• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.93-101
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• 2014

In this study, a blast furnace slag having latent hydraulic property with an alkaline activator for resource recycling was used to solidify sand without using cement. Existing chemical alkaline activators such as $Ca(OH)_2$ and NaOH were used for cementing soils. An alkaliphilic microorganism, which is active at higher than pH 10, is tested for a new alkaline activator. The alkaliphilic microorganism was added into sand with a blast furnace slag and a chemical alkaline activator. This is called the microorganism alkaline activator. Four different ratios of blast furnace slag (4, 8, 12, 16%) and two different chemical alkaline activators ($Ca(OH)_2$ and NaOH) were used for preparing cemented specimens with or without the alkaliphilic microorganism. The specimens were air-cured for 7 days and then tested for the experiment of unconfined compressive strength (UCS). Experimental results showed that as a blast furnace slag increased, the water content and dry density increased. The UCS of a specimen increased from 178 kPa to 2,435 kPa. The UCS of a specimen mixed with $Ca(OH)_2$ was 5-54% greater than that with NaOH. When the microorganism was added into the specimen, the UCS of a specimen with $Ca(OH)_2$ decreased by 11-60% but one with NaOH increased by 19-121%. The C-S-H hydrates were found in the cemented specimens, and their amounts increased as the amount of blast furnace slag increased through SEM analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.41-48
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• 2011

In this study, the soil remediation by landfarming was carried out using microbial activators. Feasibility studies and reduction capacity of TPH(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons) were investigated in order to find out how fast and eco-friendly the contaminated soil can be recovered. The lab-test confirmed not only the performance and degradation efficiency of microbial activators but also the effect of TPH reduction in the contaminated soil. The optimum growth conditions for indigenous microorganisms were identified using microbial activators. Based on the results of TPH removal, although there had been a little of difference in between natural decomposition and microbial activators until 20 days, the sample groups of microbial activators were higher than the control ones after 20 days. Microbial activators were applied to the field experiments on landfarming. Based on the results of removal rate in each floor of soil, it was found that the removal rates were 85.8 % in the upper, 84.4 % in the middle, and 66.10 % in the bottom. Considering that the reduction rate of TPH for the control group averaged 71.1%, the microbial activators might not be fully transferred into the bottom, which resulted from the piles of soil. As the piles have already reached 1 m in the field experiments, the low piles of soil under 0.6 m may enhance the treatment efficiency of TPH.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.513-516
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• 2001

This study was to develop of efficient microbial agent for malodor removal. Total ten strains of beneficial bacteria Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., and photosynthetic bacteria were isolated and identified on the basis of their morphological and biochemical characteristics. The enzyme activities such as amylase, protease, lipase and cellulase of bacteria cells were measured. Furthennore, effective formulation procedure 、 ,vas developed with nutrient additive, stabilizing agent and mineral materix. For preparation of microbial agent, developing of formulation technique was very helpful for incresing the cell survival rate.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2015

In this study, a blast furnace slag with the alkaliphilic microorganism (Bacillus halodurans) alkaline activator was used to cement natural soils in the field. A low-cost and massive microbial solution for cementation of field soils was produced and compared with existing microbial culture in terms of efficiency. A field soil was prepared for three different cementation areas: a cemented ground with microbial alkaline activator (Microbially-treated soil), a cemented ground with ordinary Portland cement (Cement-treated soil), and untreated ground (Non-treated soil). The testing ground was prepared at a size of 2.6 m in width, 4 m in length, and 0.2 m in depth. After 28 days, a series of unconfined compression tests on the cement-treated and microbially-treated soils were carried out. On the other hand, a torvane test was carried out for non-treated soil. The strength of field soils treated with microorganism was 1/5 times lower than those of cement-treated soil but is 6 times higher than non-treated soil. The pH measured from microbially-treated soil was about 10, which is lower than that of cement-treated soil (pH = 11). Therefore, it is more eco-friendly than Portland cemented soils. The C-S-H hydrates were found in both cement- and microbially-treated soils through SEM-EDS analyses and cement hydrates were also found around soil particles through SEM analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.855-859
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• 2011

The main pollutants from zirconium alloy tubing manufacturing process in nuclear industry are nitrate ($NO_3-N$) and fluoride (F-)Nitric acid, and hydrofluoric acid is used for acid pickling. The process for the removal of nitrate and fluoride is composed of 1st chemical coagulation, SOD (Sulfur Oxidation Denitrification) process using sulfur-oxidizing denitrification, and 2nd chemical coagulation. The characteristic of the wastewater treatment is an application of SOD process. The SOD Process is highly received attention because it is significantly different from existing processes for sulfur denitrification. A JSC (JeonTech-Sulfur- Calcium) Pellet is unification of sulfur and alkalinity material. According to result of SOD process in wastewater treatment plant, the removal efficiency of T-N was over 91% and the average concentration of T-N from influent was 147.55 mg T-N/L and that from effluent was 12.72 mg T-N/L. Therefore, SOD process is a useful to remove nitrogen from inorganic industrial wastewater and a new development of microbial activator was shown to be stable for activation of autotrophic bacteria.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.168-172
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• 2008

Not all types of soil occurring on household fabrics can be removed by simple washing with normal surfactants. In order to achieve a satisfactory cleaning effect, an additional treatment step, called bleaching, is required in such cases. Currently, the best known bleach activator is tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED). In this study, we synthesized a novel organic bleach activator (OBA), decanoyloxyethoxycarbonyloxybenzenesulfonate. For stabilizing the OBA, it was coated with zeolite and polyethylene glycol. It is found that the stability was enhanced and OBA shows good cleansing and bleaching effects even in cold water ($20^{\circ}C$). OBA also shows easy biodegradability with 88% in the condition of OECD standard. During the cleansing process, OBA shows excellent microbiological effect against T. mentagrophytes and S. aureus.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.774-781
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• 2011

Nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid are used for acid pickling in zirconium alloy tubing manufacturing process. Nitrate and fluoride in the wastewater were treated by chemical coagulation and SOD (Sulfur Oxidation Denitrification) process. This study is investigated the effect of fluoride concentration and the optimal condition for SOD process. The limited fluoride concentration for SOD process was below 20 mg F-/L. The adjusted pH and alkalinity by NaOH and $NaHCO_3$ was shown to be more effective for removal of nitrate compared with using NaOH. Furthermore, the microbial activator mixed trace elements and ingredient for alkalinity did not only supplement with alkalinity but also enhance the growth and proliferation for sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. As a result, the inorganic industrial wastewater was successfully treated by the microbial activator in SOD process without continuous addition of seed sludge. Finally, SOD process was shown to remove nitrate in industrial wastewater and to contribute the microbial activator for activation of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.537-542
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• 1999

Removal of sulfur compounds in the petroleum products is essential for the prevention of sulfur oxides. However, conventional methods involving catalytic reactions are found to have some limitations in complete removal of harmful sulfur compounds and to require relatively high cost. Recently, desulfurization process using microorganisms is known to be promising in terms of excellent sulfur removal efficiency and reasonably low treatment cost. For the biodesulfurization process to be effective, the solubilization of sulfur compounds into aqueous solution is a prerequisite. In this study, polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants were used in order to enhance the solubilization of sulfur spectrophotometer. The solubilization of sulfur compounds was found to increase with temperature and to bo abruptly increased at above 1 wt % surfactant solutions. It was also observed that the longer the hydrophobic chain of the surfactant molecule, the higher solubilizing power of a nonionic surfactant. It was found that the Tergitol series surfactants showed higher solubilizing capacity than Neodol series presumably due to the disruption of the regular packing in the hydrocarbon region of the surfactant aggregates.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.265-276
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• 2017

Heavy metals leaching from closed mines have been causing severe environmental problems in nearby soil ecosystems. Mine reclamation in Korea has been recently implemented based on the heavy metal immobilization (a.k.a., stabilization). Since the immobilization temporarily fixes the heavy metals to the soil matrix, the potential risk of heavy metal leaching still exists. Therefore the appropriate monitoring and the related policies are required to safeguard the soils, where all the cultivations occur. The current monitoring methods are based on either heavy metal concentration or simple toxicity test. Those methods, however, are fragmented and hence it is difficult to evaluate the site in an integrated manner. In this study, as the integrated approach, ecological functional state evaluation with a multivariate statistical tool was employed targeting physiochemical soil properties, heavy metal concentrations, microbial enzymatic activity, and arsenic respiratory reductase gene quantity. Total 60 soil samples obtained from three mines (Pungjeong, Jeomdong, Seosung) were analyzed. As a result, the stabilized layer soil and lower layer soil have shown the similar pattern in Pungjeong mine. In contrast, Jeomdong and Seosung mine have shown the similarity between the stabilized layer soil and the cover layer soil, indicating the possible contamination of the cover layer soil.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.388-395
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• 1987

In order to obtain a regulatory mutant strain with high cellulase activity, a newly isolated Penicillium verrculosum, strain F-3 was used as parental strain since it was proved to be an efficient cellulase producer. A number of experiments were conducted to determine the optimum conditions to in-duce mutagenesis and isolate the desirable mutant strains. Out of several restriction compounds tested, 1.5% oxgall was found to be most effective to restrict the colony size by suppressing overgrowth. Derepression of catabolites was employed as a criterion in selecting mutant strains with high cellulase productivity. Production of cellulase by Penicillium venculosum F-3 was suppressed when cultured on the media with more than 1% of glucose or glycerol. It was found that either irradiation with UV light for 19 mins or treatment with nitrosoguanidine at 200$\mu\textrm{g}$/m1 for 60 mins, induced mutagenesis at desired level, when the survival rate of the spore was 0.2% and 48%, respectively. Three mutant strains of F-3, UV-9, UV-10, and NTG-3 that had the highest cellulase productivity were finally selected, based on filter paper degradation rate, size of clearing zone on the screening plate and cellulase activity in the medium containing cellulose powder. When the mutant strains were compared with parental strain F-3, on the KC-M-W medium containing cellulose powder, the filter paper activities of UV-9, UV-10, and NTG-3 were increased by 34%, 55%, and 41%, respectively. However, the assimilation of cellobiose octaacetate by UV-9 or NTG-3 was markedly reduced. When the mutant UV-10 was grown on cellobiose octaacetate medium (CCA-4) in shaking flasks, the cellulase activities of the mutant increased by 20 to 50% compared to the parental strain. Excreation of soluble protein from the mutant also elevated up to 30%. The mutant also constitutively produced both CMCase and $\beta$-glucosidase, though at relatively low level, in the presence of glucose or cellobiose as carbon sources.