• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.45-64
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• 2020

Objectives: Limited information is available on the presence and associated ecological risks of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environments near pharmaceutical manufacturing areas in Korea. In this study, we investigated the current state of pharmaceutical contamination and its associated ecological risks in streams near a pharmaceutical manufacturing complex. Methods: Seven pharmaceuticals (acetaminophen, clarithromycin, diclofenac, diphenhydramine, ibuprofen, mefenamic acid and roxithromycin) were measured in water samples collected from the streams near a pharmaceutical manufacturing complex. A predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) was derived using either the assessment factor method or species sensitivity distribution method. In addition, a hazard quotient for each pharmaceutical was calculated by dividing its measured environmental concentration by its PNEC. Results: Samples collected downstream from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) had higher concentrations of pharmaceuticals than those collected from the reference site (upstream). Moreover, pharmaceutical concentrations were greater in ambient water than in the final effluent from the WWTP, which suggested that non-point sources were contributing to the contamination of the ambient water environment. Some of the target pharmaceuticals exhibited a hazard quotient >1, indicating that their potential ecological effects on the aquatic environment near the pharmaceutical industrial area should not be ignored. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the pharmaceutical manufacturing area was contaminated with residual drugs, and that there was a possible non-point source near the WWTP effluent discharge area. The results of this study will aid in the development of management plans for pharmaceuticals, particularly in hotspots such as pharmaceutical industrial sites and their vicinities.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 1992

In this study, the water soluble sulfur, lead and cadmium contents of Prunus yedoerais leaves were analysed. The water soluble sulfur content considered as a main pollution indicator was extracted by the conventional barium sulfate method and the concentrations were calculated. The results obtained are as follows ; 1. The water soluble sulfur contents of the leaves collected from the heavy traffic roadside trees were two time higher than that of control materials on average. It was presumed those trees has been under meaningful pollutants impact. The water soluble sulfur contents of leaves between Cheonju and Iri was higher than that between Iri and Kunsan. 2. The range of Pb contents from roadside trees was 11.9-34.5 ppm for exceeding the control. The trees grown on the right roadside were more heavliy Pb-contaminated. 3. The range of Cd contents from roadside trees grown between Iri and Kunsan, the site-to-site variations of Cd concentration was not significant.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 1999

This study was carried out to assess heavy metal pollution at 16 abandoned mining areas and to get basic data for phytoremediation. In most of surveyed area, there was no vegetation cover and soil reaction shows in low to moderate pH. Low CEC, low organic matter content were the general properties of these soils. Heavy metals content of these soils were exceed background level of unpolluted soil in Korea, especially Cu content was 2,634mg/kg at Jeil site, 3,415mg/kg Zn, 8.03mg/kg Cd at Yonhwa 2 site. This is far above tolerance limit In plant survey, very often observed plants were Pinus densiflora, and Rohinia psuedo-acacia in woody plant, Artemisia princeps, and Dianthus sinensis in herbs. Artemisia princeps had higher concentration of Zn, Cd and Dianthus sinensis had higher concentration than other plants. From the results, heavy metal concentration in plants and plant's ecotype properties, could be said that Artemisia princeps and Miscanthus sinensis have a potential of soil remediation plant. More studies are demanded to find the heavy metal tolerance species and to understand physiology property of tolerance plants, soil condition, climate etc., for successful soil remediation by plants.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.25-32
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• 2014

The amount of TPH contaminated soil treated at off-site remediation facilities is ever increasing. For the recycle of the treated-soil on farmlands, it is necessary to restore biological and physico-chemical soil characteristics and to remove residual TPH in the soil by an economic polishing treatment method such as phytoremediation. In this study, a series of experiments was performed to select suitable plant species and to devise a proper planting method for the phyto-restoration of TPH-treated soil. Rye (Secale cereale) was selected as test species through a germination test, among 5 other plants. Five 7-day-old rye seedlings were planted in a plastic pot, 20 cm in height and 15 cm in diameter. The pot was filled with TPH-treated soil (residual TPH of 1,118 mg/kg) up to 15 cm, and upper 5 cm was filled with horticulture soil to prevent TPH toxic effects and to act as root growth zone. The planted pot was cultivated in a greenhouse for 38 days along with the control that rye planted in a normal soil and the blank with no plants. After 38 days, the above-ground biomass of rye in the TPH-treated soil was 30.6% less than that in the control, however, the photosynthetic activity of the leaf remained equal on both treatments. Soil DHA (dehydrogenase activity) increased 186 times in the rye treatment compared to 10.8 times in the blank. The gross TPH removal (%) in the planted soil and the blank soil was 34.5% and 18.4%, respectively, resulting in 16.1% increase of net TPH removal. Promotion of microbial activity by root exudate, increase in soil permeability and air ventilation as well as direct uptake and degradation by planted rye may have contributed to the higher TPH removal rate. Therefore, planting rye on the TPH-treated soil with the root growth zone method showed both the potential of restoring biological soil properties and the possibility of residual TPH removal that may allow the recycle of the treated soil to farmlands.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.92-105
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• 2014

Microbial characteristics of bacterial population were investigated in human remains and soil inside the bones in excavated grave no.4 and no.5 at Keundokgol site, Osu-ri, Buyeo. Phylogenetic characteristics of bacterial populations were analyzed by direct extracting of ancient DNA. In this study, based on the 16S rDNA sequences, in case of grave no.4, 319s from human remain were classified into 11 phyla, and 462s from soil were classified into 16 phyla. In case of grave no.5, 271s from human remain were classified into 10 phyla, and 497s from soil were classified into 11 phyla. Especially, Actinobacteria phylogenetic group are dominant group of bacterial populations in grave no.4 and no.5. Also, most of these were analyzed uncultured group. Thus, the discovery of a diversely microbial community and uncultured group was thought to be due to the specificity of the sample. Conclusively the general excavated human bones were contaminated with soil bacteria species their near around. This results contribute to preservation and management of ancient human bone from archaeological sites.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.413-419
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• 2011

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) particles were tested as remediation media for groundwater contaminated by organic pollutants (e.g., TCE, trichloroethylene). The contaminated groundwater contained anions ($NO_3^-$, $Cl^-$, $SO_4^{2-}$, and $HCO_3^-$) and natural organic matter (NOM). Treatability of commercial NZVI particles (NANOFER 25, Nanoiron, Czech) was tested by using a synthetic groundwater and the field groundwater samples. More than 95% of 1.8 mM TCE was removed within 20 hours with a NZVI dosage of 25 g/L ($k=0.15hr^{-1}$). Repetitive degradation experiments revealed that the removal capacity of NANOFER 25 was 0.19 mmole TCE/g NZVI. TCE degradation reactions were not substantially affected by the presence of each anion with concentrations as high as 100 times the average field concentrations. However, when the four anions ($NO_3^-$, $Cl^-$, $SO_4^{2-}$, $HCO_3^-$) were present simultaneously. the degradation reactivity and removal capacity were decreased by 60% ($k=0.069hr^{-1}$) and 10%, respectively. The k value of TCE degradation in the presence of NZVI (25 g/L) with dissovled organic carbon of 2.5 mg/L was also decreased by 84% ($k=0.025hr^{-1}$). In the experiments with the field groundwater, more than 90% of $1.8{\mu}M$ TCE, which is the concentration of TCE at the source zone, was removed within 10 hours with a NANOFER 25 dosage of 25 g/L. The results imply that the contaminated groundwater can effectively be treated by NANOFER 25 with more information on the hydrogeology of the site.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.89-101
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• 2003

River deposits and farmland soils were analyzed to investigate the pollution level of heavy metals in the vicinity of the Goro abandoned Zn-mine. Surface (0-40 cm) and subsurface (40-100 cm) soils were collected around a main river located at the lower part of the Goro mine, and analyzed by ICP-MS for Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Cr after 0. 1N HCI extraction and by AAS for As after IN HCI extraction. Concentrations of cadmium and lead at the surface river deposits close to the mine were over the Soil Pollution Warning Limit (SPWL), and 43% of sample sites (6 of 14 samples) were over SPWL for As suggesting that river deposits were broadly contaminated by arsenic. Results from farmland soil analysis showed that surface soils were contaminated by heavy metals, while only arsenic was over SPWL at 50% of sampling sites. Main pollution mechanism around the Goro mine was the discharge of mine tailing and waste rocks from the storage site to the river and to adjacent farmland during flood season. Pollution Grades for sample locations were prescribed by the Law of Soil Environmental Preservation, suggesting that the pollution level of heavy metals around the Goro mine was serious, and the remediation operation fur arsenic and the isolation of mine tailing and waste rocks from river and farmland should be activated to protect further contamination. The area needed to clean up was estimated from pollution distribution data and the remediation methods such as a soil washing method and a soil improvement method were considered as the further remediation operation for arsenic contaminated soils and river deposits around the Goro abandoned mine.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.2 s.183
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• pp.209-221
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• 2007

Numerical analysis was performed to investigate the effect of heavy metal contamination on neighboring environment in case a dam is constructed by using rockfill materials contaminated by heavy metals. The numerical simulation carried out in this research includes both subsurface flow and contaminant transport in the inside of the CFRD(Concrete Faced Rockfill Dam), using two commercial programs, SEEP2D and FEMWATER. The three representative cases of scenarios were chosen to consider a variety of cases occurring in a dam site; (1) Scenario 1 : no crack in the concrete face slab, (2) Scenario 2 : a crack In the upper part of face slab, and (3) Scenario 3 : a crack between plinth and face slab in the lower part of face slab. As a result of seepage analysis, the amount of seepage in scenario 2 was calculated as $14.31\sim14.924m^3/day$ per unit width, corresponding to the 1,000 times higher value than that in other scenarios. Also, in the simulation of contaminant transport by using FEMWATER, specified contaminant concentration of 13 ppb in main rockfill zone was set to consider continuous leakage from the rock materials. Through the analysis of contaminant transport, we found that elapsed times to take for the contaminant concentration of about 2 ppb to arrive at the end of a dam are as follows. Scenario 1 has the elapsed time of 55,000 years. In Scenario 2. it is 50 years. Finally, scenario 3 has 27,000 years. The rapid transport of the contaminant in scenario 2 was attributed to greater seepage flow by 500 times than other scenarios. Although, in case of upper crack in the face slab, it was identified that the contaminant might transport to the end of a dam within 100 years with about 2 ppb concentration, however, it happened that the contaminant was hardly transported out of the dam in other scenarios, which correspond to either no crack or a crack between plinth and face slab. In conclusion, the numerical analysis showed that the alternative usage of the contaminated sand and gravel as the dam embankment material can be one of the feasible methods with the assumption that the cracks in a face slab could be controlled adequately.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.3 s.172
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• pp.273-284
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• 2005

Coagulation and precipitation process by using lime$(Ca(OH)_2)$ and calcium carbonate $(CaCO_3)$ were applied to remove heavy metals from groundwater in laboratory scale. From results of batch tests, by the addition of $0.3\;wt.\%$ lime, more than $90\%$ of As and Mn were removed and $70-80\%$ of Cd and Zn were removed by using $0.5\;wt.\%$ of lime. Removal efficiency of Pb almost reached $100\%$ with only $0.1\;wt.\%$ of calcium carbonate and more than $93\%$ of Cd were removed by the addition of $0.1\;wt.\%$of calcium carbonate. Pilot scale column experiments were performed to remove heavy metals in the separation process of precipitated Hoc to supernatant after the coagulation/ precipitation. For lime as a coagulant, more than $99\%$of As were removed from artificial groundwater and removal efficiencies of Cd, Mn, and Zn were over $80\%$. By using calcium carbonate, more than $95\%$ of Cd and Pb were removed in column experiment. Fe and Mn contaminated groundwater taken from a real landfill site, Ulsan was used for the column experiment and more than $99\%$ of Fe and Mn were removed by the addition of $1\;wt.\%$ lime in column experiment, suggesting that the coagulation/precipitation process by using lime and calcium carbonate have a great possibility to remove heavy metals from contaminated groundwater.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.255-264
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• 2012

The stabilization using limestone ($CaCO_3$) and steel making slag as the immobilization amendments for Cu and Pb contaminated farmland soils was investigated by batch tests, continuous column experiments and the pilot scale feasibility study with 4 testing grounds at the contaminated site. From the results of batch experiment, the amendment with the mixture of 3% of limestone and 2% of steel making slag reduced more than 85% of Cu and Pb compared with the soil without amendment. The acryl column (1 m in length and 15 cm in diameter) equipped with valves, tubes and a sprinkler was used for the continuous column experiments. Without the amendment, the Pb concentration of the leachate from the column maintained higher than 0.1 mg/L (groundwater tolerance limit). However, the amendment with 3% limestone and 2% steel making slag reduced more than 60% of Pb leaching concentration within 1 year and the Pb concentration of leachate maintained below 0.04 mg/L. For the testing ground without the amendment, the Pb and Cu concentrations of soil water after 60 days incubation were 0.38 mg/L and 0.69 mg/l, respectively, suggesting that the continuous leaching of Cu and Pb may occur from the site. For the testing ground amended with mixture of 3% of limestone + 2% of steel making slag, no water soluble Pb and Cu were detected after 20 days incubation. For all testing grounds, the ratio of Pb and Cu transfer to plant showed as following: root > leaves(including stem) > rice grain. The amendment with limestone and steel making slag reduced more than 75% Pb and Cu transfer to plant comparing with no amendment. The results of this study showed that the amendment with mixture of limestone and steel making slag decreases not only the leaching of heavy metals but also the plant transfer from the soil.