• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.45-53
• /
• 2009

This study concerned remediation of heavy metal contaminated farmland soils near abandoned mine, using stabilization method, with particular emphasis on the remediating the soils contaminated with multi-elements. In this study, stabilizing heavy metals based on 'In-situ chemical fixation' has been applied to the soil collected from an abandoned mine in Korea, using column test, with various stabilizing agents, including $FeSO_4$, $KMnO_4$, sludge (collected from coal mine drainage treatment pond), zero-valent iron (ZVI), zeolite and $CaCO_3$. Sixty five-days operation of the flow-through columns yield $FeSO_4\;+\;KMnO_4$ and zeolite are efficient on reducing As leaching from the soil. ZVI and sludge are reducing the leaching of Cu. Although $FeSO_4\;+\;KMnO_4$ seem to be efficient for most heavy metals, high pH in the initial stage of test enabled high leaching of the heavy metals, whereas fixation of the heavy metals maintain throughout the rest of the test period, with increasing pH up to around 6. Addition of some alkaline agent may inhibit the low pH during the application. The column test was also run as two set: one set incubated with deionized water for 72 hours prior to starting the test, and the other without incubation. The incubated set demonstrated better stabilizing efficiency, indicating the potential optimized operation method.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.28-39
• /
• 2016

Struvite (MgNH₄PO₄ ⋅ 6H₂O) and hydroxyapatite (HAP, Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂) precipitation in urine-separating toilets (NoMix toilets) causes severe maintenance problems and also reduce the phosphate and calcium content. Application of urine separating technique and extraction of by-products from human urine is a cost effective technique in waste water treatment. In this study, we extract urine calcite from human urine by batch scale method, using urease producing microbes to trigger the precipitation and calcite formation process. Extracted urine calcite (calcining at 800℃) is a potential adsorbent for removal of heavy metal(loid)s like (Cd²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺ and As³⁺) along with additional leaching analysis of total nitrogen (T-N), phosphate (T-P) and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The transformations of calcite during synthesis were confirm by characterization using XRD, SEM-EDAX and FT-IR techniques. In additional, the phosphate leaching potential and adsorbate (nitrate) efficiency in aqueous solution was investigated using the calcinedurine calcite. The results indicate that the calcite was effectively remove heavy metal(loid)s lead up to 96.8%. In addition, the adsorption capacity (q_e) of calcite was calculated and it was found to be 203.64 Pb, 110.96 Cd, 96.02 Zn, 104.2 As, 149.54 Cu and 162.68 Ni mg/g, respectively. Hence, we suggest that the calcite obtain from the human urine will be a suitable absorbent for heavy metal(loid)s removal from aqueous solution.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.10-21
• /
• 2022

In the South Korea, 47% of abandoned mines are suffering from the mining hazards such as the mine drainage (MD), the mine tailings and the waste rocks. Among them the mine drainage which has a low pH and the high concentration of heavy metals can directly contaminate rivers or soil and cause serious damages to human health. The natural/artificial treatment facilities by using neutralizers and coagulants for the mine drainage have been operated in domestic and most of heavy metals in mind drainage are precipitated and removed in the form of metal hydroxide, alumino-silicate or carbonate, generating a large amount of mine drainage treated sludge ('MDS' hereafter) by-product. The MDS has a large surface area and many functional groups, showing high efficiency on the fixation of heavy metals. The purpose of this study is to develop a ingenious heavy metal stabilizer that can effectively stabilize arsenic (As) and heavy metals in soil by recycling the MDS (two types of MDS: the acid mine drainage treated sludge (MMDS) and the coal mine drainage treated sludge (CMDS)). Various analyses, toxicity evaluations, and leaching reduction batch experiments were performed to identify the characteristics of MDS as the stabilizer for soils contaminated with As and heavy metals. As a result of batch experiments, the Pb stabilization efficiency of both of MDSs for soil A was higher than 90% and their Zn stabilization efficiencies were higher than 70%. In the case of soil B and C, which were contaminated with As, their As stabilization efficiencies were higher than 80%. Experimental results suggested that both of MDSs could be successfully applied for the As and heavy metal contaminated soil as the soil stabilizer, because of their low unit price and high stabilization efficiency for As and hevry metals.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2002

Pollutants from industry, mining, agriculture, and other sources have contaminated sediments in many surface water bodies. Sediment contamination poses a severe threat to human health and environment because many toxic contaminants that are barely detectable in the water column can accumulate in sediments at much higher levels. The purpose of this study was to make optimal treatment and disposal plan o( sediment for water quality improvement in small-scale resevoir based on an evaluation of degree of contamination. The degree of contamination were investigated for 23 samples of 9 site at different depth of sediment in small-scale J river. Results for analysis of contaminated sediments were observed that copper concentration of 4 samples were higher than the regulation of hazardous waste (3 mg/L) and that of all samples were exceeded soil pollution warning levels for agricultural areas. Lead and mercury concentration of all samples were detected below both regulations. Necessary of sediment dredge was evaluated for organic matter and nutrient through standard levels of Paldang lake and the lower Han river in Korea and Tokyo bay and Yokohama bay in Japan. The degree of contamination for organic matter and nutrient was not serious. Compared standard levels of Japan, America, and Canada for heavy metal, contaminated sediment was concluded as lowest effect level or limit of tolerance level because standard levels of America and Canada was established worst effect of benthic organisms. The optimal treatment method of sediment contained heavy metal was cement-based solidification/stabilization to prevent heavy metal leaching.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.40 no.1
• /
• pp.25-30
• /
• 2007

Objective of this experiment was to investigate the growth effects of Chinese cabbage and soil salinity to alternative irrigation waters for drought periods. The treatments were consisted of the discharge water from industrial wastewater treatment plant (DIWT), the discharge water from municipal wastewater treatment plant (DMWT) and ground water as the control. For the chemical compositions of alternative water, it appeared that concentrations of the $Ni^+$ and SAR values in DIWT were over the reuse criteria of other countries for irrigation, but CODcr concentration in DMWT was higher than the reuse criteria for agricultural irrigation. According to classification of water by $EC_i$ value, DIWT and DMWT are ranged from 0.7 to $2.0dS\;m^{-1}$, slight salinity. Average harvest indexes were 0.64 for DIWT and 0.63 for DMWT as compared to 0.61 of the control regardless of irrigation periods. SAR value in soil was increased with prolonging the irrigation periods at head forming stage, but not much difference except for 30 days of irrigation period at harvesting time for DIWT. However, it was not much difference along with irrigation periods through the growth stages for DMWT as compared with the groundwater. At harvesting time, average $EC_e$ for the soil irrigated with alternative agricultural waters was $0.017dS\;m^{-1}$ for its DIMT and $0.036dS\;m^{-1}$ for its DMWT as compared to $0.013dS\;m^{-1}$ of its groundwater as the control. For $NH_4-N$ concentrations, it observed that there were no differences among the treatments with different irrigation periods at head forming stage in soil after irrigation. Also, $NO_3-N$ concentration in soil was increased up to 20 days after irrigation, and then decreased at 30 days after irrigation with DMWT at head forming stage. The $Ni^+$ concentration in upper layer soil (0-15 cm) irrigated with DIWT was increased with prolonging the irrigation period at head forming stage, but it was dramatically decreased and almost constant in all the treatments at harvesting time. Therefore, it might be concluded that there was potentially safe to irrigate the discharge water from municipal wastewater treatment plant for 20 days after transplanting to drought periods with cultivating the Chinese cabbage.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.45-53
• /
• 1998

The purpose of this study was to evaluate effects of initial concentration and nutrients in treatment of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soils. The reactor used in this study was slurry-phase bioreactor of in-vessel type. Performance results on treatment of diesel fuel contaminated soils and micorbial growth were generated at the bench-scale level. The fate of TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) and the microbial growth were evaluated in combination with biodegradation rate. Effect of initial loading levels of 50,000 and 100,000mg TPH/kg soil was studied. Performance results with two reactors were showed at the total TPH removal rate of 90.5% and 90.8%, respectively. However, the reactor with the initial concentration of 50,000mg TPH/kg soil showed higher biological TPH removal efficiency except for removal by volatilization than the other Although the different amount of nutrients was applied in two reactors, there was no remarkable difference in microbial growth rate. However, considerable factor in this results was that applied different initial concentration to two reactors. Although initial concentration was two times higher than it applied to the reactor without addition of nutrients, in total and biological TPH removal rate the reactor with addition of nutrients showed a higher than the other.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.5-13
• /
• 2010

The research is intended to develop and verify a biological complex soil treatment process to treat and restore soil and groundwater which is contaminated with oil, heavy metals, and nutrients through experiments with the series of treatment process such as bioreactor, rolled pipe type of contact oxidation system(RPS), and chemical processing system. 5 microbial strains were separated and selected through experiment, whose soil purification efficiency was excellent, and it was noted that anion- and nonion-series of complex agent was most excellent as a surfactant for effectively separating oils from soils. Method to mix and apply selected microbes after treating the surfactant in the contaminated soil was most effective. The removal efficiencies of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)-contaminated soil about 5,000mg/L and above 10,000mg/L were approximatly 90.0% for 28 days and 90.7% for 81 days by soil remediation system and the average removal efficiencies of BOD, $COD_{Mn}$, SS, T-N, and T-P in leachate were 90.6, 73.0, 91.9, 73.8, 65.7% by the bioreactor and RPS. The removal efficiency was above 99.0% by chemical processing system into cohesive agents.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.50 no.3
• /
• pp.251-256
• /
• 2017

This study presents measures to enhance the efficiency of Successive Alkalinity Producing Systems(SAPS), a natural biological purification method that prevents environmental pollution arising from the release of Acid Mine Drainage(AMD) from abandoned mines into rivers and groundwater. The treatment of AMD using SAPS is based on biological processing technology that mostly involves sulfate reducing bacteria(SRB). It has been proven effective in real-world applications, and has been employed in various projects on the purification of AMD. However, seasonal decrease in temperature leads to a deterioration in the efficiency of the process because sulfate-reducing activity is almost non-existent during cold winters and early spring even if SRB is able to survive. Against this backdrop, this study presents measures to enhance the activity of the SRB of the organic layer by integrating light emitting diode(LED)s in SAPS and to maintain the active temperature using LEDs in cold winters. Given that mine drainage facilities are located in areas where power cannot be easily supplied, solar cell modules are proposed as the main power source for LEDs. By conducting further research based on the present study, it will be possible to enhance the efficiency of AMD treatment under extreme cold weather using solar energy and LEDs, which will serve as an environmentally-friendly solution in line with the era of green growth.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.26-32
• /
• 2009

In this study, the degradation of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene) was tested in both (Fe$^{3+}$+chelating agent)/H$_2$O$_2$system [Fe(III) 1 mM, oxalate 6 mM, H$_2$O$_2$ 3%, and pH 6] and UV/(Fe3++ chelating agent)lHzOz system [UV dose 17.4 kWhlL, Fe(III) 1mM, oxalate 6 mM,H$_2$O$_2$ 1%, and pH 6]. The types of chelating agents used in experiments were catechol, NTA, gallic, acetyl acetone, succinic, acetate, EDTA, citrate, malonate, and oxalate and the optimum chelating agent for BTEX degradation was determined. The results showed that acetate was the optimum chelating agent for BTEX degradation in both (Fe$^{3+}$+chelating agent)/H$_2$O$_2$ and UV/(Fe$^{3+}$+chelating agent)/H$_2$O$_2$ system, and UV radiation enhanced the degradation of BTEX with any types of chelating agents. Moreover, UV/(Fe$^{3+}$+chelating agent)/H$_2$O$_2$ system, which chelating agent was acetate, removed effectively mixtures of BTEX and MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) when the concentration of both BTEX and MTBE was 200 mg/L, respectively. In this system, BTEX was degraded completely and 85% of MTBE was degraded at the reaction time of 180 min. Therefore, UV/((Fe$^{3+}$+chelating agent)/H$_2$O$_2$ system with acetate as a chelating agent removed not only BTEX but also BTEX and MTBE, effectively.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.5 s.174
• /
• pp.571-577
• /
• 2005

Permeable reactive barrier using iron oxide coated sand is one of effective technologies for As(V) contaminated groundwater. However, this method is restricted to As(III), because As(III) species tends to be more weakly bound to adsorbent. In order to overcome the limitation of iron oxide coated sand application to As(III) contaminated groundwater, manganese oxide materials as promoter of As(III) removal were combined to the conventional technology in this study. For combined use of iron oxide coated sand and manganese oxide coated sand, two kinds of removal methods, sequential removal method and simultaneous removal method, were introduced. Both methods showed similar removal efficiency over $85\%$ for 6 hrs. However, the sequential method converted the As contaminated water to acid state (pH 4.5), on the contrary, the simultaneous method maintained neutral state (pH 6.0). Therefore, simultaneous As removal method was ascertained as a suitable treatment technology of As contaminated water. Moreover, for more effective As(III) remediation technique, polypropylene textile which has the characteristics of high surface area, low specific gravity and flexibility was applied as alternative material of sand. The combined use of coated polypropylenes by simultaneous method showed much more prominent and rapid remediation efficiency over $99\%$ after 6 hrs; besides, it has practical advantages in replacement or disposal of adsorbent for simple conventional removal device.