• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.1B
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• pp.79-84
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• 2012

Nitrate is a common contaminant in groundwater aquifer. The present study investigates the performance of the bipolar zero valent iron (ZVI, $Fe^0$) packed bed electrolytic cell in removing nitrate in different operating conditions. The packing mixture consists of ZVI as electronically conducting material and silica sand as non-conducting material between main cathode and anode electrodes. In the continuous experiments for the simulated wastewater (contaminated groundwater, initial nitrate about 30 mg/L as N and electrical conductivity about 300 ${\mu}S/cm$), over 99% removal of nitrate was achieved in the applied voltage 600 V and at the flow rate of 20 mL/min. The optimum packing ratio (v/v) and flow rate were determined to be 1:1~2:1 (silica sand to ZVI), 30 mL/ min respectively. Effluent pH was proportional to nitrate influx concentration, and ammonia which is the final product of nitrate reduction was about 60% of nitrate influx. Magnetite was observed on the surface of the used ZVI as major oxidation product.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.85-94
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• 2015

RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) is the most important explosive contaminant, both in concentration and in frequency, at military shooting ranges in which green technologies such as phytoremediation or constructed wetlands are the best option for mitigation of explosive compounds discharge to the environment. A study was conducted with two identical lab-scale plug flow constructed wetlands planted with Amur silver grass to treat water artificially contaminated with 40 mg/L of toxic explosive compound, RDX. The reactor was inoculated with or without RDX degrading mixed culture to evaluate plant-microorganism interactions in RDX removal, transformation products distribution, and kinetic constants. RDX and its metabolites in water, plant, and sediment were analyzed by HPLC to determine mass balance and kinetic constants. After 30 days of operation, the reactor reached steady-state at which more than 99% of RDX was removed with or without the mixed culture inoculation. The major transformation product was TNX (Trinitroso-RDX) that comprised approximately 50% in the mass balance of both reactors. It was also the major compound in the plant root and shoot system. Acute toxicity analysis of the water samples showed more than 30% of toxicity reduction in the effluent than that of influent containing 40 mg/L of RDX. In the Amur silver grass mesocosm seeded with the mixed culture, the specific RDX removal rate, that is 1st order removal rate normalized to plant fresh weight, was estimated to be 0.84 kg⁻¹ day⁻¹ which is 16.7% higher than that in the planted only mesocosm. Therefore, the results of this study proved that Amur silver grass is an effective plant for RDX removal in constructed wetlands and the efficiency can be increased even more when applied with RDX degrading microbial consortia.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.85-96
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to Investigate the effect of environmental conditions on the degradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons(TPH) in soil. The soil used for this study was sandy loam. Target contaminant, diesel oil, was spiked at 10.000mgTPH/kg dry soil. Moisture content was controlled to 50%, 70%, and 90% of field capacity of the soil. Temperature was controlled to $5^{\circ}C$, $10^{\circ}C$, $20^{\circ}C$, and $30^{\circ}C$. The active degradation of TPH was observed at the moisture contents of 50% and 70% of field capacity, and temperature of $10^{\circ}C$ to $30^{\circ}C$. Degradation rate of n-alkanes was about two times greater than that of TPH. Volatilization loss of TPH was about 2% of initial concentration. Biocide control and no aeration experiments indicated that removal of TPH was primarily occurred by biodegradation under aerobic condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2000

In order to reduce the groundwater contamination around the Kimpo landfill in Korea by the leakage of the leachate within it, The method establishing 5 sets of Radial Collector Well Laterals(RCWLs) within the landfill, the method utilizing the wells dewatering the condensed water, the method establishing an interception wall to the 2nd layer at the circumference of the landfill and 22 sets of RCWLs within it, and the method establishing an interception wall to the 3rd layer and 40 sets of RCWLs were studied. Hydraulic parameters were measured for this study and then the groundwater flow and contaminant transport systems around the Kimpo landfill were analyzed with the MODFLOW and MT3D models. Conclusively, the method establishing an interception wall to the 2nd layer and 22 sets of RCWLs was evaluated as the most stable and economical option to reduce groundwater contamination concentration below drinking water standards.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.184-187
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• 2007

Hydrogen could be produced from any substance containing hydrogen atoms, such as water, hydrocarbon (HC) fuels, acids or bases. Hydrocarbon fuels couold be converted to hydrogen-rich gas through reforming process for hydrogen production. Even though fuel cell have high efficiency with pure hydrogen from gas tank, it is more beneficial to generate hydrogen from city gas (mainly methane) in residential application such as domestic or office environments. Thus hydrogen is generated by reforming process using hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the reforming process for hydrogen production is accompanied with unavoidable impurities. Impurities such as CO, $CO_2$, $H_2S$, $NH_3$, and $CH_4$ in hydrogen could cause negative effects on fuel cell performance. Those effects are kinetic losses due to poisoning of electrode catalysts, ohmic losses due to proton conductivity reduction including membrane and catalyst ionomer layers, and mass transport losses due to degrading catalyst layer structure and hydrophobic property. Hydrogen produced from reformer eventually contains around 73% of $H_2$, 20% or less of $CO_2$, 5.8% of less of $N_2$, or 2% less of $CH_4$, and 10ppm or less of CO. Most impurities are removed using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process to get high purity hydrogen. However, high purity hydrogen production requires high operation cost of reforming process. The effect of carbon dioxide on fuel cell performance was investigated in this experiment. The performance of PEM fuel cell was investigated using current vs. potential experiment, long run (10 hr) test, and electrochemical impedance measurement when the concentrations of carbon dioxide were 10%, 20% and 30%. Also, the concentration of impurity supplied to the fuel cell was verified by gas chromatography (GC).

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2018

This paper is aimed at source tracking of soil heavy metal contamination at a site established by reusing construction wastes. The soil heavy metal concentration at the study site peaked at a depth range of 5-10 m. Column studies were conducted to investigate the possibility of the contamination scenario of infiltration of stormwater carrying heavy metals of ground origin followed by selective heavy metal accumulation at the 5-10 m depth range. Almost all amount of lead, zinc, cadmium, and nickel introduced to the columns each packed with 0-5 m or 5-10 m field soil were accumulated in the column. The very poor heavy metal mobility in spite of the weak association of the heavy metals with the soil (characterized by a sequential extraction procedure) can be attributed to the high pH (10-11) of the construction wastes. From the results, the heavy metal contamination of the subsurface soil by an external heavy metal source was determined to be very unlikely at the study site. The column study applied in the current study is expected to be a useful methodology to present direct evidence of the contaminant source tracking at soil contamination sites.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.129-137
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to evaluate the biodegradability of the micro-contaminant, clindamycin antibiotic, under nitrifying activated sludge (AS) condition. Based on the short-term clindamycin degradation batch test at an environmentally relevant concentration (10 ppb), clindamycin disappearance half-life ($t_{0.5}$) was estimated to be 9.1hrs under nitrification condition. However, biodegradation was slower (26.1 hrs) when nitrification was inhibited. Also, one clindamycin metabolite was detected under nitrification condition, but not under inhibited nitrification condition. Based on the mass spectra, the metabolite is suspected to be clindamycin-sulfoxide (m/z 441), which is known to have antimicrobial activity. The metabolite was not degraded during the long term batch study, suggesting that under the conditions tested, biodegradation of clindamycin in activated sludge systems is ineffective.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.453-457
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• 2009

Contamination of marine environment with hazardous and toxic chemicals is more common these days. Bioremediation is the application of microorganism or microbial processes to degrade environmental contaminant. Because of low water solubility and volatility of diesel, bioremediation is more efficient than physical and chemical methods. The objective of this study is biodegradation of diesel in sea water by using Rhodococcus fascians which is isolated petroleum-contaminated soil. R. fascians was cultured on sea water containing diesel to determine the diesel degradability. Changes in biodegradability of diesel with various inoculum sizes, diesel concentrations, initial pH, and culture temperature were analyzed by TPH analysis using gas chromatography. The inoculum size 2% was effective for biodegrdation of diesel in sea water by R. fascians. When diesel concentration was 5%, the growth of cell was inhibited by the toxicity of diesel. The optimal temperature and initial pH for degradation of diesel in sea water were $27^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.398-401
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• 2006

Two landfills of this study containing municipal wastes without any bottom liner and leachate treatment system have different landfill age, waste volume and most importantly different hydrogeologic settings. The one (Cheonan) is situated in an open flat area while the other (Wonju) is located in a valley. In the interior of the landfills, typical anaerobic conditions revealed by low DO and ${NO_3}^-$ concentrations, negative ORP values, high $NH_3$, alkalinity and $Cl^-$ concentrations were observed. Generally higher levels of contaminants were detected in the dry season while those were greatly lowered in the wet season. Significantly large decrease of Cl concentration in the wet season indicates that the dilution or mixing is one of dominant attenuation mechanisms of leachate. But detailed variation behaviors in the two landfills are largely different and they were most dependent on permeability of surface and subsurface layers. The intermediately permeable surface of 1.he landfills receives part of direct rainfall infiltration but most rainwater is lost to fast runoff. The practically impermeable surface of clayey silt (paddy field) at immediately adjacent to the Cheonan landfill boundary prevented direct rainwater infiltration and hence redox condition of the groundwaters were largely affected by that of the upper landfill and the less permeable materials beneath the paddy fields prohibited dispersion of the landfill leachate into downgradient area. In the Wonju landfill, there exist three different permeability divisions, the landfill region, the sandy open field and the paddy field. Roles of the landfill and paddy regions are very similar to those at the Cheonan. The very permeable sandy field receiving a large amount of rainwater infiltration plays a key role in controlling redox condition of the downgradient area and contaminant migration.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.230-236
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• 2005

Formaldehyde is a common environmental contaminant found in tobacco smoke, paint, garments, diesel and exhaust, and medical and industrial products. Formaldehyde has been considered to be potentially carcinogenic, making it a subject of major environmental concern. However, only a little information on the mechanism of immunological sensitization and asthma by this compound has been known. So, we performed with Jurkat cell line, a human T lymphocyte, to assess the induction of DNA damage and to identify the DEGs related to immune response or toxicity by formaldehyde. In this study, we investigated the induction of DNA single strand breaks by formaldehyde using single cell gel electrophoresis assay (comet assay). And we compared gene expression between control and formaldehyde treatment to identify genes that are specifically or predominantly expressed by employing annealing control primer (ACP)-based $GeneFishing^{TM}$ method. The cytotoxicity ($IC_{30}$) of formaldehyde was determined above the 0.65 mM in Jurkat cell in 48 h treatment. Based on the $IC_{30}$ value from cytotoxicity test, we performed the comet assay in this concentration. From these results, 0.65 mM of formaldehyde was not revealed significant DNA damages in the absence of S-9 metabolic activation system. And the one differentially expressed gene (DEG) of formaldehyde was identified to zinc finger protein 292 using $GeneFishing^{TM}$ method. Through further investigation, we will identify more meaningful and useful DEGs on formaldehyde, and then can get the information on the associated mechanism and pathway with immune response or other toxicity by formaldehyde exposure.