• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2011

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) study was conducted using arsenite-sorbed two-line ferrihydrite to investigate the mechanism of surface interactions between two-line ferrihydrite and As(III) (arsenite) which are ubiquitous in nature. The two-line ferrihydrite used was synthesized in the laboratory and the study was undertaken at pHs 4 and 10 to compare the difference in mechanisms of surface interaction between acidic and alkaline environments. The effect of arsenite-adsorbed concentrations on surface complexation was investigated at each pH condition as well. From the results of XAS analyses, the structural parameters of arsenite in the EXAFS revealed that the coordination number and distanceof As-O were 3.1~3.3 and 1.74~1.79 ${\AA}$, respectively, which indicate that the unit structure of arsenite complex formed on the surface of two-line ferrihydrite is $AsO_3$. The dominant structures of As(III)-Fe complex were examined to be bidentate binuclear comer-sharing ($^2C$) and the mixture of bidentate mononuclear edge sharing ($^2E$) and $^2C$ appeared as well. At pH 4, arsenite complex showed different structures on the surface of two-line ferrihydrite, depending on the adsorbed concentrations. At pH 10, on the contrary, the surface structures of arsenite complexes were interpreted to be almost identical, irrespective of the adsorbed concentrations of arsenite. Consequently, this microscopic XAS results support the results of macroscopic adsorption experiments in which the surface interaction between arsenite and two-line ferrihydrite is significantly influenced by pH conditions as well as arsenite concentrations.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2008

Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.355-365
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• 2022

Precipitation and phase transition of iron minerals in mine drainage greatly affect the behavior of trace elements. However, the precipitation of ferrihydrite, one of the major iron minerals precipitated in drainage, and the related behavior of trace elements have hardly been studied. In this study, the effects of pH change and time on mineral precipitation characteristics in mine drainage from the Munkyeong coal mine were investigated, and the behavioral changes of trace elements related to the precipitation of these minerals were studied. In the case of precipitated mineral phases, goethite was observed at pH 4, and 2-line ferrihydrite mixed with small amount of 6-line ferrihydrite was mainly identified at pH 6 or higher. In addition, it was observed that the precipitation of calcite additionally increased as the pH increased in the samples at pH 6 or higher. The occurrence of goethite was probably due to the phase change of initially precipitated ferrihydrite within a short time under the influence of low pH. Our results showed that the concentration of trace elements was strongly influenced by pH and time. With increasing time, Fe concentration in the drainage showed a abrupt decrease due to the precipitation of iron minerals, and the concentration of As existing as oxyanions in the drainage, also decreased rapidly like Fe regardless of the pH values. This decrease in As concentration was mainly due to co-precipitation with ferrihydrite, and also partly to surface adsorption on goethite at low pH in drainage. Contrary to this observation, the concentration of other trace elements, such as Cd, Co, Zn, and Ni was greatly affected by the pH regardless of the mineral species. The lower the pH value, the higher the concentration of these trace elements were observed in the drainage, and vice versa at higher pH. These results indicate that the behavior of trace elements present as cations is more greatly affected by the mineral surface charge influenced by the pH values than the type of the precipitated mineral.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.125-134
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• 2014

The Janggun mine (Longitude $E129^{\circ}$ 03' 40", Latitude $N36^{\circ}$ 51' 19") was once operated as an underground mine and recently significant amount of mine and leachate water has been discharged from the mine adits and tailing dumps. Mine and leachate waters are characterized by neutral to weakly basic pH values (6.81-9.59). Major cations and anions have concentrations between 6.70-129.80 mg/L of Mg, 289.29-661.02 mg/L of Ca, 4.74-14.38 mg/L of Mn and 1205.00-2448.69 mg/L of $SO{_4}^{2-}$. Brownish yellow precipitates that found in the stream bottom consist of poorly crystallized 2-line ferrihydrite ($Fe_2O_3{\cdot}0.5H_2O$. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs show that brownish yellow precipitates consisted of micro-sized granular particles of about $0.1{\mu}m$ in diameter. Semi-quantitative energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analyses show that these samples contained mainly Fe with minor Mn, Ca, Si and As.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.199-207
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• 2016

One of the most significant environmental issues in abandoned coal mine is acidic drainage which gives rise to the many environmental problems that acidifying streams water, sedimentation of iron/aluminium hydroxide, and pollution of water and soil. Water and precipitate samples for experiments were collected from stream and bottom in the pit mouth of Sambong mine. Mine water shows pH range from 7.24 to 7.94 in winter and 3.87 to 5.73 in summer season. The EC shows range from 432 to $897{\mu}S/cm$ at the stream receiving mine water. The highest concentrations of cations such as Mg, Al, Ca, and Mn are showing 15.50, 4.56, 85.30, 12.76 mg/L in the pit mouth, respectively. The reddish brown precipitates (Munsell color 10R-5YR in winter and 2.5YR-5Y in summer) consist mainly of 2-line ferrihydrite and schwertmannite. The precipitates are characterized by rod or cylindrical forms, and coccus or sphere of 0.1 to $0.5{\mu}m$ in diameter.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2009

Mineralogical characteristics of secondary precipitate formed at some mineral water springs in Gyeongbuk Province, Korea were studied in relation to water chemistry. The chemical water types of mineral water springs are mostly classified as $Ca-HCO_3$ type, but $Na(Ca)-HCO_3$ and $Ca-SO_4$ types are also recognized. Ca, Fe, and $HCO_3\;^-$ are the most abundant components in the water. The pH values of most springs lie in 5.76${\sim}$6.81, except Hwangsu spring having pH 2.8. Saturation indices show that all springs are supersaturated with respect to iron minerals and oxyhydroxides such as hematite and goethite. The result of particle size analysis shows that the precipitate is composed of the composite with various sizes, indicating the presence of iron minerals susceptible to a phase transition at varying water chemistry or the mixtures consisting of various mineral species. The particle size of the reddish precipitate is larger than that of the yellow brown precipitate. Based on XRD and SEM analyses, the precipitate is mostly composed of ferrihydrite (two-line type), goethite, schwertmannite, and calcite, with lesser silicates and manganese minerals. The most abundant mineral fanned at springs is ferrihydrite whose crystals are $0.1{\sim}2\;{\mu}m$ with an average of $0.5\;{\mu}m$ in size, characterized by a spherical form. It should be interestingly noted that schwertmannite forms at Hwangsu spring whose pH is very low. At Shinchon spring, Gallionella ferruginea, one of the iron bacteria, is commonly found as an indicator of the important microbial activity ascribed to the formation of iron minerals because very fine iron oxides with a spherical form are closely distributed on surfaces of the bacteria. A genetic relationship between the water chemistry and the formation of the secondary precipitate from mineral water springs was discussed.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.97-105
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• 2014

Artificial precipitation ponds, consisting of three steps of oxidation pond, successive alkalinity producing system (SAPS) and swamp, were constructed for the treatment of the acid mine drainage from the Iwal coal mine. The efficacies of the passive treatment system in terms of neutralization of mine water and removal of dissolved ions were evaluated by the chemical analyses of the water samples. Mine water in the mine adits was acidic, showing the pH value of 2.28-2.42 but the value increased rapidly to 6.17-6.53 in the Oxidation pond. The purification efficiencies for the removal of Al and Fe were 100%, whereas those of $SO_4$, Mg, Ca, and Mn were relatively low of 50%, 40%, 24%, and 59%, respectively. These results indicate a need for application of additional remediation techniques in the passive treatment systems. The precipitates that formed at the bottom of the mine water channels were mainly schwertmannite ($Fe_8O_8(OH)_6SO_4$) and those in the leachate water were 2-line ferrihydrite ($Fe_2O_3{cdot}0.5H_2O$).