• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.201-210
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• 2014

The present study proposes a phased model to assess the lifecycle $CO_2$ amount of concrete structures. The considered system boundary is from cradle to recycling, which includes constituent material, transportation, batching and mixing in ready-mixed concrete plant, use and demolition of structure, and crushing and recycling of demolished concrete. The $CO_2$ uptake of concrete by carbonation during lifetime (40 years) of a structure and the recycling life (20 years) after demolition is estimated using a simple approach generalized to predict the carbonation depth from the surfaces of concrete element and recycled aggregates. Based on the proposed phased model, a performance evaluation table is realized to straightforwardly examine the lifecycle $CO_2$ amount of concrete structures. The proposed model demonstrates that the contribution of ordinary portland cement (OPC) to lifecycle $CO_2$ emission of the concrete structure occupies approximately 85%. Furthermore, the $CO_2$ uptake is estimated to be approximately 15~18% of the lifecycle $CO_2$ emissions of concrete structures, which corresponds to be 19~22% of the emissions from OPC production. Overall, the proposed $CO_2$ performance table is expected to be practically useful as a guideline to determine the $CO_2$ emission or uptake at each phase of concrete structures.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.33-39
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• 2012

With the increase of steel production research interest on the recycling of slag as a by-product also increases steadily. Currently in Korea a lot of researches on blast-furnace slag have been made. However, the researches on the steel slag have been rarely made. Also, a research of steel slag, especially the use of oxidation furnace slag as aggregates for concrete progress, is performing actively, but the research results on the furnace slag are almost nothing. Recently, the research about the furnace slag as backfill material and embankment material confirmed the possibility of the clay soil amendment. Therefore, the object of this study is to review the possibility as civil engineering materials for soil improvement and to find the optimum mixture ratio of furnace slag. This research analyzed the ingredient component of the reduced slag by SEM, XRF, XRD tests and examined the strength increase using unconfined compression tests when the clay and reduced slag are mixed each other. Through this test, the definite strength increase is confirmed according to the mixture of the reduced slag and the possibility of soil improvement is also confirmed based on this result. The object of the study is both utilizing the by-product for civil engineering purpose and effective recycling by the application of the furnace slag for soil improvement.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.171-183
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• 2020

The main objective of this study is the assessment of the ability of limestone mortars to resist to different chemical attacks. The ability of polypropylene (PP) fibres waste used as reinforcement of these concrete materials to enhance their durability is also studied. Crushed sand 0/2 mm which is a fine limestone residue obtained by the crushing of natural rocks in aggregates industry is used for the fabrication of the mortar. The fibres used, which are obtained from the waste of domestic plastic sweeps' fabrication, have a length of 20 mm and a diameter ranging between 0.38 and 0.51 mm. Two weight fibres contents are used, 0.5 and 1%. The durability tests carried out in this investigation included the water absorption by capillarity, the mass variation, the flexural and the compressive strengths of the mortar specimens immersed for 366 days in 5% sodium chloride, 5% magnesium sulphate and 5% sulphuric acid solutions. A mineralogical analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and a visual inspection are used for a better examination of the quality of tested mortars and for better interpretation of their behaviour in different solutions. The results indicate that the reinforcement of limestone mortar by PP fibres waste is an excellent solution to improve its chemical resistance and durability. Moreover, the presence of PP fibres waste does not affect significantly the water absorption by capillarity of mortar nether its mass variation, when exposed to chloride and sulphate solutions. While in sulphuric acid, the mass loss is higher with the presence of PP fibres waste, especially after an exposure of 180 days. The results reveal that these fibres have a considerable effect of the flexural and the compressive behaviour of mortar especially in acid solution, where a reduction of strength loss is observed. The mineralogical analysis confirms the good behaviour of mortar immersed in sulphate and chloride solutions; and shows that more gypsum is formed in mortar exposed to acid environment causing its rapid degradation. The visual observation reveals that only samples exposed to acid attack during 366 days have showed a surface damage extending over a depth of approximately 300 ㎛.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.102-108
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• 2023

This study applied a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) method to carbonize sewage sludge in order to satisfy the criteria of the Waste Management Act for recycled products and to explore the possibility of recycling sludge into modification blocks. Cement was mixed with carbonized sludge generated at the optimal temperature and reaction time during HTC. After that, the compressive strengths of the modification blocks were measured by conducting both a performance and leaching test. The results of the leaching test showed that heavy metals were not detected, and the specific gravity and absorption rates were less than 1.7 and 10%, respectively, indicating that all species satisfied the criteria. The results of the compressive strength test showed that a mixing ratio of 5% and 7% with cement cured for 28 days satisfied the criteria of A, B, and C type blocks but a mixing ratio of 3% with cement did not satisfy the criteria of A type blocks after 28 days. However, after additional curing for 42 days, the mixing ratio of 3% also satisfied the A type block criteria. Therefore, the optimal mixing ratio of carbonized sludge and cement was considered to be between 3% and 5% and confirmed that the modified blocks could be utilized as aggregates.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2005

The aim of this study is to evaluate the leaching characteristics of lead, copper, cadmium, and mercury from steel making slag by seawater. To demonstrate the leaching characteristics of heavy metals from steel making slag by seawater, it was carried to various leaching tests such as regular leaching tests, liquid/sold(LS) leaching test and pH static test. From the leachability of $Pb^{+2},\;Cu^{+2},\;and\;Cd^{+2}$ from steel making slag in pH static test, it is distinguished between distilled water and seawater. With distilled water, it is very low between pH 7-8 and pH 11-12. On the other hands, with the seawater, its leaching is higher than that of distilled water. In particular, concentration of $Hg^{+2}$ leached from slag by seawater is lower than that of distilled water. Meanwhile, we found that the heavy metals from steel making slag would be dissolved and precipitated using geochemcial equilibrium program such as visual minteq. Lead and copper leached from steel making slag with seawater were dissolved nearly in the range of pH 11-12, but in the range of pH 7-10 those were precipitated about 90%. And cadmium leached from steel making slag with seawater were dissolved completely. On pH static test with distilled water, lead leached from steel making slag seemed to be similar to pH static test with seawater. However, copper and cadmium leached from steel making slag were dissolved. In general, the species of lead leached from steel making slag were formed mainly of $PbCl^+,\;PbSO_4$, the species of copper were formed mainly of $CuSO_4,\;CuCO_3$, the species of cadmium were formed mainly of $CdCl^+,\;CdSO_4$ due to being sorbed with the anions($Cl^-,\;CO_3^{-2},\;SO_4^{-2}$) of the seawater. Both pH static test with seawater and distilled water, it is not in the case of the mercury. Most of mercury leached from steel making slag was precipitated(SI=0). Because the decreasing of $Hg^{+2}$ concentrations depends ferociously on the variation of chloride($Cl^-$) existed in the seawater. $Hg^{+2}$ leached from steel making slag could be sorbed strongly with chloride($Cl^-$) compared of carbonate($CO_3^{-2}$) and sulfate($SO_4^{-2}$) in the seawater. On the basis of that result, we found that the species of mercury was formed of calomel($Hg_2Cl_2$) as one of finite solid. Due to forming a calomel($Hg_2Cl_2$) in the seawater, the stability of mercury species by steel making slag should be higher than those of lead, copper, and cadmium species. Regarding the results stated above, we postulated that the steel making slag could be recycled to sea aggregates due to being distinguishing leachability of heavy metals($Pb^{+2},\;Cu^{+2},\;Cd^{+2},\;and\;Hg^{+2}$) between leaching tests by distilled water and seawater.