• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.559-567
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• 2018

Technological innovations in sustainable materials for soil improvement have attracted considerable interest due to energy crisis and environmental concerns in recent years. This study presents results of a comprehensive investigation on utilization of nanocarbons in reinforcement of a residual soil mixed with 0, 10 and 20% bentonite. Effects of adding proportionate quantities (0, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1 and 0.2%) of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers to soil samples of different plasticities were evaluated. The investigation revealed that the inclusion of nanocarbons into the soil samples significantly improved unconfined compressive strength, Young's modulus and indirect tensile strength. It was observed that carbon nanofibers showed better performance as compared to carbon nanotubes. The nanosized diameter and high aspect ratio of nanocarbons make it possible to distribute the reinforcing materials on a much smaller scale and bridge the inter-particles voids. As a result, a better 'soil-reinforcing material' interaction is achieved and desired properties of the soil are improved at nanolevel.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.405-411
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• 2007

This study was carried out to measure insoluble phosphorus fractions content fixed in different soil type and isolate a superior phosphate solublizing bacteria(PSB) producing free phosphate in citrus orchard soil. Distribution of insoluble phosphate fraction ordered Al-P>Ca-P>Fe-P in the investigated citrus orchards. Insoluble phosphate fraction such as Al-P, Ca-P, Fe-P were higher in volcanic ash than in non-volcanic ash soil. A PSB with high holo zone in PDA-P medium isolated from citrus orchard soil. This strain identificated by MIDI system as Bacillus sphaericus. The optimum growth of pH and temperature were at 4~5, $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. When Bacillus sphaericus cultured at $25^{\circ}C$, 150 rpm condition in LB broth medium included different phosphate. Bacillus sphaericus produced free phosphate in the culture broth medium from tricalcium-phosphate(207.0 ppm), aluminium phosphate(324.5 ppm) and hydroxyapatite(334.8 ppm) and Phosphatase activity of Bacillus sphaericus was higher at $35^{\circ}C$ culture condition than that of $25^{\circ}C$. Two type preparation inoculated Bacillus sphaericus made with carrier materials such as Bentonite, $CaCO_3$, Sodium alginate. Density of PSB in this preparation conserved at $10^5c.f.u.\;g^{-1}$ level during storage in different temperature condition for 7 month. It also showed that free phosphate produced at PDA-P medium.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.135-143
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• 2022

Soils are natural granular materials whose mechanical properties differ according to the size and composition of the particles, so soils exhibit an obvious scale effect. Traditional soil mechanics is based on continuum mechanics, which can not reflect the impact of particle size on soil mechanics. On that basis, a matrix-reinforcing-particle cell model is established in which the reinforcing particles are larger-diameter sand particles and the matrix comprises smaller-diameter bentonite particles. Since these two types of particles deform differently under shear stress, a new shear-strength theory under direct shear that considers the stress concentration and bypass phenomena of the matrix is established. In order to verify the rationality of this theory, a series of direct shear tests with different reinforcing particle diameter and volume fraction ratio are carried out. Theoretical analysis and experimental results showed that the interaction among particles of differing size and composition is the basic reason for the size effect of soils. Furthermore, the stress concentration and bypass phenomena of the matrix enhance the shear strength of a soil, and the volume ratio of reinforcing particles has an obvious impact on the shear strength. In addition, the newly proposed shear-strength theory agrees well with experimental values.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.199-204
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• 1987

This study was conducted to verify the identity and the effects on soil improvements by the application of Barley stone which has been recently named as miraculous mineral on account of being propagandized as health stone because of several special effect of medicine, the supplement of micronutrients for agriculture, prevention against diseases and insects of plant, and the increase of nutrient holding capacity of soil. The results were summarized as follows; 1. Barley stone is considered as Diabase Porphyrite by the analysis of X-ray Diffraction, chemical composition and microspore's observation. This mineral stone called as Barley stone has been deducted because of being seen as if the feature was attatched with cooked barley and appearently scattered about feldspar's phenocryst on the dark-green stone base. 2. In chemical characteristics of barley stone, the pH 8.7 was higher but C.E.C. 9.0 me/100g was lower then those of other clay minerals such as Bentonite and Zeolite, and so barley stone material was not considered suitable for improvement of sandy loam soil. 3. Effects of Bentonite and Zeolite application on yield of paddy rice were 108-109% compare to non-treated plot, but Barley stone has not increased rice yield. Notwithstanding the increase of application of barely stone to 5 ton per 10a, the yield increase was not significantly showing only 102-103% and the effects of Peanut, hot pepper and chinese cabbage were not recognized either.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 2018

In a previous study, the feasibility of four materials (bentonite, steelmaking slag, lime and organic compost) to induce soil aggregate formation was assessed and the mixtures of organic compost and lime were chosen as most effective amendments in terms of cost benefit. This work is a subsequent study to evaluate the effectiveness of those amendments in reducing soil loss in $15^{\circ}$ sloped agricultural area by using rainfall simulation test. Three different soils were treated with two conditions of organic compost/lime mixtures (2% + 2%, 3% + 1%, w/w). In the amended soils, soil fertility was increased due to the increase of CEC, T-N, and T-P. During the rainfall simulation, suspended solid in run-off water from amended soil were reduced by 43% ~ 78%. When the content of organic compost was higher than that of lime, reduction of soil loss was also increased by 67% ~ 78%. Sediment discharge was also decreased by 72% ~ 96% in the amended soil. Similar to the suspended solid analysis, higher organic compost content led to more reduction of soil discharging, which implies organic compost is more effective than lime in reducing soil loss. The overall result suggests that the mixtures of organic compost and lime could be used as amendment materials to reduce soil loss in sloped farmland.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.97-106
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• 2007

In this study, experiments are conducted to find out the effect of waste leachate on landfill clay liner system. Tensile test, hydrometer analysis and crack pattern test were conducted on sand-bentonite mixtures with different pH values of water. The tensile strength of specimen compacted with pH 9 of water is smaller than that of specimen compacted with for pH 3 and 6 of water. That is, the higher the pH value, the smaller the tensile strength, because a higher pH solution decreases flocculation phenomenon. The percent finer also increased with high pH value in particle size distribution of fine grained soil (<0.075 mm), because the velocity of particles settling decreases. This trend becomes the clearer as the content of bentonite, becomes the larger, because the higher pH value decreases flocculation structure of fine soils. The results of the crack pattern tests also showed the effect of pH values of water.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.113-120
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• 2023

Coastal and offshore structures such as ports and offshore wind farms will often need to be built on fine-grained sediments. Geotechnical properties associated with sediment compressibility are key parameters for marine construction designs especially on soft grounds, which involve clay-mineral dominated fines that can consolidate and settle significantly in response to engineered and environmental loads. We conduct liquid limit tests and 1D consolidation tests with fine-grained soils (silica silt, mica, kaolin and bentonite) and biogenic soils (diatom). The pore fluids for the liquid limit tests include deionized water and a series of brines with NaCl salt concentrations of 0.001 m, 0.01 m, 0.1 m, 0.6 m and 2.0 m, and the pore fluids for the consolidation tests deionized water, 0.01 m, 0.6 m, 2 m. The salt concentrations help the liquid limits of kaolin and bentonite decrease, but those of diatom slightly increase. The silica silt and mica show minimal changes in liquid limit due to salt concentrations. Accordingly, compression indices of soils follow the trend of the liquid limit as the liquid limit determined the initial void ratio of the consolidation test. Diatoms are more likely to be broken than clastic sediments during to loading, and diatom-rich sediment is therefore generally more compressible than clastic-rich sediment.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2001

The use of clay has been the favored method of reducing or eliminating hazardous contaminants in the leachate from landfills. But, neither natural clays nor organoclays modified with surfactants are able to effectively sorb both heavy metals and organic contaminants. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the optimal amount of surfactant added on the clay mineral to effectively remove both of them. For this purpose, Na-Bentonite as the natural clay, and hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) as the cationic surfactant were used, Chlorobenzene and lead ($Pb^{2-}$) were selected as representative contaminants. Experimental result showed that chlorobenzene sorption increased with increasing HDTMA to bentonite, ratios. On the contrary, the removal rate of lead decreased as the amount of HDTMA increased. The removal of chlorobenzene was influenced by the amount of HDTMA added to the bentonites rather than initial concentration of chlorobenzene, but the removal of lead was much more influenced by the initial concentration of lead. The adsorption of lead was not affected by chlorobenzene, and vice versa. The competitive sorption between the heavy metal and the organic contaminant was not present.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.670-675
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• 2004

Humic acids are macromolecules originated from natural water, soil, and sediment. The characteristics of humic acid enable it to change the distribution of metals as well as many kinds of organic contaminants and to determine the sorption of them from soil solution. To see the effect of humic acid on the removal rate of organic contaminants and heavy metals, batch-scale experiments were performed. As a natural geosorbent, black shale was used as a sorbent media, which showed hight sorption capacity of trichloroethylene (TCE), lead, cadmium and chromium. The effect of sorption-desorption, pH, ionic strength and the concentration of humic acid was taken into consideration. TCE sorption capacity by black shale was compared to natural bentonite and hexadecyltrimethylammonium (HDTMA) modified bentonite. The removal rate was good and humic acid also sorbed onto black shale very well. The organic part of humic acid could effectively enhance the partition of TCE and it act as an electron donor to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III). Cationic metal of Pb(II) and Cd(II) also removed from the water by black shale. With 3 mg/L of humic acid, both Pb(II) and Cd(II) were removed more than without humic acid. That could be explained by sorption and complexation with humic acid and that was possible when humic acid could change the hydrophobicity and solubility of heavy metals. Humic acid exhibited desorption-resistivity with black shale, which implied that black shale could be an alternative sorbent or material for remediation of organic contaminants and heavy metals.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.77-81
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• 2007

In order to minimize the mycelial pellet size of a high phosphate-solubilizing fungus, Aspergillus sp. PS-104 in liquid media, one of the critical obstacles during the submerged culture of filamentous fungi, an investigation was focused on the culture conditions (media and inoculum size) and additives (different soils, surfactants and polyethylene glycol 200). When the fungus was cultured in PDB, SDB and YPD media. their pellet sizes decreased in the order of SDB=YPD>PDB. At the higher concentrations of initial inoculum ranging from $1{\times}10^3$ to $1{\times}10^7$ conidia/ml, the smaller size of pellet was formed in the PDB medium. In addition, the pellet size was effectively reduced by 1/6${\sim}$1/4 by the addition of 0.1% soil containing zeolite, diatomite, loess, kaoline and talc, excluding bentonite. The addition of 0.1% Tween 80, Triton X-100 and PEG 200 also decreased the pellet size, but SDS completely inhibited the fungal growth.