• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.519-528
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• 2019

In 2017, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) has excavated a trench at Yongjang-li in the city of Gyeongju to examine the evidence of fault movement related with the 2016 earthquake in unconsolidated sediments. In the trench profile, the author has observed the features of ongoing soil-forming processes and groundwater movement overlapped on the sedimentary layers. The soil formation was in its initial stage, and most of the original sedimentary layers could be observed. The color changes depending on the redox conditions and by the Mn/Fe oxide precipitation, however, were the most significant features obscuring sedimentary records. The dark Mn oxide precipitates formed at the groundwater levels often concealed the sedimentary unit boundaries. The groundwater levels varied depending on the particle sizes of the sedimentary layers contacting the groundwater, and the Mn oxide precipitates have formed at varying depths. The groundwater could move upward along the narrow pores in the fine-textured sedimentary layer more than a few meters showing the gray color indicating a reducing condition for iron.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.109-115
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• 2007

Solar energy conversion to hydrogen was carried out via a two-step thermochemical water splitting using metal oxide redox pair. To simulate the solar radiation, a 7 kW short arc Xe-lamp was used. Partially reduced iron oxide and cerium oxide have the water splitting ability, respectively. So, $Fe_3O_4$ supported on $CeO_2$ was selected as the active material. $Fe_3O_4/CeO_2$(20 wt/80 wt%) was prepared by impregnation method, then the active material was washcoated on the ceramic honeycomb monolith made of mullite and cordierite. Oxygen was released at the reduction step($1673{\sim}1823\;K$) and hydrogen was produced from water at lower temperature($873{\sim}1273\;K$). The result demonstrate the possibility of the 2-step thermochemical water splitting hydrogen production by the active material washcoated monolith. And hydrogen and oxygen was produced separately without any separation process in a monolith installed reactor. But the SEM and EDX analysis results revealed that the support used in this experiment is not suitable due to the thermal instability and coating material migration.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.228-236
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• 2019

This study investigated the effect of the sediment phosphorus fraction sampled from the southern coast of Korea on the release characteristics of sediments by environmental changes of water quality. We conducted the release experiment in the laboratory for 20 days and measured the phosphorus fraction properties, the environmental factors of water quality, and the release rate of total phosphorus. The results showed a decrease in dissolved oxygen by the growth of microorganisms in the water layer, leading to the anaerobic condition in which the redox potential of the sediments decreased. As such, the decreasing variability of phosphates bonded to iron oxide in the sediment phosphorus was higher after 20 days of the release experiment than the first day. It means that the metal ions and the separated inorganic phosphorus transfer into the water when the iron oxide is reduced. The separated inorganic phosphorus is easily absorbed by the plankton. The analysis of total phosphorus in the water layer showed that it continuously increased to up to 0.304 mg/L for 20 days, and the release rate had a high correlation with the decrease of dissolved oxygen after 5 days of culture. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the characteristics of iron bonded to phosphorus in the phosphorus fraction and dissolved oxygen to manage the eutrophication of the system.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2008

Understanding the chemical characteristics of sediments and the nutrient diffusion from sediments to the water body is important in the management of surface water quality. Changes in chemical properties and nutrient concentration of a submerged soil were monitored for 6 months using a microcosm with the thickness of 30cm for upland soil and 15cm of water thickness above the soil. The soil color changed from yellowish red to grey and an oxygenated layer was formed on the soil surface after 5 week flooding. The redox potential and the pH of the pore water in the microcosm decreased during the flooding. The nitrate concentration of the surface water was continuously increased up to $8\;mg\;l^{-1}$ but its phosphate concentration decreased from $2\;mg\;l^{-1}$ to $0.1\;mg\;l^{-1}$ during flooding. However, the concentrations of $NH_4^+$, $PO_4^{3-}$, Fe and Mn in the pore water were increased by the flooding during this period. The increased $NO_3^-$ in the surface water was due to the migration of $NH_4^+$ formed in the soil column and the oxidation to $NO_3^-$ in the surface water. The increased phosphate concentration in the pore water was due to the reductive dissolution of Fe-oxide and Mn-oxide, which scavenged phosphate from the soil solution. The oxygenated layer played a role blocking the migration of phosphate from the pore water to the water body.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.6
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• pp.745-764
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• 2023

In the Republic of Congo, Banded iron formations (BIFs) occur in two areas: the Chaillu Massif and the Ivindo Basement Complex, which are segments of the Archean Congo craton outcropping in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the country. They show interesting potential with significant mineral resources reaching 2 Bt and grades up to 60% Fe. BIFs consist mostly of oxide-rich facies (hematite/magnetite), but carbonate-rich facies are also highlighted. They are found across the country within the similar geological sequences composed of amphibolites, gneisses and greenschists. The Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS)-normalized patterns of BIFs show enrichment in elements such as SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, CaO, P₂O₅, Cr, Cu, Zn, Nb, Hf, U and depletion in TiO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO, Na₂O, K₂O, Sc, Th, Ba, Zr, Rb, Ni, V. REE diagrams show slight light REEs (rare earth elements; LREEs) compared to heavy REEs (HREEs), and positive La and Eu anomalies. The lithological associations, as well as the very high (Eu/Eu^*)_SN ratios> 1.8 shown by the BIFs, suggest that they are related to Algoma-type BIFs. The positive correlations between Zr and TiO₂, Al₂O₃, Hf suggest that the contamination comes mainly from felsic rocks, while the absence of correlations between MgO and Cr, Ni argues for negligeable contributions from mafic sources. Pr/Pr^* vs. Ce/Ce^* diagram indicates that the Congolese BIFs were formed in basins with redox heterogeneity, which varies from suboxic to anoxic and from oxic to anoxic conditions. They were formed through hydrothermal vents in the seawater, with relatively low proportions of detrital inputs derived from igneous sources through continental weathering. Some Congolese BIFs show high contents in Cr, Ni and Cu, which suggest that iron (Fe) and silicon (Si) have been leached through hydrothermal processes associated with submarine volcanism. We discussed their tectonic setting and depositional environment and proposed that they were deposited in extensional back-arc basins, which also recorded hydrothermal vent fluids.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.394-403
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• 2016

$H_2$ production by chemical looping is an efficient method to convert hydrocarbon fuel into hydrogen with the simultaneous capture of concentrated $CO_2$. This process involves the use of an iron based oxygen carrier that transfers pure oxygen from oxidizing gases to fuels by alternating reduction and oxidation (redox) reactions. The enhanced reactivities of copper oxide doped iron-based oxygen carrier were reported, however, the fundamental understandings on the interaction between $Fe_2O_3$ and CuO are still lacking. In this study, we studied the effect of dopant of CuO to $Fe_2O_3/ZrO_2$ particle on the morphological changes and the associated reactivity using various methods such as SEM/EDX, XRD, BET, TPR, XPS, and TGA. It was found that copper oxide acted as a chemical promoter that change chemical environment in the iron based oxygen carrier as well as a structural promoter which inhibit the agglomeration. The enhanced reduction reactivity was mainly ascribed to the increase in concentration of $Fe^{2+}$ on the surface, resulting in formation of charge imbalance and oxygen vacancies. The CuO doped $Fe_2O_3/ZrO_2$ particle also showed the improved reactivity in the steam oxidation compared to $Fe_2O_3/ZrO_2$ particle probably due to acting as a structural promoter inhibiting the agglomeration of iron species.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.130-131
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• 2013

Nanostructured oxides are widely used in heterogeneous catalysis where their catalytic properties are closely associated with the size and morphology at nanometer level. The effect of particle size has been well decumented in the past two decades, but the shape of the nanoparticles has rarely been concerned. Here we illustrate that the redox and acidic-basic properties of oxides are largely dependent on their shapes by taking $Co_3O_4$, $Fe_2O_3$, $CeO_2$ and $La_2O_3$ nanorods as typical examples. The catalytic activities of these rod-shaped oxides are mainly governed by the nature of the exposed crystal planes. For instance, the predominant presence of {110} planes which are rich in active $Co^{3+}$ on $Co_3O_4$ nanorods led to a much higher activity for CO oxidation than the nanoparticles that mainly exposed the {111} planes. The simultaneous exposure of iron and oxygen ions on the surface of $Fe_2O_3$ nanorods have significantly enhanced the adsorption and activation of NO and thereby promoted the efficiency of DeNOx process. Moreover, the exposed surface planes of these rod-shaped oxides mediated the reaction performance of the integrated metal-oxide catalysts. Au/$CeO_2$ catalysts exhibited outstanding stability under water-gas shift conditions owing to the strong bonding of gold particle on the $CeO_2$ nanorods where the formed gold-ceria interface was resistant towards sintering. Cu nanoparticles dispersed on $La_2O_3$ nanorods efficiently catalyzed transfer dehydrogenation of primary aliphatic alcohols based on the uniue role of the exposed {110} planes on the support. Morphology control at nanometer level allows preferential exposure of the catalytically active sites, providing a new stragegy for the design of highly efficient nanostructured catalysts.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.505-513
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• 2008

The two-step thermochemical cycle was examined on the $CeO_2$, YSZ, and $ZrO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$ to investigate the effects of support material addition. The supported $NiFe_2O_4$ was prepared by the aerial oxidation method. Thermal reduction was conducted at 1573K and 1523K while water-splitting was carried out at 1073K. Supporting $NiFe_2O_4$ on $CeO_2$, YSZ and $ZrO_2$ alleviated the high-temperature sintering of iron-oxide. As a result, the supported $NiFe_2O_4$ exhibited greater reactivity and repeatability in the water-splitting cycle as compared to the unsupported $NiFe_2O_4$. Especially, $ZrO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$ showed better sintering inhibition effect than other supporting materials, but hydrogen production amount was decreased as cycle repeated. In case of $CeO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$, improvement of hydrogen production was found when the thermal reduction was conducted at 1573K. It was deduced that redox reaction of $CeO_2$ activated above 1573K.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.1220-1225
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• 2011

Anaerobic decomposition of organic materials in flooded rice fields produces methane ($CH_4$) gas, which escapes to the atmosphere primarily by transport through organs of the rice plants such as arenchyma etc., Although the annual amount of methane emitted from a given area is influenced by cultivation periods of rice and organic/inorganic amendments etc., soil type also affects methane emission from paddy soil during a rice cultivation. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of soil type on $CH_4$ emission in two paddy soils. One is a red-yellow soil classified as a Hwadong series (fine, mixed, mesic family of Aquic Hapludalfs), and the other is a gley soil classified as a Shinheung series (fine loamy, mixed, nonacid, mesic family of Aeric Fluvaquentic Endoaquepts). During a flooded periods, redox potentials of red-yellow soil were significantly higher than gley soil. $CH_4$ emission in red-yellow soil ($0.21kg\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$) was lower than that in gley soil ($5.25kg\;ha^{-1}\;day^{-1}$). In the condition of different soil types, $CH_4$ emissions were mainly influenced by the content of total free metal oxides in paddy soil. The results strongly imply that iron- or manganese-oxides of well ordered crystalline forms in soil such as goethite and hematite influenced on a $CH_4$ emission, which is crucial role as a $CH_4$ oxidizers in paddy soil during a rice cultivation.