• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.spc
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• pp.34-50
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• 2022

Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted using hydrochemical data in four testbeds (A to D) built for the development of site characterization technologies to assess the hydrochemical processes controlling the hydrochemistry in each site. The PCA results indicated the nitrogen loading to deep bedrock aquifers through permeable fractures in Testbed A, the chemical weathering enhanced with the biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in Testbed B, the reductive dechlorination in Testbed C, and the different hydrochemistry depending on the depth to bedrock in Testbed D, consistent with the characteristics of each site. In Testbeds B and D, outliers seemed to affect the PCA result probably due to the small number of samples, whereas the PCA result was still consistent with site characteristics. This study result indicates that the PCA is widely applicable to hydrochemical data for the assessment of major hydrochemical processes in contamination sites, which is useful for site characterization when combined with other site characterization technologies, e.g., geological survey, geophysical investigation, borehole logging. It is suggested that PCA is applied in contaminated sites to interpret hydrochemical data not only for the distribution of contamination levels but also for the assessment of major hydrochemical processes and contamination sources.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2005

Contamination of soils and groundwater by leakage of petroleum compounds from underground storage tanks (USTs) has become great environmental issues. Conventional methods such as soil vapor extraction (SVE) used for the remediation of unsaturated soils contaminated with volatile organic compounds might not be applied for the removal of semi-volatile organic compounds such as diesel fuels and PCBs, which have low volatility and high hydrophobicity. The objective of this study is to develop a hot air injection method to remove semi-volatile compounds. Additionally, operation parameters such as temperature, air flow rate, and water content are evaluated. Experimental results show that diesel ranged organics (DROs) are removed in the order of volatility of organic compounds. As expected, removal efficiency of organics is highly dependent on the temperature. It is considered that more than $90\%$ of organic contaminants whose carbon numbers range between 17 and 22 can be removed efficiently by the hot air injection-extraction method (modified SVE) over the $100^{\circ}C$. It is also found that increased air flow rate resulted in high removal rate of contaminants. However, air flow rate over 40 cc/min is not effective for the operation aspects, due to mass transfer limitation on the volatilization rate of the contaminants. The effect of the water content on the decane removal is minimal, but some components show large dependence on the removal efficiency with increasing water content.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.956-960
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• 2007

The objective of this study is to remove BTEX(Benzene, Toluene, Ethylene, Xylene) and TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) effectively by using method low thermal desorption. The thermal desorption is frequently selected because it can treat various contaminants effectively. The temperature and heating time are determined by TGA(Thermogravimetric analysis) curve. The experiment result from this research, removal rate of BTEX was up to 100% within 5 minutes and removal rates of TPH were more than 65% at $300^{\circ}C$ and 70% at $500^{\circ}C$ respectively. It was observed that there was a little change of removal rates of TPH.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.729-734
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• 2002

Radiorespirometric analysis revealed that Pseudomonas sp. strain KKI isolated from a soil contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons was able to catabolize polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as phenanthrene and naphthalene. The rate and extent of phenanthrene mineralization was markedly enhanced when the cells were pregrown on either naphthalene or phenanthrene, compared to the cells grown on universal carbon sources (i.e., TSA medium). Deduced amino acid sequence of the Rieske-type iron-sulfur center of a putative phenanthrene dioxygenase (PhnAl) obtained from the strain KKI shared significant homology with DxnAl (dioxin dioxygenase) from Spingomonas sp. RW1, BphA1b (biphenyl dioxygenase) from Spingomonas aromaticivorans F199, and PhnAc (phenanthrene diokygenase) from Burkholderia sp. RP007 or Alcaligenes faecalis AFK2. Northern hybridization using the dioxygenase gene fragment cloned from KKI showed that the expression of the putative phn dioxygenase gene reached the highest level in cells grown in the minimal medium containing phenanthrene and $KNO_3$, and the expression of the phn gene was repressed in cells grown with glucose. In addition to the metabolic change, phospholipid ester-linked fatty acids (PLFA) analysis revealed that the total cellular fatty acid composition of KKI was significantly changed in response to phenanthrene. Fatty acids such as 14:0, 16:0 3OH, 17:0 cyclo, 18:1$\omega$7c, 19:0 cyclo increased in phenanthrene-exposed cells, while fatty acids such as 10:0 3OH, 12:0, 12:0 2OH, 12:0 3OH, 16:1$\omega$7c, 15:0 iso 2OH, 16:0, 18:1$\omega$6c, 18:0 decreased.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.85-103
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• 2023

The in-situ remediation of a solidified stratum containing a large amount of fine-texture material like clay or organic matter in contaminated soil faces limitations such as increased remediation cost resulting from decreased purification efficiency. Even if the soil conditions are good, remediation generally requires a long time to complete because of non-uniform soil properties and low permeability. This study assessed the remediation effect and evaluated the field applicability of a methodology that combines pneumatic fracturing, vacuum extraction, and plasma blasting (the PPV method) to improve the limitations facing existing underground remediation methods. For comparison, underground remediation was performed over 80 days using the experimental PPV method and chemical oxidation (the control method). The control group showed no decrease in the degree of contamination due to the poor delivery of the soil remediation agent, whereas the PPV method clearly reduced the degree of contamination during the remediation period. Remediation effect, as assessed by the reduction of the highest TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) concentration by distance from the injection well, was uncleared in the control group, whereas the PPV method showed a remediation effect of 62.6% within a 1 m radius of the injection well radius, 90.1% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 92.1% within 2.1~3.0 m. When evaluating the remediation efficiency by considering the average rate of TPH concentration reduction by distance from the injection well, the control group was not clear; in contrast, the PPV method showed 53.6% remediation effect within 1 m of the injection well, 82.4% within 1.1~2.0 m, and 68.7% within 2.1~3.0 m. Both ways of considering purification efficiency (based on changes in TPH maximum and average contamination concentration) found the PPV method to increase the remediation effect by 149.0~184.8% compared with the control group; its average increase in remediation effect was ~167%. The time taken to reduce contamination by 80% of the initial concentration was evaluated by deriving a correlation equation through analysis of the TPH concentration: the PPV method could reduce the purification time by 184.4% compared with chemical oxidation. However, the present evaluation of a single site cannot be equally applied to all strata, so additional research is necessary to explore more clearly the proposed method's effect.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1285-1291
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• 2005

In this study, we isolated bacteria from petroleum contaminated soil which were near to underground storage tanks(UST). Through the screen test, we selected high efficiency bacterium, KDi19, for biodegradation of diesel. KDi19 was identified as Pseudomonas sp. by 16S rDNA, fatty acid, and morphological physiological characteristics. KDi19 degraded 956.3 mg/L(95.6%) of 1,000 mg/L diesel for 48 hours(incubation condition : temperature; $30^{\circ}C$, cell concentration; 1.0 g/L, pH 7). At low temperature, $20^{\circ}C$, $15^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$, KDi19 respectively removed 63.9%, 18.5% and 17.0% of 1,000 mg/L diesel for 48 hours(cell concentration 1.0 g/L, pH 7). At low concentration of diesel, 50 mg/L and 100 mg/L, KDi19 degraded 97.9% and 96.2% of diesel for 24 hours(temperature; $30^{\circ}C$, cell concentration: 1.0 g/L, pH 7), respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.347-352
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• 2005

The isolated microorganisms, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Raoultella planticola (Klebsiella), Serratia fonticola from petroleum contaminated soil were enriched on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene as carbon and energy sources, respectively. And the degradation characteristics of BTEX was observed in the mixed BTEX substrates. We found that the BTEX in mixed substrates were degraded more than 50% by three isolated microorganisms. Among three isolated microorganisms, the highest degradation rate was observed in Pseudomonas stutzeri, but the degradation rate was different according to microorganisms. In order to increase the degradation efficiency, we applied the co-culture of isolated three microorganisms. The mixture rate of pseudomonas stutzeri : Raoultella planticola (Klebsiella) : Serratia fonticola was follows ; 1:2:1, 1:1:2, and 2:1:1, respectively. In two co-culture of 1:2:1 and 1:1:2, degradation rate was lower than isolated microorganisms. However, degradation rate became higher than isolated microorganisms and the degradation rate of benzene, toluene, and ethylene was more than 95% in co-culture of 2:1:1. The degradation rate increased through the co-culture of isolated microorganisms, however, the growth rate decreased. This was resulted from the substrate competition between microorganisms. The co-culture of microorganisms is a effective method to increase the degradation efficiency of BTEX and the co-culture mixing rate is a important factor for determination of degradation efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

This research was performed to assess a Fenton-like oxidation using naturally present iron in the field to treat remained oils throughout silty clay residues which finally resided even after a series of soil washing process. Biodegradability was thus tested for reaction products to investigate a possible treatment of the Fenton-like oxidation coupled with a biological treatment process. For those purposes, two types of field soil samples (e.g., dewatered cake after conditioning with a polymer and not-dewatered residue) were tested to remove TPH by adding the various concentration of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$). Moreover the biodegradability of treated samples was observed based on the ratio of $BOD_5/COD_{Cr}$ after Fenton-like oxidation. The Highest removal of TPH was at 1% of hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) when hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) was continuously injected for a period of time rather than that of spot introduction with the same amount of it. For the dewatered cake, TPH was effectively treated when the ratio of solid and water was mixed at 1 : 2. Employing cooking oil could increase solubility of TPH due to enhanced surface-active escalating TPH desorption from silty clay. Nonetheless, the biodegradability was decreased as long as the oxidation duration being extended regardless of operational conditions. It was therefore proved that Fenton-like oxidation using $H_2O_2$ and natural iron minerals was able to remove adsorbed oils in silty clay but the removal efficiency of TPH was low. And if a biological treatment process followed after Fenton-like oxidation, microorganisms would need enough time for acclimation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.87-96
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• 2007

Risk assessment was carried out in order to improve the remediation and management strategy on a contaminated gunnery site, where a flood control reservoir is under construction nearby. Six chemicals, including explosive chemicals and heavy metals, which were suspected to possess risk to humans by leaching events from the site were the target pollutants for the assessment. A site-specific conceptual site model was constructed based on effective, reasonable exposure pathways to avoid any overestimation of the risk. Also, conservative default values were adapted to prevent underestimation of the risk when site-specific values were not available. The risks of the six contaminants were calculated by API's Decision Support System for Exposure and Risk Assessment with several assumptions. In the crater-formed-area(Ac), the non-carcinogenic risks(i.e., HI values) of TNT(Tri-Nitro-Toluene) and Cd were slightly larger than 1, and for RDX(Royal Demolition Explosives), over 50. The total non-carcinogenic risk of the whole gunnery range calculated to a significantly high value of 62.5. Carcinogenicity of Cd was estimated to be about $10^{-3}$, while that of Pb was about $5\;{\times}\;10^{-4}$, which greatly exceeded the generally acceptable carcinogenic risk level of $10^{-4}{\sim}10^{-6}$. The risk assessment results suggest that an immediate remediation practice for both carcinogens and non-carcinogens are required before the reservoir construction. However, for more accurate risk assessment, more specific estimations on condition shifts due to the construction of the reservoir are required, and more over, the effects of the pollutants to the ecosystem is also necessary to be evaluated.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.988-994
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• 2014

The effluents of chemical and petroleum industries often contain non-biodegradable aromatic compounds, with phenol being one of the major organic pollutants present among a wide variety of highly toxic organic chemicals. Phenol is toxic upon ingestion, contact, or inhalation, and it is lethal to fish even at concentrations as low as 0.005 ppm. Phenol biodegradation has been studied in detail using bacterial strains. However, these microorganisms suffer from substrate inhibition at high concentrations of phenol, whereby growth is inhibited. A phenol-degrading bacterium, P21, was isolated from oil-contaminated soil. The phenotypic characteristics and a phylogenetic analysis indicated the close relationship of strain P21 to Rhodococcus pyridinovorans. Phenol biodegradation by strain P21 was studied under shaking condition. The optimal conditions for phenol biodegradation by strain P21 were 0.09% $KNO_3$, 0.1% $K_2HPO_4$, 0.3% $NaH_2PO_4$, 0.015% $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, 0.001% $FeSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, initial pH 9, and $20-30^{\circ}C$, respectively. When 1,000 ppm of phenol was added to the optimal medium, the strain P21 completely degraded it within two days. Rhodococcus pyridinovorans P21 could grow in up to 1,500 ppm of phenol as the sole carbon source in a batch culture, but it could not grow in a medium containing above 2,000 ppm. Moreover, strain P21 could utilize toxic compounds, such as toluene, xylene, and hexane, as a sole carbon source. However, no growth was detected on chloroform.