• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.285-290
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• 2008

This study was done to explain the role of limestone which might intervene in the phosphorus cycle in a lake. The effects of limestone on the dissolution of phosphate were estimated by simulations with the computer model Visual MINTEQ, which is designed for the chemical equilibrium calculations. According to the calculations limestone shows remarkable effects for the suppression of phosphate dissolution. The limestone can suppress the dissolution of phosphates by sacrificing themselves to acids, and as a consequence can increase the hardness and alkalinity of the lake. Both hardness and alkalinity play an important role in reducing soluble P and thus alleviate the eutrophication potential.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2018

Radioactive substances, especially $^{137}Cs$ discharged in the course of Nuclear Power Plant Accident or maintenance of power plants, cause contamination of the soil. For habitation of residents and reuse of industrial land, it is inevitably necessary to decontaminate the soil. This study examines a soil washing process that has actually been used for washing of radioactive-contaminated soil. The soil washing process uses a washing agent to weaken surface tension of the soil and cesium, separating cesium from the soil. In this study, in order to raise the efficiency of the process, a flocculating agent was added to the washing water to remove fine soil and cesium. The cesium concentrations before and after applying the flocculating agent to cesium solution were measured through ICP-OES. When using 0.1 g of J-AF flocculating agent in the experiment, the maximum Cs removal performance was approximately 88%; the minimum value was 67%. Species combinations between cesium and soil were predicted using Visual MINTEQ Code; the ability to reuse the washing water or not, and the removal rate of the fine soil, determined via measurement of the turbidity after applying the flocculating agent, were determined.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.443-450
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• 2014

To determine Pb species in soils following the immobilization process, sequential extraction has been used despite the possibility of overestimating Pb species from unintended reactions during chemical extraction. Meanwhile, the application of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) has been shown to provide a more precise result than chemical extraction. In this study, the immobilization of Pb in contaminated soils treated with liming materials such as oyster shell (OS) or eggshell (ES) was evaluated with thermodynamic modelling and EXAFS analysis. Thermodynamic modelling by visual MINTEQ predicted the precipitation of $Pb(OH)_2$ in OS and ES treated soils. In particular, the values of saturation index (SI) for $Pb(OH)_2$ in OS (SI=0.286) and ES (SI=0.453) treated soils were greater than in the control soil (SI=0.281). Linear combination fitting (LCF) analysis confirmed the presence of $C_{12}H_{10}O_{14}Pb_3$ (lead citrate, 44.7%) by citric acid from plant root, Pb-gibbsite (Pb adsorbed gibbsite, 26.4%), and Pb-kaolinite (Pb adsorbed kaolinite, 20.3%) in the control soil. On the other hand, $Pb(OH)_2$ (16.8%), Pb-gibbsite (39.3%), and Pb-kaolinite (25.6%) were observed in the OS treated soil and $Pb(OH)_2$ (55.2%) and Pb-gibbsite (33.8%) were also confirmed in the ES treated soil. Our results indicate that the treatment with OS and ES immobilizes Pb by adsorption of Pb onto the soil minerals as a result of the increase in soil negative charge and the formation of stable $Pb(OH)_2$ under high pH condition of soils.

• 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.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 2010

Mine and leachate waters were collected from the Okdong mine for study on reaction with oxidizing agents such as NaOCl and $H_2O_2$. The pH and EC of the mine and leachate waters are 5.77, 831 uS/cm, and 6.38, 1920 uS/cm, respectively. The concentrations of Mg, Mn, and Zn are 23.25 mg/l, 14.90 mg/l, and 22.99 mg/l for the mine water and 98.75 mg/l, 3.38 mg/l, and 6.16 mg/l for the leachate water. The concentrations of Mg, Mn and Zn decreased after the reaction with the oxidizing agents and mine water. The concentrations of Mg, Mn and Zn rapidly decreased when oxidizing agents increased. The saturation indices that were computed by visual MINTEQ for initial mine and leachate water were undersaturated with Mg, Zn and Mn compounds. The precipitates after the reaction with the oxidizing agents are composed mainly of mangano-calcite[(Mn, Ca)$CO_3$] with small amount of calcite-magnesian and calcite.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-16
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• 2019

The algal blooms in stagnant streams and lakes have caused many problems. Excessive algae leads to disturbance of ecosystem and overload of water treatment processes. Therefore, phosphorus(P), source of algal blooms, should be controlled. In this study, a filtration trench has been developed to convert dissolved phosphorus into hydroxyapatite(HAP) so that it could be crystallized on the surface of 'phosphorus removal granular material'; and residual particulate phosphorus could be removed by additional precipitation and filtration. The front and rear parts of filtration trench consisted of 'phosphorus removal granular material contact bed' and 'limestone filtration bed', respectively. As a result of the column test using phosphorus removal granular material and limestone serially, $PO_4-P$ was removed more than 90% when EBCT(empty bed contact time) of the contact bed was over 20 minutes; and T-P represented 60% of removal efficiency when total EBCT was over 1.5 hours. The results of column tests to figure out the sedimentation characteristics showed that more than 90% of particulate phosphorus could be removed within 24 hours. It was necessary to optimize the filtration part in order to increase removal efficiency of T-P additionally. Also, it was confirmed through the simulation of Visual MINTEQ that most of particulate phosphorus in the column tests is the form of HAP. Based on the results of the study, it could be suggested that the design parameters are over 0.5 hour of EBCT for phosphorus removal granular material contact bed and over 1.5 hours of EBCT for limestone filtration bed.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2017

One of the methods of removing cyanide from wastewater is surface adsorption. We simulated the removal of cyanide from a synthetic wastewater in the presence of Titanium dioxide nano-particles absorbent uses VISUAL MINTEQ 3.1 software. Our aim was to determine the factors affecting the adsorption of cyanide from synthetic wastewater applying simulation. Synthetic wastewater with a concentration of 100 mg/l of potassium cyanide was used for simulation. The amount of titanium dioxide was 1 g/l under the temperature of $25^{\circ}C$. The simulation was performed using an adsorption model of Freundlich and constant capacitance model. The results of simulation indicated that three factors including pH, nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and the primary concentration of cyanide affect the adsorption level of cyanide. The simulation and experimental results had a good agreement. Also by increasing the pH level of adsorption increases 11 units and then almost did not change. An increase in cyanide concentration, the adsorption level was decreased. In simulation process, rising the concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles to 1 g/l, the rate of adsorption was increased and afterward no any change was observed. In all cases, the coefficient of determination between the experimental data and simulation data was above 0.9.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2017

Struvite precipitation has been proven to be an effective method in removing and recovering ammonia nitrogen (N) and phosphate phosphorus (P) from wastewater. In this study, effects of pH, molar ratios and pre-treatment of effluent of anaerobically digested swine wastewater were investigated to improve struvite crystallization. The magnesium : ammonium : phosphate ratio of 1.2 : 1.0 : 1.0 was found to be optimal, yet the molar ratio in the wastewater was 1 : 74.9 : 1.8. From the analysis, the optimum pH was between 8.0 and 9.0 for maximal phosphate P release and from 8.0 to 10.0 for maximal ammonia N and phosphate P removal from real wastewater. Analysis from Visual MINTEQ predicted the pH range of 7-11 for ammonia N and phosphate P removal and recovery as struvite. For pre-treatment, microwave pre-treatment was ineffective for phosphate P release but ultrasound pre-treatment showed up to 77.4% phosphate P release at 1,000 kJ/L of energy dose. Precipitates analysis showed that phosphorus and magnesium in the collected precipitate had almost same values as theoretical values, but the ammonia content was less than the theoretical value.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.579-598
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• 2019

We investigated geochemical contaminants and Fe, Al behavior in precipitates of acid mine drainage (AMD) from the Donghae abandoned coal mine, Taebaek, Gangwon Province using aqueous chemical analyses, XRD, IR, and ²⁷Al NMR, Our results showed that water chemistry changed with pH and Eh, and saturation indices of chemical species in the AMD. According to saturation calculated by visual MINTEQ, the AMD was saturated with various Fe-, Al-oxyhydroxide minerals. Reddish brown precipitates are composed of schwertmannite, ferrihydrite, and goethite, whereas whitish precipitates are composed mostly of alumimous minerals such as poorly crystallized basaluminite with trace Al₁₃-Tridecamer. It is important to apply active treatment methods rather than simple storage pond and to control the precipitation and solubility of iron species and aluminous species for ensuring remediation and control for the AMD discharged from the Donghae abandoned coal mine.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.329-338
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• 2017

The problem of disposal of brine due to increased MD/RO desalination plant has recently become a big social issue. The chlor-alkali process through electrolysis of brine has been studied as a method to overcome this problem. In order to increase the electrolysis efficiency, a pretreatment process for removal of hard substances must be preceded. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of removal of hardness through chemical precipitation. As a result, Ca was greatly influenced by addition of $Na_2CO_3$, and Mg was strongly influenced by pH. Also, the addition of NaOH and $Na_2CO_3$ enabled simultaneous removal of Ca and Mg, and showed a removal efficiency of 99.9% or more. Finally, the residual concentrations of Ca and Mg in the brine after the reaction were 0.14 and 0.13 mg/L, respectively. Saturation index was calculated using Visual MINTEQ 3.1, and solid phase analysis of the precipitate was performed by FE-SEM and PXRD analysis. It was confirmed that precipitate formed by the formation of calcite and brucite.