• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.223-228
• /
• 2002

In addition to supplying the essential elements, Ca and S, phosphogypsum can have profound effect on both the physical and chemical properties of certain soils. However, no widespread use of by-product phosphogypsum will be made unless such uses pose no threat to the public health and soil contamination. In this study, the extractability of As, Cd, Cu, and Pb with water and DTPA solution from phosphogypsum samples of pH 3, 5, and 7 were investigated to estimate the availability of those metals. Contents of water extractable metals in ohosphogypsum were less than 5 mg/kg for all the heavy metals investigated. The extractability of metals in DTPA solution was not quite different but a little higher in comparison to the water extraction. And the extractability was decreased as the pH of phosphogypsum increased. In the phosphogypsum of pH 7, amounts of water extractable metals were nearly zero. There was no significant difference in the amount of extractable metals during the extraction period of 5 weeks. The length of extraction time did not affect heavy metal extractability. Therefore there may be small fractions of easily soluble or extractable forms of metals in the phosphogypsum and most of the metals would be present in very insoluble forms. These results suggest that the application of phosphogypsum at appropriate rates on agricultural lands appears of no concern in terms of hazardous element contamination in soil.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2001

Three Pseudomonas strains (Bk8, Bk9, Bk10) selected from soil for their ability to degrade herbicide diuron were tested for their heavy metal resistance. The growth of these catabolic strains on a minimal medium with various concentrations of $Cd^{2+},\;Zn^{2+},\;Ni^{2+}$, and $Hg^{2+}$ revealed a minimal effect on the carbon source for the inhibitory effect of the metals. One of these strains, namely, Bk8, exhibited a high resistance to the heavy metals as compared to the two other strains. This strain harbors plasmid pBk8 (110 kb) and contains at least fur determinants encoding heavy metal resistance. Nickel and zinc resistance are encoded by genes located on the chromosome, while cadmium and mercury resistance are on plasmid pBk8. Accordingly, the characteristics of strain Bk8 suggest that it would be useful in the bioremediation of aromatic compounds in the presence of toxic heavy metals as co-contaminants.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
• /
• 2005.05a
• /
• pp.119-122
• /
• 2005

As it is known that the korean coastal fishing areas are getting contaminated by heavy metals from the sediment, the authors conducted the experiments to treat the heavy metals with bioleaching process. As a result, it is found that (1) acidification for the leaching of heavy metals is effectively processed when adding more than $0.3\%$ of sulfur and $0.1\%$ of ferrous sulfate. and (2) copper is rapidly solubilized irrespective of addition of sulfur, while solubilization is not processed even of FeS is added., and (3) bioleaching with sulfur and FeSO4 is possible method to effectively treat the heavy metals form the contaminated sediments.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.399-409
• /
• 1999

The three domestic natural zeolites(Yong dong-ri (Y), Daesin-ri (D), Seogdong-ri (S)) harvested in Kyeongju-shi and Pohang-shi, Kyungsangbug-Do, were pretreatd with each of the NaOH, $Ca(OH)_2$ and NaOH following HCl solutions, and the removal performances of divalent haevy metals(Cu, Mn, Pb, and Sr) for natural and pretreated zeolites were investigated and compared in the single and mixed solutions. The natural zeolite-heavy metal system attained the final equilibrium plateau within 20 min, irrespective of initial heavy metal concentration. The heavy metal uptakes increased with increasing initial heavy metal concentration and pH. The heavy metal uptakes for natural zeolites decreased in the following sequences : D>Y>S among the natural zeolites; Pb>Cu>Sr>Mn among the heavy metals. The pretreated zeolites showed higher heavy metal removal performances than natural zeolites and decreased in the order of NaOH, NaOH following HCl, $Ca(OH)_2$ treatment among the pretreatment methods. The heavy metal ion exchange capacity by natural and pretreated zeolites was described either by Freundlich equation or Langmuir equation, but it followed the former better than the latter. The heavy metal uptakes for natural zeolites decreased in the mixed solution, in comparing with those in the single solution and especially, the manganese uptake decreased greatly in the mixed solution. The pretreated zeolites showed the improved removal performances of heavy metals in the mixed solution than in the single solution and the heavy metal uptakes by those in the mixed solution showed the same trends in the single solution among the chemical treatment methods and heavy metals.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.157-162
• /
• 2010

In this study, we investigated the atmospheric heavy metal concentrations in the particulate matter inside the subway stations of Seoul. In particular, we examined the correlation between the heavy metals and studied the effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation. In six selected subway stations in Seoul, particulate matter was captured at the platforms and 11 types of heavy metals were analyzed. The results showed that the mean concentration of iron was the highest out of the heavy metals in particulate matter, followed by copper, potassium, calcium, zinc, nickel, sodium, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium in that order. The correlation analysis showed that the correlations between the heavy metals was highest in the following order: (Cu vs Zn), (Ca vs Na), (Ca vs Mn), (Ni vs Cr), (Na vs Mn), (Cr vs Cd), (Zn vs Cd), (Cu vs Cd), (Ni vs Cd), (Cu vs Ni), (K vs Zn), (Cu vs K), (Cu vs Cr), (K vs Cd), (Zn vs Cr), (K vs Ni), (Zn vs Ni), (K vs Cr), and (Fe vs Cu). The correlation coefficient between zinc and copper was 0.937, indicating the highest correlation. Copper, zinc, nickel, chromium and cadmium, which are generated from artificial sources in general, showed correlations with many of the other metals and the correlation coefficients were also relatively high. The effect of the heavy metals on cell proliferation was also investigated in this study. Cultured cell was exposed to 10 mg/l or 100 mg/l of iron, copper, calcium, zinc, nickel, manganese, magnesium, chromium and cadmium for 24 hours. The cell proliferation in all the heavy metal-treated groups was not inhibited at 10 mg/l of the heavy metal concentration. The only exception to this was with the cadmium-treated group which showed a strong cell proliferation inhibition. This study provides the fundamental data for the understanding of simultaneous heavy metal exposure tendency at the time of particulate matter exposure in subway stations and the identification of heavy metal sources. Moreover, this study can be used as the fundamental data for the cell toxicity study of the subway-oriented heavy metal-containing particulate matter.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.87-100
• /
• 2016

Biochar, which has high alkalinity, has widely studied for amendment of soil that contaminated with heavy metals. The aim of this study is assessment of amendment for arsenic and heavy metals contaminated acidic agricultural soil using biochar that derived from buffalo weed (A. trifida L. var. trifida). Pot experiments were carried out including analysis of soil solution, contaminants fractionation, soil chemical properties and plant (lettuce) uptake rate. Arsenic and heavy metals concentrations in soil solution showed relatively low in biochar added experiments when compared to the control. In the heavy metals fractionation in soil showed decrease of exchangeable fraction and increase of carbonates fraction; however, arsenic fractionations showed constant. Soil chemical properties indicated that biochar could induce recovery of soil quality for plant growth in terms of soil alkalinity. However, phosphate concentration in biochar added soil decreased due to Ca-P precipitation by exchangeable calcium from biochar. Arsenic and heavy metals uptake rate of plant in the amended experiment decreased to 50% when compared to the control. Therefore biochar derived from buffalo weed can be used as amendment material for agricultural soil contaminated with arsenic and heavy metals. Precipitation of As-Ca and metal-carbonates are major mechanisms for soil amendment using char.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.170-177
• /
• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the total heavy metals contents and chemical forms in the animal manure compost. Materials and methods: A total of 109 compost samples were collected throughout the country and classified into three groups in accordance with the raw materials; pig manure, poultry manure and mixed(pig+poultry+cattle) manure. The compost samples were analyzed for total metal content and sequential chemical extraction to estimate the quantities of metals. Results: Concentrations of Zn and Cu in several compost samples were higher than the maximum acceptable limits by the Korea Compost Quality Standards. Concentrations of Zn, Cu, and Cd in compost samples were 257~5,102, 68~1,243, and 0.02~2.54 mg/kg respectively, while Cr, Ni, As, and Pb were < 20 mg/kg. The concentrations of heavy metals in pig manure compost were higher than those of both the poultry and the mixed manure compost. The predominant forms for extracted metals were Cr, Ni, Zn, As, and Pb, residual; Cu, organic; and Cd, carbonate. Conclusions: Results indicate that the Zn and Cu contents in compost were higher than other heavy metals and the heavy metal contents were greater in pig manure compost followed by mixed and poultry manure compost. To prevent the accumulation of heavy metals in soil where animal manure compost is applied, strategy for reducing heavy metal concentrations in animal manure and compost must be considered.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.203-214
• /
• 2002

The statistical model was introduced to satisfy various experimental condition on the sorption of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn) by bentonite. The Box-Behnken model designed statistically was applied to determine relative impact among three variables such as pH, HCO$_3$ contents and heavy metal concentrations on the sorption. The SAS program was used to obtain the statistical solution. The statistical surface response analysis indicates that initial concentration of heavy metals and pH have an important effect on the sorption, and bicarbonate is not a serious variable. The sorption capability about heavy metals of bentonite is in the order of Pb>Cu>Zn>Cd. The precipitation as hydroxyl and carbonate complexes of heavy metals was thermodynamically analyzed as major mechanism of sorption under alkaline pHs and high bicarbonate solution. It was found that there is a little difference between the model prediction on the precipitation of heavy metals and the results of batch sorption experiment. The thermodynamic data of the programs have to revise to obtain the best fit condition between the model prediction and the experimental results.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.187-190
• /
• 2012

Background: High incidence of gallbladder cancer (GBC) is reported from North India, with elevated concentrations of heavy metals in water and soil. This Indo-Japan collaborative study compared presence of heavy metals in gallbladder tissues. Methods: Heavy metal concentrations were estimated in Indian GBC and cholecystitis tissues and compared with Japanese GBC and cholecystitis tissues. Spectrophotometry was done for 13 Indian gallbladder tissues (8 GBC, 5 cholecystitis) and 9 Japanese (5 GBC, 4 cholecystitis). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) thin foil element analysis was done in 10 Indian samples (6 GBC, 4 cholecystitis). Results: Chromium, lead, arsenic and zinc were significantly high in Indian GBC compared with Japanese GBC. Chromium, lead and arsenic were significantly high in the Indian cholecystitis tissues compared to the Japanese. TEM of Indian tissues demonstrated electron dense deposits in GBC. Conclusion: Heavy metals-chromium, lead, arsenic and zinc are potential carcinogens in Indian GBC from endemic areas. This preliminary study links presence of heavy metals in gallbladder cancer tissues in endemic areas.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.66-74
• /
• 2016

Environmental pollution from abandoned metal mines has been awarded as serious problem and many techniques have been applied to remediate pollutants. Main objective of this research was to evaluate efficiency of heavy metal sorption capacity of spent mushroom media (SMM) in aqueous and soil matrix. Laboratory batch experiment was conducted and 4 different heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn) were evaluated. In aqueous phase, all 4 heavy metals showed high reduction efficiency ranged from 60-99% and Pb showed the highest sorption efficiency. In case of soil phase, much lower sorption efficiency was observed compared to aqueous phase. The highest reduction efficiency was observed in Cd (average of 38%). With scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive detector (SED-EDS) analysis, we confirmed sorption of heavy metals at the surface of SMM. Overall, SMM can be used as sorption materials for heavy metals in both aqueous and soil matrix and more research should be conducted to increase sorption efficiency of SMM in soil.