• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.239-244
• /
• 2009

In this study, to stabilize the heavy metal in the contaminated soils, the column leaching test based on rainfall and pH value was performed by using coal mine drainage sludge(CMDS): which was generated during electrical purification of abandoned coal mine wastewater. Four types of testing column were used in this study. That were the CMDS and the heavy metal contaminated soils well mixed in 0 wt%, 1 wt%, 3 wt% and 3 wt% layered column. According to the investigation, when the influent pH was $5.5{\sim}6.2$, there were no heavy metal elution at all conditions, and when the influent pH was $3{\sim}3.3$, the order of Cu, Zn, Pb, Cr elution concentration was 3 wt% M(mixed)<3 wt% S(separation)<1 wt% M<0 wt% and the average elution concentration was quite low, the value was 0.005 mg/L. Therefore, CMDS can used as new stabilizer of the heavy metal in the contaminated soils.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.324-329
• /
• 2008

A coal mine drainage sludge(designated as CMDS) is mainly generated during physicochemical treatment or electrical purification of the drainage abandoned mine that include dissolved heavy metal. To understand the possibility of an application of the dehydrated CMDS as the landfill cover medium of hygienic a reclaimed ground, an laboratory experiment was performed to investigate the physicochemical and geoengineering characteristics of the dehydrated CMDS. To improve the geoengineering characteristics of the dehydrated CMDS, the liquid limit, plasticity limit test, compaction method test, strength test, and hydraulic conductivity test ware performed with the lithification material mixed sludge. When the mixed ratio of the sludge and the lithification material was more than 1:06, the compaction method was A method, the moisture content less than 33.5%, the strength of mixed sludge was $8.2kg\;cm^{-2}$, the hydraulic conductivity was $2.7\times10^{-6}cm\;sec^{-1}$, the sludge was up to the landfill standard of US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.37 no.11
• /
• pp.619-630
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to propose the methodology of human risk assessment specialized to domestic mine areas and to quantify the human risk of heavy metal (As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) contamination around two abandoned metal mines. To attain the goals, we established a relevant exposure scenario, including 7 exposure pathways and extracted a variety of exposure factors reflecting the characteristics of inhabitants around abandoned metal mine areas. Finally, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks were compared between two areas, exposure pathways, heavy metal contaminants, and receptors. The total excess carcinogenic risks of two mine areas of concern were calculated to be larger than the acceptable carcinogenic risk ($1{\times}10^{-6}$), indicating those two areas are not safe for carcinogenic hazard. In addition, the hazard indices of two areas were computed to be higher than unit risk (1), suggesting that the areas of concern have non-carcinogenic risk. Ingestion of crop and intake of groundwater were evaluated to be main exposure pathways contributing to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks within the areas. Also, the results show that carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic hazards were mostly attributed to As and As, Cd, and Pb, respectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.667-675
• /
• 2020

An Alum-sludge based adsorbent (ASBA) was synthesized by the hydrothermal treatment of alum sludge obtained from settling basin in water treatment plant. ASBA was applied to remove fluoride and arsenic in artificially-contaminated aqueous solutions and mine drainage. The mineralogical crystal structure, composition, and specific surface area of ASBA were identified. The result revealed that ASBA has irregular pores and a specific surface area of 87.25 ㎡ g-1 on its surface, which is advantageous for quick and facile adsorption. The main mineral components of the adsorbent were found to be quartz(SiO2), montmorillonite((Al,Mg)2Si4O10(OH)2·4H2O) and albite(NaAlSi3O8). The effects of pH, reaction time, initial concentration, and temperature on removal of fluoride and arsenic were examined. The results of the experiments showed that, the adsorbed amount of fluoride and arsenic gradually decreased with increasing pH. Based on the results of kinetic and isotherm experiments, the maximum adsorption capacity of fluoride and arsenic were 7.6 and 5.6 mg g-1, respectively. Developed models of fluoride and arsenic were suitable for the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Moreover, As for fluoride and arsenic, the increase rate of adsorption concentration decreased after 8 and 12 hr, respectively, after the start of the reaction. Also, the thermodynamic data showed that the amount of fluoride and arsenic adsorbed onto ASBA increased with increasing temperature from 25℃ to 35℃, indicating that the adsorption was endothermic and non-spontaneous reaction. As a result of regeneration experiments, ASBA can be regenerated by 1N of NaOH. In the actual mine drainage experiment, it was found that it has relatively high removal rates of 77% and 69%. The experimental results show ASBA is effective as an adsorbent for removal fluoride and arsenic from mine drainage, which has a small flow rate and acid/neutral pH environment.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.51 no.5
• /
• pp.401-407
• /
• 2018

For the treatment of heavy metals in the mine drainage from the closed mine area, various methods such as passive, active and semi-active treatments are considered. Among contaminated elements in the mine drainage, Mn is one of the difficult elements for the treatment because it needs high pH over 9.0 for its concentration to be reduced. In this study, the efficiency of various slag complex reactors (slag (S), slag+limestone (SL) and slag+Mn coated gravel (SG)) on Mn removal in the presence of Fe, which is a competitive element with Mn, was evaluated to investigate effective methods for the treatment of Mn in mine drainage. As a result of experiments on Mn removal without Fe during 358 days, using influent with $30{\sim}50Mn{\cdot}mg/L$ and pH 6.7 on the average, S reactor showed continuously high Mn removal efficiency with the average of 99.9% with pH 8.9~11.4. Using the same reactors, Mn removal experiments with Fe during 237 days were conducted with the influent with $40{\sim}60Mn{\cdot}mg/L$. The pH range of effluent reached to 6.1~10.0, which is slightly lower than that of effluent without Fe. S reactor showed the highest range of pH with 7.1~9.9, followed by S+L and S+G reactor. However, the efficiency of Mn removal showed S+L>S>S+G with the range of 94~100%, 68~100% and 68~100%, respectively in spite of relatively low pH range. S+L reactor showed the most resistance on Fe input, which means other mechanisms such as $MnCO_3$ formation by the carbonate prouced from the limestone or autocatalysis reaction of Mn contributed to Mn removal rather than pH related mechanisms. The evidence of reactions between carbonates and Mn, rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$), was found from the X-ray diffraction analysis of precipitates sample from S+L reactor. From this study, the most effective reactors on Mn removal in the presence of Fe was S+L reactor. The results are expected to be applied for the Mn containing mine water treatment in the presence of Fe within the relatively low range of pH.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.102-111
• /
• 2012

Fine suspended solids generated effluence from treatment process of mine drainage could destroy environment as the aesthetic landscapes, and depreciate water quality. Therefore, the purpose of this research is focused on process development applied the actual field for controlling fine suspended solids and heavy metals, and so lab-scale test was performed for inducement of basic data. The mine drainage used in this research was sampled in H mine located Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do. Concentration of suspended solid, arsenic, iron and manganese was exceeded the standard of contaminant limitation for the clean water, and particle size of suspended solid was less than 10 m as fine particle. Although hydraulic retention time of mine drainage for effective settling was required more than 6 hours, hydraulic retention time would be increased in winter season when the settling efficiency could be reduced because of viscosity decreasing. Moreover, installed inclination plate helped to increase settling efficiency of suspended solid about 48 %. Filtering media that was the most effective removal of suspended solids and heavy metal was decided granular activated carbon of 1~2 mm was the optimal size.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.18 no.7
• /
• pp.54-62
• /
• 2013

Fine suspended solids and soluble heavy metals generated from mine drainage could destroy environment as the aesthetic landscapes, and depreciate water quality. Therefore, this research is focused on process development applied the actual field for controlling fine suspended solids and heavy metals, and so that bench-scale tests were performed for field application based on advanced researches. The field of mine drainage in this research was in H mine located Taebaek-si, Gangwon-do. The inclination plates were mounted 2 kinds of arrangement (octagon and radial types) in circle type settling basin. The inclination plates could be helped to settle of suspended solids; decreased 34% of suspended solids and 50% of turbidity in effluent. Radial type of inclination plates showed the results that is more efficient to settle of suspended solids (average to 3.45 mg/L) compared to octagon type. In the experiments to decrease retention time of mine drainage in settling basin from 6 hrs to 1.5 hrs, suspended solid concentration was exceeded to 30 mg/L as the standard for suspended solid at 10 days after the operation under tha retention time of 3hrs and 1.5hrs. In the tests for filtration, granular activated carbons were indicated the better effective to filtering and absorption of fine suspended solid and soluble heavy metals than anthracite.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.54 no.6
• /
• pp.733-741
• /
• 2021

Globally, in accordance with the goals set forth in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, each country has established and declared a reduction target for carbon neutrality by 2050. The roadmaps for establishing long-term greenhouse gas emissions development strategies and setting reduction targets have been announced. As the international community accelerates the transition to the net-zero society, 128 countries have declared net-zero by the end of 2020, and the net-zero declaration continues to expand around G20 member states. In December 2020, Korea announced the "2050 Net-zero Strategy" to establish a foundation for simultaneously achieving carbon reduction, economic growth, and improved quality of life for the people through active response to the net-zero, and pursuing policy tasks in stages to do this. Comprehensive carbon management is insufficient due to the lack of comprehensive carbon management due to the departure from the areas of mandatory reduction, such as the GHG energy target management system and the GHG emissions trading offset system implemented to reduce greenhouse gases in Korea. Currently, there is no cases for estimation or calculation of carbon dioxide emissions for the Mine Reclamation projects. It is reviewed the standard methods proposed by domestic and foreign carbon emission calculation methods and proposed appropriate carbon emission estimation methods for the Mine Reclamation projects in this study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2008.03a
• /
• pp.229-241
• /
• 2008

In order to investigate stabilization effect on As-contaminated soils treated by zero-valent iron(ZVI) and industrial by-products, batch tests and column tests were carried out with As-contaminated soils collected from farmland around the abandoned mine site. In batch tests, ZVI and industrial by-products(blast furnace slag, steel refining slag and oyster shell powder) were used as treatment materials to reduce As. Industrial by-products were mixed with As-contaminated soils, in the ratio of 1%, 3%, 5% and 7% on the weight base of dried soil. After incubation, all samples showed the reduction of As concentration and it was expected that ZVI and steel refining slag were effective treatment materials to remove As among treatment materials used in batch test. In column tests, columns were made by acrylic with the dimension of diameter=10cm, height=100cm, thickness=1cm and these columns were filled with untreated soils and treated soils mixed with ZVI and steel refining slag(mixing ratio=3%). Distilled water was discharged into the columns with the velocity of 1 pore-volume/day. During test, pH, EC, Eh and As concentration were measured in the regular term(1 pore-volume). As a result, ZVI and steel refining slag were shown 93%, 62% reduction of As concentration respectively by comparison with untreated soils. Therefore, if ZVI and steel refining slag are used as treatment materials in As-contaminated soils, it is expected that the As concentration in soils is reduced effectively.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2010

Acid mine drainage occurs when sulfide minerals are exposed to an oxidizing environment. The objective of this study was to inhibit the oxidation of pyrite by applying various coating agent such as $KH_2PO_4$, MgO and $KMnO_4$ over its surface as an oxidation inhibitors. Experiments were conducted for 8 days to test the feasibility of oxidation inhibitors. The optimal condition of coating agent for standard pyrite and IK mine was the combination of 0.01M $KH_2PO_4$, 0.01M NaOAc and 0.01M NaClO. Otherwise, for YD mine the combination of 0.01M $KMnO_4$, 0.01M NaOAc and 0.01M NaClO. The $SO_4^{2-}$ reduction efficiency of pyrite, IK and YD mine samples was 70, 92 and 84%, respectively. For 8 days, no significant increase of $SO_4^{2-}$ from pyrite sample coated with inhibitor was observed. The pH of solution remains in between 4 to 6 for the reaction conditions.