• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.61-68
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• 2006

Soil washing techniques coupled with high pressure air jet were applied for diesel-contaminated soils sampled by an underground oil reservoir of which the initial total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) ($2,828{\pm}206\;mg/kg$) exceeded 5 times of current standard level (500 mg/kg) regulated by the Soil-Environment Conservation Law. Through several tests, we found that the position of impeller has a critical impact for washing efficiencies. The highest washing efficiency was obtained at an oblique angle (30 degree) for the impeller and optimized mixing speed (300 rpm) that could have high shearing forces. Considered economical and feasible aspects, the optimum mixing time was 10 min. Rate constants of TPH removal derived from the first-order equation were not linearly increased as mixing speed increased, indicating that mechanical mixing has some limits to enhance the washing efficiencies. Application of high-pressure air jet in washing process increased the washing efficiency. This increase might be caused by the fact that the surface of micro-air bubbles strongly attached hydrophobic matters of soil particles. As the pressure of air jet increased, the separation efficiencies of TPH-contaminated soil particles increased. In the combined process of high-pressure air jet and mixing by impeller, the optimum mixing speed and air flow-rate were determined to be 60 rpm and $2\;kg/cm^2$, respectively. Consequently, the washing technique coupled with high-pressure air jet could be considered as a feasible application for remediating petroleum-contaminated soils.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.67-77
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• 2013

To improve the energy efficiency of conventional thermal treatment, soil remediation with microwave has been studied. In this study, the remediation efficiency of contaminated soil with semi-volatile organic contaminants were evaluated with microwave oven and several additives such as water, formic acid, iron powder, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, and activated carbon. For the experiment, loamy sand and sandy loam collected from Imjin river flood plain were intentionally contaminated with hexachlorobenzene and phenanthrene, respectively. The contaminated soils were treated with microwave facility and the mass removals of organic contaminants from soils were evaluated. Among additives that were added to increase the remediation efficiency, activated carbon and NaOH solution were more effective than water, iron powder, and formic acid. When 10 g of hexachlorobenzene (142.4 mg/kg-soil) or phenanthrene (2,138.8 mg/kg-soil) contaminated soil that mixed with 0.5 g iron powder, 0.5 g activated carbon and 1 ml 6.25 M NaOH solution were treated with microwave for 3 minutes, more than 95% of contaminants were removed. The degradation of hexachlorobenzene during microwave treatments with additives was confirmed by the detection of pentachlorobenzene and tetrachlorobenzene. Naphthalene and phenol were also detected as degradation products of phenanthrene during microwave treatment with additives. The results showed that adding a suitable amount of additives for microwave treatments fairly increased the efficiency of removing semi-volatile soil organic contaminants.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.16-25
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• 2019

Anthropogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed by the incomplete combustion of fuels and industrial waste. PAHs can be widely exposed to the environment (water, soil and groundwater). PAHs are potentially toxic, mutagenic and/or carcinogenic. Fundamental studies such as biota uptake (e.g., earthworm and plant) of PAHs are highly needed. It is necessary to develop alternative ways to evaluate bioavailability of PAHs instead of using living organisms because it is time-consuming, difficult to apply in the field, and also exaction method is tedious and time-consuming. In this study, sorption behaviors of phenanthrene were evaluated to predict the fate of PAHs in soils. Moreover, bioaccumulation of PAHs in an artificially contaminated soil was evaluated using pea plant (Pisum sativum) as a bioindicator. A novel passive sampler, organic-diffusive gradient in thin-film (o-DGT) for PAHs was newly synthesized, tested as a biomimic surrogate and compared with plant accumulation. Sorption partitioning coefficient (K_P) and sorption capacity (K_F) were in the order of natural soil > loess corresponding to the increase in organic carbon content (f_oc). Biota-to-soil accumulation factor (BSAF) and DGT-to-soil accumulation factor (DSAF) were evaluated. o-DGT uptake was linearly correlated with pea plant uptake of phenanthrene in contaminated soil (R²=0.863). The Tenax TA based o-DGT as a biomimic surrogate can be used for the prediction of pea plant uptake of phenanthrene in contaminated soil.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.28-37
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• 2011

A preliminary study for energy efficient soil heating and contaminant removal using microwave was conducted. Soils sampled from floodplain were heated with microwave oven, and soil heating property and energy efficiency were compared to those heated with electrical furnace. In addition the effects of water, soil organic matter, and contaminated diesel on soil heating with microwave were investigated. Even though the electrical power consumption of electrical furnace and microwave oven were similar, temperature of soil heated with microwave oven was significantly higher than that of soil heated with electrical furnace. The increase of soil moisture content delays the raise of soil temperature during heating it with microwave oven. However, the effects of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) (<10%) in contaminated soil matrix and small amount of soil organic matter (<5%) on the increase of soil temperature by microwave were not significant. Further studies for contaminated soils with different texture using pilot scale microwave reactor are required for application of this technique in the field.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.291-300
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• 1999

Surfactant flushing for enhancing the removal of BTEX from contaminated sand/clay mixtures was investigated. Eight soil columns packed with relatively undisturbed BTEX contaminated soils, were leached with water, methyl alcohol and then flushed with surfactant with or without several additives. Initial concentrations of BTEX mixture range from 278mg/kg to 1975mg/kg. Initial BTEX removal efficiency was 98% when the contaminated soil was flushed with water of 850 pore volumes. Because of tailing effect, water flushing could not remove below 8mg/kg concentrations during the experimental period. Eventually, the most effective surfactant for flushing was turned out to be 4% SOFTANOL(equation omitted)-90 with 3% ethyl alcohol and 3% SXS. In interrupted flow conditions, the removal efficiency was 99.5% with the flushed water of 95 pore volumes. The BTEX mixture removed from the soil columns during the surfactant flushing ranges from 84.5% to 99.5% of the initial amount for both water leaching(850 pore volumes) and surfactant flushing(95-165 pore volumes), respectively. Test results indicated that surfactant flushing could enhance the removal of BTEX mixture from contaminated soils and could reduce the aqueous phase BTEX mixture concentration in leachate.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.1041-1046
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• 2010

Phytoextraction is a technique which uses plants to clean up metal-contaminated soils. Recently, various chelating agents were introduced into this technique to increase the bioavailability of metals in soils. Even though the technique is an economic and environment-friendly method, this cannot be applied in highly metal-contaminated areas because plants will not normally grow in such conditions. Therefore, this research focuses on identifying chelating agents which are biodegradable and applicable to highly metal-contaminated areas. Alunimum (Al) as a target metal and cysteine (Cys), histidine (His), citrate, malate, oxalate, succinate, and ethylenediamine (EDA) as biodegradable chelating agents were selected. Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used as a comparative standard. Plants were grown on agar media containing various chelating agents with Al to analyze the effect on plant growth. His slightly diminished the inhibitory effect of Al on root growth of plants, whereas, Cys, citrate, malate, oxalate, and succinate did not show significant effects. Both EDTA and EDA strongly diminished the inhibitory effect of Al on root growth. The effect of EDA is correlated with decreased Al uptake into the plants. In conclusion, as a biodegradable chelating agent, EDA is a good candidate for highly Al-contaminated areas.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.885-893
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• 2014

This research reports the enhanced Electrokinetic (EK) with $H_2O_2$ and sodium dodecyl surfate (SDS), which are commonly used in Fenton oxidation and soil flushing method, in order to remediate soil contaminated with heavy metals and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) simultaneously. In addition, influences of property of soil and concentration of chemical solution were investigated through experiments of different types of soils and varying concentration of chemical reagents. The results indicated, in the experiments using artificially contaminated soil, the highest removal efficiency of heavy metals using 10% $H_2O_2$ and 20mM SDS as electrolytes. However, in the experiments using Yong-San soils (study area), remediation efficiency of heavy metals was decreased because high acid buffering capacity. Through experiment of 20% $H_2O_2$ and 40mM SDS, increased electric current influences the remediation of heavy metals due to decrease in the soil pH. In the experiments of Yong-San soils, the remediation efficiency of TPH was decreased compared with artificially spiked soils because high acid buffering capacity and organic carbon contents. Furthermore, the scavenger effect of SDS influenced TPH oxidation efficiency under the conditions of injected 40mM SDS in the soils. Therefore, the property of soil and concentration of chemical reagents cause the electroosmotic flow, soil pH, remediation efficiency of heavy metals and TPH.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.58 no.2
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• pp.157-174
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• 2015

Stabilization of metals in contaminated soils using various waste materials has been reported. Alkaline materials (limes, shells, industrial byproducts, etc.), phosphorous (P) containing materials (animal bones, phosphate rock, etc.), organic materials (composts, manures, biochars, etc.) and others (zerovalent iron, zeolite, etc.) were widely evaluated to ensure its effectiveness/applicability of stabilization of metals in soils. Stabilization mechanisms of those materials above were partially revealed, but the related literatures are still lacked and not sufficient for approaching to long-term stability/applicability in the field. The aims of this review are to summarize current knowledge of metal stabilization in contaminated soils using various waste materials and to suggest a direction for future field research.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.169-178
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• 2010

The microbial community structure in Thailand soils contaminated with low and high levels of arsenic was determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Band pattern analysis indicated that the bacterial community was not significantly different in the two soils. Phylogenetic analysis obtained by excising and sequencing six bands indicated that the soils were dominated by Arthrobacter koreensis and $\beta$-Proteobacteria. Two hundred and sixty-two bacterial isolates were obtained from arsenic-contaminated soils. The majority of the As-resistant isolates were Gramnegative bacteria. MIC studies indicated that all of the tested bacteria had greater resistance to arsenate than arsenite. Some strains were capable of growing in medium containing up to 1,500 mg/l arsenite and arsenate. Correlations analysis of resistance patterns of arsenite resistance indicated that the isolated bacteria could be categorized into 13 groups, with a maximum similarity value of 100%. All strains were also evaluated for resistance to eight antibiotics. The antibiotic resistance patterns divided the strains into 100 unique groups, indicating that the strains were very diverse. Isolates from each antibiotic resistance group were characterized in more detail by using the repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR) DNA fingerprinting technique with ERIC primers. The PCR products were analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis. The genetic relatedness of 100 bacterial fingerprints, determined by using the Pearson product-moment similarity coefficient, showed that the isolates could be divided into four clusters, with similarity values ranging from 5-99%. Although many isolates were genetically diverse, others were clonal in nature. Additionally, the arsenic-resistant isolates were examined for the presence of arsenic resistance (ars) genes by using PCR, and 30% of the isolates were found to carry an arsenate reductase encoded by the arsC gene.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.204-209
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• 2007

Agricultural area in the vicinity of the ${\triangle}{\triangle}$ smelting factory in Kyeongbuk province, the third largest zinc smelting factory in the world, was contaminated by high concentration of heavy metals. However, the heavy metals source was not yet directly traced and thus, resulted to a conflict between the factory and residents within its vicinity. In order to determine the level of heavy metal contamination in the arable lands located at the north eastern part of the factory, soils were sampled systematically. To find out the major reason for the occurrence of this problem, waters and aerosols were sampled with constant intervals to the upward and downward direction from the factory and were analyzed to find out the heavy metal concentrations. Cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) of the heavy metals were highly accumulated more than the Korean warning criteria (Cd 1.5, Zn 300 mg $kg^{-1}$) with mean values 1.7 and 407 mg $kg^{-1}$, respectively, at the surface soils (0-20 cm), and heavy metal concentration significantly decreased with increasing soil depth In addition, the concentration of both metals slightly decreased with increasing distance from the factory to the surface soils. Cadmium and Zn were detected in the upward stream water with low concentration and concentrations increased significantly in the downstream after passing across the factory. Aerosol samples also showed traces of Cd and Zn which could be attributed to the contamination of the water system and the surface soils. Conclusively, Cd and Zn emitted from the ${\triangle}{\triangle}$ smelting factory moved with the aerosol in the atmosphere and thus, contaminated the agricultural areas and the water system within it vicinity.