• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.61-65
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• 2006

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2018

The Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force on August 16, 2017. It requires Parties to the Convention to control and, where feasible, reduce mercury emissions from the listed sources. To implement the Convention, Japan amended the Air Pollution Control Law and added clauses that force operators to control their mercury emissions below emission limit values (ELVs). The ELVs have been established separately for new and existing sources, targeting the source categories listed in the Convention: coal-fired boilers, smelting and roasting processes used in the production of non-ferrous metals (lead, zinc, copper and industrial gold), waste incineration facilities and cement clinker production facilities. The factors used to establish the ELVs include the present state of mercury emissions from the targeted categories as well as the mercury content in fuels and materials, best available techniques (BATs) and best environmental practices (BEPs) to control and reduce mercury emissions and ELVs or equivalent standards to control mercury emissions in other countries. In this regard, extensive data on mercury emissions from flue gas and the mercury content of fuels and materials were collected and analyzed. The established ELVs range from $8{\mu}g/Nm^3$ for new coal-fired boilers to $400{\mu}g/Nm^3$ for existing secondary smelting processes used in the production of copper, lead and zinc. This paper illustrates the ELVs for the targeted source categories, explaining the rationales and approaches used to set the values. The amended Law is to be enforced on April 1, 2018. From future perspectives, checks of the material flow of mercury, following up on the state of compliance, review of the ELVs and of the measurement and monitoring methods have been noted as important issues.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.310-316
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• 2020

In this study, the stability and EMP shielding performance of metal-based industrial by-products aggregates with excellent conductivity and easy procurement to be used as concrete aggregates for EMP shielding are evaluated. The industrial by-products are electronic-arc-furnace oxidizing slag, copper smelting slag, and ferro-moldibdenum. The composition analysis of aggregates and aggregate stability are evaluated. As a result of the experiment, ferro-moldibdenum is shown to have l ow stability as an aggregate due to its high Free-CaO. The remaining aggregates are evaluated to be safe to use as aggregates for concrete. In addition, industrial by-products aggreagate-specimens excluding ferro-moldibdenum are shown higher compressive strength than the plain specimen. The recycle aggregates, electronic-arc-furnace oxidizing slag and copper smelting slag, are shown excellent EMP shielding performance, the EMP shielding performance is expected to increase if the average particle diameter of the aggregate is small or evenly distributed.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.25-31
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• 2021

Smelting reduction of spent lithium-ion batteries results in the production of metallic alloys in which reduced cobalt, nickel and copper coexist. In this study, we investigated the leaching of the metallic alloys containing the above three metals together with iron, manganese, and silicon. The mixture of hydrochloric acid and hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent was employed, and the effect of the concentration thereof, the reaction time and temperature, and pulp density was investigated to accomplish the complete leaching of cobalt, nickel, and copper. The effect of the hydrogen peroxide concentration and pulp density on the leaching was prominent, compared to that of reaction time and temperature, especially in the range of 20 to 80℃. The complete leaching of the metals present in metallic alloys, except silicon, was accomplished using 2 M HCl and 5% H₂O₂ with a pulp density of 30 g/L for 150 min at 60℃.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.773-784
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• 2008

Even if the exploitation of copper slag produced during the smelting process of copper as aggregate for construction purpose has been permitted since 2004 in Korea, the lack of sufficient data enabling to evaluate its long-term stability that is its durability has to date impeded its application. This study intends to investigate experimentally the durability characteristics of 18 and 27 MPa-class commercial concretes in which natural sand (fine aggregates) has been partially replaced by copper slag through accelerated and exposure tests so as to provide bases promoting the application of copper slag concrete. The experimental results revealed insignificant difference of the durability characteristics in most of the mix proportions in which 30% of natural sand was replaced by copper slag. In the case where crushed sand was adopted, tests verified similar characteristics for replacement ratio of 50%. Particularly, the results of the exposure test conducted during 8 years demonstrated that equivalent level of durability was secured compared to the case using natural sand. In the case of 18MPa-class lower grade concrete, exposure test verified also that the physical lifetime similar to 50 years could be secured until carbonation reaches cover depth of 20 mm.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.87-95
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• 2019

This study investigated the effect of process variables for smelting of recovery of valuable metal in the sludge generated from PCB. The moisture and organics in the sludge was removed by preteatment process. The phase equilibria and slag system was selected by thermodynamic phase calculation program and the process variable of pyro-metallurgical process such as reductant. Smelting temperature and holding time for a recovery of valuable metal was studied.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.475-499
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• 2023

To infer the provenance of raw iron materials utilized in iron production at the archaeological sites in Gyeongsang province, petrographic and geochemical analyses were conducted for smelting samples and major iron ores sourced from ore deposits. The smelting samples excavated from various iron archaeological sites were classified into different types according to their refining processes, such as iron bloom, iron bloom slag, pig iron, pig iron slag, forging iron flake, smithery iron, iron flake, and arrowhead. These samples exhibited discernable differences in their mineralogical components and texture. The enrichments of major elements such as aluminum and calcium in silicate minerals of the residual slags and the high contents of trace elements such as nickel and copper in some iron-making relics reflect the characteristics of raw iron ores, and thus can be regarded as potential indicators for inferring the provenance of source materials. In particular, the compositional ranges of Pb-Sr isotope ratios for the iron smelting samples were classified into three categories: 1) those exhibiting similar ratios to those of the raw iron ores, 2) those enriched in strontium isotope ratio, and 3) those enriched in both lead and strontium isotope ratios. The observed distinct Pb-Sr isotope characteristics in the iron smelting samples suggest the potential contribution of specific additives being introduced during the high-temperature refining process. These results provide a new perspective on the interpretation of the provenance study of the iron archaeological samples in Gyeongsang province, particularly in terms of the potential contribution of additives on the refining process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2022

The smelting reduction of spent lithium-ion batteries results in metallic alloys of cobalt, nickel, and copper. To develop a process to separate the metallic alloys, leaching of the metallic mixtures of these three metals with H₂SO₄ solution containing 3% H₂O₂ dissolved all the cobalt and nickel, together with 9.6% of the copper. Cyanex 301 selectively extracted Cu(II) from the leaching solution, and copper ions were completely stripped with 30% aqua regia. Selective extraction of Co(II) from a Cu(II)-free raffinate was possible using the ionic liquid ALi-SCN. Three-stage cross-current stripping of the loaded ALi-SCN by a 15% NH₃ solution resulted in the complete stripping of Co(II). A process was proposed to separate the three metal ions from the sulfuric acid leaching solutions of metallic mixtures by employing solvent extraction.

• Journal of the Korean Professional Engineers Association
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.1-9
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• 2005

The Republic of Korea (South) and the Peaples Republic of Korea (North) had agreed to exploit the North Korean rich natural resources starting from the year of 2006. Through this mutual agreement DPRK shall quarantee ROK's investment in the North Korean Mines and supply mineral products for the compasation of the financial investment supported by ROK. In the area of northern part of Korea, many kind of natural resources such as Magnesite, Iron, Gold & Silver, Copper, Lead & Zinc, and Coal are plentifully deposited. In the area of southern part of Korea, however, most kind of natural resources have been exhausted and so presently major minerals such as Gold & Silver, Copper, Lead & Zinc and Coal are being imported and relying on foreign countries in whole quantity of the requirement. On the other hand Northern Part of Korea is making very slow progress in mining and exploitation owing to the lack of investment even though there are rich deposits of natural resources. And in Southern Part of Korea, they have most advanced production facilities and technologies in the world in the fields of Mineral Floatation, Steel Manufacturing, Nonferrous Metal Smelting & Refining and those plants fabrications. A combination of Southern Technologies together with Financial Support and Northern rich natural resources & Labour Power will be a most hopeful, desirable and mutually required 'South-North economic Cooperation' as the mining industries are labour intensive.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2022

Cobalt is a vital metal in the modern society because of its applications in lithium-ion batteries, super alloys, hard metals, and catalysts. Further, cobalt is a representative rare metal and is the 30th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of cobalt extraction and recycling processes, along with the trends in its production amount and use. Although cobalt occurs in a wide range of minerals, such as oxides and sulfides of copper and nickel ores, the amounts of cobalt in the minerals are too low to be extracted economically. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads cobalt mining, and accounts for 68.9 % of the global cobalt reserves (142,000 tons in 2020). Cobalt is mainly extracted from copper-cobalt and nickel-cobalt concentrates and is occasionally extracted directly from the ore itself by hydro-, pyro-, and electro-metallurgical processes. These smelting methods are essential for developing new recycling processes to extract cobalt from secondary resources. Cobalt is mainly recycled from lithium-ion batteries, spent catalysts, and cobalt alloys. The recycling methods for cobalt also depend on the type of secondary cobalt resource. Major recycling methods from secondary resources are applied in pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes.