• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.127-136
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• 1999

In the past several years phytoremediation, defined as the use of plants for removing contaminants from media such as soils or water, has attracted a great deal of interest as a potentially useful remediation technology We attempted to assess the effectiveness of phytoremediation of diesel-contaminated soils in a green house. Screening test for selecting an appropriate plant was performed by observing the harmful effects of diesel dosage on the growth of 4 plants. Alfalfa was selected as a potentially useful plant among corn and barnyard grasses due to its high tolerance to the toxicity of diesel in growth. Bioremediation of the artificial diesel-contaminated soil packed in the PVC columns(0.3m in diameter $\times$ 1m in length) with air supplied, alfalfa planted, and alfalfa and air supplied was investigated for 100 days. The results of the column test showed plant effects on enhancing the biodegradation of diesel in the contaminated soils compared to the control column which had no plant. Injecting air to the columns during phytoremediation also showed additional effects on the removal rate of diesel. Comparison of microbial activity in each test column showed a beneficial effect of plants in the soil remediation processes. This results can be explained microbial activity in rhizosphere is a crucial factor for removing diesel.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.240-246
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• 2005

Humic substances HS) from process waters at advanced water treatment plant consisted of GAC and Ozone/GAC processes were isolated and extracted by physicochemical fractionation methods to investigate their characteristics. They are characterized for their functionality, chemical composition, spectroscopic characteristics using FT-IR and $^1H$-NMR spectroscopy. Humic fraction gradually decreased from 36.3% to 24.2% from 0.45 to 0.30 mgC/L) through ozonation and carbon adsorption. The humic fraction was isolated into the phenolic and carboxylic groups using A-21 resin, and the concentration of phenolic groups gradually decreased from 38.4% to 23.5% (from 4.9 to $3.2\;{\mu}M/L$ as phenolic-OH) through ozonation and carbon adsorption. In the case of carboxylic groups, the concentration decreased from 61.6% to 43.3% (from 7.8 to $5.8\;{\mu}M/L$ as COOH) through the water treatment processes. On the other hand, concentrations of those roups decreased from 38.4% to 24.0% and 61.6% to 44.9% through carbon adsorption without ozonation, respectively. The structural changes of HS identified from FT-IR and $^1H$-NMR were consistent with the results from the isolation of functional groups in HS.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.253-262
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• 2012

With the aim of remediating soils contaminated by heavy metals and oil, experimental research was conducted to evaluate the optimal design factors for remediation in terms of efficient soil washing methods and processes. The experiments employed absorptiometric analysis and gas chromatography methods to reduce the concentration of heavy metals such as cooper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn), and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in contaminated soils. The experimental processes consisted of deciding on the washing solution, washing time, and dilution ratio for contaminated soils. A dissolution analysis of heavy metals was then performed by the addition of surfactant, based on the results of the decision experiments, and the injection processes of microbes and hydrogen peroxide were selected. The experimental results revealed that reduction effects in contaminated soils under the experimental conditions were most efficient with hydrochloric acid 0.1 mole, washing time 1 hour, and dilution ratio 1:3, individually. Additional reduction effects for heavy metals and TPH were found with the addition of a washing solution of 1% of surfactant. The addition of microbes and hydrogen peroxide caused a reduction in TPH concentration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2004

Removal efficiencies of soil washing and soil improvement processes to remediate farmland soils and stream deposits around Goro abandoned mine were investigated with batch and column experiments. For As-contaminated farm-land soils around Goro mine, batch tests to quantify As extraction rate from contaminated soils and lime treated contaminated soils were performed. The contaminated soil mixed with lime decreased As extraction rate less than one fourth, suggesting that the soil improvement method mixed with lime dramatically decrease As extraction rate. A storage dam will be constructed in the lower part of the main stream connected to Goro abandoned mine and the amount of As extracted from the bottom soils of reservoir could be the main source to contaminate water of reservoir. The decrease of As extraction amount from the bottom in reservoir, caused by the application of the soil improvement method was investigated from the physically simulated column experiment and results showed that As extraction rate decreased to one forty when 1％ lime mixed soil improvement was applied to contaminated soils. For contaminated stream deposits connected Goro mine, the removal efficiency of the soil washing method was investigated with batch experiments. Hydrochloric acid, citric acid, acetic acid and distilled water were used as soil washing solution and 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 N of washing solution were applied to extract As. When washing with 0.05 N of hydrochloric acid or citric acid, more than 99.9% of As was removed from stream deposits, suggesting that As contaminated stream deposits around Goro mine be successfully remediated with the soil washing process. Total volumes of contaminated soils and deposits needed for remediation were calculated based on three different reme-diation target concentrations and the operation cost of soil washing for calculated soil volumes was estimated. Results from this research could be directly used to make a comprehensive countermeasure to remediate contaminated area around Goro mine and also many contaminated areas similar to this research area.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.70-75
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• 2008

This study was carried out to evaluate the applicability of the full scale soil washing processes for reducing heavy metal contamination level of soil around an abandoned mine. In the results of soil washing of the target soil with $H_2SO_4$ and NaOH, the As concentrations of treated soil continuously increased compared with contaminated raw soil. Also, removal efficiencies of Zn and Ni were low. This problems might be caused by chemical partitioning of As in soil and its geologic origination, soil particle size, and scale up of washing plant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.385-399
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• 2000

Groundwater contamination caused by landfill leachate leads to various changes in aquifer environment according to the characteristics of incoming contaminants and aquifer geochemistry. These changes in aquifer environment are known to contribute to the natural attenuation phenomena of contaminants. The knowledge on changes in aquifer environment is necessary to determine the extent of groundwater pollution, to assess risk of the pollution, and to develop an appropriate remediation technologies. In this paper, the changes in aquifer environment caused by landfill leachate development of various redox zones-and the natural attenuation phenomena occurred in each redox zone are reviewed. From this review, an appropriate research direction and control action is presented for the groundwater pollutions caused by unsanitary landfills scattered across the nation.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.207-215
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• 2020

Vivianite (Fe₃²⁺(PO₄)2·8H₂O) and green rust ([Fe₄²⁺Fe₂³⁺(OH)^-₁₂][SO₄^2-·2H₂O]^2-), ferrous containing minerals, could remove aqueous U(VI) in 5 min. and the efficiencies of green rust were roughly 2 times higher than that of vivianite. The zeta potential measurement results implies that the better performance of green rust might be attributed to the favorable surface charge toward uranyl phosphate species. The removal behaviors of the minerals were well fitted by pseudo-second order kinetic model (R² > 0.990) indicating the dominant removal process was chemical adsorption. Effects of Ca²⁺ and CO₃^2- at pH 7 were examined in terms of removal kinetic and capacity. The kinetic constants of aqueous U(VI) were 8 and 13 times lower (0.492 × 10^-3 g/(mg·min); 0.305 × 10^-3 g/(mg·min)) compared to the value in the absence of the ions. The thermodynamic equilibrium calculation showed that the stable uranyl species (uranyl tri-carbonate) were newly formed at the condition. Surface investigation on the reacted mineral with uranyl phosphates species were carried out by XPS. Ferrous iron and U(VI) on the green rust surface were completely oxidized and reduced into Fe(III) and U(IV) after 7 d. It suggests that the ferrous minerals can retard U(VI) migration in phosphate-rich groundwater through the adsorption and subsequent reduction processes.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.135-147
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• 2015

Remediation of metal(loid)s-contaminated sites is crucial to protect human and ecosystem. Solidification and stabilization of metal(loid)s by the binder amendment is one of the cost-effective technologies. In this study, metal (loid)s in various field-contaminated soils obtained from steel-making, metal refinery and mining tillage were immobilized by the application of single binders such as diammonium phosphate (DAP), lime, and ladle slag. The efficiency of solidification and stabilization was evaluated by Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the Standard, Measurements and Testing programme of European Union (SM&T) extraction processes. In terms of TCLP extraction, the binder was effective in order of lime > DAP > ladle slag. All binders were highly effective in the immobilization of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cd. The increased immobilization efficiency is attributed to the increase in the Step III and IV fractions of the SM&T extraction. Lime and ladle slag were highly effective in the immobilization of the metal(loid)s, however, As release increased with DAP due to competition between the phosphate originated from DAP and arsenate. A further study is needed for the better immobilization of multi metal(loid)s using binary binders.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2004

Gaseous partitioning tracer test has been used for determining the volume and spatial distribution of residual non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) in the unsaturated soils. In this study, an experimental method for measuring the content of gas-exposed NAPL as well as that of total NAPL in a sand during air sparging was developed. Two different gaseous phase NAPL-partitioning tracers were used; n-pentane, with very low water solubility, was used as the tracer that partitions into NAPL that is only in contact with the mobile gas, and chloroform, with fairly good water solubility, was selected for detecting total NAPL content in the sand. Helium and difluromethanewere used as the non- reactive tracer and water-partitioning tracers, respectively. Using n-decane as a model NAPL (NAPL saturation of 0.018), 25.6% of total NAPL was detected by n-pentane at the water saturation of 0.68. Oniy 9.1% of total NAPL was detected by n-pentane at the water saturation of 0.84. This result implies that the quantity of gas-exposed NAPL increased about three times when the water saturation decreased from 0.84 to 0.68. At the water saturation of 0.68, more than 90% of total NAPL was detected by chloroform while 65.8% of total NAPL was detected by chloroform at the water saturation of 0.84. Considering that the removal rate of NAPL during air sparging for NAPL-contaminated aquifer is expected to be greatly dependent upon the spatial arrangement of NAPL phase with respect to the mobile gas, this new approach may provide useful information for investigating the mass transfer process during air-driven remedial processes fer NAPL-contaminated subsurface environment.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.24-33
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• 2010

This study focused on the groundwater quality, biodegradability and attenuation rate at the petroleum contaminated sites of Kangwon and Gyeonggi Provinces, Korea. For groundwater quality, Kangwon site showed chemical compositions of $Ca-SO_4+Cl$, $Ca-HCO_3$ and $Na+K-HCO_3$ types, while Gyeonggi site showed chemical compositions of $Ca-SO_4$, $Ca-HCO_3$ and $Na-HCO_3$ types. $Na+K-HCO_3$ and $Na-HCO_3$ types were detected only in February. Among many biodegradation processes, the majority was attributed to biodegradation from denitrification in both area. In Kangwon site, biodegradation from denitrification occupied 63.5%, and in Gyeonggi site it was 39.45%. Biodegradation from the most efficient aerobic respiration occupied 7.12% in Kangwon site, while Gyeonggi site in it did 27.29%. Point attenuation rate of BTEX in Gyeonggi site (GW-22) was 0.0182 $day^{-1}$, half life of BTEX was 84 days, and thus 124 days (0.34 year) would be required to clean up this site. Mean of point attenuation rate of TPH in Kangwon site was 0.0088 $day^{-1}$, mean of half life was 257 days, and thus 462 days would be required to clean up the site. Mean of point attenuation rate of TPH in Gyeonggi site was 0.0387 $day^{-1}$, mean of half life was 55 days, and thus remediation time was calculated as 99 days.