• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.3 s.184
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• pp.277-293
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• 2007

Seasonal and spatial variations in the concentrations of trace elements, pH and Eh were found in a creek watershed affected by mine drainage and leachate from several waste rock dumps within the As-Pb-rich Indae mine site. Because of mining activity dating back to about 40 years ago and rupture of the waste rock dumps, this creek was heavily contaminated. Due to the influx of leachate and mine drainage, the water quality of upstream reach in this creek was characterized by largest seasonal and spatial variations in concentrations of Zn(up to $5.830 mg/{\ell}$), Cu(up to $1.333 mg/{\ell}$), Cd(up to $0.031 mg/{\ell}$) and $SO_4^{2-}$(up to $173 mg/{\ell}$), relatively acidic pH values (3.8-5.1) and highly oxidized condition. The most abundant metals in the leachate samples were in order of Zn($0.045-13.909 mg/{\ell}$), Fe($0.017-8.730mg/{\ell}$), Cu($0.010-4.154mg/{\ell}$) and Cd($n.d.-0.077mg/{\ell}$), with low pH(3.1-6.1), and high $SO_4^{2-}$(up to $310 mg/{\ell}$). The mine drainage also contained high concentrations of Zn, Cu, Cd and $SO_4^{2-}$ and remained constantly near-neutral pH values(6.5-7.0) in all the year. While the leachate and mine drainage might not affect short-term fluctuations in flow, it may significantly influence the concentrations of chemicals in the stream. The abundance and chemistry of Fe-(oxy)hydroxide within this creek indicated that the Fe-(oxy)hydroxide formation could be responsible for some removal of trace elements from the creek waters. Spatial and seasonal variations along down-stream reach of this creek were caused largely by the influx of water from uncontaminated tributaries. In addition, the trace metal concentrations in this creek have been decreased nearly down to the background level at a short distance from the discharge points without any artificial treatments after hydrologic mixing in a tributary. The nonconservative(i.e. precipitation, adsorption, oxidation, dissolution etc.) and conservative(hydrologic mixing) reactions constituted an efficient mechanism of natural attenuation which reduces considerably the transference of trace elements to rivers.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.21-31
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• 1998

A study on the acid leaching and precipitation has been conducted to remove arsenic from the closed-mine tailings. HCI and H$_2$SO$_4$were used as the leach liquor of arsenic and the tailing obtained from the Da-Duck Mine, which was already closed several decades ago, was also used as the source of arsenic. The effect of the concentration of acid, leaching time and the slurry density on the leaching efficiency of arsenic has been examined. In addition, pH controls and the addition of sodium sulfide were also attempted to remove the arsenic compound as the precipitation from the leachate. After 1 hr leaching by HCI, 40 to 86% of arsenic was leached out depending on the concentration of acid or the slurry density while 47 to 77% of it was leached out by $H_2$$SO_4$. The leaching of arsenic by both acids was almost accomplished within 10 min. and after that only a slight increase in leaching efficiency was observed with leaching time. When the leach liquor was used repeatedly for the leaching of arsenic, the concentration of arsenic in the leach liquor was found to increase continuously although the leaching efficiency was diminished. As far as the precipitation of arsenic in the leachate was concerned, more than 99% of arsenic could be precipitated through the addition of sodium sulfide as the precipitator while the pH controls resulted in the precipitation of up to 84%.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.315-323
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• 1996

An apatite drain was constructed on September 30, 1994 at the Green Valley Abandoned Coal Mine site near Terre Haute in west central Indiana. The primary objective of this experiment is to evaluate the long-term ability of the apatite drain to mitigate acid mine drainage (AMD) under field conditions. The drain 9 m long, 3.3 m wide, and 0.75 m deep, contain 95 rum to No. 30 mesh-size apatite ore (francolite) and receive AMD seepage from reclaimed gob piles, and designed according to the laboratory testing. The apatite drain was covered with limestone riprap and filter fabric to protect the drainage system from stormwater and siltation. The drain consists of about 50 metric tons of apatite ore obtained from a phosphate mine in Florida. A gabion structure was constructed downstream of the apatite drain to create a settling pond to collect precipitates. Apatite effectively removed iron up to 4,200 mg/l, aluminum up to 830 mg/l and sulfate up to 13,430 mg/l. The pH was nearly constant for the influent and effluent, ranging between 3.1 and 4.3. Flow rate measured at the gabion structure ranged from 3 to 4.5 l/m. Precipitates of iron and aluminum phosphate (yellow and white suspendid solids) continued to accumulate in the settling pond.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 1999

Acid mine drainage (AMD) results from sulfuric acid produced by the oxidation of pyrite, and contains large amounts of toxic elements. In the neutralization of AMD, iron and aluminum hydroxides are the major precipitates and those two can be separated with two-phase neutralization. In this study, removal of toxic elements by the two phases of neutralization was investigated using an AMD collected from the abandoned antimony mine in Gachang, Taegu. Contents of As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb and Zn in the AMD were higher than the criteria of river water quality or permissible waste water discharge. In the first phase, the AMD was neutralized to several % (25, 50, 75, 100, and 125) of $Fe(OH)_3$ equivalence point with solid $Ca(OH)_2$. In the second phase, the supernatant of the first phase neutralization was titrated to pH 7.5. After neutralization of the AMD to 100% of the $Fe(OH)_3$, equivalence point, most of Fe and Pb were removed but levels of As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Mn, and Zn were not reduced in the supernatant solution. In the second phase neutralization, levels of those toxic elements in the supernatants dropped below the wastewater discharge or river water quality criteria. This result suggests that the precipitate formed in the first phase of the neutralization process may be disposed without any special cares. Thus the two-phase neutralization scheme can reduce the cost of disposing precipitates containing toxic metals in comparison with the monophase neutralization scheme.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.13-19
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• 2013

The effect of pH on the citrate leaching behavior of heavy metal ion was investigated to develop an eco-friendly process for removing heavy metals from soil contaminated with copper, zinc, and lead. The leaching tests were performed using citrate solution with pH adjusted by mixing citric acid and sodium citrate under the following leaching conditions: particle size, under $75{\mu}m$; temperature, $50^{\circ}C$; citrate concentration, $1kmol/m^3$; pulp density, 5%; shaking speed, 100 rpm; leaching time, 1 hour. The difference of pH before and after the leaching test was not observed, and this result indicates the direct effect of hydrogen ion concentration on the leaching of metals was insignificant. The removal ratios of copper, zinc, and lead from the contaminated soil decreased with increasing pH. The thermodynamic calculation suggests that the leaching behaviors of metal ions were determined by two reactions; one is the reaction to form complex ions between heavy metal ions and citrate ion species, and the other is the reaction to form metal hydroxide between heavy metal ions and hydroxide ion.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.237-245
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• 2019

Ammonia nitrogen is well known as a substance that causes the eutrophication with a phosphorus in the water, because it is contained in the industrial wastewater, agricultural and the stockbreeding wastewater. In addition, manganese (Mn) and arsenic (As) are included in the mine treated water, etc., and are known as a source of water pollution. Natural zeolites are used to remove ammonia nitrogen in water but it have a low adsorption capacity. In order to improve the low adsorption capacity of the natural zeolite, ion substitution was carried out with $Na^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, $K^+$ and $Mg^{2+}$. The adsorption capacity and removal rate of ammonia nitrogen ($NH_4-N$) were the highest at 0.66 mg/g and 89.8% in $Na^+$ ion exchanged zeolite. Adsorption experiments of Mn and As were performed using ion exchanged zeolites. Ion exchanged zeolite with $Mg^{2+}$ showed high adsorption capacity and removal rates of Mn and As.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.31-38
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• 1999

The purpose of this study were to determine the optimum mixing ratio of sewage sludge and papermill sludge as carbon source required to SRB in treating abandoned mine drainage with natural purification wetland. If mixing sewage sludge/papermill sludge 2.0 SO42- reduced 46.2%, and then 30% in mixing ratio 0.5.Because sewage sludge was faster biodegradability than papermill sludge, effluent SCOD was 40mg/L in mixing ratio 0.5, and after that was all but regular. pH and ORP were almost neutral and -160mV, but after that was all but regular and it indicated that SRB activity was suitable. Fe removal rate was 60% in mixing ratio 2.0, and 54% in mixing ratio 0.5. In point of carbon source supply, It indicated that mixing ration 0.5 was considered as the most appropriate, because degradability of swewage sludge under short time was higher than that of papermill sludge.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.E1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2008

This study was undertaken to measure the properties of individual mineral particles in an artificially saturated atmosphere at a vertical extinct mine with 430 m height. By synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) microprobe analysis, it was possible to determine the elemental composition of residual insoluble particles on individual cloud droplet replicas formed on the Collodion film. The XRF visualized elemental maps enabled us not only to presume the chemical mixing state of particles retained in cloud droplet, but also to estimate their source. Details about the individual mineral particles captured by artificial cloud droplets should be helpful to understand about the removal characteristics of dust particles such as interaction with clouds. Nearly all individual particles captured in cloud droplets are strongly enriched in Fe. Mass of Fe is ranged between 41 fg and 360 fg with average 112 fg. There is a good agreement between single particle analysis by SR-XRF and bulk particle analysis by PIXE.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.5-9
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• 2007

This study carried out to investigate the removal capacity of heavy metals such as Cu (II), Zn (II) and Cd (II) dissolved in aqueous solution in the soils collected from Hyeon-Dong (HD), San-seong (SS), Keum-chon (KC) and Keum-Hac (KH) located in the upper Banbyun stream. The pH of all the soils was weak alkali such as 8.8 9.2. According to the analysis of chemical composition of the soils, the amount of $SiO_2$, $AlO_2$ and CaO were similar in all tested soils. However, the amount of $K_2O$, $FeO_3$ and MgO were different from each soil. The XRD measurement with these soils showed that quartz and feldspar were presented in all tested soils, and the distribution of kaoline, illite, montmorillonite, vermiculite and calcite were different from each soil. The results of the removal capacity of heavy metals indicated that all the soils had more than 98% of the removal efficiency of Cu (II), Zn (II) and Cd (II), and among the heavy metals, Cu (II) was removed the most effectively. These results suggested that the soils collected from the upper Banbyun stream have the high removal capacity of heavy metals, and these soils could be used for the banking a river around the abandoned mine area, containing the higher concentrations of heavy metals than the usual stream.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.57-66
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• 2005

A major concern with blasting at surface mines is generation of ground vibration, air blast, flyrock, dust & fume and their impact on nearby structures and environment. A study was conducted at a coal mine in India which produces 10 million tonne of coal and 27 million cubic meter of overburden per annum. Draglines and shovels with dumpers carry out the removal of overburden. Detonation of 100 tonnes of explosives in a blasting round is a common practice of the mine. These large sized blasts often led to complaints from the nearby inhabitants regarding ground vibrations and their affects on their houses. Eighteen dragline blasts were conducted and their impacts on nearby structures were investigated. Extended seismic arrays were used to identify the vibration characteristics within a few tens meters of the blasts and also as modified by the media at distances over 5 km. 10 to 12 seismographs were deployed in an array to gather the time histories of vibrations. A signature blast was conducted to know the fundamental frequency of the particular transmitting media between the blast face and the structures. The faster decay of high frequency components was observed. It was also observed that at distances of 5km, the persistence of vibrations in the structures was substantially increased by more 10 seconds. The proximity of the frequency of the ground vibration to the structure's fundamental frequencies produced the resonance in the structures. On the basis of the fundamental frequency of the structures, the delay interval was optimized, which resulted into lower amplitude and reduced persistence of vibration in the structures.