table salt, was added (powder from boiling liquid waste: powder from wash water= 12: 8) and other additives were added in proportion to those in the IPSE, The IPSW consists mainly of carbohydrates (about $72\%$). It was not different from the IPSE. The volatile basic nitrogen, viable cell counts, coliform group of the IPSW contains 33.4 mg/100g, $2.2\times10^4CFU/g$, <180 MPN/100g, respectively, and its water activity has 0.257. So it was a hygienically safe and conservable instant food. The main fatty acids of IPSW were 16: 0 and 18: 1n-9. Its chemical score of protein was $61.4\%$ and its main inorganic matter was iron. According to a sensual evaluation, in contrast to the IPSE, the IPSW had a bit lower aroma but better taste, It was concluded from the above chemical and sensory evaluation that even the boiling liquid waste which had been mostly abandoned because of its high table salt content can be used as a good material for instant powdered soup if it's powdered and mixed adequately with powder from wash water, and its table salt content is properly adjusted.