• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2010

Acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned mine sites typically has low pH and contains high level of various heavy metals, aggravating ground- and surface water qualities and neighboring environments. This study investigated removal of heavy metals in a biological treatment system, mainly focusing on the removal by adsorption on a substrate material. Bench-scale batch experiments were performed with a mushroom compost to evaluate the adsorption characteristics of heavy metals leached out from a mine tailing sample and the role of SRB in the overall removal process. In addition, adsorption experiments were perform using an artificial AMD sample containing $Cd^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Pb^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ to assess adsorption capacity of the mushroom compost. The results indicated Mn leached out from mine tailing was not subject to microbial stabilization or adsorption onto mushroom compost while microbially mediated stabilization played an important role in the removal of Zn. Fe leaching significantly increased in the presence of microbes as compared to autoclaved samples, and this was attributed to dissolution of Fe minerals in the mine tailing in a response to the depletion of $Fe^{3+}$ by iron reduction bacteria. Measurement of oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and pH indicated the reactive mixture maintained reducing condition and moderate pH during the reaction. The results of the adsorption experiments involving artificial AMD sample indicated adsorption removal efficiency was greater than 90% at pH 6 condition, but it decreased at pH 3 condition.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

To treat nitrate and non-biodegradable organics effectively in sewage, industrial wastewater and livestock wastewater, the activated sludge process integrated by a membrane separation and a porous electrode- electrolysis was proposed and its efficiency was investigated. The proposed system was consisted of 3 processes; activated sludge, membrane filtration and electrolysis. In the study, the membrane filtration played a role in reducing the load of the electrolysis to operate the proposed process stably. The electrolysis consisted of a porous electrode to increase the efficiency due to the extension of the specific surface area. Additionally, redox reaction in the electrolysis was induced by decomposing influent water as current was applied. As a result, hydrogen free radicals and oxygen radicals as intermediates were produced and they acted as oxidants to play a role in decomposing non-degradable organics. It was environmentally-friendly process because intermediates produced by porous electrode were used to treat waste matters without supplying external reagent. Experimental data showed that the proposed process was more excellent than activated sludge process. SS removal efficiencies of the proposed process, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 100%, about 100% and about 90%, respectively. COD removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 92%, about 84% and about 78%, respectively. T-N removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 88%, about 67%, and about 58%, respectively. The SS data showed that SS was efficiently removed in the single of the membrane filtration. The COD/T-N data showed that COD/T-N of membrane hybrid process was treated by removing a little soluble organics and SS, and that COD/T-N of electrolysis hybrid process was treated by oxidize organics with high removal rate.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1035-1043
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• 2007

A leachate containing an elevated concentration of organic and inorganic compounds has the potential to contaminate adjacent soils and groundwater as well as downgradient areas of the watershed. Moreover high-strength ammonium concentrations in leachate can be toxic to aquatic ecological systems as well as consuming dissolved oxygen, due to ammonium oxidation, and thereby causing eutrophication of the watershed. In response to these concerns landfill stabilization and leachate treatment are required to reduce contaminant loading sand minimize effects on the environment. Compared with other treatment technologies, leachate recirculation technology is most effective for the pre-treatment of leachate and the acceleration of waste stabilization processes in a landfill. However, leachate recirculation that accelerates the decomposition of readily degradable organic matter might also be generating high-strength ammonium in the leachate. Since most landfill leachate having high concentrations of nitrogen also contain insufficient quantities of the organic carbon required for complete denitrification, we combined a shortcut biological nitrogen removal (SBNR) technology in order to solve the problem associated with the inability to denitrify the oxidized ammonium due to the lack of carbon sources. The accumulation of nitrite was successfully achieved at a 0.8 ratio of $NO_2^{-}-N/NO_x-N$ in an on-site reactor of the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) type that had operated for six hours in an aeration phase. The $NO_x$-N ratio in leachate produced following SBR treatment was reduced in the landfill and the denitrification mechanism is implied sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification and/or heterotrophic denitrification. The combined leachate recirculation with SBNR proved an effective technology for landfill stabilization and nitrogen removal in leachate.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.6 no.8
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• pp.817-824
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• 1996

Removal of Cu impurities on Si substrates using remote H-plasma was investigated. Si substrates were intentionally contaminated by 1ppm ${CuCI}_{2}$, standard chemical solution. To determine the optimal process condition, remote H-plasma cleaning was conducted varying the parameters of rf power, cleaning time and remoteness(the distance between the center of plasma and the surface of Si substrate). After remote H-plasma cleaning was conducted, Si surfaces were analysed by TXRF(total x-ray reflection fluorescence) and AFM(atomic force microscope). The concentration of Cu impurity was reduced by more than a factor of 10 and its RMS roughness was improved by more than 30% after remote H-plasma cleaning. TXRF analysis results show that remote H-plasma cleaning is effective in eliminating Cu impurity on Si surface when it is performed under the optimal process condition. AFM analysis results also verifies that remote H-plasma cleaning makes no damage to the Si surface. The deposition mechanism of Cu impurity may be explained by the redox potential(oxidation-reduction reaction potential) theory. Based on the XPS analysis results we could draw a conclusion that Cu impurities on the Si substrate are removed together with the oxide by a "lift-off" mechanism when the chemical oxide( which forms when Cu ions are adsorbed on the Si surface) is etched off by reactive hydrogen atoms.gen atoms.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.710-714
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• 2009

In this study, we analyzed the desulfurization performance of Zn-based dry sorbents according to the reducing power, water vapor content and $H_2S$ inlet concentration of coal gas in a batch-type fluidized-bed reactor. We used three different coal gas composition with different reducing power such as KRW air-blown coal gas, Shell oxygenblown coal gas and IAE coal gas. The experiments were performed by changing the inlet concentration of water vapor and $H_2S$ in a coal gas. Water vapor content was varied from 5% to 30% and $H_2S$ inlet concentration from 0.5% to 2.0%. As both the water vapor content and $H_2S$ inlet concentration increased, desulfurization performance of Zn-based sorbents decreased regardless of the reducing power of the coal gas. The minimum desuflurization performance was, however, above 99.5% for all experimental conditions, which implied that Zn-based dry sorbents could be used to remove $H_2S$ up to 99%.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.56-62
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• 2024

In this study, LiDAR-detectable black hollow-structured materials are synthesized using different reducing agents to evaluate their applicability to LiDAR sensor. Initially, white SiO₂/TiO₂ core/shell (WST) materials are fabricated via a sol-gel method, followed by a reduction using ascorbic acid (AA) and sodium borohydride (SB). After the reduction, subsequent etching of the SiO₂ core leads to the formation of two different black hollow-structured materials (AA-BHT and SB-BHT). The lightness (L^*) and near-infrared (NIR) reflectance (R%) of AA-BHT are measured as ca. 19.1 and 34.5 R%, and SB-BHT shows values of ca. 11.5 and 31.8 R%, respectively. While AA-BHT exhibits higher NIR reflectance compared to SB-BHT, it displays slightly lower blackness. Compared with core/shell structured materials, improved NIR reflectance of both AA-BHT and SB-BHT is attributed to the morphology of hollow- structured materials, which increase light reflection at the interface between air and black TiO₂ according to the Fresnel's reflection principle. Consequently, both AA-BHT and SB-BHT are effectively detected by the commercially available LiDAR sensors, validating their suitability as black materials for autonomous vehicle and environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.129-135
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• 2008

The objectives of this study were to determine antioxidant activity of the methanolic extracts from some specialty rices and to investigate relationships between antioxidant activities and antioxidant contents in the extracts. ABTS (2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)) radical cation scavenging activity, inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation, chelating activity, reducing power and inhibitory effect on xanthine oxidase have been used to investigate the relative antioxidant activity of the extracts from specialty rices. The concentrations of total polyphenolics, phytic acid, and anthocyanin in the extracts were measured by spectrophotometric methods and vitamin E analysis was carried out by HPLC. The methanolic extracts prepared from black and red rices showed higher antioxidant activities and contained higher antioxidant compounds compared with other rices, apparently due to their intense red-purple color. The correlation coefficient between total polyphenolic content of methanolic extracts and ABTS radical cation scavenging activity, reducing power, and inhibitory effect of xanthine oxidase were 0.9921, 0.9856, and 0.8032, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1691-1695
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• 2016

The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant activities of rice bran extracts by three different extraction methods. Rice bran was extracted by solvent extraction, saponification extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction. The antioxidant activities of the rice bran extracts were determined based on ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging activities, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity. The unsaponifiable matter (USM) extracted by the saponification method showed higher ABTS (671.7 mg Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC)/g) and DPPH (330.7 mg TEAC/g) radical scavenging activities as well as reducing power ($A_{700}=1.14$) than those of the solvent extract (ME) and supercritical fluid extract (SFE). Inhibitory effect on lipid peroxidation was higher in USM (68.7%) and SFE (75.4%) compared to ME (47.8%). USM indicated relatively higher antioxidant activities compared with those of SFE and ME. These results show that the saponification method for extraction of USM from rice bran extracted was the most effective method for enhancement of antioxidant activity. In addition, these extracts from rice bran could be used as functional ingredients in the food industry.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.751-755
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• 2005

Carbon dioxide, included in the flue gas from the combustion of fossil fuel, was known as a representative green house gas and various removal and utilization technologies of it has been studied for the prevention of global warming. This study was performed as an effort to find out a method to reuse carbon dioxide separated from flue gas by magnetite powder. Magnetite powder was synthesized using various oxidizers and alkalinity controlled aqueous solutions of $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ and NaOH at 50, 80, 90, $100^{\circ}C$ and analyzed by XRD and SEM. The analysis results showed that magnetite powder synthesized at higher alkalinity and temperature had crystalline spinel and cubic structure. The reduction by hydrogen and the oxidation by carbon dioxide of synthesized powder were studied by TGA. The results showed that magnetite powder synthesized at low alkalinity and temperature was non-cubical amorphous but crystalline and cubical at high alkalinity and temperature. Comparing magnetite powders synthesized using oxidants(air and oxygen) and nitrogen, magnetite powder using more oxygen containing oxidant synthesized more crystalline magnetite powder. The experimental results of redox reaction of the synthesized magnetite powder showed that the reduction by hydrogen and the oxidation by carbon dioxide were seldom observed below $400^{\circ}C$ and observed well at $500^{\circ}C$. Magnetite powder synthesized at $100^{\circ}C$ and alkalinity(molal concentration ratio of $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ to NaOH) of 2.0 using $O_2$ showed the highest reduction of 27.15 wt％ and oxidation of 26.73 wt％, especially at reaction temperature of $500^{\circ}C$.