• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.205-211
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• 2020

Chlorhexidine digluconate (CHD) in the aquatic environment causes irreversible change to microbes, making them resistant to biodegradation, which needs remediation other than biological process. Adsorption study was performed for the removal of CHD on fly ash (FA) as a function of pH and ionic strength. Experimental result has been validated by characterization using Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller. CHD adsorption with FA showed an increasing trend with an increase in pH. Variation in pH proved to be an influential parameter for the surface charge of adsorbent and the degree of ionization of the CHD molecules. The adsorption capacity of CHD decreased from 23.60 mg g-1 to 1.13 mg g-1, when ionic strength increased from to M. The adsorption isotherms were simulated well by the Freundlich isotherm model having R2 = 0.98. The Lagergren's model was incorporated to predict the system kinetics, while the mechanistic study was better explained by pseudo-second order for FA. On the basis of operational conditions and cost-effectiveness FA was found to be more economical as an adsorbent for the adsorption of CHD.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.926-932
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• 2006

A series of bench-scale membrane filtration experiments were performed to systematically investigate the removal mechanisms of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes for BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylene, xylene), trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). The molecular weight of these organic compounds ranged from 78 to 166 dalton. The rejection of organic compounds by RO/NF membranes varied significantly from 59.6 to 99.2% depending on solute and membrane types. Specifically, experimental results demonstrated that the removal efficiency of RO/NF membranes increased as solute molecular characteristics such as W/L (molecular width/length) ${\times}$ $M_W$ (molecular weight) and octanol-water partition coefficient increased. This observation suggested that the rejection of small organic compounds by RO/NF membranes was determined by the combined effect of physical (molecular size and shape) and chemical (hydrophobicity) properties.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.38 no.5 s.174
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• pp.571-577
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• 2005

Permeable reactive barrier using iron oxide coated sand is one of effective technologies for As(V) contaminated groundwater. However, this method is restricted to As(III), because As(III) species tends to be more weakly bound to adsorbent. In order to overcome the limitation of iron oxide coated sand application to As(III) contaminated groundwater, manganese oxide materials as promoter of As(III) removal were combined to the conventional technology in this study. For combined use of iron oxide coated sand and manganese oxide coated sand, two kinds of removal methods, sequential removal method and simultaneous removal method, were introduced. Both methods showed similar removal efficiency over $85\%$ for 6 hrs. However, the sequential method converted the As contaminated water to acid state (pH 4.5), on the contrary, the simultaneous method maintained neutral state (pH 6.0). Therefore, simultaneous As removal method was ascertained as a suitable treatment technology of As contaminated water. Moreover, for more effective As(III) remediation technique, polypropylene textile which has the characteristics of high surface area, low specific gravity and flexibility was applied as alternative material of sand. The combined use of coated polypropylenes by simultaneous method showed much more prominent and rapid remediation efficiency over $99\%$ after 6 hrs; besides, it has practical advantages in replacement or disposal of adsorbent for simple conventional removal device.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.212-223
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• 2022

For the remediation and restoration of contaminated sediment at the West Sea-Byeong dumping site, dredged materials was dumped in 2013, 2014, 2016, and 2017. The physicochemical properties and benthic fauna in surface sediments of the capping area (5 stations) and natural recovery area (2 stations) were analyzed annually from 2014 to 2020 to evaluate the capping effect of the dredged materials. The natural recovery area had a finer sediment with a mean particle size of 5.91-7.64 Φ, while the sediment in the capping area consisted of coarse-grained particles with a mean particle size of 1.47-3.01 Φ owing to the capping effect of dredged materials. Considering that the contents of organic matters (COD, TOC, and TN) and heavy metals in the capping area are approximately 50 % lower (p<0.05) than that in the natural recovery area, it is judged that there is a capping effect of dredged materials. As a result of analyzing macrobenthic assemblages, the number of species and ecological indices of the capping area were significantly lower than that of the natural recovery area (p<0.05). The number of species and ecological indices at the capping area were increased for the first four years after the capping in 2013 and 2014 and then tended to decrease thereafter. It is presumed that opportunistic species, which have rapid growth and short lifetime, appeared dominantly during the initial phase of capping, and the additory capping in 2016 and 2017 caused re-disturbance in the habitat environment. In the natural recovery and capping areas, Azti's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) was evaluated as a fine healthy status because it maintained the level of 2^nd grades (Good), whereas Benthic Pollution Index (BPI) remained at the 1^st and 2^nd grade. Therefore, capping of dredged materials for remediation of contaminated sediment in the dumping site has the effect of reducing the pollution level. However, in terms of the benthic ecosystem, it is recommended that the recovery trend should be monitored long-term. Additionally, it is necessary to introduce an adaptive management strategy when expanding the project to remediate the contaminated sediment at the dumping area in the future.

• Clean Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.51-60
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• 2000

The soil remediation by non-ionic surfactant solutions ($C_{12}H_{25}O(CH_2CH_2O)_5H$ and Triton X-100) was studied. Depending on the amounts and use of co-surfactants, MPT(phase inversion temperature), dynamic interfacial tension, and the detergency efficiency of the surfactant solutions in soil were investigated. The oils used were kerosene, n-hexadecane, and paraffin oil. With respect to a higher detergency efficiency, a lower interfacial tension and the MPT was very important. The $C_{12}H_{25}O(CH_2CH_2O)_5H$ was better than Triton X-100 on the oil removal from the soil and the effect of oil kinds was kerosene>paraffin $oil{\geq}n-hexadecane$. The co-surfactant, n-dodecanol, reduced the MPT compared to no addition of this, whereas it did not enhance the detergent efficiency.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.10-17
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• 2010

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have advantages to reduce the processing time and mineralize contaminants dissolved in groundwater. Recently, remediation techniques for organic contamination in groundwater have been studied, and technology using $UV/H_2O_2$ is generally accepted as one of the most powerful and reliable alternative for the remediation of groundwater contamination. In this study, $UV/H_2O_2$ technology, which generates hydroxyl radical ($\cdot$ OH) as known for strong non-selective oxidant, was used to degrade chlorinated solvents (TCE and PCE), and it was expanded to apply continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) system (i.e. combinations of three CSTR). The tested parameters for CSTR system were retention time and groundwater/$H_2O_2$ injection volume ratio. To find optimum parameters for CSTR system, various retention time (6 min ~ 90 min) and groundwater/$H_2O_2$ injection volume ratio (5/1 ~ 119/1) were tested. Other conditions for CSTR were adapted from the batch test results, which concentration of $H_2O_2$ and UV dose were 29.4 mM (0.1%) and 4.3 kWh/L, respectively. Based on the experimental results, the optimum parameters for CSTR system were 20 min for retention time and 119/1 for groundwater/$H_2O_2$ injection volume ratio. Applying these optimum conditions, chlorinated solvents (TCE and PCE) were removed at 99.9% and 99.6%. Moreover, the effluent concentrations of TCE and PCE are 0.036 mg/L and 0.087 mg/L, respectively, which are satisfied the regulatory level (TCE 0.3 mg/L, PCE 0.1 mg/L). Consequently, the CSTR system using $UV/H_2O_2$ technology can achieve high removal efficiency in the event of treatment of groundwater contaminated by chlorinated solvents (TCE and PCE).

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2006

Attempts were made to analyze the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of inactive or abandoned metal (IAM) mines in Korea. This approach focused on legal systems and legislation, remediation technology development, and the arrangement or distribution of budgets pertaining to national policy since the mid 1990's. Prevention of Mining Damage and Recovery Act enacted. Defines the roles, responsibility and budget of the government when recovering mine damages. However, in 2005 there still remains to improve the national policy of soil contamination prevention and management of IAM mines. Analysis of national and industrialized foreign countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands suggest the following improvements: i) arranging distinct regulations between strict and non-strict liability criteria for potentially responsible parties; limiting innocent and non-strict liability depending on the period of incurred mining activity, ii) enhancing participation of local communities by enforcing law and legislation, iii) establishing a national database system of (potentially) IAM contaminated sites based on the Website-Geographic Information System, iv) carrying out site-specific risk assessments and remediation of IAM contaminated sites, v) preparation and distribution of clean-up fund at mine sites adequately, and vi) technology development for the cleaning of IAM contaminated sites; awarding positive incentives of a legal nature for participants applying newly developed technology in IAM mines.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.6-15
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• 2013

The influence of processing fluids and electrode spacing on the electrokinetic process was evaluated to remediate As-, Cu-, Pb-contaminated soil. Single and mixture of sodium citrate, EDTA and NaOH was used to investigate the metal extraction. EDTA for washing reagent showed the highest removal efficiency. Based on the extraction result, the electrode spacing (20, 40, 60 cm) on the electrokinetic process was investigated to remove the multi-metals from soil. The highest removal was observed at the experiment with 60 cm of electrode spacing, however, the correlation between electrode spacing and removal of metals was not clear. The electrode spacing influenced the amount of accumulated electro-osmotic flow. BCR sequential extraction showed that electrokinetic process removed the fractionation of metals bound to Fe-Mn oxyhydroxide.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.167-177
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• 2013

We investigated that removal of aqueous U(VI) by nano-sized Zero Valent Iron (nZVI) and Fe(II) bearing minerals (controls) in this study. Iron particles showed different U(VI) removal efficiencies (Mackinawite: 99%, green rust: 95%, nZVI: 91%, magnetite: 87%, pyrite: 59%) due to their different PZC (Point of Zero Charge) values and surface areas. In addition, noticeable amount of surface Fe(II) (181 ${\mu}M$) was released from nZVI suspension in 6 h and it increased to 384 ${\mu}M$ in the presence of U(VI) due to ion-exchange of U(VI) with Fe(II) on nZVI surface. Analysis of Laser-Induced Breakdown Detection (LIBD) showed that breakdown probabilities in both filtrates by 20 and 200 nm sizes was almost 24% in nZVI suspension with U(VI), while 1% of the probabilities were observed in nZVI suspension without U(VI). It indicated that Fe(II) colloids in the range under 20 nm were generated during the interaction of U(VI) and nZVI. Our results suggest that Fe(II) colloids generated via ion-exchange process should be carefully concerned during long-term remediation site contaminated by U(VI) because U could be transported to remote area through the adsorption on Fe(II) colloids.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.62-69
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• 2018

In the present study, long-term heavy metals (HMs) contaminated soil samples from a well-known Pb/Zn smelting area in the southwest of China were collected, and physicochemical and biological characteristics of these samples were evaluated. Soil samples contained different concentrations of HMs, namely Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd. Enzyme activity analyses combined with microcalorimetric analysis were used for soil microbial activity evaluation. Results showed that two soil samples, containing almost the highest concentrations of HMs, also shared the greatest microbial activities. Based on correlation coefficient analysis, high microbial activity in heavily HMs contaminated soil might be due to the high contents of soil organic matter and available phosphorus in these samples. High-throughput sequencing technique was used for microbial community structure analysis. High abundance of genera Sphingomonas and Thiobacillus were also observed in these two heavily contaminated soils, suggesting that bacteria belonging to these two genera might be further isolated from these contaminated soils and applied for future studies of HMs remediation. Results of present study would contribute to the evaluation of microbial communities and isolation of microbial resources to remediate HMs pollution.