• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.523-532
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• 2021

The treatment of acid rock drainage was reviewed and evaluated for the case of pyrite rocks distributed in a highway embankment. During the highway's construction, neutralization using alkaline water repellent was applied to the embankment section to prevent acid rock drainage. However, it still occurred long after the construction was completed owing to rain infiltration, and the acid rock drainage polluted the surrounding soils and streams. To solve this problem, treatment facilities such as SAPS (Successive Alkalinity Producing Systems) or ecological wetlands and sand filtration were installed. After the installation of the treatment facilities, the effluent and soils contaminated by acid rock drainage nearby the outlet of the facilities were analyzed and evaluated for a period of years. Measurements of the pH of the effluent and analysis of the heavy metal contamination of the soils confirmed that the neutralization treatment for acid rock drainage is being performed properly and that contamination of heavy metals in the acid rock drainage is also being stably controlled by the treatment facilities.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.73-82
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• 2023

In this study, the optimal method for injection of neutralizer to restraint the leakage of acid drainage in embankment structure composed of pyrite rocks is proposed. Finite Element Analysis was performed to examine the seepage effect caused by injection of neutralizer into the embankment structure. The diameter of the neutralizer injection hole was selected as 50cm, the interval space of injection ranged from 1m to 4m and the injecting pressure ranged from 100kPa to 220 kPa were applied for the numerical analysis. According to the analysis results, the saturation time of the whole embankment structure was shown to be fast at a relatively low injecting pressure in the case of injecting interval space of 1.0m and injecting pressure of 130kPa and in the case of injecting interval space of 2.0m and injecting pressure of 160kPa. When the interval space of injection for saturation of whole embankment structure is selected as 3m, various injection pressures can be applied from 130kPa to 190kPa, and the saturation time of whole embankment is similar regardless of the injection pressure. Therefore, the optimal method for injection of neutralizer considering economic efficiency was selected as injecting interval space of 3.0m and injection pressure of 130kPa.