• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.437-446
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• 2020

The rapid demand for electric vehicles and energy storage systems has increased interest in energy storage devices worldwide. New technological alternatives are needed to reliably supply energy storage mineral resources such as lithium and vanadium, which are key materials for energy storage devices. Already, research and development activities are taking place in various countries on technologies that can directly secure lithium and vanadium. Accordingly, it is very important to analyze each country's technological trends through patent and paper analysis to establish effective research and development strategies and to set future technological development directions. This study analyzed trends in the development of new technologies and the current status of research and development at home and abroad through patent data from Korea, the United States, Europe, and Japan that were disclosed or registered from 1970 to October 2019, and the data searched for papers from January 2000 to October 2019. According to the analysis, the current growth stage of the technology related to energy storage minerals is in the beginning stage. Therefore, it is believed that a strategy to rapidly upgrade technology by combining the development of new technologies and demonstration of developed technologies is needed in order to lead the technology market and strengthen the competitiveness of technologies.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.221-232
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• 2023

Carbon neutrality requires carbon dioxide reduction technology and alternative green energy sources. Palygorskite is a clay mineral with a ribbon structure and possess a large surface area due to the nanoscale pore size. The clay mineral has been proposed as a potential material to capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) and possibly to store eco-friendly hydrogen gas (H2). We report our preliminary results of grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations that investigated the adsorption isotherms and mechanisms of CO₂ and H₂ into palygorskite nanopores at room temperature. As the chemical potential of gas increased, the adsorbed amount of CO₂ or H₂ within the palygorskite nanopores increased. Compared to CO₂, injection of H₂ into palygorskite required higher energy. The mean squared displacement within palygorskite nanopores was much higher for H₂ than for CO₂, which is consistent with experiments. Our simulations found that CO₂ molecules were arranged in a row in the nanopores, while H₂ molecules showed highly disordered arrangement. This simulation method is promising for finding Earth materials suitable for CO₂ capture and H₂ storage and also expected to contribute to fundamental understanding of fluid-mineral interactions in the geological underground.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2021

This study is to identify the mineralogical properties of caprock samples from drilling cores of the Pohang basin, which is the research area for the demonstration-scale CO2 storage project in Korea. The interaction of water-rock-gas that can occur due to CO2 injection was identified using geochemical modeling. Results of mineralogical studies, together with petrographic data of caprock and data on the physicochemical parameters of pore water were used for geochemical modeling. Modelling was carried out using the The Geochemist's Workbench 14.0.1 geochemical simulator. Two steps of modeling enabled prediction of immediate changes in the caprocks impacted by the first stage of CO2 injection and the assessment of long-term effects of sequestration. Results of minerlaogical analysis showed that the caprock samples are mainly composed of quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase and a small amount of pyrite, calcite, kaolinite and montmollonite. After the injection of carbon dioxide, the porosity of the caprock increased due to the dissolution of calcite, and dawsonite and chalcedony were precipitated as a result of the dissolution of albite and k-feldspar. In the second step after the injection was completed, the precipitation of dawsonite and chalcedony occurred as a result of dissolution of calcite and albite, and the pH was increased due to this reaction. Results of these studies are expected to be used as data to quantitatively evaluate the efficiency of mineral trapping capture in long-term storage of carbon dioxide.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2016

Mineral carbonation is a technology for permanently storing carbon dioxide by reacting with metal oxides containing calcium and magnesium. In this study, we used sea water and alkaline industrial by-product such as paper sludge ash (PSA) for the storage of carbon dioxide through direct carbonation. We found the optimum conditions of both sea water content (mixing ratio of sea water and PSA) and reaction time required in the direct carbonation through various experiments using sea water and PSA. In addition, we compared the amounts of carbon dioxide storage with the cases when sea water and ultra-pure water were separately used as solvents in the direct carbonation with PSA. The amount of carbon dioxide storage was calculated by using both solid weight increase through the carbonation reaction and the contents of carbonate salts from thermal gravimetric analysis. PSA particle used in this study contained 67.2% of calcium. The optimum sea water content and reaction time in the carbonation reaction using sea water and PSA were 5 mL/g and 2 hours, respectively, under the conditions of 0.05 L/min flow rate of carbon dioxide injected at $25^{\circ}C$ and 1 atm. The amounts of carbon dioxide stored when sea water and ultra-pure water were separately used as solvents in the direct carbonation with PSA were 113 and $101kg\;CO_2/(ton\;PSA)$, respectively. The solid obtained through the carbonation reaction using sea water and PSA was composed of mainly calcium carbonate in the form of calcite and a small amount of magnesium carbonate. The solid obtained by using ultra-pure water, also, was found to be carbonate salt in the form of calcite.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.717-726
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• 2022

This study was conducted to assess the geochemical contamination degree of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, Sb, and Zn in the soil and water samples from an abandoned gold mine. Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), and Pollution Load Index (PLI) were carried out to assess the geochemical contamination degree of the soil samples. Variations of sulfate and heavy metals concentration in water samples were determined to identify the geochemical distribution with respect to the distance from the mine tailing dam. Geochemical pollution indices indicated significant contaminated with As, Cd, Pb, and Zn in the soil samples that areas close to the mine tailing dam, while, Sb showed similar indices in all soil samples. These results indicated that the As, Cd, Pb, and Zn dispersion has occurred via anthropogenic sources, such as mining activities. In terms of water samples, anomalies in the concentrations of As, Cd, Zn, and SO₄^2- was determined at specific area, in addition, the concentrations of the elements gradually decreased with distance. This result implies the heavy metals distribution in water has carried out by the weathering of sulfide minerals in the mine tailing and soil. The study area has been conducted the remediation of contaminated soil in the past, however, the geochemical dispersion of heavy metals was supposed to be occurred from the potential contamination source. Therefore, continuous monitoring of the soil and water is necessary after the completion of remediation.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.517-523
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• 2016

South Korea is the 8th biggest greenhouse gas emitter in the world due to its phenomenal economic growth based on manufacturing, and it is ranked first among OECD members for the rate of increase in emissions. Thus, the Korea government has voluntarily presented a reduction target and demonstrated global leadership. For the reduction of nation's GHG emission, importance of CCU(Carbon Capture and Utilization) along with CCS(Carbon Capture and Storage) technology development is increased. CCU technology is $CO_2$ utilization technology for the usage of $CO_2$ from flue gas and it can create a new economic value while reducing $CO_2$ emission. Therefore, with continued technology development, the number of application of CCU technology is increasing globally.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.342-351
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• 2014

The present paper investigates the performance of direct wet mineral carbonation technology to fix carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) from relatively high $CO_2$ concentration feeding gas using wollastonite ($CaSiO_3$)-water (and 0.46 M acetic acid) suspension solution. To minimize the energy consumed on the process, the carbonation in this work is carried out at atmospheric pressure and slightly higher room temperature. As a result, carbon fixation is confirmed on the surface of $CaSiO_3$ after carbonation with wollastonite-water suspension solution and its amount is increased according to the $CO_2$ composition in the feeding gas. The leaching and carbonation ratio of wollastonite-water suspension system obtained from the carbonation with 50% of $CO_2$ composition feeding gas is 13.2% and 10.4%, respectively. On the other hand, the performance of wollastonite-acetic acid in the same condition is 63% for leaching and 1.39% for carbonation.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.28 no.spc
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• pp.40-54
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• 2023

산업혁명 이후 화석연료의 광범위한 사용, 삼림 벌채, 토지사용의 변화 등과 같은 인위적 활동은 대기 중 온실가스(GHGs, greenhouse gases) 농도를 지속적으로 증가시켜 지구의 기후위기를 유발하였다. 우리나라의 경우 최근 30년 사이 평균 온도가 1.4℃ 상승하였으며, 국제사회의 일원으로 책임을 다하기 위해 2016년 11월 3일 파리협정을 비준하였다. 이에 파리협정의 목표인 산업화 이전 대비 지구 평균온도 상승을 2℃ 아래, 가능한 1.5℃ 아래로 억제하기 위해 2050년까지 CO₂ 순배출량을 0으로 만들어야 하며, 이를 위해 다양한 정책 마련과 함께 경제 및 사회 전반에 걸쳐 많은 노력이 경주되고 있는 실정이다. 탄소중립을 달성하기 위해서는 첫 번째로 GHGs 배출을 줄이고, 두번째로 대기에서 CO₂ 포집을 촉진하기 위해 현재 가동되는 다양한 산업분야의 생산 시스템을 개혁하는 것이 가장 중요한 과제로 고려되고 있다. 그동안 지하수토양 관련 연구분야에서는 지속가능성(sustainability), 복원성(resilience), 녹색성장(green growth) 등과 같은 사회적 요구에 부응하여, 녹색정화(green remediation), 자연 저감(natural attenuation), 탄소포집저장(carbon capture and sequestration), 지열발전등의 기술이 초기단계로 개발이 되고 연구가 되어 왔다. 이러한 기존 연구들은 탄소중립2050의 달성을 위해 고도화되어야하며, 추가적으로 자연 및 인위기원 탄소배출 연구, 토양의 역할을 고려한 저탄소 토지이용 기술, 광물탄산화 등의 연구 및 기술개발이 필요하다고 판단된다. 본 논문에서는 탄소중립2050의 간단한 내용과 함께, 이를 달성하기 위한 지하수토양 분야의 혁신기술 및 선도연구를 소개하였다.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.194-201
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• 2021

Induced polarization (IP) effect is known to be caused by electrochemical phenomena at interface between minerals and pore water. Spectral induced polarization (SIP) method is an electrical survey to localize subsurface IP anomalies while injecting alternating currents of multiple frequencies into the ground. This method was effectively applied to mineral exploration of various ore deposits. Titanomagnetite ores were being produced by a mining company located in Gonamsan area, Gwanin-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Because the ores contain more than 0.4 w% vanadium, the ore deposit is called as Gwanin vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM) deposit. The vanadium is the most important of materials in production of vanadium redox flow batteries, which can be appropriately used for large-scale energy storage system. Systematic mineral exploration was conducted to identify presence of hidden VTM orebodies and estimate their potential resources. In geophysical exploration, laboratory geophysical measurement of rock samples is helpful to generate reliable property models from field survey data. Therefore, we performed laboratory SIP data of the rocks from the Gwanin VTM deposit to understand SIP characteristics between ores and host rocks and then demonstrate the applicability of this method for the mineral exploration. Both phase and resistivity spectra of the ores sampled from underground outcrop and drilling cores were different of those of the host rocks consisting of monzodiorite and quartz monzodiorite. Because the phase and resistivity at frequencies below 100 Hz are mainly dependent on the SIP characteristics of the rocks, we calculated mean values of the ores and the host rocks. The average phase values at 0.1 Hz were ores: -369 mrad and host rocks: -39 mrad. The average resistivity values at 0.1 Hz were ores: 16 Ωm and host rocks: 2,623 Ωm. Because the SIP characteristics of the ores were different of those of the host rocks, we considered that the SIP survey is effective for the mineral exploration in vanadiferous titanomagnetite deposits and the SIP characteristics are useful for interpreting field survey data.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.539-546
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• 2019

Global warming has mentioned as one of the international problems and these researches have conducted. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technology has improved due to increasing importance of reducing emission of carbon dioxide. Among of various CCUS technologies, mineral carbonation can converted $CO_2$ into high-cost materials with low energy. Existing researches has been used ions extracted solid wastes for mineral carbonation but the procedure is complicated. However, the procedure using seawater is simple because it contained high concentration of metal cation. This research is a basic study using seawater-based wastewater for mineral carbonation. 3 M Monoethanolamine (MEA) was used as $CO_2$ absorbent. Making various concentrations of seawater solution, simulated seawater powder was used. Precipitated metal carbonate salts were produced by mixing seawater solutions and $rich-CO_2$ absorbent solution. They were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and studied characteristic of producing precipitated metal carbonate and possibility of reusing absorbent.