• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.21-26
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• 2008

Recently, small and medium-sized buildings have employed a multi-heat pump. The major benefits of the multi-heat pump over a conventional system are that it is easier system to maintain along with a diversification of facility use, and high comfortability. The performance of multi-heat pump systems can be enhanced by using geothermal energy instead of air source energy. This paper describes the multi-heat pumps applied in an ground source heat pump system for an actual building. The performance of a ground source multi-heat pump installed in the field was investigated in cooling mode. The maximum COP of the systems with single U-tube and double tube ground loop heat exchangers were 6.6 and 6.0, respectively. It is suggested that the new algorithms to control the flow rate of secondary fluid for ground loop heat exchanger have to be developed in order to enhance the performance of the system.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 2005

This study was performed to investigate the effect of humic acid on the adsorption of arsenic onto hematite and its binding mechanism through the chemical speciation modeling in the binary system and the adsorption modeling in the ternary system. The complexation modeling of arsenic and humic acid was suitable for the binding model with the basis of the electrostatic repulsion and the effect of bridging metal. In comparison with the experimental adsorption data in the ternary system, the competitive adsorption model from the binary intrinsic equilibrium constants was consistent with the amount of arsenic adsorption. However, the additive rule showed the deviation of model in the opposite way of cationic heavy metals, because the reduced organic complexation of arsenic and the enhanced oxyanionic competition diminished the adsorption of arsenic. In terms of the reaction mechanism, the organic complex of arsenic, neutral As(III) and oxyanionic As(V) species were transported and adsorbed competitively to the hematite surface forming the inner-sphere complex in the presence of humic acid.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.585-596
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• 2020

The 2017 Pohang Earthquakes occurred near a drill site in the Pohang Enhanced Geothermal System. Water injected for well stimulation was believed to have reactivated the buried near-critically stressed Miocene faults by the accumulation of the Quaternary tectonic strain. However, surface expressions of the Quaternary tectonic activity had not been reported near the epicenter of the earthquakes before the site construction. Unusual, large-scale water-escaped structures were identified 4 km away from the epicenter during a post-seismic investigation. The water-escaped structures comprise Miocene mudstones injected into overlying Pleistocene coastal sediments that formed during Marine Isotope Stage 5. This indicates the vulnerable state of the mudstones long after deposition, resulted from the combined effects of rapid tectonic uplift (before significant diagenesis) and the development of an aquifer at their unconformable interface of the mudstone. Based on the detailed field analysis and consideration of all possible endogenic triggers, we interpreted the structures to have been formed by elevated pore pressures in the mudstones (thixotropy), triggered by cyclic ground motion during the earthquakes. This interpretation is strengthened by the presence of faults 400 m from the study area, which cut unconsolidated coastal sediment deposited after Marine Isotope Stage 5. Geological context, including high rates of tectonic uplift in SE Korea, paleo-seismological research on Quaternary faults near the study area, and historical records of paleoearthquakes in SE Korea, also support the interpretation. Thus, epicenter and surrounding areas of the 2017 Pohang Earthquake are considered as a paleoseismologically active area, and the causative fault of the 2017 Pohang Earthquakes was expected to be nearly critical state.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.51-117
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• 2019

On 15th November 2017, the coastal city of Pohang, located in the Southeastern part of South Korea was shaken by a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. The earthquake displaced more than 1,700 residents and caused more than $ 300 million dollars of economic loss. It was the second most damaging earthquake in the history of Korea. Soon after the earthquake, a group of scientists raised a possible link between the first Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) project and the earthquake. At the same time, another group of scientists put forward a different hypothesis of the causation of the earthquake claiming that it was caused by the geological movements that were initiated by the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. Since then, there were scientific debates between the two different groups of scientists. The scientific debate on the causation of the earthquake has been concluded temporarily by the Research Investigatory Committee on the Pohang Earthquake in 2019. The research committee concluded that the earthquake was caused by the Pohang EGS system: this means that the earthquake can be defined not as a natural earthquake, but as an artificially triggered earthquake. This article is to examine the Pohang earthquake can be defined as an Anthropocenic event. The newly suggested concept, the Anthropocene is a relatively novel term to classify the earthly strata and their relationship to geological time. The current geological period should be defined by human activities and man-made earthly environment. Although the term is basically related to geological classification, the Anthropocene has been widely debated amongst humanist and social science scholars. The current disastrous situation of our planet also implies with the Anthropocene. This paper is to discuss how to understand anthropogenic events. In particular, the paper pays attention to two different scholarly positions on the Anthropocene: Isabelle Stenger's Gaia theory and Barbara Herrnstein Smith's relativist theory. The former focuses on the earthly inevitable catastrophe of Anthropocene while the latter suggests to situate and contextualise anthropogenic events. On the basis of the theoretical positions, the article is to analyse how the Pohang earthquake can be located and situated.