• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.358-367
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• 2003

In this research, first of all, the analytical methods for the determination of major elements in sediment have been developed with ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry). The analytical results of major elements (Al, Ca, K, Fe, Mg) with Cool ICP-MS were much better than those with normal ICP-MS. The analytical results were compared with those of NAA (Neutron Activation Analysis). NAA were a little superior to ICP-MS for the determination of major elements in sediment as a non-destructive trace analytical method. The analytical methods for the determination of minor elements (Cr, Ce, U, Co, Pb, As, Se) have been also developed with ICP-MS. The analytical results by standard calibration curve with ICP-MS were not accurate due to the matrix interferences. Thus, the internal standard method was applied, then the analytical results for minor elements with ICP-MS were greatly improved. The analytical results obtained by ICP-MS were compared with those obtained by NAA. It showed that the two analytical methods have great capabilities for the determination of minor elements in sediments. Accordingly, the NAA will play an important role in analysis of environment sample with complex matrix. ICP-MS also will play an important role because it has a great capability for the determination of Pb that could not be determined by NAA.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2008

Kaolinite [$Al_2Si_2O_5(OH)_4$] used in these experiments was synthesized at 250$^{\circ}C$ for 36 hrs by a hydrothermal process from amorphous $Al(OH)_3$ and $SiO_2$. The change of the mineralogical properties of the phase synthesized were observed in the pH range 2 to 9. The synthetic kaolinite were characterized by the analytical methods of XRD, IR, DIA, and FE-SEM. Kaolinite was obtained in a wide range of pH. The phases with high- to midium- defect kaolinite with high thermal stability were obtained from the acidic conditions and high-defect kaolinite with low thermal stability from the basic conditions. These variations of kaolinite properties appears to be related to the pH dependence of kaolinite surface speciation. The peaks intensity and resolution of the kaolinite decrease according to the alkalinity of the solution by the results of the IR testing. And the peak intensity increases in the 60 to 70$^{\circ}C$ range due to dehydration reaction observed by TG-DTA. Such phenomena was the result of increase of unreacted amorphous materials in the high pH condition, which could be identified by FE-SEM.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2013

River bank filtration has been considered as a promising alternative water management scheme, in which groundwater is extracted from an aquifer near a river after infiltration of the river water into the aquifer, thereby improving and maintaining the quality of water recovered. Iron (Fe) associated with sediment in contact with groundwater and infiltrating surface water is an important factor in determining the quality of water recovered from the pumping wells in river bank filtration. This study reports the results of Fe speciation in the aquifer sediment samples collected from different depths at the river bank filtration site in Changwon, studied using four different chemical extraction methods, namely, ferrozine, oxalate, HCl, and DCB methods. Overall, the results show that Fe(II) as well as the total Fe content decreases with depth down to ~20 m and then increases further below. This trend is consistent with the redox characteristics suggested by visual observation. The silt/clay size fraction (${\phi}$ < 62.5 ${\mu}M$) has up to 2~10 times more Fe compared with the sand size fraction (62.5 ${\mu}M$ < ${\phi}$ < 2 mm), depending on the extraction method. Of the four extraction methods, DCB solution extracted the most Fe from the sediment samples. The amounts of Fe extracted by the different extraction methods can be a good indicator of the redox conditions along the depth of the aquifer.

• Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2011

The sequence data of the plastid DNA (trnL-F IGS, trnL intron, and trnH-psbA) and nuclear DNA (RNApol2_i23) markers were utilized to study phylogenetic relationships among the taxa in the Polygonatum odoratum complex (Ruscaceae). European P. odoratum individuals form a clade with a high bootstrap value, which is a sister to the clade of Korean P. odoratum var. odoratum, P. odoratum var. pluriflorum and P. robustum. The formation of the clade with P. odoratum var. odoratum, P. robustum, and one accession of P. odoratum var. pluriflorum indicates geological speciation in isolated populations in the islands following dispersal events from the mainlands. All data sets form two major clades, which are congruent with the subgroups divided by the basic chromosome numbers (x = 9 and x = 10). Although it is not easy to test the hypothesis of the decrease in the basic chromosome number due to scatter taxon sampling in this study, the molecular data strongly suggested that aneuploidy plays an important role in lineage diversification in the genus Polygonatum. The cytological data was not strongly supported by the cpDNA sequences. Further investigations of the cytological, morphological, and geographical characteristics with comprehensive sampling are desired to understand the evolution and lineage diversification in the genus.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2016

Background: As new legislation has come into force implementing radiation safety management for the use of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), it is necessary to establish a rapid and accurate measurement technique. Measurement of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ using conventional methods encounter the most significant difficulties for pretreatment (e.g., purification, speciation, and dilution/enrichment) or require time-consuming processes. Therefore, in this study, the applicability of ED-XRF as a non-destructive and rapid screening method was validated for raw materials and by-product samples. Materials and Methods: A series of experiments was conducted to test the applicability for rapid screening of XRF measurement to determine activity of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ based on certified reference materials (e.g., soil, rock, phosphorus rock, bauxite, zircon, and coal ash) and NORM samples commercially used in Korea. Statistical methods were used to compare the analytical results of ED-XRF to those of certified values of certified reference materials (CRM) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results and Discussion: Results of the XRF measurement for $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ showed under 20% relative error and standard deviation. The results of the U-test were statistically significant except for the case of U in coal fly ash samples. In addition, analytical results of $^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$ in the raw material and by-product samples using XRF and the analytical results of those using ICP-MS ($R^2{\geq}0.95$) were consistent with each other. Thus, the analytical results rapidly derived using ED-XRF were fairly reliable. Conclusion: Based on the validation results, it can be concluded that the ED-XRF analysis may be applied to rapid screening of radioactivities ($^{238}U$ and $^{232}Th$) in NORM samples.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.236-242
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• 1988

Mitochondrial DNAs of two Mdh allelotypes of the dark chub, Z. temmincki inhabiting in Korean fresh water, were analysed. Samples of each type were collected from four populations, and the fragment patterns for mtdNA of each type were explained from 7 of the eleven restriction enzymes with hexanucleotide recognition site. Genome size was approximately 16.7 kilobases. The highly typical mtdNA fragments of each type were discovered in digestion profiles produced by Eco RI and Pst I enzyrnes. The comparisons of restriction fragment patterns and relative digestion maps permitted the estimation of fragment homology (F) and nucleotide sequence divergence(p). Between the two identical types, sequence divergence(p) was 0.128(MS), and 0.045(MM), ; between the two different types, 0.195 (range 0.177-0.226). These result may provide a distinct difference more than the value derived from allozyrne analysis, and a powerful new molecular approach for assessing genetic-evolutionary relationship among fishes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.268-274
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• 2010

Emission of heavy metals as hazardous air pollutants has been focused with tightening regulatory limits due to their hazardousness. Measurements and characteristic investigations of heavy metals emitted from a commercial power plant burning anthracite coal have been carried out. The plant consists of a circulating fluidized bed combustor, a cyclone, a boiler and an electrostatic precipitator(ESP) in series. Dust and gaseous samples were collected to measure main heavy metals including gaseous mercury before ESP and at stack. Dust emissions as total particulate matter (TPM), PM-10 and PM-2.5 at inlet of ESP were very high with 23,274, 9,555 and $7,790mg/Sm^3$, respectively, as expected, which is much higher than those from pulverized coal power plants. However TPM at stack was less than $0.16mg/Sm^3$, due to high dust removal efficiency by ESP. Similarly heavy metals emission showed high collection efficiency across ESP. From particle size distribution and metal enrichment in sizes, several metal concentrations could be correlated with particle size showing more enrichment in smaller particles. Mercury unlike other solid metals behaved differently by emitting as gaseous state due to high volatility. Removal of mercury was quite less than other metals due to it's volatility, which was 68% only. Across ESP, speciation change of mercury from elemental to oxidized was clearly shown so that elemental mercury was half of total mercury at stack unlike other coal power plants which equipped wet a scrubber.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.131-135
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• 2008

In this study, Fe(VI) was employed as a multi-functional agent to treat the simulated industrial wastewater contaminated with Cu(II)-EDTA through oxidation of EDTA, decomplexation of Cu(II)-EDTA and subsequent removal of free copper through precipitation. The decomplexation of $10^{-4}\;M$ Cu(II)-EDTA species was performed as a function of pH at excess concentration of Fe(VI). It was noted that the acidic conditions favor the decomplexation of Cu(II)-EDTA as the decomplxation was almost 100% up to pH 6.5, while it was only 35% at pH 9.9. The enhanced degradation of Cu(II)-EDTA with decreasing the pH could be explained by the different speciation of Fe(VI). $HFeO_4^-$ and $H_2FeO_4$, which are relatively more reactive than the unprotonated species $FeO_4^{2-}$, are predominant species below neutral pH. It was noted that the decomplexation reaction is extremely fast and within 5 to10 min of contact, 100% of Cu(II)-EDTA was decomplexed at pH 4.0. However, at higher pH (i.e., pH 10.0) the decomplexation process was relatively slow and it was observed that even after 180 min of contact, maximum ca 37% of Cu(II)-EDTA was decomplexed. In order to discuss the kinetics of the decomplexation of Cu(II)-EDTA, the data was slightly fitted better for the second order rate reaction than the first order rate reaction in the excess of Fe(VI) concentration. On the other hand, the removal efficiency of free Cu(II) ions was also obtained at pH 4.0 and 10.0. It was probably removed through adsorption/coagulation with the reduced iron i.e., Fe(III). The removal of total Cu(II) was rapid at pH 4.0 whereas, it was slow at pH 10.0. Although the decomplexation was 100% at lower pH, the removal of free Cu(II) was relatively slow. This result may be explicable due to the reason that at lower pH values the adsorption/coagulation capacity of Fe(III) is greatly retarded. On the other hand, at higher pH values the decomplexation of Cu(II)-EDTA was partial, hence, slower Cu(II) removal was occurred.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.109-114
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• 2009

Absorption spectra for a quantitative analysis of actinide elements such as U(VI) and Pu(V) were measured by using a liquid waveguide capillary cell (LWCC) which has an optical path length of 1.0 meter. In order to investigate radioactive elements, a LWCC is installed in a glove box and is coupled to a spectrophotometer with optical fibers. Limits of detection (LOD) for the system were determined as 0.74 and 0.35 M with molar absorption coefficients of 8.14${\pm}$0.07 (414 nm) and 17.00${\pm}$0.16 (569 nm) $M^{-1}cm^{-1}$ for U(VI) and Pu(V) ions, respectively. The measured LOD values are about 30 times more sensitive when compared to those achievable by using a conventional quartz cell with an optical path length of 1.0 cm. As an application with an enhanced sensitivity, a quantitative analysis for micromolar concentrations of Pu(V) has been performed to decrease the uncertainty in the formation constant of the Pu(VI)-OH complex.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.263-271
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• 2003

Effects of the existence of $CO_2$ gas and pH on the silica surface characteristics at silica/Pb(II) and sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS, $C_{12}H_{25}SO_3Na$) solution interface were studied. The hydrophobic characteristics of silica surface was delineated by contact angle measurement and surface force measurement using atomic force microscopy (AFM). In $CO_2$ free condition provided by purging $N_2$ gas, the contact angle of fused silica surface in $10^{-4}M$ Pb(II) and SDS solution increased greatly up to $90^{\circ}$ compared with $40^{\circ}$ in atmospheric condition. It was due to the precipitation of $PbCO_3$ in atmospheric condition. In $CO_2$ free condition the change of contact angle and adhesion force ($F_{ad}$) in AFM, affected by pH change, was similar to the distribution of $PbOH^+$ ion in speciation diagram corresponding to $10^{-4}M$ total Pb(II). Therefore, it was convinced that the $PbOH^+$ ion among Pb(II) species would be the main adsorbing type on silica surface. Both of contact angle measurement and surface force measurement using AFM showed that the Pb only treatment made the silica surface hydrophobic. However, it could not be explained theoretically by current knowledge, and required further study in atomic level to solve the problem.