• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.120-125
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• 1999

This study was carried out to enhance the efficiency of bioleaching of heavy metals. copper and zinc from the soil samples obtained from mine tailings in Cho-il Mine located in Dan-Yang, Choong-Buk. The effects of medium (9 K) composition on the leaching efficiency were investigated by changing concentrations of the dominant components. phosphorus, nitrogen source. and energy source which are the most important factors governing the growth and multiplication of microorganism. The results of the bioleaching test at different phosphorus concentrations of medium, 0 mM. 3.0 mM, and 6.0 mM showed that leaching efficiency for zinc and copper was 98.8% and 47.5% respectively at 0 mM and decreased at higher phosphorus concentration 6.0 mM. In the bioleaching test of zinc and copper at 0 mM, 45 mM, and 90 mM nitrogen concentrations, the Highest efficiency of 85% and 46.4% was obtained for zinc and cooper respectively at 45 mM and the lower efficiency observed for 90mM nitrogen addition. The zinc and copper leaching with variation of energy source dosage showed the highest removal efficiency, 93% for zinc in the absence of energy source and 46.4% for copper at 160mM energy source.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.30-40
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• 2021

The present study investigates the bioleaching efficiencies of arsenic via contact and non-contact mechanisms. The attachment of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was restricted by a partition system comprising a semi-permeable membrane with a molecular weight cutoff of 12-14 kDa. The results were compared for two arsenic concentrations in the system (1.0% and 0.5% w/v) to maintain a homogeneous system. The overall bacterial performance was monitored by comparing total arsenic and iron concentrations, Fe ion speciation, pH, and solution redox potentials in flask bioleaching experiments over a period of 10 d. Our results indicated that bacterial attachment could increase arsenic extraction efficiency from 20.0% to 44.9% at 1.0 % solid concentrations. These findings suggest that the bacterial contact mechanism greatly influences arsenic bioleaching from mine tailings. Therefore, systems involving two-step or non-contact bioleaching are less effective than those involving one-step or contact bioleaching for the efficient extraction of arsenic from mine tailings.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.65-75
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• 1996

Sulfate reduction and the precipitation of metal sulfides may have great potential to improve water quality of mine effluents in wetland treatment systems. Laboratory experiments using sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and limestone to treat effluents from the abandoned Dalsung tungsten-copper mine show that encouraging results, that have been attributed to sulfate reduction. Fe, Al, Cd, Cu and Zn are reduced to below detection limits with $99{\sim}100%$ metal removal rates, Mn is reduced by at least 90% to below 8.0 mg/l, and the pH is raised from 5.12 to 7.60 after 53 days of experiments. In the staged design, laboratory experiments are initiated to determine what would be reasonable substrate materials for remediation of the mine effluents. A substrate mixture containing 70% oak compost and 30% mushroom compost maintains $0.03{\sim}0.04mM$ of lactate, which provides good condition for the SRB granule. A downflow SRB wetland system is proposed as follows : 1) The lower part of the treatment system consists with a 25 cm thick layer of high quality (above 95% of $CaCO_3$) of limestone; 2) The geotextile (geonet) is recommended to be spread on the limestone bed to prevent clogging the limestones with the substrates; 3) The mixture of substrates with 70% oak and 30% spent mushroom composts, and SRB granules overlain on top of the geonet with 25 cm height. The sizes of the passive treatment systems are calculated according to metal loading and permeability criteria : 1) $220m^3$ ($15{\times}15{\times}1m$) for -1 level effluents; 2) $28m^3$ ($5.3{\times}5.3{\times}1m$) for -2 level; and 3) $2700m^3$ ($52{\times}52{\times}1m$) for the -3 level. The -3 level system needs to be broken down into 5 to 15 cells.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.125-138
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• 2023

Most of previous cesium (Cs) sorbents have limitations on the treatment in the large-scale water system having low Cs concentration and high ion strength. In this study, the new Cs sorbent that is eco-friendly and has a high Cs removal efficiency was developed by improving the coal mine drainage treated sludge (hereafter 'CMDS') with the addition of Na and S. The sludge produced through the treatment process for the mine drainage originating from the abandoned coal mine was used as the primary material for developing the new Cs sorbent because of its high Ca and Fe contents. The CMDS was improved by adding Na and S during the heat treatment process (hereafter 'Na-S-CMDS' for the developed sorbent in this study). Laboratory experiments and the sorption model studies were performed to evaluate the Cs sorption capacity and to understand the Cs sorption mechanisms of the Na-S-CMDS. The physicochemical and mineralogical properties of the Na-S-CMDS were also investigated through various analyses, such as XRF, XRD, SEM/EDS, XPS, etc. From results of batch sorption experiments, the Na-S-CMDS showed the fast sorption rate (in equilibrium within few hours) and the very high Cs removal efficiency (> 90.0%) even at the low Cs concentration in solution (< 0.5 mg/L). The experimental results were well fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model, suggesting the mostly monolayer coverage sorption of the Cs on the Na-S-CMDS. The Cs sorption kinetic model studies supported that the Cs sorption tendency of the Na-S-CMDS was similar to the pseudo-second-order model curve and more complicated chemical sorption process could occur rather than the simple physical adsorption. Results of XRF and XRD analyses for the Na-S-CMDS after the Cs sorption showed that the Na content clearly decreased in the Na-S-CMDS and the erdite (NaFeS₂·2(H₂O)) was disappeared, suggesting that the active ion exchange between Na⁺ and Cs⁺ occurred on the Na-S-CMDS during the Cs sorption process. From results of the XPS analysis, the strong interaction between Cs and S in Na-S-CMDS was investigated and the high Cs sorption capacity was resulted from the binding between Cs and S (or S-complex). Results from this study supported that the Na-S-CMDS has an outstanding potential to remove the Cs from radioactive contaminated water systems such as seawater and groundwater, which have high ion strength but low Cs concentration.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.411-417
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• 1999

The interfacial chemical behavior, lattice exchange and dissolution, of $FeS_{(S)}$ as one of the important sulfide minerals was studied. Emphases were made on the surface characterization of hydrous $FeS_{(S)}$, the lattice exchange of Cu(II) and $FeS_{(S)}$, and its effect on the dissolution of $FeS_{(S)}$, and also affect some organic ligands on that of both Cu(II) and $FeS_{(S)}$. Cu(II) which has lower sulfide solubility in water than $FeS_{(S)}$ undergoes the lattice exchange reaction when Cu(II) ion contacts $FeS_{(S)}$ in the aqueous phase. For heavy metals which have higher sulfide solubilities in water than $FeS_{(S)}$, these metal ions were adsorbed on the surface of $FeS_{(S)}$. Such a reaction was interpreted by the solid solution formation theory. Phthalic acid(a weak chelate agent) and EDTA(a strong chelate agent) were used to demonstrate the effect of organic lignads on the lattice exchange reaction between Cu(II) and $FeS_{(S)}$. The $pH_{zpc}$ of $FeS_{(S)}$ is 7 and the effect of ionic strength is not showed. It can be expected that phthalic acid has little effect on the lattice exchange reaction between Cu(II) and $FeS_{(S)}$. whereas EDTA has very decreased the removal of Cu(II) and $FeS_{(S)}$. This study shows that stability of sulfide sediments was predicted by its solubility. The pH control of the alkaline-neutralization process to treat heavy metal in wastewater treatment process did not needed. Thereby, it was regarded as an optimal process which could apply to examine a long term stability of marshland closely in the treatment of heavy metal in wastewater released from a disussed mine.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.36-43
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• 2014

It comtained various kinds of heavy metal in beneficiatian tailing and in order to eliminate the heavy metals, various technologies have been researched, But there are a limits because many problems and restrictions are accompanied. Therefore, in this study, in order to solve this problem, It was performed gravity separation using melti-gravity seperator (MGS) to remove As contained in tailing, which can sort out even the fine particle. It was attempted a study to remove As, which is a kind of heavy metals, by MGS gravity separation and verified the impact by slope, wash water, pulp density, rotational speed and feed rate. In the results of performing gravity concentration under the condition with the MGS slope of $3^{\circ}$, wash water of 5 l/mm, pulp density of 30%, rotational speed of 208 rpm, and the feed rate of 265.24 g/mm, the As removal rate of 88.21% and yield of 92.25% were obtained.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1471-1480
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• 2020

This research presents a case study on the remediation of a radioactive waste (uranium: U) utilizing a multi-objective fuzzy optimization in an electrocoagulation process for the iron-stainless steel and aluminum-stainless steel anode/cathode systems. The incorporation of the cumulative uncertainty of result, operational cost and energy consumption are essential key elements in determining the feasibility of the developed model equations in satisfying specific maximum contaminant level (MCL) required by stringent environmental regulations worldwide. Pareto-optimal solutions showed that the iron system (0 ㎍/L U: 492 USD/g-U) outperformed the aluminum system (96 ㎍/L U: 747 USD/g-U) in terms of the retained uranium concentration and energy consumption. Thus, the iron system was further carried out in a multi-objective analysis due to its feasibility in satisfying various uranium standard regulatory limits. Based on the 30 ㎍/L MCL, the decision-making process via fuzzy logic showed an overall satisfaction of 6.1% at a treatment time and current density of 101.6 min and 59.9 mA/㎠, respectively. The fuzzy optimal solution reveals the following: uranium concentration - 5 ㎍/L, cumulative uncertainty - 25 ㎍/L, energy consumption - 461.7 kWh/g-U and operational cost based on electricity cost in the United States - 60.0 USD/g-U, South Korea - 55.4 USD/g-U and Finland - 78.5 USD/g-U.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.72-75
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• 2004

The potential of electrokinetic (EK) technology has been successfully demonstrated for the remediation of heavy metal contaminated fine-grained soils through laboratory scale and field application studies. Arsenic contamination in soil is a serious problem affecting both site use and groundwater quality. The EK technology was evaluated for the removal of arsenic from two soil samples: kaolinite clay artificially contaminated with arsenic and arsenic-bearing tailing soil taken from the Myungbong (MB) mining area. The effect of cathodic electrolyte on the process was investigated using three different types of electrolyte: deionized water (DIW), potassium phosphate (KH$_2$PO$_4$) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The result of experiments on the kaolinite clay shows that the potassium phosphate was most effective in extracting arsenic, probably resulting from anion exchange of arsenic species by phosphate. On the contrary, the sodium hydroxide seemed to be most efficient in removing arsenic from the tailing soil, and it is explained by the fact that sodium hydroxide increased the soil pH and accelerated ionic migration of arsenic species through increase in desorption and dissolution of arsenic species into pore water.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.8-18
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• 2013

Biocarrier beads with dead biomass, Bacillus drentensis, immobilized in polymer polysulfone were synthesized to remove heavy metals from wastewater. To identify the sorption mechanisms and theoretical nature of underlying processes, a series of batch experiments were carried out and a mathematical model was developed to quantify the biosorption of Pb(II) by the biocarrier beads. A series of mass balance equations for representing mass transfer of metal sorbents in biocarrier beads and surrounding solution were established. Major model parameters such as external mass transfer coefficient and maximum sorption capacity, etc. were determined from pseudo-first-order kinetic models and Langmuir isotherm model based on kinetic and equilibrium experimental measurements. The model simulation displays reasonable representations of experimental data and implied that the proposed model can be applied to quantitative analysis on biosorption mechanisms by porous granular beads. The simulation results also confirms that the biosorption of heavy metal by the biocarrier beads largely depended on surface adsorption.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.39-44
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• 1993

This study was carried out to remove the water from low grade anthracite slurry produced at Eoryong coal mine by the oil agglomeration process. 80% of Anthracite as a coal oil mixture (COM) was separated from water by the difference of specific gravity. Then, the amount of kerosene, diesel oil, and heavy oil forming COM was 10% of the amount of sample, respectively. The recovery rate of combustibles and ash content of agglomerated anthracite were affected largely by the amount of added oil, pulp density, particle size, mixing time, and impeller speed. The recovery rate of combustibles was increased to 95% and ash content was decrea-sed from 30% to 13.5% under the optimum conditions.