• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.51-58
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• 2023

In this study, an empirical experiment was conducted to assess the feasibility of replacing groundwater with rainwater in melon cultivation using a smart rainwater harvesting system. The rainwater harvesting efficiency was calculated under three different melon cultivation scenarios. After cultivation, the quality of the fruits grown with rainwater and groundwater was compared by examining the weight, degree of sweetness, and flesh hardness of the products. The results revealed that the water quality of the smart rainwater harvesting device was suitable for melon cultivation to provide better hardness and chloride levels than groundwater. It was also estimated that about 40% of the total water demand for full growth of the melon could be supplied by rainwater. The fruit weight and sweetness were equivalent or slightly better for the melons cultivated with rainwater than those cultivated with groundwater. In particular, the flesh hardness was significantly improved by rainwater cultivation. These results collectively suggest that rainwater can be used as a substitute for groundwater to preserve groundwater resources without compromizing the produced fruit quality.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 2024

Most of the slags generated from steel-making industry in Korea are recycled into media-contact aggregates such as fill and cover materials. For their use as media-contact aggregates, the slags must meet not only the waste quality criteria, but also the Daphnia magna acute toxicity test criteria. In this study, Korean Leaching Test ES 06150.e (Korea), Japanese Leaching Test JIS K 0058-1(Japan), Detuch Leaching Test DIN 19529 (Germany), Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (USA) were conducted for batch leaching test of slags from 6 Korean steel-making companies. In addition, Korean Standard up-flow percolation test (ES 06151.1) mimicking field conditions was conducted to assess the impact of the slag leachate on the surrounding environment indirectly. Heavy metals such as Cr⁶⁺ and Zn²⁺ were detected from both extractant and leachate samples, but all of them did not exceed waste quality criteria of each country. However, Daphnia magna acute toxicity tests using the leachate samples from up-flow percolation test with slag alone and slag/natural soil conditions exceeded ecotoxicity standard (TU=2) due to their high pH (11.3-12.5). After neutralizing the pH of the slag leachate to 6.5~8.5, the Daphnia magna mortality and immobilization were reduced to satisfy ecotoxicity standard. As the reducing pH of slag leachate would be extremely difficult, appropriate recycling management considering the physicochemical characteristics of he slags should be stuided further.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.334-340
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• 1997

It was proven that rice straw can serve can serve as a good support medium for trickling filter with livestock wastewater treatment. The efficiency of removal of removal of environmentally undesirable components from the wastewater by the straw medium was no less inferior to other commonly used support materials. The treated straw was also proven to be a source of abundant plant nutrients. The growth of orchard grass was enhanced greatly by the application of large quantity of the support medium. A maximum yield of dry matter was obtained at the rate of 40 ton/ha. Inorganic NPK elements as background fertilizers were highly recommended for better development in an early stage of growth. The nutritional status of the soil was very much improved by the addition of the medium in terms of exchangeable cations(K, Ca, Mg and Na), available phosphate, and organic matter contents. Nutrient uptake by orchard grass such as N, P and cations was enhanced by rice straw medium treatment and that was proportional to the levels of treatment.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.371-377
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• 1996

Utilization of crop residues was investigated in search of ecologically desirable treatment of wastewater from small-scale swine farm. Instead of common materials rice stray was used as a support medium of tricking filter with the farm, wastewater treatment. The treated rice stave medium was dried, crushed, and directly added to soil, where bunching lettuce seedlings were grown under greenhouse conditions. The development of bunching lettuce was significantly enhanced by the application of the straw medium up to 2100 kg/10a. Little changes in soil chemical properties were observed at harvesttime, except the pH which was raised by more than 1 unit, and the content of Mg which was depleted presumably by the uptake of the plant.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.472-481
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• 2011

In order to reuse remnants of medicinal herb extracts as an environment-friendly manure, fermented compost made from medicinal herb waste (MHWC), poultry manure compost (PMC) and MHWC+PMC (1:1, w/w) were applied on upland soil cultivated with 2 year-old Bokbunja plants. The results of the changes of soil chemical properties on upland soil, the yield and the sugar contents of the fruit harvested were summarized as follows. The pH in soils treated with composts (STCs) was significantly changed (p<0.05) compared with untreated control (UC) group. The electrical conductivity (EC) in MHWC group was decreased 0.46-0.56 times compared with UC, and it was different from PMC groups. The contents of organic matter and total nitrogen were increased in all of the treatments and MHWC group was the highest among the all groups. The content of available phosphorous was different by types and amounts of the composts. The content of heavy metal in all groups did not exceed the standard content for soil contamination. The yield and the sugar contents of the fruit harvested were the highest in the treatments of MHWC. In conclusion, MHWC is an effective compost resource on improvement of soil environment and promoting the fruit qualities.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.604-615
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• 2019

In this study, we produce a new type of the algae soil conditioner(ASC) using discarded algae biomass through a composting process and evaluate its nutritional characteristics. As the main ingredient, the ASCs used algae biomass collected through the coagulation-floating method and made by adding a variety of additional supporting materials (sawdust, pearlite, oilcake etc.). ASCs were divided into 0% in blank, 11.7% in ASC1, 21.6% in ASC2, 37.6% in ASC3, 59.5% in ASC4, and composted during 127 days. ASCs showed a sharp increase in temperature by aerobic microbial reaction, and 6~7 high and low temperature peaks were observed. As a result of physicochemical analysis, mineralization proceeded according to decomposing the organic matter and there was a marked increase not only in macronutrients (TN, P₂O₅, K₂O), but also in secondary macronutrients (CaO, MgO). The microbial community change was found in stage 1 (bacteria, filamentous fungi) → stage 2 (actinomycetes, bacteria) → stage 3 (Bacillus sp.), depending on the maturation process. It was estimated that microbial transition was closely related to temperature change and nutritional behavior. The quality of soil conditioner can be determined according to the maturity of compost process, and it was determined that effective microbial activity could be induced by controlling algae biomass below 59.5% in this study. In conclusion, we found out the possibility of manufacturing and utilizing soil conditioner recycled algae biomass and if further technological development is made on the basis it can be used as an effective soil conditioner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.113-116
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• 2003

1) 지렁이를 이용한 하수슬러지의 분변토화 공정에서 실험실 규모의 처리에서는 장기간의 부숙 기간이 필요하였으나 개방된 대형 비닐하우스 시설을 사용한 처리 시스템에서는 전처리 공정의 생략이 가능하였다. 2) 하수슬러지의 이화학적 특성을 분석한 결과 지렁이 생육 조건은 만족하였으나 중금속 함량은 부숙토 원료기준을 초과하는 경우가 있었다. 3) 인위적으로 사육상 온도 조절이 없는 비닐하우스내 사육상의 온도는 기상 조건의 영향을 직접 받고 있으므로 계절별로 슬러지 처리기간 및 지렁이 성장밀도에 차이를 나타내었다. 4) 지렁이를 이용하여 하수슬러지를 처리하고자 할 때 유해성분에 의한 지렁이의 생육에는 문제가 없었다. 그러나 슬러지와 분변토의 중금속 함량을 부숙토의 원료기준 및 제품기준과 비교하였을 때 기준을 초과하는 경우가 있었다. 따라서 지렁이를 이용하여 하수슬러지를 처리하고자 할 때 원료 및 분변토의 특성개량과 재활용성을 높이기 위하여 부원료의 개발과 활용이 필요하였다.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.81-87
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• 2008

In accompany with the transfer of US army bases, recent surveys reported serious contamination of soils by the release of petroleum from storage facilities and heavy metals accumulated in rifle-ranges. These problems have made an increased concerns of cleanup technology for contaminated soils. In this study, a full-scale soil washing process improved by multistage continuous desorption and agitational desorption techniques was examined for petroleum-contaminated soils obtained from three different remedial sites that contained 29.3, 16.6, and 7.8% of silt and clay, respectively. The initial concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) were 5,183, 2,560, and 4,860 mg/kg for each soil. Pure water was applied to operate washing process, in which water used for washing process was recycled 100% for over 6 months. The results of full-scale washing tests showed that the TPH concentrations for soils (> 3.0 mm) were 50${\sim}$356 mg/kg (85.2${\sim}$98.2% removal rates), regardless of the contents of silt and clay from in A, B and C soil, when the soils were washed at 3.0 kg/$cm^2$ of injection pressure with the method of wet particle separation. Based on the initial TPH concentration, the TPH removal rates for each site were 85.2, 98.2 and 89.9%. For soils in the range of 3.0${\sim}$0.075 mm, the application of first-stage desorption technique as a physical method resulted 834, 1,110, and 1,460 mg/kg of TPH concentrations for each soil, also additional multi-stage continuous desorption reduced the TPH concentration to 330, 385, and 245 mg/kg that were equivalent to 92.4, 90.6, and 90.1% removal rates, respectively. The result of multi-stage continuous desorption for fine soil (0.075${\sim}$0.053 mm) were 791, 885, and 1,560 mg/kg, and additional agitation desorption showed 428, 440, and, 358 mg/kg of TPH concentrations. Compared with initial concentration, the removal rates were 92.0, 93.9 and 92.9%, respectively. These results implied we could apply strategic process of soil washing for varies types of contaminated soils to meet the regulatory limit of TPH.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 1996

A feasible way to utilize small-scale livestock farm wastewater was explored. In place of common support materials rice straw was employed as a support medium of trickling filter for pig farm wastewater treatment. The straw medium which was humified for 20 days after wastewater treatment and mixed with soil significantly enhanced in general the development of bunching lettuce grown under greenhouse conditions. Improvement of soil chemical properties in terms of fertility was also achieved by the addition of humified straw medium after wastewater treatment. It was found that rice straw served as a satisfactory support medium of trickling filters with the wastewater treatment concerning removals of biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, and suspended solids.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.10
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• pp.73-81
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• 2016

In the construction on low strength and high compressible soft ground, the many problems have been occurred in recent construction project. therefore, the soil improvement have been developed to obtain high strength in relatively short period of curing time. Based on the laboratory tests using undisturbed marine clay, the effect of improvement on soft ground was estimated. Deep mixing method by cement have been virtually used for decades to improve the mechanical properties of soft ground. However, previous researches set the focus on the short term strength the about 10% of cement treated clay. In this paper, cement and Natural Soil Stabilizer (NSS) were used as the stabilizing agent to obtain trafficability and mechanical strength of the soft clay. Based on the several laboratory tests, optimum condition was proposed to ensure the mechanical strength and compressibility as the foundation soil using cement and NSS mixed soil. Finally, research data was proposed about the applicability of NSS as the stabilizing agent to soft clay to increase the mechanical strength of soil.