• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2022

The mobility and transport of radioactive cesium are crucial factors to consider for the safety assessment of high-level radioactive waste disposal sites in granite. The retardation of radionuclides in the fractured crystalline rock is mainly controlled by the hydrochemical condition of groundwater and surface reactions with minerals present in the fractures. This paper reports the experimental results of cesium sorption to the Wonju Granite, a typical Mesozoic granite in Korea, performed in an anaerobic chamber that mimics the anoxic environment of a deep disposal site. We measured the rates and amounts of cesium (¹³³Cs) removed by crushed granite samples in different electrolyte (NaCl, KCl, and CaCl₂) solutions and a synthetic groundwater solution, with variations in the initial cesium concentration (10^-5, 5×10^-6, 10^-6, 5×10^-7 M). The cesium sorption kinetic and isotherm data were successfully simulated by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (r²= 0.99) and the Freundlich isotherm model (r²= 0.99), respectively. The sorption distribution coefficient of granite increased almost linearly with increasing biotite content in granite samples, indicating that biotite is an effective cesium scavenger. The cesium removal was minimal in KCl solution compared to that in NaCl or CaCl₂ solution, regardless of the ionic strength and initial cesium concentration that we examined, showing that K⁺ is the most competitive ion against cesium in sorption to granite. Because it is the main source mineral of K⁺ in fracture fluids, biotite may also hinder the sorption of cesium, which warrants further research.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.61-69
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• 2005

Changes in pyrene binding by dissolved and kaolinite-associated humic substances (HS) due to HS adsorptive fractionation processes were examined using purified Aldrich humic acid (PAHA) at different pH (4, 7 and 9). Irrespective of solution pH, molecular weight (MW) fractionation occurred upon adsorption of PAHA onto kaolinite, resulting in the deviation of residual PAHA MW from the original MW prior to sorption. Variation in $K_{OC}$ by bulk PAHA was observed at different pH due to relative contributions of partitioning and size exclusion effects (i.e., specific interactions). For all pH conditions investigated, carbon-normalized pyrene binding coefficients for nonadsorbed, residual fractions $(K_{OC}(res))$ were different from the original dissolved PAHA $K_{OC}$ value $(K_{OC}(orig))$ prior to contact with the kaolinite suspensions. Positive correlations between pyrene $(K_{OC}(res))$ and weight-average molecular weight $(MW_W)$ for residual PAHA fractions were observed for pH 7 and 9. However, such a positive correlation was not found at pH 4 due to the absence of the dramatic fractionation observed for high pH conditions (i.e., exclusive fractionation with respect to higher MW), suggesting that actual MW distribution pattern is more important for sorption-fractionated HS than the composite MW value. For adsorbed PAHA, conformational changes of PAHA upon adsorption seem to be important for the extent of pyrene binding. At relatively high pH (7 and 9), lower extent of pyrene binding was observed for adsorbed PAHA versus nonadsorbed PAHA. The conformation effects were more pronounced at higher pH.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.52-61
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• 1991

In this paper, the difference of the property of absorption and desorption for five species in semi-steady state are studied. The species used are listed in Table 1 and the dimension of specimen was $8\times8{\times}T$(Tangential direction)cm and tested in various conditions. A change of average moisture content with time were measured in each cycles. The results obtained are summarized as follows. When the relative humidity in air was maximum or minimum, the distribution of moisture In wood of all specimens were illustrated by exponential curves of decrease or increased from lace 10 center of wood. From the consideration of coefficient of decrease(C), the amount of moisture change of spruce was larger than the others. The pheonomenon was considered no relation to the specific gravity in air dry, but the wood structures. The velocity of the absorption and desorption for species decreased in the order spruce(Picea sitchensis) neodobam(Fagus crenata), solsong(Tsuga heterophylla), meranti(Shorea sp.) and kaesoo(Cercidiphyllum japoicum). In case of constant temperature and water vapor pressure is changed. the amount of absorbed moisture was larger than that of constant water vapor pressure and temperature vaned. In this fact, it is considered that the property of sorption of wood is strongly influenced by vapor pressure gradient than temperature gradient.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.95-100
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• 1999

Hydrocarbon compounds in vadose zone soils caused by adsorption onto the surfaces of solid particles are generally considered to show retardation effect. In this study, we investigated the retardation effect on the transport of Benzene in a sandy soil by conducting batch and column tests. The batch test was conducted by equilibrating dry soil mass with Benzene solutions of various initial concentrations. and by analyzing the concentrations of Benzene in initial and equilibrated solutions using HPLC. The column test consisted of monitoring the concentrations of effluent versus time known as a breakthrough curve (BTC). We used KCl and Benzene solutions with the concentration of 10 g/L and 0.88 g/L as a tracer, and injected them into the inlet boundary of the soil sample as a square pulse type respectively, and monitored the effluent concentrations at the exit boundary under a steady state condition using an EC-meter and HPLC. From the batch test, we obtained a distribution coefficient assuming that a linear adsorption isotherm exists and calculated the retardation factor based on the bulk density and porosity of the column sample. We also predicted the column BTC curve using the retardation factor obtained from the distribution coefficient and compared with the measured BTC of Benzene. The results of the column test showed that i) the peak concentration of Benzene was much smaller than that of KCl and ⅱ) the travel times of peak concentrations for the two tracers were more or less identical. These results indicate that adsorption of Benzene onto the sand panicles occurred during the pulse propagation but the retardation of Benzene caused by adsorption was not present in the studied soil. Comparison of the predicted with the measured BTC of Benzene resulted in a poor agreement due to the absence of the retardation phenomenon. The only way to describe the absolute decrease of Benzene concentration in the column leaching experiment was to introduce a decay or sink coefficient in the convection-dispersion equation (CDE) model to account for an irreversible sorption of Benzene in the aqueous phase.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.193-201
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• 2000

Partitioning of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) to a biosurfactant, hydroxypropyl-${\beta}$-cyclodextrin (HPCD), was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using HPCD to remove HOCs from soil/groundwater. HOC partitioning to HPCD was very fast, with over 95% of the complexation occurring within 10 min. Some influence of solution chemistry and HOC concentration on HOC-HPCD complex formation coefficients was observed. HPCD sorption on soil as quantified by both a fluorescence technique and total organic carbon measurements was negligible, indicating no significant affinity of HPCD for the solid phase. Although the HOC solubilization capability of HPCD was lower than that of synthetic surfactants such as SDS and Tween 80, HPCD can be effective in removing sorbed HOCs from a model subsurface environment, primarily because of its negligible sorption to the solid phase (i.e., all the HPCD added facilitates HOC elution). However, in contrast with conventional surfactants, HPCD becomes relatively less effective for HOC partitioning with increasing HOC size and hydrophobicity. Therefore, comparisons between HPCD and synthetic surfactants for enhanced remediation applications must consider the specific HOC(s) present and the potential for surfactant material losses to the solid phase, as well as other more generally recognized considerations such as material costs and potential toxicological effects.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.229-238
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• 2016

This study evaluated potential application of illite, which is produced at Yeongdong area in Korea, to remove radiocesium released to environmental system through severe nuclear accidents. The Yeongdong illite was formed by metamorphose of micaceous schist in hydrothermal condition, and composed of quartz, illite, and albite. Sorption distribution coefficient ($K_d$) of cesium by the Yeongdong illite was higher than the $K_d$ values for other clay minerals. It may be affected by preferential adsorption of cesium to Frayed Edge Sites (FES) on illite. Nonlinear isotherm models were suitable to describe the sorption processes for the Yeongdong illite. Its max. single layer capacity was $250,000{\mu}g\;kg^{-1}$ for cesium. Therefore, the Yeongdong illite could be an efficient and economic sorbent to prevent dispersion of radiocesium, and apply for remediation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.465-471
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• 2015

Adsorption experiments for radionuclides such as $^3H$, $^{90}Sr$ and $^{99}Tc$ were conducted using fractured rock collected in unsaturated zone. The released radionuclide through artificial barrier from the near surface repository can be transported by the flow of rainfall or pore water through fractures in unsaturated zone and reach to groundwater flow. Therefore, it is important to investigate transport behavior (retardation) of radionuclides through fractured rock for the safety assessment and long-term performance of repository. Fractured rock samples were collected and characterized by X-ray microtomography (XMT) analysis, which can be used to develop a more robust unsaturated fracture transport model. When fracture-filling materials are exist, distribution coefficient of $^{90}Sr$ is higher than without fracture-filling materials. In this study, batch sorption distribution coefficient ($K_d$) of radionuclide was determined and used to increase our understanding of radionuclide retardtion through fracture-filling materials.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.97-111
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• 1974

The adsorption mechanism of Cs-137 in low level radioactive solution by vermiculite treated with Na ion is studied in order to investigate its effective utilization for the radioactive effluent treatment. The beneficial role of Na-vermiculite is that Na ion can induce the wider c-axis spacing in which Cs ion can be sorbed in vermiculite. Cation exchange capacity and distribution coefficient of cesium seems to be influenced by the variation of c-axis spacing of vermiculite. Comparative identification and detection with the characteristic analyses of X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction patterns, diffrential thermal analysis and electron microscopy of Na-, K- and Cs-vermiculite are studied for the phemomena of Cs adsorption by vermiculite. This importance of the utilization in terms of adsorption and fixation of cesium involving vermiculite is discussed. It is found that the Na-vermiculite is valuable outside charging material for high level radioactive liquid waste storage tank of underground to protect the pollution of the underground water.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.291-298
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• 2001

Seawater, sediment and biota in the Kwangyang Bay were analyzed by gas chromatography/quartz furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GC-QFAAS) to investigate concentrations and distribution pattern of butyltin compounds (TBT, DBT, MBT) during February, April and July, 1996, Marine biota analyzed were Tapes japcnicus and Crassostrea gigas. The concentrations of tributyltin (TBT) in seawater were in the range of ND-15.7 ng/L for the surface and ND-68.5 ng/L for the bottom. The highest concentration of TBT in seawater was detected in April for the both, surface and bottom water. The maximum value of $TBT_{(bottom)}/TBT_{(surface)}$, 3.6 in April showed the increased input of TBT from the surface water in April compared to February (2.1) and July (0.9). The concentrations of TBT in the sediment were in the range of ND-8.5 ng/g dry wt. The highest concentration of TBT in the sediment was measured in July, This result seems to attributed to the removal of TBT from water column via sorption onto particulate matters to the relatively undisturbed underlying sediment and increased input of TBT by increased fluxes of detritus of marine plankton after spring bloom, in July. The mean values of partitioning coefficient ($K_d$) of TBT between seawater and sediment were $3.0\times10^3$(February), $7.4\times10^3$(April) and $9.4\times10^3$(July). The concentrations of TBT in biosamples were in the range of ND-93.30 ng/g dru wt. (T. japonicus) and ND-138.53 ng/g dry wt. (C. gigas). The seasonal variation of TBT contents in biota was remarkable. The $K_d$ (biological concentration factor) was $7-41\times10^3$ for T. japonicus. and $5-34\times10^3$ for C. gigas. The measured TBT concentrations in seawater in the study area was sufficient to cause the imposex of shellfish and to retard the growth of aquatic organisms including oyster upon chronic exposure.