• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.48-59
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• 2023

Ground-level ozone affects human health and plant growth. Ozone is produced by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from anthropogenic and biogenic sources. In this study, two different land cover and emission factor datasets were input to the MEGAN v2.1 emission model to examine how these parameters contribute to the biogenic emissions and ozone production. Four input sensitivity scenarios (A, B, C and D) were generated from land cover and vegetation emission factors combination. The effects of BVOCs emissions by scenario were also investigated. From air quality modeling result using CAMx, maximum 1 hour ozone concentrations were estimated 62 ppb, 60 ppb, 68 ppb, 65 ppb, 55 ppb for scenarios A, B, C, D and E, respectively. For maximum 8 hour ozone concentration, 57 ppb, 56 ppb, 63 ppb, 60 ppb, and 53 ppb were estimated by scenario. The minimum difference by land cover was up to 25 ppb and by emission factor that was up to 35 ppb. From the modeling performance evaluation using ground ozone measurement over the six regions (East Seoul, West Seoul, Incheon, Namyangju, Wonju, and Daegu), the model performed well in terms of the correlation coefficient (0.6 to 0.82). For the 4 urban regions (East Seoul, West Seoul, Incheon, and Namyangju), ozone simulations were not quite sensitive to the change of BVOC emissions. For rural regions (Wonju and Daegu) , however, BVOC emission affected ozone concentration much more than previously mentioned regions, especially in case of scenario C. This implies the importance of biogenic emissions on ozone production over the sub-urban to rural regions.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.781-797
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• 2023

Recently, there has been a rapid response from mineral-demanding countries for securing critical minerals in a high tech industries. Graphite, while overwhelmingly dominated by China in production, is changing in global supply due to the exponential growth in EV battery sector, with active exploration in East Africa. Rare earth elements are essential raw materials widely used in advanced industries. Globally, there are ongoing developments in the production of REEs from three main deposit types: carbonatite, laterite, and ion-adsorption clay types. While China's production has decreased somewhat, it still maintains overwhelming dominance in this sector. Recent changes over the past few years include the rapid emergence of Myanmar and increased production in Vietnam. Nickel has been used in various chemical and metal industries for a long time, but recently, its significance in the market has been increasing, particularly in the battery sector. Worldwide, nickel deposits can be broadly classified into two types: laterite-type, which are derived from ultramafic rocks, and ultramafic hosted sulfide-type. It is predicted that the development of sulfide-type, primarily in Australia, will continue to grow, while the development of laterite-type is expected to be promoted in Indonesia. This is largely driven by the growing demand for nickel in response to the demand for lithium-ion batteries. The global lithium ores are produced in three main types: brine lake (78%), rock/mineral (19%), and clay types (3%). Rock/mineral type has a slightly higher grade compared to brine lake type, but they are less abundant. Chile, Argentina, and the United States primarily produce lithium from brine lake deposits, while Australia and China extract lithium from both brine lake and rock/mineral sources. Canada, on the other hand, exclusively produces lithium from rock/mineral type. Vanadium has traditionally been used in steel alloys, accounting for approximately 90% of its usage. However, there is a growing trend in the use for vanadium redox flow batteries, particularly for large-scale energy storage applications. The global sources of vanadium can be broadly categorized into two main types: vanadium contained in iron ore (81%) produced from mines and vanadium recovered from by-products (secondary sources, 18%). The primary source, accounting for 81%, is vanadium-iron ores, with 70% derived from vanadium slag in the steel making process and 30% from ore mined in primary sources. Intermediate vanadium oxides are manufactured from these sources. Vanadium deposits are classified into four types: vanadiferous titanomagnetite (VTM), sandstone-hosted, shale-hosted, and vanadate types. Currently, only the VTM-type ore is being produced.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.847-870
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• 2023

The safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste requires accurate predictions of the long-term geochemical behavior of radionuclides. To achieve this, the present study was conducted to model geochemical behaviors of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu), and palladium (Pd) under different hydrogeochemical conditions that represent deep groundwater in Korea. Geochemical modeling was performed for five types of South Korean deep groundwater environment: high-TDS saline groundwater (G1), low-pH CO₂-rich groundwater (G2), high-pH alkaline groundwater (G3), sulfate-rich groundwater (G4), and dilute (fresh) groundwater (G5). Under the pH and Eh (redox potential) ranges of 3 to 12 and ±0.2 V, respectively, the solubility and speciation of U, Pu, and Pd in deep groundwater were predicted. The result reveals that U(IV) exhibits high solubility within the neutral to alkaline pH range, even in reducing environment with Eh down to -0.2 V. Such high solubility of U is primarily attributed to the formation of Ca-U-CO₃ complexes, which is important in both G2 located along fault zones and G3 occurring in granitic bedrocks. On the other hand, the solubility of Pu is found to be highly dependent on pH, with the lowest solubility in neutral to alkaline conditions. The predominant species are Pu(IV) and Pu(III) and their removal is predicted to occur by sorption. Considering the migration by colloids, however, the role of colloid formation and migration are expected to promote the Pu mobility, especially in deep groundwater of G3 and G5 which have low ionic strengths. Palladium (Pd) exhibits the low solubility due to the precipitation as sulfides in reducing conditions. In oxidizing condition, anionic complexes such as Pd(OH)₃^-, PdCl₃(OH)₂^-, PdCl₄^2-, and Pd(CO₃)₂^2- would be removed by sorption onto metal (hydro)oxides. This study will improve the understanding of the fate and transport of radionuclides in deep groundwater conditions of South Korea and therefore contributes to develop strategies for safe high-level radioactive waste disposal.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2024

Mn-M/Al₂O₃ (M = Cu, Fe, Co, and Ce) catalysts were prepared for simultaneous oxidation of NO, CO, and CH₄, and their oxidation activities were compared. The Mn-Cu/ Al₂O₃ catalyst with the best simultaneous oxidation activity was characterized by XRD, Raman, XPS, and O₂-TPD analysis. The result of XRD indicated that Mn and Cu existed as complex oxides in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Raman and XPS results showed that electron transfer between Mn ions and Cu ions occurred during the formation of the Mn-O-Cu bond in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The XPS O 1s and O₂-TPD analyses showed that the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst has more adsorbed oxygen species with high mobility than the Mn/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The high simultaneous oxidation activity of the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst is attributed to these results. Gas-phase NO promotes the oxidation reactions of CO and CH₄ in the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst while suppressing the NO oxidation reaction. These results were presumed to be because the oxidized NO was used as an oxidizing agent for CO and CH₄. On the other hand, the oxidation reactions of CO and CH₄ competed on the Mn-Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst, but the effect was not noticeable because the catalyst activation temperature was different.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2008

Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.16-37
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• 2018

In this study, difference in chemical composition of $PM_{2.5}$ observed between the year 2013 and 2015 at six air quality intensive monitoring stations (Bangryenogdo (BR), Seoul (SL), Daejeon (DJ), Gwangju (GJ), Ulsan (US), and Jeju (JJ)) was investigated and the possible factors causing their difference were also discussed. $PM_{2.5}$, organic and elemental carbon (OC and EC), and water-soluble ionic species concentrations were observed on a hourly basis in the six stations. The difference in chemical composition by regions was examined based on emissions of gaseous criteria pollutants (CO, $SO_2$, and $NO_2$), meteorological parameters (wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity), and origins and transport pathways of air masses. For the years 2013 and 2014, annual average $PM_{2.5}$ was in the order of SL ($${\sim_=}DJ$$)>GJ>BR>US>JJ, but the highest concentration in 2015 was found at DJ, following by GJ ($${\sim_=}SJ$$)>BR>US>JJ. Similar patterns were found in $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$. Lower $PM_{2.5}$ at SL than at DJ and GJ was resulted from low concentrations of secondary ionic species. Annual average concentrations of OC and EC by regions had no big difference among the years, but their patterns were distinct from the $PM_{2.5}$, $SO{_4}^{2-}$, $NO_3{^-}$, and $NH_4{^+}$ concentrations by regions. 4-day air mass backward trajectory calculations indicated that in the event of daily average $PM_{2.5}$ exceeding the monthly average values, >70% of the air masses reaching the all stations were coming from northeastern Chinese polluted regions, indicating the long-range transportation (LTP) was an important contributor to $PM_{2.5}$ and its chemical composition at the stations. Lower concentrations of secondary ionic species and $PM_{2.5}$ at SL in 2015 than those at DJ and GJ sites were due to the decrease in impact by LTP from polluted Chinese regions, rather than the difference in local emissions of criteria gas pollutants ($SO_2$, $NO_2$, and $NH_3$) among the SL, DJ, and GJ sites. The difference in annual average $SO{_4}^{2-}$ by regions was resulted from combination of the difference in local $SO_2$ emissions and chemical conversion of $SO_2$ to $SO{_4}^{2-}$, and LTP from China. However, the $SO{_4}^{2-}$ at the sites were more influenced by LTP than the formation by chemical transformation of locally emitted $SO_2$. The $NO_3{^-}$ increase was closely associated with the increase in local emissions of nitrogen oxides at four urban sites except for the BR and JJ, as well as the LTP with a small contribution. Among the meterological parameters (wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity), the ambient temperature was most important factor to control the variation of $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical components concentrations. In other words, as the average temperature increases, the $PM_{2.5}$, OC, EC, and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations showed a decreasing tendency, especially with a prominent feature in $NO_3{^-}$. Results from a case study that examined the $PM_{2.5}$ and its major chemical data observed between February 19 and March 2, 2014 at the all stations suggest that ambient $SO{_4}^{2-}$ and $NO_3{^-}$ concentrations are not necessarily proportional to the concentrations of their precursor emissions because the rates at which they form and their gas/particle partitioning may be controlled by factors (e.g., long range transportation) other than the concentration of the precursor gases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.103-115
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• 2000

The formation of brown-colored precipitates is one of the serious problems frequently encountered in the development and supply of groundwater in Korea, because by it the water exceeds the drinking water standard in terms of color. taste. turbidity and dissolved iron concentration and of often results in scaling problem within the water supplying system. In groundwaters from the Pajoo area, brown precipitates are typically formed in a few hours after pumping-out. In this paper we examine the process of the brown precipitates' formation using the equilibrium thermodynamic and kinetic approaches, in order to understand the origin and geochemical pathway of the generation of turbidity in groundwater. The results of this study are used to suggest not only the proper pumping technique to minimize the formation of precipitates but also the optimal design of water treatment methods to improve the water quality. The bed-rock groundwater in the Pajoo area belongs to the Ca-$HCO_3$type that was evolved through water/rock (gneiss) interaction. Based on SEM-EDS and XRD analyses, the precipitates are identified as an amorphous, Fe-bearing oxides or hydroxides. By the use of multi-step filtration with pore sizes of 6, 4, 1, 0.45 and 0.2 $\mu\textrm{m}$, the precipitates mostly fall in the colloidal size (1 to 0.45 $\mu\textrm{m}$) but are concentrated (about 81%) in the range of 1 to 6 $\mu\textrm{m}$in teams of mass (weight) distribution. Large amounts of dissolved iron were possibly originated from dissolution of clinochlore in cataclasite which contains high amounts of Fe (up to 3 wt.%). The calculation of saturation index (using a computer code PHREEQC), as well as the examination of pH-Eh stability relations, also indicate that the final precipitates are Fe-oxy-hydroxide that is formed by the change of water chemistry (mainly, oxidation) due to the exposure to oxygen during the pumping-out of Fe(II)-bearing, reduced groundwater. After pumping-out, the groundwater shows the progressive decreases of pH, DO and alkalinity with elapsed time. However, turbidity increases and then decreases with time. The decrease of dissolved Fe concentration as a function of elapsed time after pumping-out is expressed as a regression equation Fe(II)=10.l exp(-0.0009t). The oxidation reaction due to the influx of free oxygen during the pumping and storage of groundwater results in the formation of brown precipitates, which is dependent on time, $Po_2$and pH. In order to obtain drinkable water quality, therefore, the precipitates should be removed by filtering after the stepwise storage and aeration in tanks with sufficient volume for sufficient time. Particle size distribution data also suggest that step-wise filtration would be cost-effective. To minimize the scaling within wells, the continued (if possible) pumping within the optimum pumping rate is recommended because this technique will be most effective for minimizing the mixing between deep Fe(II)-rich water and shallow $O_2$-rich water. The simultaneous pumping of shallow $O_2$-rich water in different wells is also recommended.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.418-428
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• 2007

Physical and chemical properties of the aggregate by-products including sludge and crushed dust samples collected from the 21 private companies throughout the country were analyzed to evaluate possible usage of the by-products as artificial soil materials for plantation. The pH of the materials ranged from 8.0 to 11.0. The organic matter content was $2.85g\;kg^{-1}$, and the total nitrogen content and available phosphate content were low as 0.7 percents and $12.98mg\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Exchangeable $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $K^+$, and $Na^+$ were 2.29, 0.47, 0.02 and $0.05cmol\;kg^{-1}$, respectively. Heavy metal contents were lower than the limits regulated by environmental law of Korea. Textural analysis showed that most of the materials were silt loam with low water holding capacity ranged from 0.67 to 7.41 percents, and with low hydraulic conductivity ranged from 0.4 to $2.8m\;s^{-1}$. Mineralogical analysis showed that the aggregate by product materials were mostly composed of silicate, alumina and ferric oxides except calcium oxide dominant materials derived from limestones. The primary minerals were quartz, feldspars and dolomites derived from granite and granitic gneiss materials. Some samples derived from limestone material showed calcite and graphite together with the above minerals. According to the result, it can be concluded that the materials could be used as the artificial soil material for plantation after proper improvement of the physico-chemical properties and fertility.