• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.39-67
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• 2005

In order to properly define the terms such as soil, soil contamination, soil contamination site and remediation, which are the key terms under the Soil Environment Conservation Act(SECA) in Korea, we analyzed the legal definitions of the similar key words in legislations of the developed western countries. The selected countries were the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. The legal definitions of these keywords were very much diversified due to different levels of soil contamination, as well as different industrial, social, and legal backgrounds in each country. However, fair suggestions for definitions of the key terms in SECA were derived from the comparative analyses of these countries. First and foremost, SECA should provide a definition of 'soil' which includes a concept of the natural soil layer produced from soil mineralization processes. Groundwater and sublayer of the groundwater would. be excluded in the boundary of the soil with regards to the Groundwater Act of Korea. Definition of 'soil contamination' of SECA should include a concept of risk assessment(soil contaminants, pathway, and receptors), purpose of land use, and the acquired limitation levels of soil contaminants. Soil contamination activity either industrial or anthropogenic in SECA article2-1, could be substituted for a concept of soil risk assessment. Definition of 'soil contamination site' could derive from amalgamating the concepts of i) soil contamination in conjunction with contaminants, ii) risk assessment, iii) a concept of land use, and iv) knowing limitation of contamination site designation. Definition of 'remediation of contaminated site' should include the objective, intention, action, methodology and limit of the remediation. These suggested definitions would increase the efficacy of soil environment conservation policies, which includes the survey of the potentially contaminated area, remediation, and removal of the site.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.373-381
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• 2005

The permeability of contaminated soil and elapsed time are important considering factors to in-situ soil remadiation. Gabr et. al. (1996) derived the solution equation of contaminant concentration ratio as initial one (C/$C_0$) with time and spatial changes in contaminated area which embedded with vertical drains. The contaminant concentration ratio (C/$C_0$) is analyzed with time and spatial changes in three different permeability areas which are $k=l.0{\times}10^{-5,}$ $l.0{\times}l0^{-6,}$ $l.0{\times}l0^{-7}\;_{m/s}$ by using the Gabr's equation. Results from numerical analysis indicate that the ratio (C/$C_0$) decreases as the elapsed time increases in every point, however, remediation efficiency decreases as the analyzing point is far from injection well to extraction one and is deeper from top level of contaminated area. And also it decreases as the permeability of contaminated area decreases. Especially, the lower permeability of contaminated area effects directly on the soil remediation, in this research, under condition which the permeability of contaminated area is $l.0{\times}l0^{-7}\;_{m/s}$, the maximum time needed to attain 90% clean up level ($t_{90}$) is 65,690 hours(7.5 years), it takes so much time to clean the low permeability contaminated soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.61-70
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• 2002

Direct electron beam irradiation experiments on artificially contaminated soil by polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were performed to evaluate applicability of direct electron beam irradiation process for contaminated soil remediation. The removal efficiency of PAHs was about 97 % at 600 kGy and PCBs about 70 % at 800 kGy. PAHs were removed 27 % more, compared to PCBs although the absorbed dose was as low as 200 kGy. The contaminants decomposition was due predominantly to direct interaction of high-energy electrons and the target compounds rather than due to oxidation/reduction reaction by reactive intermediates. Radiolysis of electron beam may be able to decontaminate contaminated soil by toxic and recalcitrant organic compounds like as PAHs and PCBs effectively, but it may be economically uncompetitive. Thus, developments of post-treatment process of conventional site remediation technologies may be more practical and economical than direct radiolysis.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.09a
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• pp.23-33
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• 2001

Soil and groundwater contamination is an emerging national issue in recognition of the potential adverse impact to human health and ecosystem. In a recent registration, property owner's liability was addressed on the damages to neighbor's soil and groundwater caused by contaminant-plume migration. Soil and groundwater remediation is a technical and engineering project. But, the scientific and technical solutions for the project have been greatly influenced by social and political movement in the country. Governmental sectors, including local and central, should actively engage on this important issue through long-term planning and public investments. Government made regulations to prevent soil and groundwater contamination, not to punish private sector that has no technical and financial capability for solving such problems.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.13-23
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• 2001

In this study, the characteristics of pH variations and contaminant distribution in soil are investigated during electrokinetic treatment for the purpose of restoring contaminated soil with heavy metal. For these objects, laboratory test for the kaolin contaminated by lead was performed. During electrokinetic treatment, lead was transported from anode to cathode. And 75% of lead removed within 80% region of the specimen. Most lead, however, that transported from anode to cathode precipitated in the vicinity of cathode compartment, thus the amount of lead removed by electroosmosis was little. Electrokinetic treatment satisfied regulation criteria of Korean Soil Environment Conservation Law within almost region of the specimen. But enhancement methods can be regarded as inevitable requisite for the cathode region.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.11-15
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• 2015

The three processes of 1) high- & low-temperature microwave heatings, 2) the soil washing, and 3) the thermal desorption processes in soil remediation are analysed on the treatment cost data for 2003-2012 years. The cost of microwave heating method with at temperature 500-700℃, for 30 minutes, and at 4-6 kW is approximately 10 $/ton (13,000 ₩) due to the deep through heating of micro-wave, the soil washing with chemicals is about 80 $/ton (85,000 ₩) due to the chemicals & duration, and the thermal desorption process is around 40 $/ton (41,000 ₩) from the less efficiency. Furthermore the sustainability has been assessed, and suggestions are made. 1) Green; the minimal environmental footprint, 2) Growth; the least cost, 3) Shared; the social & environmental justice, 4) Smart; the microwave characteristics of deep through irradiation & heating, and 5) Mutuality; the flexibility of the technology. More additives including water, the government support, and public relation are suggested realizing the microwave in this condition is not harmful to human beings.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2009

The feasibility of electrokinetic remediation was investigated in the laboratory to treat contaminated soil with Zn, Ni and F. Electro-migration and electro-osmosis are the major removal mechanisms because fluorines desorbed from soil exist as an anionic form in soil pores, and Zn and Ni exist as a cationic form. Desorption of fluorine was enhanced under the alkaline condition, but that of Zn and Ni increased under the acidic condition. Sequential pH control was effective to control the mixed wastes from contaminated soil. 2 V/cm was applied to reactor to evaluate the effect of constant voltage gradient, after two weeks, the removal efficiency of Zn, Ni and F was 20.5%, 2.5% and 57.4%, respectively. Even though the removal of Zn and Ni was very low, the pH control enhanced transport of Zn and Ni significantly. As a result, sequential pH control is a effective method to remediate mixed waste-contaminated soil.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1076-1086
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• 2010

Soil remediation technologies were experimented to evaluate whether the technologies could be used to apply remediation of contaminated marine sediment. In this research, marine sediments were sampled at "Ulsan" and "Jinhae" where remediation projects are considered, and then the possibility of heavy metal removal was evaluated throughout the technologies. Heavy metal concentration of silt and clay fraction was higher than that of sand fraction at "Ulsan". Heavy metal removal of the silt and clay fraction was arsenic (As) 81.5%, mercury (Hg) 93.8% by particle separation, cadmium (Cd) 72.2%, mercury (Hg) 93.8% by soil washing technology, cadmium (Cd) 70.8%, lead (Pb) 65.6% by another soil washing technology. Based on experimental results, tested particle separation and soil washing technologies could be used to remove heavy metals of sand fraction and silt and clay fraction. Heavy metal removal by soil washing technology which was composed of separation, washing and physical or chemical reaction by additives such as acid, organic solvents was more effective comparing to that of particle separation. Since heavy metal concentration of all treated samples was suitable for national soil standards, all the tested technologies were could be used not only to remove heavy metals of marine contaminated sediment but also to reuse treated samples in land.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.839-846
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• 2016

Since oil leakage is one of the most common nonpoint pollution sources that contaminate soil in Korea, the capacity of soil microbial community for degrading petroleum hydrocarbons should be considered to assess the functional value of soil resource. However, conventional methods (e.g., microcosm experiments) to assess the remediation capacity of soil microbial community are costly and time-consuming to cover large area. The present study suggests a new approach to assess the toluene remediation capacity of soil microbial community using a microbial diversity index, which is a simpler detection method than measuring degradation rate. The results showed that Shannon index of microbial community were correlated with specific degradation rate ($V_{max}$), a degradation factor. Subsequently, a correlation equation was generated and applied to Michaelis-Menten kinetics. These results will be useful to conveniently assess the remediation capacity of soil microbial community and can be widely applied to diverse engineering fields including environment-friendly construction engineering fields.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2017

The fundamental study for an application of nanobubble as a soil remediation enhancer on heavy metal contaminated soil was carried out. The existence and long-term stability of hydrogen nanobubbles were investigated by particle analysis and zeta-potential analysis. And the removal efficiency of copper using nanobubble water(NBW) and distilled water(DW) were compared and analyzed through a batch desorption test. As a result, it is confirmed that nanobubble which was fabricated by compression-dissolution type generator can exist for more than 14 days. The results of batch test show that copper removal of NBW was higher than that of DW irrespectively to soil type and increased as solid-liquid ratio and contact time increased, respectively. According to the pH change, the removal of copper on sand was higher on the acid side but the removal difference was slightly lower on the clay. It is considered that a high efficiency of NBW in copper removal is due to the large surface area and high zeta-potential of nanobubbles. Therefore, the nanobubble can be applied to soil remediation for heavy-metal contaminated soil as an eco-friendly enhancer.