• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.65-74
• /
• 1998

To enhance the washing efficiency of soil polluted by hydrophobic organic compounds, the effects of electrolytes and monomeric organic additives on micelle formation and washing efficiency of mixed surfactant solutions were investigated in this study. The surface tensions and critical micelle concentrations(CMCs) of the single and mixed surfactant solutions[$POE_5$/SDS] supplemented by NaCl were measured to investigate the effects on washing efficiency, and the composition ratios of surfactants and NaCl were optimized for the efficient soil washing system. As the mixing ratio of $POE_5$/SDS was increased to 80%, the mixed surfactant with 0.01M NaCl showed more proportional increase of washing efficiency than the mixed surfactant without any salts. The 3% solution of $POE_5$ and SDS(80%/2o%) with 0.01M NaCl showed the washing efficiency of 90%. However, the washing efficiency was not enhanced by NaCl addition to the single surfactant solution of $POE_5$. The CMC of SDS(0.049%) was higher than that of $POE_5$(0.016%), but the CMCs of mixed surfactants were decreased as the mixing ratio of $POE_5$ was increased. Alcohols having longer chain and branched carbon chain were found to be desirable for the soil washing additives.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.33-44
• /
• 2009

The objective of the study was to develop a hybrid technology integrating biological and physicochemical technologies to efficiently remediate arsenic contaminated lands such as abandoned mine area. The tailing soil samples contaminated with As at a high level were obtained from Songchon abandoned mine, and the content of arsenic and heavy metals as well as physicochemical properties and mineral composition were investigated. In addition, two sets of sequential extraction methods were applied to analyze chemical speciations of arsenic and heavy metals to expect their leachability and mobility in geoenvironment. Based on these geochemical data of arsenic and heavy metal contaminants, column-type experiments on the bioleaching of arsenic were undertaken. Subsequently, experiments on the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching and electrokinetics were accomplished and its removal efficiency of arsenic was compared with that of the individual electrokinetic process. With the results, finally, the feasibilty of the hybrid technnology was evaluated. The arsenic removal efficiencies of the individual electrokinetic process (44 days) and the hybrid process incorporating bioleaching (28 days) and electrokinetics (16 dyas) were measured 57.8% and 64.5%, respectively, when both two processes were operated in an identical condition. On the contrary, the arsenic removal efficiency during the bioleaching process (28 days) appeared relatively lower (11.8%), and the result indicates that the bioleaching process enhanced the efficacy of the electrokinetic process as a result of mobilization of arsenic rather than removed arsenic by itself. In particular, the arsenic removal rate of the electrokinetics integrated with bioleaching was observed over than 2 times larger than that obtained by the electrokinetics alone. From the results of the study, if the bioleaching which is considered a relatively economic process is applied sufficiently prior to electrokinetics, the removal efficiency and rate of arsenic can be significantly improved. Consequently, the study proves the feasibility of the hybrid process integrating both technologies.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.35-42
• /
• 2005

This research was investigated the applicability of the biofiltration technology for the removal of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) produced from the bioremediation of oil contaminated soil. Diesel was used as surrogate for oil and, two types of biofilter systems made of ceramic and polymer media were compared for the removal efficiencies of diesel VOCs at different inlet concentrations and space velocity (SV) conditions. During the first 30-d operation, the removal efficiencies of the biofilter packed with polymer and the biofilter packed with ceramic were investigated at constant SV of $153\;h^{-1}$ When inlet concentrations of diesel VOCs were below 10 ppmv, the average removal efficiencies of the polymer biofilter and the ceramic biofilter were average $67\%\;and\;75\%$, respectively. When the inlet concentration increased to 30 ppmv, the VOC removal efficiency in the polymer biofilter was $80\%$, while the average removal efficiency in the ceramic biofilter was $60\%. Effect of the inlet concentration and SV on the removal efficiency of total diesel VOCs was investigated. As SV increased from $153\;h^{-1}$ to $204\;h^{-1}$ and $306\;h^{-1}$, the removal efficiency of total diesel VOCs was decreased gradually. The average removal efficiency of the biofilter packed with polymer carrier was decreased from $82\%\;to\;80\%\;and\;77\%$. The biofilter packed with polymer carrier showed that the removal efficiency of benzene and toluene were maintained within the range of $81\%\~86\%$. In contrast, for the biofilter packed with ceramic carrier, when SV increased from $153\;h^{-1}$ to $204\;h^{-1}$ and $306\;h^{-1}$, the removal efficiency of benzene decreased from $87\%\;to79\%\;and\;74\% . respectively. The removal efficiency of toluene decreased from $80\%\;to\;77\%\;and\;76\%$ at SV of $153\;h^{-1},\;204\;h^{-1}\;and\;306\;h^{-1}$, and $306\;h^{-1}$, respectively.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.31-39
• /
• 2002

Pollutants from industry, mining, agriculture, and other sources have contaminated sediments in many surface water bodies. Sediment contamination poses a severe threat to human health and environment because many toxic contaminants that are barely detectable in the water column can accumulate in sediments at much higher levels. The purpose of this study was to make optimal treatment and disposal plan o( sediment for water quality improvement in small-scale resevoir based on an evaluation of degree of contamination. The degree of contamination were investigated for 23 samples of 9 site at different depth of sediment in small-scale J river. Results for analysis of contaminated sediments were observed that copper concentration of 4 samples were higher than the regulation of hazardous waste (3 mg/L) and that of all samples were exceeded soil pollution warning levels for agricultural areas. Lead and mercury concentration of all samples were detected below both regulations. Necessary of sediment dredge was evaluated for organic matter and nutrient through standard levels of Paldang lake and the lower Han river in Korea and Tokyo bay and Yokohama bay in Japan. The degree of contamination for organic matter and nutrient was not serious. Compared standard levels of Japan, America, and Canada for heavy metal, contaminated sediment was concluded as lowest effect level or limit of tolerance level because standard levels of America and Canada was established worst effect of benthic organisms. The optimal treatment method of sediment contained heavy metal was cement-based solidification/stabilization to prevent heavy metal leaching.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.101-110
• /
• 2013

Due to the large specific surface area and great reactivity toward environmental contaminants, nanocrystalline mackinawite (FeS) has been widely applied for the remediation of contaminated groundwater and soil. Furthermore, nanocrystalline FeS is rather thermodynamically stable against anoxic corrosion, and its reactivity can be regenerated continuously by the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria. However, nanocrystalline mackinawite is prone to either spread out along the groundwater flow or cause pore clogging in aquifers by particle aggregation. Accordingly, this mineral should be modified for the application of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). In this study, coating methods were investigated by which mackinawite nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of alumina or activated alumina. The amount of FeS coating was found to significantly vary with pH, with the highest amount occurring at pH ~6.9 for both minerals. At this pH, the surfaces of mackinawite and alumina (or activated alumina) were oppositely charged, with the resultant electrostatic attraction making the coating highly effective. At this pH, the coating amounts by alumina and activated alumina were 0.038 and 0.114 $mmol{\cdot}FeS/g$, respectively. Under anoxic conditions, arsenite sorption experiments were conducted with uncoated alumina, uncoated activated alumina, and both minerals coated with FeS at the optimal pH for comparison of their reactivity. Uncoated activated alumina showed the higher arsenite removal compared to uncoated alumina. Notably, the arsenite sorption capacity of activated alumina was little changed by the coating with FeS. This might be attributed to the abundance of highly reactive hydroxyl functional groups (${\equiv}$AlOH) on the surface of activated alumina, making the arsenite sorption by the coated FeS unnoticeable. In contrast, the arsenite sorption capacity of alumina was found to increase substantially by the FeS coating. This was due to the consumption of the surface hydroxyl functional groups on the alumina surface and the subsequent occurrence of As(III) sorption by the coated FeS. Alumina, on the surface area basis, has about 8 times higher FeS coating amount and higher As(III) sorption capacity than silica. This study indicates that alumina is a better candidate than silica for the coating of nanocrystalline mackinawite.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.33-42
• /
• 2000

Adsorption onto the surfaces of solid particles is a well known phenomenon that causes the retardation effect of heavy metals in soils. For adequate remediation of soil and groundwater contamination, it is important to investigate the mobility of heavy metals that largely depends on pH conditions in the soil water since adsorption of heavy metals is pH-dependent. In this study, we investigated the transport of Zn ion under various pH conditions in a sandy soil by conducting batch and column tests. The batch test was performed using the standard procedure of equilibrating fine fractions collected from the soil with eleven different initial $ZnCl_2$ concentrations, and analysis of Zn ion in the equilibrated solutions using ICP-AES. The column test consisted of monitoring the concentrations of soil solutions exiting the soil column with time known as a breakthrough curve (BTC). We injected respectively $ZnCl_2$ and KCl solutions with the concentration of 10 g/L as a tracer in a square pulse type under three different pH conditions (7.7, 5.8, 4.1) and monitored the flux concentration at the exit boundary using an EC meter and ICP-AES. The resident concentration was also monitored at the 10cm-depth by Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR). The results of batch test showed that ion exchange process between Zn and other cations (Ca, Mg) was predominant. The retardation coefficients obtained from adsorption isotherms (Linear, Freundlich, Langmuir) resulted in the various values ranging from 1.2 to 614.1. No retardation effect but ion exchange was found for the BTCs under all pH conditions. This can be explained by the absence of other cations to desorb Zn ion from soil exchange sites under the conditions of ETC experiment imposing blank water as leachate in steady-state flow. As pH decreased, the peak concentration of Zn increased due to the competition of Zn with hydrogen ions ($H^+$) and the concentrations of other cations decreased. The peak concentration of Zn was increased by 12.7 times as pH decreased from 7.7 to 4.1.