• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.489-496
• /
• 2013

Ground water underlying soil is vulnerable to pollution by organic chemicals through their percolation through the soil system. This study was conducted to provide information on the seepage behavior of organic chemical contaminants in clay, silty and sandy soils. Chloroform, 1,1,1-trichloroethane and trichloroethylene are readily transported through the soil; their percolated mass were 4.6-19.2 percent of the total mass applied. Tetrachloroethylene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene and 1,3-dichlorobenzene were retarded by soils due to sorption. Between 0.6 and 4.8 percent of the material applied to the surface percolated within the experimental period. Carbon tetrachloride was attenuated considerably by passage through soils. Only 0.1-0.4 percent of the mass reached the groundwater. Significant degradation of bromoform was observed. Apparent breakdown of intermediates of the brominated compounds were detected. Transformations of the brominated compounds appear to be the result of both biological and chemical processes. The effect of soil type on the mobility of organic chemical contaminants was considerable. The organic contaminants moved faster in sandy soil than in either clay or silty soils.

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

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.39 no.10
• /
• pp.575-580
• /
• 2017

Chlorinated hydrocarbons (TCE and PCE), petroleum hydrocarbons (BTEX, PAHs, and TPH), and explosive compounds (TNT, RDX, and HMX) have been detected in underground water countrywide. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate sono-catalytic degradation coupled with the use of PUV in order to understand the fate and transport of a representative selection of non-biodegradable contaminants (i.e., TCE, PCE, BTEX, PAHs, TPH, TNT, RDX, and HMX) in groundwater. Both ultraviolet (UV) and ultrasound (US) systems are used in degrading of organic contaminants and they can thus be applicable simultaneously as an UV/US hybrid system in attempts further to increase the degradation efficiency. Results indicate that synergistic effect of UV/US hybrid system is closely correlated to the enhancement of sono-chemical reactivity with the UV-US interaction of increasing the formation rate of OH by providing additional $H_2O_2$ production through the pyrolysis of water molecules during UV/US hybrid irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2005.03a
• /
• pp.354-361
• /
• 2005

Physical parameters such as porosity and effective porosity are important physical parameters that determine the transfer and movement of water and solutes in porous media. Various methods of determining these parameters have been developed, with varying degrees of accuracy and applicability. Most of the existing methods produce static results. They do not produce instantaneous and real time of porosity and effective porosity in a porous media. In this study, a new permittivity method called Frequency Domain Reflectometry with Vector analyzer (FDR-V) is proposed to determine the porosity and effective porosity of some sand samples in the laboratory. The advantage of the FDR-V method is that it instantaneously determines the temporal variation of dielectric constants of porous media. Then, the porosity and the effective porosity of porous media are computed using well established empirical equations. Results obtained from the FDR-V method compared favorably with results from other permittivity methods such as gravimetric, injection and replacement tests. The ratio of effective porosity to porosity was $85{\sim}92%$, when FDR-V was used. This value compared favourably with 90%, which has been usually quoted in previous studies. Considering the convenience and its applicability, the measurement system of FDR-V permittivity holds a great potential in porous media and contaminant transport studies.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.184-187
• /
• 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).

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.283-291
• /
• 2018

Cracks in soil provide significant preferential pathways for contaminant transport and rainfall infiltration. Water exchange between the soil matrix and crack is crucial to characterize the preferential flow, which is often quantitatively described by a water exchange ratio. The water exchange ratio is defined as the amount of water flowing from the crack into the clay matrix per unit time. Most of the previous studies on the water exchange ratio mainly focused on cracked sandy soils. The water exchange between cracks and clay matrix were rarely studied mainly due to two reasons: (1) Cracks open upon drying and close upon wetting. The deformable cracks lead to a dynamic change in the water exchange ratio. (2) The aperture of desiccation crack in clay is narrow (generally 0.5 mm to 5 mm) which is difficult to model in experiments. This study will investigate the water exchange between a deformable crack and the clay matrix using a newly developed experimental apparatus. An artificial crack with small aperture was first fabricated in clay without disturbing the clay matrix. Water content sensors and suction sensors were instrumented at different places of the cracked clay to monitor the water content and suction changes. Results showed that the water exchange ratio was relatively large at the initial stage and decreased with the increasing water content in clay matrix. The water exchange ratio increased with increasing crack apertures and approached the largest value when the clay was compacted at the water content to the optimal water content. The effective hydraulic conductivity of the crack-clay matrix interface was about one order of magnitude larger than that of saturated soil matrix.

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Environmental Toocicology Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.172-172
• /
• 2003

2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a prototype of many halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons, is a ubiquitous, persistent environmental contaminant and displays high toxicity in animals and has been implicated in human carcinogenesis. Although the mechanism of carcinogenesis by TCDD is unclear, it is considered to be a non-genotoxic and tumor promoter. In this study, we investigated the tumor promotion effect of TCDD on the two-stage skin chemical carcinogenesis using hairless mouse (SKH1). We induced papillomas after treatment with N-methyl -N'-nitro-N-nitorsoguanidine (MNNG) as a initiator and TCDD as a promoter for 30 weeks. We found that the incidence or multiplicity of papillomas and hyperplastic nodules was maximally induced at MNNG-TCDD group compare to control, MNNG, and TCDD alone. These results suggesting that TCDD can acts as a potent promoter in the hairless mouse skin. In addition, we used cDNA microarray to detect the differential gene expression in normal, tumor surrounding, and tumor regions induced in hairless mouse skin by MNNG plus TCDD protocol. We found that 49 and 42 genes out of 5,592 genes associated with protein synthesis, cell organization, lipid transport and oxidative stress in tumor and surrounding regions were up- or down- regulated two fold or more, respectively. We are currently investigating how these genes play a role in TCDD-mediated chemical carcinogenesis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.17 no.1 s.66
• /
• pp.17-25
• /
• 2007

Research and development for disposal of contaminants including radioactive wastes in deep underground have been carried out from laboratory works. However, validation and reliability of the data from the laboratory are arguing issues because they are not obtained from real disposal situations. Underground research laboratory (URL) is not only a solution to overcome such limitations, but also a valuable facility for performance assessment as an engineering scale. However, it requires much budget, and environmental issues can give rise to social conflicts easily. Such considering points related to URL are discussed as well as current status of worldwide URLs are introduced. Furthermore study plans for solute transport in a small-scale underground research tunnel (KURT), which was authorized recently as an non-radioactive facility in Korea, also described.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.42 no.11
• /
• pp.989-1004
• /
• 2009

The objective of this study is to examine validation of Grid Reconstruction Method, which is developed to simulate drying/wetting in complex natural rivers with wetting and drying domain areas. To verify application of the developed model, the model was applied to natural rivers with wetting and drying domain areas such as Han river and Nakdong river. The simulation results have shown good agreements with observed data and the results for the developed model were more accurate and improved stability of numerical computation than those of RMA-2 model. If the analysis of contaminant advection-diffusion and sediment transport are performed with the study results, the results can be effectively applied to river flow analysis and ecological hydraulics.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.789-796
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of sulfinpyrazone on fumonisin $B_1$-induced elevation of free sphingoid bases in LLC-$PK_1$ cells. Fumonis ins are a family of mycotoxins produced by the fungi Fusarium moniliforme which is common contaminant in corn. Fumonisins are also potent inhibiors of sphingosine and sphinganine N-acyltransferases (ceramide synthases), key enzymes in sphingolipid metabolism resulting in the elevation of free sphinganine. The cytosolic concentration of fumonisin B1 was known to be closely proportional to the elevation of free sphinganine in LLC-PK1 cells [Yoo, H.-S., Norred, W.P., Wang, E., Merrill, A.H., Jr., and Riley, R.T. (1992) Toxicol. Appl.Pharmacol. 114. 9-15]. Sulfinpyrazone, an anion transport inhibitor, reduced the elevated level of free sphinganine resulting from fumonisin B1 inhibition of de novo sphingolipid biosynthesis. Fumonisin B1 at a concentration of 20${\mu}$M showed approximately 120pmol/$10^6$ cells relative to 3-10pmol/$10^6$ cells in control cultures, and sulfinpyrazone at a concentration of 200${\mu}$M partially reversed the increased level of free sphinganine induced by fumonisin $B_1$ down to normal level after exposure to fumonisin $B_1$ for 8 to 24hr. However, the reduced effect of sulfinpyrazone on the fumonisin $B_1$-induced elevation of intracellular sphinganine was not shown after 24hr. Fumonisin $B_1$ exposure to LLC-PK1 cells for 36 and 48hr showed approximately 74 and 80pmol per $10^6$ cells relative to 82 and 76pmol,respectively, in fumonisin $B_1$ plus sulfinpyrazone-treated cultures. Sulfinpyrazone-induced less elevation of free sphinganine in confluent cells after exposure to fumonisin $B_1$ suggested that either sulfinpyrazone may block the availability of fumonisin $B_1$ to cells or act on the fumonisin $B_1$ interaction with ceramide synthase.