• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 2013

Because some particulate matter emission sources may inherently produce soluble species, or some soluble species may be produced during atmospheric transport, it is important to understand the origin of a particles's solubility when water-soluble tracers are used in source apportionment studies. Laboratory experiments were performed on three types of soils (Mongolia grassland, Mongolia desert, and Korean rural soils), to study the impact of acidification by nitric acid vapor on the solubility of metals in the soils. To achieve this goal, concentrations of water-soluble metals (Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe) in the soils measured before and after acidification. Contributions of concentrations of water-soluble metal species before and after acidification attack to their total concentrations varied little with soil type. Concentrations of water-soluble Mg, Al, K, Ca, Mn, and Fe from the soils after interaction with nitric acid vapor increased, with significant increases in soluble Ca and Mn for all soil types suggesting soil acidification enhances the amount of leachable metal species in soil dust. There was little increase in water-soluble Na and K after acidification for each soil type. This experiment demonstrates that quantities of water-soluble metal species in particulate matter are produced under high gaseous nitric acid conditions.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.20-26
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• 2010

Water soluble organic and inorganic species are important components in atmospheric aerosol particles and may act as cloud condensation nuclei to indirectly affect the climate. To characterize organic and elemental carbon(OC and EC), water-soluble organic carbon(WSOC) and inorganic ionic species contents, daily $PM_{2.5}$ measurements were made during the wintertime at an urban site of Gwangju. Average concentrations of WSOC, $NO_3^-$, $SO_4^{2-}$ and $NH_4^+$, which are major components in the water-soluble fraction in PM2.5, are 2.11, 5.73, 3.51 and $3.31{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively, representing 12.0(2.9~23.9%), 21.0(12.9~37.6%), 11.6(2.5~25.9%) and 11.7%(3.8~18.6%) of the $PM_{2.5}$, respectively. Abundance of water soluble organic compounds ranged from 5.4 to 35.9% of total water soluble organic and inorganic components with a mean of 17.6%. Even though the sampling was performed during the winter, the average contributions of secondary OC and WSOC, as deduced from primary OC/EC(or WSOC/EC) ratio, were relatively high, accounting for 17.9%(0~44.4%) of the total OC and 11.2%(0.0~51.4%) of the total WSOC, respectively. During the sampling period, low $SO_4^{2-}/(SO_4^{2-}+SO_2$) ratio of 0.14(0.03~0.32) and relative humidity condition in the winter time suggest an possibility of impact of long-range transport and/or aqueous transformation processes such as metal catalyzed oxidation of sulfur, in-cloud processes, etc.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.289-296
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• 1996

Effects of crustal species on the characteristics of ambient particles were studied by applying a gas-particle equilibrium model, SCAPE, to the measurements at Kosan, Cheju Island during the spring and summer, 1994. Two cases were simulated; the measured composition was used without any modification (case 1), and the metal ion concentrations originated from crust were subtracted from the measured particle composition (case 2). Total suspended particles (TSPs) were collected by an automatic high volume tape sampler during spring period and by high volume samplers during summer period. The fine particles, PM 2.5, and gaseous volatile species were collected using a filter pack smapler during summer period. The water soluble ion concentrations were analyzed from all the particle samples. According to the simulation results, the effect of crustal elements on the chemical composition of particles is negligible for both TSP particles and PM 2.5 particles. Acidity of particles measured at Kosan, however, is affected by the change of the concentrations of crustal species, stronger effects for TSP particles than for PM 2.5 particles during summer, and stronger effects during summer than spring for TSP particle. The average pH decrease due to the absence of crustal species was about 0.10 for PM 2.5 particle during summer and 1.51 and 0.85 for TSP particles during summer spring, respectively. Water contents of PM 2.5 particles for both cases are comparable to each other. Estimated water content of TSP particles for case 2 is higher than that for case 1 by about 4 $\sim 6 \mum/m^3$ because salts of metal ions are not hygroscopic.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.561-568
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• 1995

Two methods, precipitation and ultrafiltration, were applied in order to recover platinum group metals(PGM) by complexing them with water-soluble polyelectrolytes, e.g., polyethyleneimine [PEl], poly(2-vinylpyridine) [2-PVP], poly (4-vinylpyridine) [4-PVP], and poly (styrene sulfonic acid) [PSSA]. In the precipitation method, the PGM-polyelectrolyte complex that was formed by mixing first with polybase, e.g.,4-PVP at pH 1 was precipitated by further mixing with polyacid, e.g., PSSA. However, the recovery of PGM obtained by this method was not quantitative(less than 70%). The "sandwiching" binding between the metal anions and two polyelectrolytes was examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). The XPS studies indicated that the PGM atom was bound with the acdic and basic polyelectrolyte via its oxygen and nitrogen atom, respectively. The recovery of PGM using polyelectrolyte was further studied by ultrafiltration methods as follows : The PGM ions, eomplexed at pH 1 with polyelectrolyte, allowed the applicntion of membrane filtration by virtue of the great differences in molecular weights between PGM and other low molecular weight species. By applying this method, Pd and Pt (ca. $10^{-4}M$) were selectively separated almost quantitatively from coexisting metal ions, e.g., $Cu^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$. The EPR spectra and viscosity measurements indicated that these polyelectrlytes were not bound to $Cu^{2+}$ and $Ni^{2+}$ ions at this pH, which provided the basis for selective separation of PGM(Pd, Pt and Rh) from these coexisting ions.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.231-240
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• 2002

Microbial metal reduction influences the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and metals as well as plays an important role in the bioremediation of metals, radionuclides, and organic contaminants. The use of bacteria to facilitate the production of magnetite nanoparticles and the formation of carbonate minerals may provide new biotechnological processes for material synthesis and carbon sequestration. Metal-reducing bacteria were isolated from a variety of extreme environments, such as deep terrestrial subsurface, deep marine sediments, water near Hydrothemal vents, and alkaline ponds. Metal-reducing bacteria isolated from diverse extreme environments were able to reduce Fe(III), Mn(IV), Cr(VI), Co(III), and U(VI) using short chain fatty acids and/or hydrogen as the electron donors. These bacteria exhibited diverse mineral precipitation capabilities including the formation of magnetite ($Fe_3$$O_4$), siderite ($FeCO_3$), calcite ($CaCO_3$), rhodochrosite ($MnCO_3$), vivianite [$Fe_3$($PO_4$)$_2$ .$8H_2$O], and uraninite ($UO_2$). Geochemical and environmental factors such as atmospheres, chemical milieu, and species of bacteria affected the extent of Fe(III)-reduction as well as the mineralogy and morphology of the crystalline iron mineral phases. Thermophilic bacteria use amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide plus metals (Co, Cr, Ni) as an electron acceptor and organic carbon as an electron donor to synthesize metal-substituted magnetite. Metal reducing bacteria were capable of $CO_2$conversion Into sparingly soluble carbonate minerals, such as siderite and calcite using amorphous Fe(III)-oxyhydroxide or metal-rich fly ash. These results indicate that microbial Fe(III)-reduction may not only play important roles in iron and carbon biogeochemistry in natural environments, but also be potentially useful f3r the synthesis of submicron-sized ferromagnetic materials.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.87-103
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• 1996

The purposes of this research are to investigate the pollution level of heavy metals due to the urbanization and industrialization in the satellite cities of Seoul, and to assess the chemical species and the sources of heavy metals in highly contaminated soils and dusts. Soil and dust samples were collected from the Uijeongbu and the Koyang cities, which are northern and the northwestern satellite cities of Seoul metropolitan city, respectively. Relatively high pH values($6.3{\sim}9.9$) were found in roadside soils compared with agricultural and forest soils. Difference in pH values of soils was not identified between before and after rainy seasons. In spite of no specific pollution sources in the above cities, the contents of Cu, Pb, and Zn in soils and dusts were much higher than the world average contents. The metal levels in dusts were higher than those in soils, but the metal concentration in dusts was significantly decreased after rainy season. Pollution index was high(> 1.0) in the areas of heavy traffic, industrial complex, and city centres. There is an appreciable proportion of total Zn in exchangeable/water-acid soluble fraction. Copper is predominantly associated with reducible and oxidizable phases, whereas Pb is largely in reducible association. It is concluded that the mobility and bioavailability of metals are high in the order of Zn >> Cu > Pb, on the basis of characteristic particle morphology and chemical composition, Pb-containing particles are originated probably from the automobile exhaust, particularly in heavy traffic areas. The metallic forms and iron-oxide associated forms of Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb can be assessed as industrial origin.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.665-676
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• 2003

To investigate the chemical characteristics of PM$\_$2.5/ in Seoul, Korea, atmospheric particulate matters were collected using a PM$\_$10/ dichotomous sampler including PM$\_$10/ and PM$\_$2.5/ inlet during the period of October 2000 to September 2001. The Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectromety (ICP-MS), ion Chromatography (IC) methods were used to determine the concentration of both metal and ionic species. A statistical analysis was performed for the heavy metals data set using a principal component analysis (PCA) to derived important factors inherent in the interactions among the variables. The mean concentrations of ambient PM$\_$2.5/ and PM/sub10/ were 24.47 and 45.27 $\mu\textrm{g}$/㎥, respectively. PM$\_$2.5/ masses also showed temporal variations both yearly and seasonally. The ratios of PM$\_$2.5/PM$\_$10/ was 0.54, which similar to the value of 0.60 in North America. Soil-related chemical components (such as Al, Ca, Fe, Si, and Mn) were abundant in PM$\_$10/, while anthropogenic components (such as As, Cd, Cr, V, Zn and Pb) were abundant in PM2s. Total water soluble ions constituted 30∼50 % of PM$\_$2.5/ mass, and sulfate, nitrate and ammonium were main components in water soluble ions. Reactive farms of NH$_4$$\^$+/were considered as NH$_4$NO$_3$ and (NH$_4$)$_2$SO$_4$ during the sampling periods. In the results of PCA for PM$\_$2.5/, we identified three principal components. Major contribution to PM$\_$2.5/ seemed to be soil, oil combustion, unidentified source. Further study, the detailed interpretation of these data will need efforts in order to identify emission sources.