• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 2007

The consumption of artificially crushed sands exceeds more than 30 percent of the domestic sand supply in South Korea, and its rate is still increasing. For the manufacture of crushed sand granites and granitic gneisses are preferred, fine fractions (i.e. sludge, particles finer than 63 microns) are removed by use of flocculation agents, and its amount occupy about 15 wt%. The sludges consist of quartz, feldspars, micas, chlorite/vermiculite, kaolinites, smectites and occasionally calcite. Among the clay minerals micas are usually predominant, and $14{\AA}$ minerals, kaolinites and smectites are rather scarce. Jurassic granites usually contain more kaolinites and smectites than those of Cretaceous to Tertiary granites, probably due to longer geologic ages. On the other hand, sludge from Precambrian gneiss does not contain kaolinites and smectites. Chemical analyses for the granites and their sludges show rather clear differences in most of major chemical components. Except for $SiO_2,\;Na_2O\;and\;K_2O$, all other components represent rather clear increase. Decrease of $SiO_2$ content is attributed to the relative decrease of quartz in the sludges. And the $Na_2O decrease is caused by a relatively stronger weathering property of albite compared to Ca plagioclase. The $K_2O$ content shows rather small differences throughout the whole samples. The increases of $Al_2O_3$ and other major components resulted from weathering processes and most of colored components are also concentrated in the sludges. Particle size analyses reveal that the sludges are categorized as sandy loams in a sand-silt-clay triangular diagram. The sludge is now classified as industrial waste because of its impermeability, and this result was also confirmed by rather higher hydraulic conductivities. For the environmental problems, and accomplishing effective sand manufacture, more fresh rocks with little weathering products must be chosen.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.179-191
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• 2019

Heavy metals in stream water and sediments around industrial complex were studied in order to assess the contamination and to identify the potential source of metals. High variability has been observed for both dissolved and particulate phases in stream water with coefficient of variation (CV) ranging from 1.3 to 2.8. The highest metal concentrations in both phases were observed in Gunja for Ni and Cu, in Jungwang for Zn and Pb and in Shiheung for Cd, respectively. These results indicate that the different metal sources could be existing. The concentrations of the heavy metals in sediments decreased in the order of Cu>Zn>Pb>Cr>Ni>As>Cd>Hg, with mean of 2,549, 1,742, 808, 539, 163, 17.1, 5.8, $0.07mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Mean of metal concentrations(except for As) in sediments showed the highest values at Shiheung stream comparing with other streams. In sediments, the percent exceedance of class II grade that metal may potentially harmful impact on benthic organism for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb was about 57%, 62%, 84%, 60%, 68%, 81% for all stream sediments, respectively. Sediments were classified as heavily to extremely polluted for Cu and Cd, heavily polluted for Zn and Pb, based on the calculation of Igeo value. About 59% and 35% of sediments were in the categories of "poor" and "very poor" pollution status for heavy metals. Given the high metal concentrations, industrial wastes and effluents, having high concentrations of most metals originated from the manufacture and use of metal products in this region, might be discharged into the stream through sewer outlet. The streams receive significant amounts of industrial waste from the industrial facilities which is characterized by light industrial complexes of approximately 17,000 facilities. Thus, the transport of metal loads through streams is an important pathway for metal pollution in Shihwa Lake.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.153-161
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• 2023

The worldwide effects of COVID-19 have led to a surge in online shopping and contactless services. The consumption pattern has caused the issues such as the environmental pollution together with the increase of plastic waste. Reducing the reliance on the petroleum based plastic use for the package and replacing it with environmentally friendly material are the simple ways in order to solve those problems. Paper is an eco-friendly product with high recyclability as the food packaging materials but has still poor barrier properties. A barrier coating on surface of the paper can be achieved with the proper packaging materials featuring water, gas and grease barrier. Polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP) coatings which are generally laminated or coated to paper are widely used in food packaging applications to protect products from moisture and provide water or grease resistance. However, recycling of packaging containing PE or PP matrix is limited and costly because those films are difficult to degrade in the environment. This study investigated the recyclability of modified acrylic emulsion coating papers compared to PE and PP polymer matrixes as well as their mechanical and gas barrier properties. The results showed that PE or modified acrylic emulsion coated papers had better mechanical properties compared to the uncoated paper as a control. PE or PP coating papers showed strong oil resistance property, achieving a kit rating of 12. Those papers also had a significantly higher percentage of screen reject during the recycling process than modified acrylic coated paper which had a screen rejection rate of 6.25%. In addition an uncoated paper had similar value of a screen rejection rate. It may suggest that modified acrylic emulsion coating paper can be more easily recycled than PE or PP coating papers. The overall results of the study found that modified acrylic emulsion coating paper would be a viable alternative to suggest a possible solution to an environmental problem as well as enhancing the weak mechanical and poor gas barrier properties of the paper against moisture.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

World stone production in 2021 stood at 162.5 million tons, up by 7.5 million tons, or 4.8 percent, compared to the previous year when the production came in at 155 million tons. Six top countries with the most of stone production were China, India, Turkey, Brazil, Iran and Italy and these six countries accounted for 72.8 percent of total production in the world. Stone exports stood at $21.68 billion in 2021, up by $2.3 billion from the previous year. Exports of raw materials and processed stones stood at 54.4 million tons, up by 2.98 million tons from the previous year. In terms of aggregate exports, exports of natural stones increased by $2.3 billion to $21.7 billion while exports of artificial stones rose $2.6 billion to $13.6 billion in 2021 compared to the previous year. The average price of stone (Code: 68.02) was up by $65.2 per ton to $794.82. The price of board, processed stone, an ingredient for building materials, increased by $3.52 per square meter to $42.96 per square meter. Recycling was always the problem as the volume of the total quarry was 333.5 million tons, of which only 28.8 percent were finished products and the remaining 71.2 percent were waste generated from stone extraction and processing. Korea's stone exports stood at $1.97 million in 2021, down 38.3 percent on year, while imports were up 8.6 percent to $758.9 million. Stone exports are expected to grow to 66.1 million tons in 2025, while usage is expected to reach 108.92 million tons, or 2 billion square meters.