• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1127-1137
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• 2000

Applications of lanthanum ion and crude rare earth chloride to the phosphate wastewater and fluorine wastewater, respectively, as treatment agents were studied. For the investigation of phosphate removal characteristics according to the amount of lanthanum ion, initial phosphate content was decreased by about 50% when molar ratio of [$La^{3+}$]:[$PO_4{^{3-}}-P$] was 0.25 and nearly all of phosphate was removed when the molar ratio of [$La^{3+}$]:[$PO_4{^{3-}}-P$] to be doubled. The removal of phosphate by $La^{3+}$ appeared to reach equilibrium state rapidly, and it was exothermic reaction since the removed amount of phosphate was diminished somewhat when the reaction temperature was increased. The zeta potential of combined particulate compound of lanthanum ion and phosphate was located for its isoelectric point at pH 5.5 and the turbidity of treated wastewater was found to vary according to the pH in a similar manner as the absolute value of zeta potential of the combined particulate compound did. For the treatment of fluorine wastewater by crude rare earth chloride, the remaining fluorine content after treatment decreased as the dosage of crude rare earth chloride increased. Whereas, the turbidity of treated wastewater and the amount of sludge generated were shown to increase as more crude rare earth chloride was added. The remaining fluorine content and the turbidity of treated wastewater were decreased and the amount of sludge generated was observed to increase according the increase of coagulant dosage under the condition of constant input of crude rare earth chloride.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.303-311
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• 2022

Gadolinium, commonly used as a contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), is discharged into aquatic environments without removal after treatment in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) because of its high stability. In this study, we collected water samples from Suyeong WWTP, Busan, to investigate the dissolved rare earth element (REE) removal capacity of each wastewater treatment process and to evaluate the discharge of anthropogenic Gd (Gd_anth) from effluents. As wastewater passed through each stage of treatment, the concentrations of light REEs (La-Eu) decreased, whereas those of heavy REEs (Tb-Lu) were relatively consistent. Negative Sm anomalies (<1) were observed in several samples, indicating that Sm can be removed by adsorption onto particles or phosphate during the biological removal process. Positive Gd anomalies (149±50, n=9) were observed in all samples. The ratios of Gd_anth concentrations to measured Gd concentrations in all wastewater treatment processes were higher than 97%. This indicates that Gd_anth was discharged to the Suyeong River without removal during the wastewater treatment process. Considering the daily treatment capacity in each process, the total flux of Gd_anth was estimated to be 259 mmol/day. Our results suggest that mid- and/or long-term monitoring of Gd is needed because Gd_anth is continuously discharged into Suyeong Bay through WWTPs.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.483-489
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• 2006

The behavior of rare earth compounds such as $La_{2}O_{3}$, $CeO_{2}$, and $Ca(OH)_{2}$ on the removal of fluoride and heavy metals in the steel wastewater has been investigated. The removal mechanism of fluoride by rare earth elements has been known to be the formation of insoluble compounds between $F^{-}$ and cations such as $La^{3+}$ and $Ce^{4+}$ produced by the dissociation of rare earth compounds (To reduce the running cost of the fluoride wastewater treatment facility, their fluoride removal efficiencies were compared with those of inexpensive rare earth minerals such as natural lanthanide and cerium compound used as a glass polishing agent). All of the rare earth oxides used in this study showed a higher removal efficiency of fluoride than $Ca(OH)_{2}$ in the wastewater. In the case of artificial HF solution, the removal efficiency of fluoride showed in the order: $CeO_{2}$-mineral < $CeO_{2}$ < $Ca(OH)_{2}$ < $La_{2}O_{3}$-mineral < $La_{2}O_{3}$. However, the removal efficiency of fluoride in the wastewater increased in the following order: $Ca(OH)_{2}$ < $CeO_{2}$ mineral < $CeO_{2}$ < $La_{2}O_{3}$ mineral < $La_{2}O_{3}$. All agents showed high efficiencies for the removal of Mn and total Cr in the rare earth compounds. In the case of $Ca(OH)_{2}$, fluoride removal decreased with increasing pH while. However, the rare earth compounds showed a higher fluoride removal in higher pH condition, the optimum pH condition seemed to be around 7 considering both water quality and fluoride removal. Under the pH 7 condition, the $Ca(OH)_{2}$ was superior to rare earth compounds in Mn removal and the lanthanide was superior to others in total Cr removal.