• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.3-16
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• 2017

Chemical catalyst products are applied to various fields such as petrochemical process, air pollution prevention facility and automobile exhaust gas purifier. The domestic and overseas chemical catalyst market is increasing every year, and the amount of waste catalyst generated thereby is also increasing. Most of the used chemical catalyst products, such as desulfurized waste catalysts and automobile waste catalysts containing valuable metals are important recyclable resources from a substitute resource point of view. The recycling processes for recovering valuable metals have been commercialized through some urban mining companies, and SCR denitration catalysts have been recycled through some remanufacturing companies. In this paper, the amount of domestic production and recycling of major catalyst products have thus been investigated and analyzed so as to be used as basic data for establishing industrial support policy for recycling of used chemical catalyst products. Also tasks for promoting the recycling of used chemical catalyst products are suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.673-680
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• 1997

NaOH, $Na_2CO_3, CaO, Ca(OH)_2$ and $CaCO_3$ are widely used counteractives for neoutralizing the waste sulphuric acid produced during the metal surface treatment process and/or the metal refining process. To reduce the tremendous expenses for the neutralization treatment of the waste sulphuric acid, the sludge from calcination plant and the stainless refining dust in POSCO (Pohang Iron ＆ Steel co. Ltd.) was utilized. For the sludge, it will be effective to use calcined and then hydrated sludge in strong acid region (pH<2) and to use the sludge itself in weak acid region (pH>2), The gypsum, the by-product of this treatment, was tested to fit the industrial standard of gypsum, so it is expected that it will solve the lack of gypsum supply. For the stainless refining dust, the phase and the morphology of produced gypsum from waste suiphuric acid neutralization was compared with those from pure sulphuric acid. Because of high reactivity and reaction temperature, $CaSO_4$ non-hydrate was obtained in pure sulphuric acid. But $CaSO_4$ dihydrate was obtained in waste sulphuric acid. It is also judged to be a good material for a counteractive of the waste sulphuric acid.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.1310-1320
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• 2020

Low-quality soil for land reuse is a crucial problem in vegetation quality and especially to waste disposal sites in mining areas. It is necessary to find suitable materials to improve the soil quality and especially to increase soil microbial diversity and activity. In this study, pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of a mixed material of humic acid, super absorbent polymer and biochar on low-quality soil indexes and the microbial community response. The indexes included soil physicochemical properties and the corresponding plant growth. The results showed that the mixed material could improve chemical properties and physical structure of soil by increasing the bulk density, porosity, macro aggregate, and promote the mineralization of nutrient elements in soil. The best performance was achieved by adding 3 g·kg^-1 super absorbent polymer, 3 g·kg^-1 humic acid, and 10 g·kg^-1 biochar to soil with plant total nitrogen, dry weight and height increased by 85.18%, 266.41% and 74.06%, respectively. Physicochemical properties caused changes in soil microbial diversity. Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetes, and Proteobacteria were significantly positively correlated with most of the physical, chemical and plant indicators. Actinobacteria and Armatimonadetes were significantly negatively correlated with most measurement factors. Therefore, this study can contribute to improving the understanding of low-quality soil and how it affects soil microbial functions and sustainability.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.121-129
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• 2017

Demand forecasting is one of the most critical tasks in defense logistics, because the failure of the task can bring about a huge waste of budget. Up to date, ROK-MND(Republic of Korea - Ministry of National Defense) has analyzed past component consumption data with time-series techniques to predict each component's demand. However, the accuracy of the prediction still needs to be improved. In our study, we attempted to find consumption pattern using data mining techniques. We gathered an 18,476 component consumption data first, and then derived diverse features to utilize them in identification of demanding patterns in the consumption data. The results show that our approach improves demand forecasting with higher accuracy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.24-27
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• 2005

This study has focused on investigation on As and heavy metal contamination derived from metalliferous mining activities in the Choongbuk Province in Korea. Soil, mine effluent, surface water and ground water samples were taken in and around 27 abandoned metal mines, and analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn using AAS and anions in water samples using IC. In general, the heavy metal concentrations in soils decreased with Increasing distance from the each mine audit. Tailings and mine waste soils from several mines contained over the guideline of Soil Conservation Act in Korea. Soil samples from the Seobo, Honga, Daehwa, Jeungjadong, Youngbo and Munbaek mines contained over the action levels of the metals due to intensive mining activities. Therefore, a proper remediation work needs to control the metal dispersion around the mines.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.2062-2066
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• 2022

Nuclear energy sources are indispensable in cost effectively achieving carbon neutral economy, where public opinion is critical to adoption as the consequences of nuclear accident can be catastrophic. In this context, discussion on spent nuclear fuel is a prerequisite to expanding nuclear energy, as it leads to the issue of radioactive waste disposal. Given the dearth of study on spent nuclear fuel public acceptance, we use text mining and big data analysis on the news article and public comments data on Naver news portal to identify the Korean public opinion on spent nuclear fuel. We identify that the Korean public is more interested in the nuclear energy policy than spent nuclear fuel itself and that the alternative energy sources affect the position towards spent nuclear fuel. We recommend relating spent nuclear fuel issue with nuclear energy policy and environmental issues of alternative energy sources to further promote spent nuclear fuel.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.457-466
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• 2023

Background: During hot environment work tasks with whole-body enclosed anti-bioaerosol suit, the combined effect of heavy sweating and exhaled hot humid air may cause the N95 medical respirator to saturate with water/sweat (i.e., water-blocking). Methods: 32 young male subjects with different body mass indexes (BMI) in whole-body protection (N95 medical respirator + one-piece protective suit + head covering + protective face screen + gloves + shoe covers) were asked to simulate waste collecting from each isolated room in a seven-story building at 27-28℃, and the weight, inhalation resistance (R_f), and aerosol penetration of the respirator before worn and after water-blocking were analyzed. Results: All subjects reported water-blocking asphyxia of the N95 respirators within 36-67 min of the task. When water-blocking occurred, the R_f and 10-200 nm total aerosol penetration (P_t) of the respirators reached up to 1270-1810 Pa and 17.3-23.3%, respectively, which were 10 and 8 times of that before wearing. The most penetration particle size of the respirators increased from 49-65 nm before worn to 115-154 nm under water-blocking condition, and the corresponding maximum size-dependent aerosol penetration increased from 2.5-3.5% to 20-27%. With the increase of BMI, the water-blocking occurrence time firstly increased then reduced, while the R_f, P_t, and absorbed water all increased significantly. Conclusions: This study reveals respirator water-blocking and its serious negative impacts on respiratory protection. When performing moderate-to-high-load tasks with whole-body protection in a hot environment, it is recommended that respirator be replaced with a new one at least every hour to avoid water-blocking asphyxia.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.59-61
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• 2005

In Korea, hundreds of abandoned and closed coal and metallic mines are present in the steep mountain valleys due to the depression of the mining industry since the late 1980s. From these mines, enormous amounts of coal waste were dumped on the slopes, which causes sedimentation and acid mine drainage (AMD) to be discharged directly into streams causing detrimental effects on soil and water environments. A limestone slurry by-product (lime cake) is produced from the Solvay process in manufacturing soda ash. It has very fine particles, low hydraulic conductivities ($10^{-8}{\sim}10^{-9}cm/sec$), high pH, high EC due to the presence of CaO, MgO and $CaCl_2$ as major components, and traces of heavy metals. Due to these properties, it has potential to be used as a neutralizer for acid-producing materials. A field plot experiment was used to test the application of lime cake for reclaiming coal wastes. Each plot was 20 x 5 m (L x W) in size on a 56% slope. Treatments included a control (waste only), calcite ($CaCO_3$), and lime cake. The lime requirement (LR) for the coal waste to pH 7.0 was determined and treatments consisted of adding 100%, 50%, and 25% of the LR. The lime cake and calcite were also applied in either a layer between the coal waste and topsoil or mixed into the topsoil and coal waste. Each plot was hydroseeded with grasses and planted with trees. In each plot, surface runoff and subsurface water were collected. The lime cake treatments increased the pH of coal waste from 3.5 to 6, and neutralized the pH of the runoff and leachate of the coal waste from 4.3 to 6.7.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2018

The coal is a useful industrial resource for a long time. However, coal waste is generated by the mining process. Coal wastes are the main cause of pollution in the surrounding environment, and the amount of coal waste is set at hundreds of millions of tons. Significant amounts of these components in the coal waste are $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$, which is also the main source of zeolites useful in various industries. This study is that the synthesis-zeolite was prepared from coal waste and properties and adsorption performance of synthesis-zeolite were compared with commercial zeolite. The synthesis-zeolite is showed similar properties to the commercial zeolite and also showed excellent adsorption performance against atmospheric pollution induced gases ($CO_2$, Toluene, $SO_2$, etc).

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 1998

This study investigates the contamination mechanism of soil by drainages including acid rains around mining waste sites, and suggests the quantitative methods of prevention against soil contaminations and its alternatives. For these purposes, the dissolution of arsenic in soils, which is one of toxic heavy metals, has been examined experimentally using the artificial acidic solution. Also, in order to prevent dissolution of arsenic by acid rain, the effects of limestone for the neutrality method on the soil were investigated. The arsenic in soil specimen was dissolved by strong acidic solution below pH1.0. The maximum amount of dissolved arsenic increased with decreasing pH value. Furthermore, it was found very effective to use limestones for the neutrality method. The neutralization of limestones in acidic solution was found to follow the equation of chemical reaction-controlling formulation in unreacted-core models.