• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2018

Baekasan Acheon cave located in Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do is a natural limestone cave only found in this province. In this study, the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of speleothems collected from Baekasan Acheon cave were identified and the capability of carbonate mineral formation by aerobic microorganisms enriched from the cave and the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of carbonate minerals formed by the microorganisms were investigated. The samples of sediments (clay) and speleothems (shelfstone and cave coral) were collected at three sites in the cave. The samples of shelfstone and cave coral were identified mainly as carbonate mineral, Mg-rich calcite, and clay minerals were composed of quartz, muscovite, and vermiculite by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. To cultivate the carbonate forming microorganisms, parts of the sediment and speleothems were placed in D-1 medium containing urea, respectively, and the growth of microorganisms was observed under the aerobic condition at room temperature. The capability of carbonate mineralization of the cultured Baekasan Acheon cave microorganisms was examined through adding 1% (v/v) of the cultured microorganisms and calcium sources, Ca-acetate or Ca-lactate, into the D-1 medium. XRD analysis showed that the microorganisms cultured in cave deposits formed calcium carbonate ($CaCO_3$) under all conditions, and these microbial carbonate minerals included calcite and vaterite. The morphological characteristics and chemical composition of biologically formed minerals were observed by SEM-EDS showed various crystal forms such as rhomboid, spherical, perforated surface with Ca, C, and O of major chemical components. The existence of such microorganisms in the cave can contribute the formation of carbonate minerals, and it is likely to affect the geochemical cycles of carbon and calcium in the cave.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.501-511
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• 2009

This study was conducted to develop self-healing ability of concrete so that inspection could be available even in the event of minute cracks without complex works at any time for more economic concrete structure maintenance and longevity. A completely different method has been carried out in comparison with many of similar researches on self-healing concrete. This is a basic study on the development of self-healing concrete using microbial biomineralization. Compounds were generated except for cells by precipitation reaction of CaC$O_3$ during the microbial metabolism and we examined the use as a binder that hardens the surface of sand using biomineralization that Sporosarcina pasteurii precipitates CaC$O_3$. In result, the formation of new mineral and hardening of sand surface could be verified partly, and it was available for cracks to be repaired by calcite with organic (microorganism) and inorganic (CaC$O_3$) complex structure through the basic experiment a little bit. Therefore the use of biomineralization by this sort of microbial metabolism for concrete structure helps to develop absolute repair-concrete like this concrete with microorganism. The effect of microbial application will be one of the most important research tasks having influence on not only repair for concrete structure but also development of new materials able to reduce environmental problems.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.291-305
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• 2015

Microbialites are defined as rocks formed by microbial organisms. After their first appearance around 3.5 billion years ago, microbialites occur in various depositional environments throughout geological periods. Microbial organisms form microbialites by trapping and binding detrital sediments and/or precipitating carbonate cements, resulting in formation of various microstructures and mesostructures. Four major types of microbialites are distinguished based on their mesostructures: stromatolite, thrombolite, dendrolite, and leiolite. In the geological records, occurrences of microbialites are influenced by calcium carbonate saturation of seawater and interaction of microbialites with metazoans. Stromatolites mainly flourished during the Precambrian, and diminished as level of atmospheric carbon dioxide declined. On the other hand, thrombolites, mainly formed by calcified microbes, began to flourish from the Neoproterozoic. As metazoans diversified in the Phanerozoic, proportion of the microbialites within sedimentary record declined. Since then, microbialites only occasionally flourished during the Phanerozoic, such as shortly after mass-extinction events. In the Korean Peninsula, microbialites occur in the Neoproterozoic Sangwon System, the Early Paleozoic Joseon Supergroup, and the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Supergroup, which form different shapes according to their age and depositional environments. By performing detailed studies on these Korean microbialites, it is possible to understand how microbes affected geological records and sedimentary environments, as well as their interaction with other organisms.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.231-240
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• 2002

Microbial metal reduction influences the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and metals as well as plays an important role in the bioremediation of metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants. The use of bacteria to facilitate the production of magnetite nanoparticles and the formation of carbonate minerals may provide new biotechnological processes for material synthesis and carbon sequestration. Metal-reducing bacteria were isolated from a variety of extreme environments, such as deep terrestrial subsurface, deep marine sediments, water near Hydrothemal vents, and alkaline ponds. Metal-reducing bacteria isolated from diverse extreme environments were able to reduce Fe(III), Mn(IV), Cr(VI), Co(III), and U(VI) using short chain fatty acids and/or hydrogen as the electron donors. These bacteria exhibited diverse mineral precipitation capabilities including the formation of magnetite ($Fe_3$$O_4$), siderite ($FeCO_3$), calcite ($CaCO_3$), rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$), vivianite [$Fe_3$($PO_4$)$_2$ .$8H_2$O], and uraninite ($UO_2$). Geochemical and environmental factors such as atmospheres, chemical milieu, and species of bacteria affected the extent of Fe(III)-reduction as well as the mineralogy and morphology of the crystalline iron mineral phases. Thermophilic bacteria use amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide plus metals (Co, Cr, Ni) as an electron acceptor and organic carbon as an electron donor to synthesize metal-substituted magnetite. Metal reducing bacteria were capable of $CO_2$conversion Into sparingly soluble carbonate minerals, such as siderite and calcite using amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide or metal-rich fly ash. These results indicate that microbial Fe(III)-reduction may not only play important roles in iron and carbon biogeochemistry in natural environments, but also be potentially useful f3r the synthesis of submicron-sized ferromagnetic materials.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.112-122
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• 2007

It is known that coal-derived fly ashes have the unique chemical composition and mineralogical characteristics. Since iron oxides in coal fly ash are enriched with heavy metals, the subsurface media including soils, underground water, and sea water are highly likely contaminated with heavy metals when the heavy metals are leached from fly ashes by water-fly ash interactions. The purpose of this study was to investigate how indigenous bacteria affect heavy metal leaching and mineralogy in fly ash slurry during the fly ash-seawater interactions in the ash pond located in Dangjin seashore, Korea. The average pH of ash pond seawater was 8.97 in nature. Geochemical data showed that microbial activity sharply increased after the 7th day of the 60-day course batch experiments. Compared with other samples including autoclaved and natural samples, ${SO_4}^{2-}$ was likely to decrease considerably in the fly ash slurry samples when glucose was added to stimulate the microbial activity. Geochemical data including Eh/pH, alkalinity, and major and trace elements showed that the bacteria not only immobilize metals from the ash pond by facilitating the chemical reaction with Mn, Fe, and Zn but may also be able to play an important role in sequestration of carbon dioxide by carbonate mineral precipitation.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.872-879
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• 2010

Layered copper hydroxides [LCHs, $Cu_2(OH)_3{\cdot}NO_3$] has the agricultural potentials as a fungicide because of its high crystallinity, excellent anion exchange capacity, and its regular layered particle size. The study, for the first time, has synthesized LCHs in highly concentrated solution and evaluated its physicochemical properties including the crystallinity and suspension stability. Optimal synthetic condition of LCHs was determined by crystallinity and stability of suspension as follow; 1) concentrations of $Cu(NO_3)_2$ and NaOH solutions were 3.0 M respectively, 2) reaction temperature and solution pH were $25^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively, and 3) aging time after reaction was 2hr. Crystallinity of LCHs enhanced with increase in pH up to 9.0. Whereas, stability of suspension was decrease by increase in crystal size. Especially, increase in reaction temperature decreased stability of suspension. XRD patterns and SEM images exhibited that LCHs had regular layered particle size with 0.2~0.8 ${\mu}m$ and high crystallinity in optimal synthetic condition. The particle size was increased with increase in reaction temperature and pH. These results showed that LCHs synthesized in highly concentrated solution exhibited high stability of suspension as well as high crystallinity suitable to their potential as a fungicide.

• Korean journal of food and cookery science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.86-94
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• 2004

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes of hardness and microstructure of Dongchimi cooked with various source of water(distilled water, purified water, Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water). This study was conducted to observe the changes of pH, total acidity, salt content, turbidity, texture and microstructure. Dongchimi cooked with source of water of water was fermented at 10$^{\circ}C$ for 46 days. The changes of pH on Dongchimi cooked with various source of water decreased in all samples during fermentation period, and then showed a slowly decrease after 12 days of fermentation. The total acidity of Dongchimi cooked with Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water was arrived slowly at best tasting condition 0.3 ∼ 0.4 point compared with other conditions. So Dongchimi cooked with Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water was continued to the best tasting condition for end of fermentation. At early stage of fermentation, the changes of turbidity of Dongchimi used Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water showed highly as compared with other test condition for 12th days of fermentation. The maximum cutting force of chinese radish of Dongchimi showed the highest value among all at the 25th day of ripening and then decreased gradually. The maximum cutting force of chinese radish of Dongchimi used Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water was the highest compared with other conditions at 25th day of fermentation. The calcium content of Dongchimi juice used Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water was observed hish at the early stage of fermentation and showed the highest value at 25th day of ripening. The calcium content of chinese radish and Dongchimi juice of Dongchimi cooked with water purifier was lower than that of Dongchimi cooked with Cho Jung Carbonated Natural water, and was higher than that of Dongchimi cooked with Distilled water at the early stage of fermentation. The magnesium content in all samples increased gradually from the early stage of fermentation. The microstructure showed disintegration appearance of middle lamella and cell wall during fermentation period.