• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.38-44
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• 2023

Leaching tests were conducted using sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide solutions to remove impurities from domestic graphite concentrate. As a result of the leaching experiment using sulfuric acid solution and sodium hydroxide solution, respectively, the difference of removal efficiency was insignificant when the concentration of sodium hydroxide or sulfuric acid was 2 mol/L or more. The fixed carbon content increased with increasing the temperature in the sulfuric acid solution leaching, while it remains constant above 150℃ in sodium hydroxide solution. For the repeated sequential leaching tests, the leaching conditions were 2 mol/L NaOH, 200℃, 1 hour in the sodium hydroxide solution leaching and 2 mol/L H₂SO₄, 100℃, 1 hour in the sulfuric acid solution leaching, respectively. When sulfuric acid leaching followed by sodium hydroxide solution leaching was repeated 5 times, the fixed carbon increased to 99.95% and ash content decreased to 0.048%, while the fixed carbon increased to 99.98% and ash content was reduced to 0.018 when sodium hydroxide solution leaching followed by sulfuric acid solution leaching was repeated 5 times.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.485-492
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• 2011

Sorption of cyanide on granular activated carbon and attenuation of the cyanide by UV-light over a wide range of conditions such as pH and concentration were investigated through batch experiments. Cyanide uptake by activated carbon is much effective at $[CN]_{ini}$ < 2 mg/L. The sorption of cyanide on activated carbon at pH 7.0 is greater than that of pH 9.0. It is found that the ratio of CN uptake to CN in solution increases at pH 9.0 whereas at pH 7.0 the ratio decreases, suggesting that reactivity of activated carbon increases as a function of pH. The sorption of cyanide rapidly increases during the first 30 min, followed by sharp desorption until 3hr, and then the sorption increases and reaches the maximum sorption during the duration of experiments, implying that the sorption mode could be changed through conformational change during the initial stage of the cyanide uptake by activated carbon. Total amount of cyanide desorbed from the activated carbon during the period of desorption experiments is less than 1.5% of total sorbed cyanide, indicative of strong and stable sorption of cyanide on the activated carbon. The sorption with mixture of activated carbon and Ham-Baek sludge shows less effective on the removal of the cyanide. It is noted that UV-light is much effective on the removal of cyanide but also the attenuation is achieved until $[CN]_{tot}$ is up to 10 mg/L. Our findings demonstrate that both activated carbon and UV-light are very effective on the attenuation of cyanide over a wide range of environmental conditions.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.81-87
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• 2008

In accompany with the transfer of US army bases, recent surveys reported serious contamination of soils by the release of petroleum from storage facilities and heavy metals accumulated in rifle-ranges. These problems have made an increased concerns of cleanup technology for contaminated soils. In this study, a full-scale soil washing process improved by multistage continuous desorption and agitational desorption techniques was examined for petroleum-contaminated soils obtained from three different remedial sites that contained 29.3, 16.6, and 7.8% of silt and clay, respectively. The initial concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) were 5,183, 2,560, and 4,860 mg/kg for each soil. Pure water was applied to operate washing process, in which water used for washing process was recycled 100% for over 6 months. The results of full-scale washing tests showed that the TPH concentrations for soils (> 3.0 mm) were 50${\sim}$356 mg/kg (85.2${\sim}$98.2% removal rates), regardless of the contents of silt and clay from in A, B and C soil, when the soils were washed at 3.0 kg/$cm^2$ of injection pressure with the method of wet particle separation. Based on the initial TPH concentration, the TPH removal rates for each site were 85.2, 98.2 and 89.9%. For soils in the range of 3.0${\sim}$0.075 mm, the application of first-stage desorption technique as a physical method resulted 834, 1,110, and 1,460 mg/kg of TPH concentrations for each soil, also additional multi-stage continuous desorption reduced the TPH concentration to 330, 385, and 245 mg/kg that were equivalent to 92.4, 90.6, and 90.1% removal rates, respectively. The result of multi-stage continuous desorption for fine soil (0.075${\sim}$0.053 mm) were 791, 885, and 1,560 mg/kg, and additional agitation desorption showed 428, 440, and, 358 mg/kg of TPH concentrations. Compared with initial concentration, the removal rates were 92.0, 93.9 and 92.9%, respectively. These results implied we could apply strategic process of soil washing for varies types of contaminated soils to meet the regulatory limit of TPH.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.301-310
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• 2023

Ferrihydrite is an iron oxide mineral that is easily found in the natural environment, including acid mine drainage, and has a low crystallinity and high specific surface area, resulting in high reactivity with other ions, and can remove environmentally hazardous substances. However, because ferrihydrite is a metastable mineral, there is a possibility of releasing adsorbed ions by phase transformation to other minerals having low surface area and high crystallinity. In this study, the adsorption characteristics of arsenate, chromate, and selenate on ferrihydrite and the oxyanion removal efficiency of ferrihydrite were studied considering mineral phase transformation. At both pH 4 and 8, the adsorption of oxyanions used in the study were in good agreement with both Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models except for selenate at pH 8. Due to the difference in surface charge according to pH, at pH 4 a higher amount of ions were adsorbed than at pH 8. The adsorption amount were in the order of arsenate, chromate, and selenate. These different adsorption models and adsorption amounts were due to different adsorption mechanisms for each oxyanions on the surface of ferrihydrite. These adsorption characteristics were closely related to changes in the mineral phase. At pH 4, a phase transformation to goethite or hematite was observed, but only a phase transformation to hematite was observed at pH 8. Among the oxyanion species on ferrihydrite, arsenate showed the highest adsorption capacity and hardly caused phase transformation during the experimental period after adsorption. Contrary to this, chromate and selenate showed faster mineral phase transformation than arsenate, and selenate had the lowest retardation effect among the three oxyanions. Ferrihydrite can effectively remove arsenate due to its high adsorption capacity and low phase transformation rate. However, the removal efficiency for other two oxyanions were low by the low adsorption amount and additional mineral phase transformation. For chromate, the efficient removal is expected only at low concentrations in low pH environments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.78-86
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• 2009

Applicability of CaO and steel slag as stabilizers in the treatment of field and paddy soils near Pungjeong mine contaminated with arsenic and cationic heavy metals was investigated from batch and column experiments. Immobilization of heavy metals was evaluated by TCLP dissolution test. Immobility of heavy metal ions was less than 15% when steel slag alone was used. This result suggests that $Fe_2O_3$ and $SiO_2$, known as the major component of steel slag, have little effect for the immobilization of heavy metal ions due to acidity of TCLP solution. Immobilization of cationic heavy metals was little affected by the ratio of CaO and steel slag while arsenic removal was increased as the ratio of steel slag to CaO increased. In the column test, concentrations of both arsenic and cationic heavy metals in effluents were below the water discharge guideline over the entire reaction period. This result can be explained by the immobilization of cationic heavy metals from the increased pH in soil solution as well as by the formation of insoluble $Ca_3(AsO_4)_2$. From this work, it is possible to suggest that arsenic and cationic heavy metals can be concurrently stabilized by application of both CaO and steel slag.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.223-233
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• 2010

The effects of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on adsorption and redox state alteration of dissolved As, Cr and U were investigated through batch experiments. Surfaces of bacterial cells were either vigorously washed or unwashed. Solutions of As(V), Cr(VI) and U(VI) were inoculated with the bacterial cells under no nutrient condition, and total aqueous concentrations and redox state alteration were monitored over time. No As adsorption occurred onto bacteria or EPS; however, unwashed bacteria reduced about 60% As(V) to As(III). Unwashed bacteria also led to removal of 45% total dissolved Cr and reduction of 64% Cr(VI). About 80% U(VI) was removed from solution with unwashed bacteria as well. Such electrochemical reduction of the elements was likely due to reducing capacity of EPS itself or detoxifying reduction of the bacteria which kept their viability under protection of EPS. The results indicated that bacterial biofilm may significantly control the redox state and subsequent mobility of As, Cr and U in natural geologic settings.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.68-74
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• 2005

This study was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of field-scale sequential soil washing process for remediation on Kyongsangnamdo D mine soils which was heavily contaminated by arsonic. Arsenic concentration of untreated soils was $321\pm32mg/kg$. By applying the basic operating condition which was proposed from several pilot-scale experiments, arsenic concentration of treated soils was reduced 2.04 mg/kg ($99\%$ removal efficiency). We optimized the basic operating condition (mainly on washing solution concentration, cut-off size, and mixing ratio) to improve efficiently and economically the field-scale sequential soil washing process. The resulting optimized conditions were that solution concentration is 0.2M HCl, 1.0M HCl, 1.0M NaOH, that the cut-off size is 0.15mm (seive $\sharp$100), and that the mixing ratio is 1 3. Also, the optimized pH value for soil washing effluent treatment was 6 (33 ppb), in which the precipitation disruption caused by supersaturation of the floe did not occur. Results of TCLP tests showed that arsenic concentration from the washed gravels was 1.043 mg/L, that from soils ND (not detected), and that from filter cakes 0.066 mg/L. Also, the water content as a percentage of dewatered sludges was low $(48\%)$ and so the dewatered sludges can be disposed by landfilling. Through these results, we can concluded that tile field-scale sequential soil washing process developed in this study is adopted for remediation of arsenic-contaminated soils.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 1997

This study was performed to develop the biological treatment technology of wastewater polluted with heavy metals. The copper-tolerant bacteria, Pseudomonas stutzeri which possessed the ability to accumulate copper, was isolated from mine wastewaters polluted with various heavy metals. The characteristics of copper accumulation in the cells and the recovery of the copper from the cells accumulating zinc, were investigated. Removal rate of copper from the solution containing 100mg/l of copper by copper-tolerant bacteria was more than 78% at 2 days after inoculation with the cells. A large number of the electron-dense granules were found mainly on the cell wall and cell membrane fractions, when determined by transmission electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed that the electron-dense granules were copper complex with the substances binding copper. The copper accumulated into the cells was not desorbed by deistilled water, but more than 80% of the copper accumulated was desorbed by 0.1M-EDTA solution. The residues of the cells after combustion at $550^{\circ}C$ amounted to about 23.2% of the dry weight of the cells. EDS analysis showed that residues were relatively pure copper compound containing more than 78.4% of copper.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.401-418
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• 2000

1. Production of the artificial zeolite from coal ash Coal fly ash is mainly composed of several oxides including $SiO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ derived from inorganic compounds remained after burning. As minor components, $Fe_2O_3$ and oxides of Mg, Ca, P, Ti (trace) are also contained in the ash. These components are presented as glass form resulting from fusion in the process of the combustion of coal. In other word, coal ash may refer to a kind of aluminosilicate glass that is known to easily change to zeolite-like materials by hydrothermal reaction. Lots of hot seawater is disposing near thermal power plants after cooling turbine generator periodically. Using seawater in the hydrothermal reaction caused to produce low price artificial zeolite by reduction of sodium hydroxide consumption, heating energy and water cost. As coal ash were reacted hydrothermally, peaks of quartz and mullite in the ash were weakened and disappeared, and new Na-Pl peaks were appeared strengthily. Si-O-Si bonding of the bituminous coal ash was changed to Si-O-Al (and $Fe^{3+}$) bonding by the reaction. Therefore the produced Na-Pl type zeolite had high CEC of 276.7 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$ and well developed molecular sieve structure with low concentration of heavy metals. 2. Utilization of the artificial zeolite in agro-environment The artificial zeolite(1g) could remove 123.5 mg of zinc, 164.7 mg copper, 184.4 mg cadmium and 350.6 mg lead in the synthetic wastewater. The removability is higher 2.8 times in zinc, 3.3 times in copper, 4.7 times in cadmium and 4.8 times in lead than natural zeolite and charcoal powder. When the heavy metals were treated at the ratio of 150 $kg{\cdot}ha^{-1}$ to the rice plant, various growth inhibition were observed; brownish discoloration and death of leaf sheath, growth inhibition in culm length, number of panicles and grains, grain ripening and rice yield. But these growth inhibition was greatly alleviated by the application of artificial zeolite, therefore, rice yield increased $1.1{\sim}3.2$ times according to the metal kind. In addition, the concentration of heavy metals in the brown rice also lowered by $27{\sim}75%$. Artificial Granular Zeolites (AGZ) was developed for the purification of wastewater. Canon exchange capacity was 126.8 $cmol^+{\cdot}kg^{-1}$. AGZ had Na-Pl peaks mainly with some minor $C_3S$ peaks in X-ray diffractogram. In addition, AGZs had various pore structure that may be adhere the suspended solid and offer microbiological niche to decompose organic pollutants. AGZ could remove ammonium, orthophosphate and heavy metals simultaneously. Mixing ratio of artificial zeolite in AGZs was related positively with removal efficiency of $NH_4\;^+$ and negatively with that of $PO_4\;^{3-}$. Root growth of rice seedling was inhibited severely in the mine wastewater because of strong acidity and high concentration of heavy metals. As AGZ(1 kg) stayed in the wastewater(100L) for 4days, water quality turned into safely for agricultural usage and rice seedlings grew normally.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.299-308
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• 2015

The six natural zeolites collected in Pohang area, Kyungsangbuk-do, Korea, were characterized by XRD, XRF, DTA, TGA, and CEC analysis. The primary species of these zeolite are modenite, albite, and quarts in Kuryongpo-A (Ku-A), Kuryongpo-B (Ku-B), Kuryongpo-C (Ku-C), Donghae-A (Dh-A), Donghae-B (Dh-B), and Donghae-C (Dh-C) samples. The XRF analysis showed that the six zeolites contain Si, Al, Na, K, Mg, Ca, and Fe. Cation exchange capacity of Kuryongpo-C (Ku-C) zeolite was the highest compared to other zeolites. The capabilities of removing heavy metal ions such as $Pb^{2+}$, $Cd^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$ were compared. The effect of reaction time in removing heavy metal ions was studied. The experimental results showed that the efficiency of removal was low for $Pb^{2+}$, $Cd^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$ ions. These may be caused by the low content of zeolite in the six natural zeolites. This indicates that the adsorption capacity roughly tends to depend on the zeoite contents, ie., the grade of zeolite ore.