• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.177-189
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• 2003

The main purposes of this study are to utilize mineralogical studies such as optical microscope, XRD and SEM/EDS analyses to characterize the oxidation of sulfide minerals and the mechanisms controlling the movement of dissolved metals from waste rocks at the abandoned Seobo mine. Mineralogical research of the waste rocks confirms the presence of anglesite, covellite, goethite, native sulfur and nsutite as secondary minerals, suggesting that these phases control the dissolved concentrations of As, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb and Zn. The dissolved metals are precipitated, adsorbed and/or coprecipitated with(or within) Fe(Mn)-hydroxides and Mn(Fe)-hydroxides. The main phases of secondary mineral, Fe-hydroxide, can be classified as amorphous or poorly crystalline and more crystallized phases(e.g. goethite) by crystallinity. Amorphous or poorly crystalline Fe-hydroxide has relatively high As contents(9-24 wt.%). This poorly crystalline Fe-hydroxide changes toward more crystallized phase(e.g. goethite) which contains relatively low As(0.6-7.7 wt.%). These results are mainly due to the progressive release of As with the crystallization evolution of the As-trapping poorly crystalline Fe-hydroxides. It is also attributed to the differences of specific surface areas between the poorly crystalline Fe-hydroxides and well crystallized phases. The dissolved metals from waste rocks at Seobo mine area are naturally attenuated by a series of precipitation(as Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb), coprecipitation(Fe, Mn) and adsorption(As, Cu, Pb, An) reactions. The results of mineralogical researches permit to assess the environmental impacts of mine waste rocks in the areas, and can be used as a useful data to lay available mine restoration plan.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.545-554
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• 2017

Birnessite is one of the dominant Mn (oxyhydr)oxide phases commonly found in soil and deep ocean environments. It typically occurs as nano-sized and poorly crystalline aggregates in the natural environment. It is well known that birnessite participates in a wide variety of bio/geochemical reactions as a reactive mineral phase with structural defects, cation vacancies, and mixed valences of structural Mn. These various bio/geochemical reactions control not only the fate and transport of inorganic and organic substances in the environment, but also the formation of diverse Mn (oxyhydr)oxides through birnessite transformation. This review assessed and discussed about the phase transformation of birnessite under a wide range of environmental conditions and about the potential geochemical factors controlling the corresponding reactions in the literature. Birnessite transformation to other types of Mn (oxyhydr)oxides were affected by dissolved Mn(II), dissolved oxygen, solution pH, and co-existing cation (i.e., $Mg^{2+}$). However, there still have been many issues to be unraveled on the complex bio/geochemical processes involved in the phase transformation of birnessite. Future work on the detail mechanisms of birnessite transformation should be further investigated.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.39 no.2 s.177
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• pp.151-162
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• 2006

Characteristics and changes of groundwater qualify were investigated in a riverbank filtration area at Daesan-myeon, Changwon City, Korea. The total dissolved solids (TDS) in groundwater samples collected in October were much less than that in March, indicating the mixing with recharged water from precipitation, as well as the changes of dissolved oxygen profiles at monitoring wells from March to October. Redox processes at depths appeared to trigger Fe and Mn contamination of groundwater in riverbank deposits. Amorphous oxyhydroxides md carbonate minerals such as $MnCO_3$ were probably the reactive phases for dissolved Fe and Mn, respectively. Groundwater contamination by nitrate-nitrogen $(NO_3-N)$ was controlled by the redox processes and subsequent denitrification at the sampled depths. Distribution of $NO_3-N$ concentrations at monitoring wells suggested that the nitrate contaminants were originated from agricultural facilities on the riverbank deposits. Some of monitoring wells, DS-2, D-2, DS-3, SJ-1, and SJ-3, were only partially penetrated into the sand/gravel aquifer, and subsequently, could not fully function to detect the water quality changes for the pumping wells. Proper measures, with regulating agricultural activities in the riverbank deposits, should be carried out to prevent groundwater contamination of the riverbank filtration area.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.633-640
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• 2008

In this research, the $3.6m^3/day$ scale pilot plant consisting preozonation, coagulation, flocculation, and ceramic membrane processes was operated for long term period to evaluate the validity of ceramic membrane filtration process for treating lake water containing high concentration manganese. The higher concentration of dissolved manganese($Mn^{2+}$) was effectively oxidized to the bigger insoluble colloidal manganese ($MnO^2$) by 1~2 mg/L ozone. The colloidal manganese reacted with coagulant (poly aluminium chloride, PAC) and then formed the big floc. Ceramic membrane rejected effectively manganese floc during membrane filtration. Dissolved organic carbon(DOC) removal was dependent upon $Mn^{2+}$ concentration. While average $Mn^{2+}$ concentration was 0.43 and 0.85 mg/L in raw water, DOC removal rate in preozonation was 26.5 and 13.5%, respectively. The decrease rate of membrane permeability was faster without preozonation than with preozonation while membrane fouling decreased with NOM oxidation by ozone. In conclusion, raw water containing high concentration of manganese can be effectively treated in preozonation-coagulation-ceramic membrane filtration system.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.725-731
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• 2010

This study was to evaluate the ozone oxidation of dissolved Fe, Mn, $SO{_4}^{2-}$ ions and color in abandoned mining drainage by conducting a bench-scale operation at various reaction times in an ozone reactor. The influent was collected from an abandoned mine drainage (AMD) near the J Mine in Jungsungun, Kangwon Province. The ozone reactor was operated at ozone reaction times of 10, 20 and 30 min with ozone doses of 0.0 and $2.4g\;O_3/hr$. Samples from each effluent from subsequent sand filtration were regularly collected and analyzed for pH, Fe, Mn, Al, Cr, Hg, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, alkalinity, color, ORP, TDS and EC. The effluent concentrations of Fe and Mn from the sand filter were less than 0.1 mg/L, which were below the concentrations on Korean drinking water quality standards (Fe, Mn < 0.30 mg/L). The influent $SO{_4}^{2-}$, concentrations were not noticeably changed during this ozone oxidation. Cr and Hg in the raw wastewater from the abandoned mining drainage were not detected in this study. The experimental result shows that the ozone oxidation of dissolved heavy metals and subsequent sand filtration of metal precipitates are desirable alternative for removing heavy metals in AMD.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.969-975
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• 2010

Estimating the organic matter loadings from individual treated sewage has become important for establishment of effective management strategies to control refractory organic matter (R-OM) in watersheds. For this study, regression equations were constructed using treated sewage data to convert the chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations, which are mostly available from open database, into total organic carbon (TOC) and R-OM concentrations. Effluent samples were collected from five major sewage treatment plants (STPs) located upstream of the lake Paldang. Variations in the OM concentrations were not associated with either the location of the STP or the sampling season. The effluent investigated were characterized by higher ratio of R-OM with respect to biodegradable organic matter (B-OM) and higher presence of dissolved organic matters (DOM) versus particulate organic matter (POM). Compared to $COD_{Mn}$, $COD_{Cr}$ exhibited higher oxidation efficiencies and greater variations in the concentrations. The concentrations of $COD_{Mn}$ were positively correlated with dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total organic carbon (TOC), and R-OM concentrations. There was nearly no seasonal and annual variation in the regression equations between $COD_{Mn}$ and TOC or R-OM concentrations. The constructed regression equations for TOC and R-OM were $0.650({\pm}0.071){\times}COD_{Mn}+1.426({\pm}0.575)$ and $0.340({\pm}0.083){\times}COD_{Mn}+2.054({\pm}0.670)$, respectively. The established equations are expected to contribute to estimating OM loadings from the STPs into the lake Paldang and also to compensating for the deficiency of the data for effluent OM concentrations in STP.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.2529-2534
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• 2012

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) coated Manganese Dioxide (PEDOT/$MnO_2$) composite electrode was fabricated by simply immersing the $MnO_2$ electrode in an acidic aqueous solution containing 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomers. Analysis of open-circuit potential of the $MnO_2$ electrode in the solution indicates the reduction of outer surface of $MnO_2$ to dissolved $Mn^{2+}$ ions and simultaneously oxidation of EDOT monomer to PEDOT on the $MnO_2$ surface to form a PEDOT shell via a galvanic displacement reaction. Analysis of cyclic voltammograms and specific capacitance of the PEDOT/$MnO_2$, conductive carbon added $MnO_2$ and conductive carbon added PEDOT/$MnO_2$ electrodes suggests that the conductive carbon acted mainly to provide a continuous conducting path in the electrode to improve the rate capability and the PEDOT layer on $MnO_2$ acts to increase the active reaction site of $MnO_2$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.302-307
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• 2012

Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) such as O3/activated carbon process and O3/catalysts process were used to compare the decomposition of phenol. Catalysts such as Pd/activated carbon (Pd/AC), Mn/activated carbon (Mn/AC), Co/activated carbon (Co/AC) and Fe/activated carbon (Fe/AC) were prepared by impregnation of Pd, Mn, Co and Fe into the activated carbon of pellet form, respectively. Based on an hour of reactions, the following descending order for the decomposition ratios of dissolved O3 to the 1.48 mg/L of saturated dissolved O3 was observed: Mn/AC (45%) > Pd/AC (42%) > Co/AC (33%) > AC (31%) > Fe/AC (27%). The removal efficiencies of phenol were also arranged in the descending order of AOP as follows: Mn/AC (89%) > Pd/AC (85%) > Co/AC (77%) > AC (76%) > Fe/AC (71%). The remaining ratios (C/Co) of TOC (total organic carbon) after an hour of experiments were arranged in the ascending order of AOP as follows : Pd/AC (0.29) < Mn/AC (0.36) < AC (0.40) < Co/AC (0.49) < Fe/AC (0.51). However, the catalytic effects in the Co/AC and the Fe/AC processes were little in comparison with O3/AC process. The maximum concentrations of intermediates such as hydroquinone and catechol formed from the decomposition of phenol were arranged in the ascending order of AOP as follows: Pd/AC < Fe/AC < Co/AC < AC < Mn/AC. In the case of Pd/AC process, these intermediates were almost disappeared after an one hour of reaction.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2015

Advanced high strength steels undergo recrystallization annealing in reducing gas atmosphere before galvanizing to improve mechanical properties. The selective oxidations of elements such as Mn, Si, Cr and Al during annealing decrease wettability of liquid zinc, resulting in bare spots and other defects. In this work, Fe-3wt%Mn steel sheet was annealed at $780^{\circ}C$ for 1200 sec. in 5% $H_2-N_2$ atmosphere and then dipped into zinc bath held at $460^{\circ}C$, which contained 0.2wt% dissolved Al. MnO crystallines in the average size of 200 nm were formed on the surface after annealing. It is estimated that MnO has been detached into bath with the formation and growth of inhibition layer with longer immersion time during galvanizing. No evidence of aluminothermic reduction of MnO has been found in this study.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.73-80
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• 2013

Fine suspended solids from coal mine drainage were treated in the treating plant, using two different pilot-scale inclined clarifiers: radial and lamella types. Suspended solids in the mine drainage were monitored along with other geochemical factors, and metal contents. Fe and Mn are the main chemical components in the drainage, which exist predominantly as total metal forms, whereas dissolved portion is negligible. The raw mine drainage is subject to physical and chemical treatment using $CaCO_3$ and NaOH, therefore the suspended solids are thought to be composed of Fe and Mn precipitates, possibly $Fe(OH)_3$, along with carbonate precipitates. The elemental composition of precipitates are confirmed by SEM-EDS analysis. As nearly all the dissolved ions were precipitated in the primary process by $CaCO_3$, no further aeration or prolonged oxygenation are of necessity in this plant. Adoption of inclined clarifier proved to be effective in treating fine suspended solids in the current plant. Successful application of the inclined clarifier will also be beneficial to improve the current treating process by excluding the current application of chemical agent in the first stage. The final effluents from the pilot plant meet the national standards and the low dissolved Fe and Mn contents are expected not to cause secondary precipitation after discharge.