• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.363-367
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• 2003

Much attention has been given to an electrochemical reduction process for converting uranium oxide to uranium metal in molten salt. The process has the versatility of being adopted for reducing other actinide and rare-earth metals from their oxides. Using the metal oxide to be reduced as a integrated cathode designed originally and inert conductors as anodes, oxygen anions are removed from the cathode and oxidized at the surface of the anodes in a molten salt cell. However, the electrochemical properties of alkali and alkali-earth metal oxides in molten salt have not been investigated thoroughly, which made the process incomplete when it is considered as a unit process in a back-end fuel cycle. It is well known that cesium and strontium Isotopes in spent fuel are main contributors for head load. The properties of cesium, strontium, and barium oxides such as the dissolution rates and reduction potentials in molten LiC1 dissolving $Li_2O$ are examined.

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 1996

The effect of sodium hydroxide treatment on some physicochemical properties of zeolite mordenite mineral was studied with chemical analyses, powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, infrared analysis, measurement of carbon dioxide adsorption and gas chromatography. Mordenite mineral from tuffaceous rocks in Yeongil and Wolsung area was used as a starting material and treated with 0.1-5N NaOH aqueous solution at about $95^{\circ}C$ in the water bath for three hours.At the concentration of sodium hydroxide below 0.5N, all chemical compositions in the tuff were virtually insoluble and the mordenite structure did not change. At the concentration above 1N, the chemical compositions such as silica, alumina, etc., were dissolved. The dissolution ratio of silica was lager than that of alumina, and the ratio of silica to alumina in the tuff decreased sharply in the concentration range of 2 to 3N. Intensity of X-ray diffraction peak of mordenite (202) plane and the adsorbed amount of carbon dioxide also decreased with the increasing concentration of sodium hydroxide above 1N. These decreases corresponded to the degree of mordenite structure collapsed.The separation of gas chromatography of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon monoxide was not affected by the sodium hydroxide treatment, but elution peaks of methane and krypton tended to be broadened and their retention time was shortened. The elution peaks of both methane and krypton tended to be overlapped with those of nitrogen and oxygen.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.554-566
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• 2018

The rice husk contains nutrients which can be easily utilized by microorganisms, and also has a water retaining ability, which played a crucial part in enabling it to become a biofilter media. In this study, we evaluated the applicability of rice husk pellet bio-scrubber as a microbiological carrier. The pelletization experiment of rice husk as a biological media was performed using PVA and EVA binder. Also, the feasibility tests of rice husk as a biological media for odor removal were carried out in order to know whether rice-husk contains useful components as a media for microbiological growth or not. Lastly, a combined test for odor gas absorption and biological oxidation was conducted using a lab scale bio-filter set-up packed with rice-husk pellets as wet-scrubber. The major components of the rice husk were carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen, while carbon acted as the main ingredient which comprised up to 23.00%. The C : N : P ratio was calculated as 45 : 1 : 2. Oxygen uptake rate, yield and decay rate of the rice husk eluent was calculated to be $0.0049mgO_2/L/sec$, 0.24 mgSS/mgCOD and 0.004 respectively. The most stable form of rice husk pellets was produced when the weight of the rice husk, EVAc, PVAc, and distilled water was 10 : 2 : 0.2 : 10. The prepared rice husk pellets had an apparent density of 368 g/L and a porosity of 59.00% upon filling. Dry rice husks showed high adsorption capacity for ammonia gas but low adsorption capacity for hydrogen sulfide. The bio-filter odor removal column filled with rice husk pellets showed more than 99.50% removal efficiency for NH3 and H2S gas. Through the analysis of circulation water, the prime removal mechanism is assumed to be the dissolution by water, microbial nitrification, and sulfation. Finally, it was confirmed that the microorganisms could survive well on the rice husk pellets, which provided them a stable supply of nutrients for their activity in this long-term experiment. This adequate supply of nutrients from the rice husk enabled high removal efficiency by the microorganisms.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.4
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• pp.517-522
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• 2023

A chemical/mechanical durability test of polymer membrane evaluation method is used in which air and hydrogen are supplied to the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and wet/dry is repeated in the open circuit voltage (OCV) state. In this protocol, when wet/dry is repeated, voltage increase/decrease is repeated, resulting in electrode degradation. When the membrane durability is excellent, the number of voltage changes increases and the evaluation is terminated due to electrode degradation, which may cause a problem that the original purpose of membrane durability evaluation cannot be performed. In this study, the same protocol as the department of energy (DOE) was used, but oxygen was used instead of air as the cathode gas, and the wet/dry time and flow rate were also increased to increase the chemical/mechanical degradation rate of the membrane, thereby shortening the durability evaluation time of the membrane to improve these problems. The durability test of the Nafion 211 membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was completed after 2,300 cycles by increasing the acceleration by 2.6 times using oxygen instead of air. This protocol also accelerated degradation of the membrane and accelerated degradation of the electrode catalyst, which also had the advantage of simultaneously evaluating the durability of the membrane and the electrode.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.167-179
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• 2016

Water quality of Oseepchun, Dogye area, was investigated quantitatively for its origin and hydrogeochemistry in relation to the influence of groundwater. Groundwater appears to be the principal source of Oseepchun from the water-quality monitoring data including redox potentials, composition of dissolved ions and their correlations, hydrogen and oxygen stable isotopic ratios, and the distribution and occurrence of contaminants. Water-quality type of the surface water was grouped by the water-rock interactions as $Ca-HCO_3$ type originated from carbonated bed-rocks in the Joseon Supergroup, (Ca, Mg)-$SO_4$ type related with dissolution of surfide minerals in coal beds of Pyeongan Supergroup, and (Ca, Mg)-($HCO_3$, $SO_4$) type of the mixed one. Locally water pollution occurs by high $SO_4$ from mine drainage and $NO_3$ from waste-treatment facility. Intensive precipitation in summer has no effect on the water type of Oseepchun, but increases the inflow of nitrate and chloride originated from land surface. Results of this study direct that groundwater-surface water interaction is intimate, and thus surface-water resource management should begin with groundwater characterization.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.445-455
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• 2009

Microbiological sulfate reduction is the transformation of sulfate to sulfide catalyzed by the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria using sulfate as an electron acceptor. Low solubility of metal sulfides leads to precipitation of the sulfides in solution. The effects of microbiological sulfate reduction on in-situ precipitation of arsenic and copper were investigated for the heavy metal-contaminated soil around the Songcheon Au-Ag mine site. Total concentrations of As, Cu, and Pb were 1,311 mg/kg, 146 mg/kg, and 294 mg/kg, respectively, after aqua regia digestion. In batch-type experiments, indigenous sulfate-reducing bacteria rapidly decreased sulfate concentration and redox potential and led to substantial removal of dissolved As and Cu from solution. Optimal concentrations of carbon source and sulfate for effective microbial sulfate reduction were 0.2~0.5% (w/v) and 100~200 mg/L, respectively. More than 98% of injected As and Cu were removed in the effluents from both microbial and chemical columns designed for metal sulfides to be precipitated. However, after the injection of oxygen-rich solution, the microbial column showed the enhanced long-term stability of in-situ precipitated metals when compared with the chemical column which showed immediate increase in dissolved As and Cu due to oxidative dissolution of the sulfides. Black precipitates formed in the microbial column during the experiments and were identified as iron sulfide and copper sulfide. Arsenic was observed to be adsorbed on surface of iron sulfide precipitate.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.230-237
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• 2017

In this study, electrochemical methods were used to determine the optimum protection potential of S355ML steel for the cathodic protection of offshore wind-turbine-tower substructures. The results of potentiodynamic polarization experiments indicated that the anodic polarization curve did not represent a passivation behavior, while under the cathodic polarization concentration, polarization was observed due to the reduction of dissolved oxygen, followed by activation polarization by hydrogen evolution as the potential shifted towards the active direction. The concentration polarization region was found to be located between approximately -0.72 V and -1.0 V, and this potential range is considered to be the potential range for cathodic protection using the impressed current cathodic protection method. The results of the potentiostatic experiments at various potentials revealed that varying current density tended to become stable with time. Surface characterization after the potentiostatic experiment for 1200 s, by using a scanning electron microscope and a 3D analysis microscope confirmed that corrosion damage occurred as a result of anodic dissolution under an anodic polarization potential range of 0 to -0.50 V, which corresponds to anodic polarization. Under potentials corresponding to cathodic polarization, however, a relatively intact surface was observed with the formation of calcareous deposits. As a result, the potential range between -0.8 V and -1.0 V, which corresponds to the concentration polarization region, was determined to be the optimum potential region for impressed current cathodic protection of S355ML steel.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2007

Recently, due to narrow margin on design factor of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems or aging of systems, some problems such as decrease of $SO_2$ removal efficiency and difficulty on coping with unstable state are arising on FGD systems. On this study, to cope with these problems several methods such as adjustment of reagent pH, inlet $SO_2$ concentration, variation of units of operation pump, installation of liquid distribution ring (LDR) were attempted to increase the $SO_2$ removal using spray type simulated FGD system. Also, sulfite and Al/Fx ion effects on limestone blinding were experimented. When three absorber recirculation pumps were operated, $SO_2$ removal was increased by 12% in comparison with that of two pumps operation. $SO_2$ removal was increased by 2~7% after installation of LDR. Dissolved oxygen increased up to 0.5 ppm and limestone binding effect was alleviated after injection of dibasic acid (DBA) with the concentration of 500 and 1,000 ppm. When $Al^{3+}$ and $F^-$ ions were coexisting, the dissolution rate of limestone was decreased by 20%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2012

As nanotechnology is a key industry, there is growing concern relating to the potential risk of nanoparticles. They are known to be released into the environment via various exposure routes. When nanoparticles are present in water environments, they are supposed to be illuminated by ultraviolet light, and the ecotoxicity of photoactive nanoparticles may be changed. In this study, a review of the ecotoxicity of photoactive nanoparticles, including the mechanisms of phototoxicity, are presented. In order to address this issue, studies on the ecotoxicity to soil and water organisms exposed to photoactive nanoparticles were investigated. The photoactive nanoparticles chosen for this study were zinc oxide, titanium dioxide and fullerene. Microorganisms, nematode, earthworm, algae and fish, etc., were chosen to assess the toxicity of nanoparticles using diverse methods. However, studies on the phototoxicity potentially induced by nanoparticles on UV illumination have been reviewed in only 8 studies. From a few studies, photoactive nanoparticles have shown high dissolution rates under UV conditions, with the released ions observed to profoundly influence test organisms. In addition, NPs exposed to UV produced reactive oxygen species (ROS). These ROS can induce oxidative stress in exposed organisms. Evidence of phototoxicity by nanoparticles were found based on previous studies.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.157-181
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• 2020

Sediments from rivers, lakes and marine ports serve as end points for pollutants discharged into the water, and at the same time serve as sources of pollutants that are continuously released into the water. Until now, the contaminated sediments have been landfilled or dumped at sea. Landfilling, however, was expensive and dumping at sea was completely banned due to the London Convention. Therefore, this study applied contaminated sedimentation soil of 'Royal Palace Livestock Complex' as soil purification method. Soil remediation methods were applied to pretreatment, composting, soil washing, electrokinetics, and thermal desorption by selecting overseas application cases and domestically applicable application technologies. As a result of surveying the site for pollutant characteristics, Disolved Oxigen (DO), Suspended Solid (SS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Total Phosphorus (TP) exceeded the discharged water quality standard, and especially SS, COD, TN, and TP exceeded the standard several tens to several hundred times. Soil showed high concentrations of copper and zinc, which promote the growth of pig feed, and cadmium exceeded 1 standard of Soil Environment Conservation Act. In the pretreatment technology, hydrocyclone was used for particle size separation, and the fine soil was separated by more than 80%. Composting was performed on organic and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) contaminated soils. TPH was treated within the standard of concern, and E. coli was analyzed to be high in organic matter, and the fertilizer specification was satisfied by applying the optimum composting conditions at 70℃, but the organic matter content was lower than the fertilizer specification. As a result of continuous washing test, Cd has 5 levels of residual material in fine soil. Cu and Zn were mostly composed of ion exchange properties (stage 1), carbonates (stage 2), and iron / manganese oxides (stage 3), which facilitate easy separation of contamination. As a result of applying acid dissolution and multi-stage washing step by step, hydrochloric acid, 1.0M, 1: 3, 200rpm, 60min was analyzed as the optimal washing factor. Most of the contaminated sediments were found to satisfy the Soil Environmental Conservation Act's standards. Therefore, as a result of the applicability test of this study, soil with high heavy metal contamination was used as aggregate by applying soil cleaning after pre-treatment. It was possible to verify that it was efficient to use organic and oil-contaminated soil as compost Maturity after exterminating contaminants and E. coli by applying composting.