• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.974-978
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• 2008

Removal of heavy metal ions ($Cd^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$) by electrocoagulation (ECG) was investigated in an acidic condition, which is necessary for re-using or discharging the mediated electrochemical oxidation (MEO) media. Effects of various parameters such as electrolytes, current densities, and electrode materials were examined for a metal-contaminated MEO system using $Fe^{2+}/Fe^{3+}$ pairs as a mediator. It was found that ECG with Al electrodes is greatly affected by the presence of $Fe^{2+}$. [$Cd^{2+}$] and [$Zn^{2+}$] remain constant until [$Fe^{2+}$] reaches a certain concentration level (ca. 10 mM). This preferential removal of $Fe^{2+}$ during ECG with Al electrodes is not alleviated by controlling current densities, potential programs, and solution mixing. ECG with Fe electrodes, on the other hand, resulted in relatively fast removal of $Cd^{2+}$ and $Zn^{2+}$ under coexistence of $Fe^{2+}$, indicative of the different role between $Fe^{n+}$ generated from an electrode and $Fe^{2+}$ initially present in a solution. When ECG was performed with Fe electrodes until [$Fe^{n+}$] became the same as the concentration of initially present $Fe^{2+}$, [$Cd^{2+}$] and [$Zn^{2+}$] were reduced to one-tenth of the initial concentrations, suggesting the possibility of a continuous use of the medium for a subsequent MEO process.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.218-222
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• 1998

Removal of Cd(Ⅱ), Zn(Ⅱ) and Cu(Ⅱ) from aqueous solutions using the adsorption process on magadiite has been investigated. It was found that the removal percentage of metal cations at equilibrium increases with increasing temperature, and follows the order of Cd(Ⅱ) > Cu(Ⅱ) > Zn(Ⅱ). Equilibrium modeling of adsorption showed that the adsorptions of Cd(Ⅱ), Cu(Ⅱ), and Zn(Ⅱ) were fitted to Langmuir isotherm. Kinetic modeling of the adsorption showed that first order reversible kinetic model fitted to experimental data. From kinetic model and equilibrium data, the overall rate constant (k) and the equilibrium constant (K) for the adsorption process were calculated. The overall rates of adsorption of metal ions follow the order of Cd(Ⅱ) > Cu(Ⅱ) > Zn(Ⅱ). From the results of thermodynamic analysis, standard Gibbs free energy (ΔG°), standard enthalpy (ΔH°), and standard entropy (ΔS°) of adsorption process were calculated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.454-459
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• 2009

In this paper, we have performed an experimental study to simultaneously remove humic acid (RA) and heavy metals (Cu, Mn, and Zn) from the river water using potassium ferrate(VI), a multi-purpose and environment-friendly chemical. In the experiments for treating three 0.1 mM single heavy metals using 0.03${\sim}$0.7 mM (as Fe) ferrate, the removal efficiencies ranged 28${\sim}$99% for Cu, 22${\sim}$73% for Mn, and 18${\sim}$100% for Zn. In addition, humic acid and heavy metals could be very efficiently removed at the same time using 0.03${\sim}$0.7 mM (as Fe) ferrate: for example, 49${\sim}$81% (humic acid), 93${\sim}$100% (Cu), 22${\sim}$86% (Mn), and 20${\sim}$100% (Zn). The removal efficiencies of humic acid and heavy metals in the mixture of humic acid and heavy metals were higher than that in the solution of single humic acid or heavy metal. It can be explained by the fact that, before adding ferrate to the mixed solution, part of solutes were already removed by the complexation between the negatively-charged functional groups of humic acid and heavy metal cations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1072-1080
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• 2005

The extraction characteristics of heavy metals(HM) from a contaminated soil at existing lead smelters were investigated with ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid(EDTA), citrate and HCl as washing solutions. EDTA was more effective for Pb than for other heavy metals. As the mol ratio of EDTA/HM increased, the removal efficiency of heavy metals became higher. When the mol ratio of EDTA/HM approached to 6.5, it removed Pb most effectively. Citrate was effective especially in extracting Zn. The removal efficiency of HCl was comparatively high in almost all heavy metals, and at 0.3N concentration it was the highest. After soil washing process by the use of EDTA, the great part of exchangeable fractions and most of heavy metals of weakly adsorbed like carbonate fraction were extracted. For washing with citrate and HCl, four heavy metals showed the similar exchange of chemical partitioning and the exchangeable fractions of Pb which has weakly adsorbed to soil were more increased than before the process. As removal efficiency of citrate washing process depends upon the distribution of non-detrital fractions, so it can be contended that only the amount of non-detrital fractions could be removed from all the heavy metal content. EDTA and HCl could remove most of non-residual fractions in all heavy metals except Zn. As a result of EDTA washing, toxicity characteristic leaching procedure(TCLP) concentration of the processed soil met the USEPA Pb limit of 5.0 mg/L.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.61-68
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• 2010

Phytoextraction, one type of phytoremediation processes, has been widely used in the removal of heavy metals from polluted soil. This paper reviewed literature on metal uptake by plants and characterized the metal uptake by types of metals (Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, and As), plant species, initial metal concentrations in soil and the distribution of metals in different parts of plants. The potential of metal accumulation and transport by plants was closely related to plants species, types of metals, and initial metal concentrations in soil. The plants belonging to Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, Poaceae, and Convolvulaceae families have shown the high potential capacity of Cd accumulation. The Gentianaceae, Euphorbiaceae, and Polygonaceae families have exhibited relatively high Pb uptake potential while the Pteridaceae and Cyperaceae families have shown relatively high Zn uptake potential. The Pteridaceae family could uptake a remarkably high amount of As compared with other plant families. The potential metal accumulation per plant biomass has increased with increasing initial metal concentration in soil up to a certain level and then decreased for Cd and Zn. For As, only Pteris vittata had a linear relationship between initial concentration in soil and potential of metal uptake. However, a meaningful relationship for Pb was not found in this study. Generally, the plants having high metal uptake potential for Cd or Pb mainly accumulated the metal in their roots. However, the Euphorbiaceae family has accumulated more than 80% of Pb in shoot. Zn has evenly accumulated in roots and stems except for the plants belonging to the Polygonaceae and Rosaceae families which accumulated Zn in their leaves. The Pteridaceae family has accumulated a higher amount of As in leaves than roots. The types of metals, plant species, and initial metal concentration in soil influence the metal uptake by plants. It is important to select site-specific plant species for effective removal of metals in soil. Therefore, this study may provide useful and beneficial information on metal accumulation by plants for the in situ phytoremediation.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.150-153
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• 2002

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.5-10
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• 2002

Pistia stratiotes(Water Lettuce) can be applied to remove inorganic pollutants from the wastewater for the advanced treatment. This study attempts to remove heavy metals from the secondary treated wastewater. Three different initial concentrations of heavy metals were applied as 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mg/L for Lead(Pb) and Chromium(Cr(VI)). In addition, the removal efficiency for the mixture of Lead and Chromium was also observed. The removal efficiency of Pb was in the range of 41.0~72.0% for Pb and it was in the range of 25.0~30.0% for Cr(VI) by Pistia stratiotes. The plants placed in static systems were able to remove the heavy metals in a few days of exposure. However, it was observed that the heavy metals affected produce phytotoxic effects on plants resulting in inhibition of chlorophyl synthesis, decrease in biomass production, and finally plant necrosis. The removal efficiencies of Pb and Cr(VI) by Pistia stratiotes were increased with plant growth.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.5-13
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• 2006

This study was conducted to evaluate the application of $UV/TiO_2/H_2O_2$ process for treating humic acid and heavy metals in surface water. Removal efficiency of $UV/TiO_2/H_2O_2$ process was much more efficient than that of $UV/TiO_2$ process for humic acid and heavy metals removal. The removal rate of humic acid and heavy metals increased with the increase of $TiO_2$ dosage and UV intensity, however decreased with more than 0.3 g/L of $TiO_2$ dosage. The addition of $H_2O_2$ as an oxidant was a positive effect for the removal rate of humic acid and heavy metals especially in the concentration of 50 mg/L $H_2O_2$.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.38-46
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• 2008

Many researchers have reported that many biopolymers making up cell walls of the microorganisms display an ion-exchange property and play a major role in the sorption of the metal ions. Such polymers derived from microbial biomass are potentially useful as biosorbent materials for recovery various metal ions in industrial applications. although synthetic polymers such as ion-exchange resins and chelating resins have been widely used as commercial sorbents. In this study, valuable and commercial biopolymers for metal removal will be introduced.

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