• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.51-65
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• 2002

This study was carried out to apply some basic physical and chemical treatment options including Fenton's oxidation, and to evaluate the performances and the characteristics of organic and nitrogen removal using lab-scale biological treatment system such as complete-mixing activated sludge and sequencing batch reactor(SBR) processes for the treatment of leachate from a municipal waste landfill in Gyeongnam province. The results were as follows: Chemical coagulation experiments using aluminium sulfate, ferrous sulfate and ferric chloride resulted in leachate CO $D_{Cr}$ removal of 32%, 23% and 21 % with optimum reaction dose ranges of 10,000～15,000 mg/$\ell$, 1,000 mg/$\ell$ and 500～2,000 mg/$\ell$, respectively. Fenton's oxidation required the optimum conditions including pH 3.5, 6 hours of reaction time, and hydrogen peroxide and ferrous sulfate concentrations of 2,000 ～ 3,000 mg/$\ell$ each with 1:1 weight ratio to remove more than 50% of COD in the leachate containing CO $D_{Cr}$ between 2,000 ～ 3,000 mg/$\ell$. Air-stripping achieved to remove more than 97% of N $H_3$-N in the leachate in spite of requiring high cost of chemicals and extensive stripping time, and, however, zeolite treatment removing 94% of N $H_3$-N showed high selectivity to N $H^{+}$ ion and much faster removal rate than air-stripping. The result from lab-scale experiment using a complete-mixing activated sludge process showed that biological treatability tended to increase more or less as HRT increased or F/M ratio decreased, and, however, COD removal efficiency was very poor by showing only 36% at HRT of 29 days. While COD removal was achieved more during Fenton's oxidation as compared to alum treatment for the landfill leachate, the ratio of BOD/COD after Fenton's oxidation considerably increased, and the consecutive activated sludge process significantly reduced organic strength to remove 50% of CO $D_{Cr}$ and 95% of BO $D_{5}$ . The SBR process was generally more capable of removing organics and nitrogen in the leachate than complete-mixing activated sludge process to achieve 74% removal of influent CO $D_{Cr}$ , 98% of BO $D_{5}$ and especially 99% of N $H_3$-N. However, organic removal rates of the SBR processes pre-treated with air-stripping and with zeolite were not much different with those without pre-treatment, and the SBR process treated with powdered activated carbon showed a little higher rate of CO $D_{Cr}$ removal than the process without any treatment. In conclusion, the biological treatment process using SBR proved to be the most applicable for the treatment of organic contents and nitrogen simultaneously and effectively in the landfill leachate.e.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 2014

The potential mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) is studied in the Pohang steel industrial complex (PHSIC). The total GHG emission in 2010 is estimated to be in the range from 4,174,000 to 4,574,000 $tCO_2-eq$ in PHSIC. To meet the target proposed by the government, it is needed to reduce 552,000 $tCO_2-eq$ at minium by 2020. To estimate the potential amount of GHG reduction, the technologies used in the voluntary carbon reduction projects are applied to 51 companies which are subject to GHG target management. From the viewpoint of technological availability and payback period, the fuel conversion and waste heat recovery have an advantage in the short term with a possibility to reduce 160,000 $tCO_2-eq$. In the mid term, the thermal technologies in steel and iron industry have the potential to cut 229,000 $tCO_2-eq$, while the electrical technologies have the potential of 125,000 $tCO_2-eq$ reduction. The gap between the target GHG mitigation and potential reduction using the short and mid term technologies is about 38,000 $tCO_2-eq$, which should be compensated by the fundamental process innovation and the implementation of the most cutting-edge technologies including renewable energy.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.219-226
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• 2020

Over the last decades, great efforts have been devoted to reuse industrial wastes and by-products from various industries as supplementary cementitious materials in order to reduce carbon dioxide(CO₂) emission by reducing the use of Portland cement in construction. Oyster shell waste, originating from the fishery industry, is available in huge quantities in certain areas, and is generally discarded or landfilled. In this study, we aimed to reuse oyster shell as an alternative to limestone in limestone calcined clay cement(LC³). The oyster shell calcined clay cement(OC³) paste were produced and were characterized via X-ray diffraction, isothermal calorimetry, compressive strength tests, and thermogravimetry. The results revealed that OC³ pastes exhibited similar strength development and reactivities by pozzolanic reaction with LC³, which implies that oyster shell could be used as a substitute for limestone in LC³.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.3-18
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• 2019

Due to the increasing demand for clean energy, the consumption of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is expected to grow steadily. Therefore, stable supply of lithium is becoming an important issue globally. Commercially, most of lithium is produced from the brine and minerals viz., spodumene, although various processes/technologies have been developed to recover lithium from other resources such as low grade ores, clays, seawaters and waste lithium ion batteries. In particular, commercialization of such recycling technologies for end-of-life LIBs being generated from various sources including mobile phones and electric vehicles(EVs), has a great potential. This review presents the commercial processes and also the emerging technologies for exploiting minerals and brines, besides that of newly developed lithium-recovery-processes for the waste LIBs. In addition, the future lithium-supply is discussed from the technical point of view. Amongst the emerging processes being developed for lithium recovery from low-grade ores, focus is mostly on the pyro-cum-hydrometallurgical based approaches, though only a few of such approaches have matured. Because of low recycling rate (<1%) of lithium globally compared to the consumption of lithium ion batteries (56% of lithium produced currently), processing of secondary resources could be foresighted as the grand opportunity. Considering the carbon economy, environment, and energy concerns, the hydrometallurgical process may potentially resolve the issue.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.59-66
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• 2022

Lithium-ion batteries have greatly expanded along with the mobile phone market, and as the electric vehicle business is activated in earnest, they will attract many people's attention even afterwards. Until now, many people have attracted attention to the recovery of valuable metals inside lithium-ion batteries, but graphite, which is mainly used as an anode material, is also worth recycling. Therefore, in order to recover graphite with high purity and valuable metals, graphite that can be used as an anode material of a secondary battery may be generated again through a regeneration process of purifying and separating graphite from a waste lithium-ion battery and recovering electrical characteristics of graphite. This paper describes the process of converting waste graphite into regenerated graphite and the environmental and economic effects of regenerated graphite.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.5-14
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• 2021

As the implementation of carbon reduction measures would be monitored starting from 2023 in line with the Paris Agreement, it is crucial and urgent to control GHGs emitted from wastes contributing to 11% of methane emissions. Despite such importance and urgency, 93% of wastes are deposited in unsanitary landfills in developing countries, presenting challenges to methane management. Against the backdrop, landfill gas-to-energy projects have once again drawn attention for their economic substantiality secured through CDM projects while there has been much research actively carried out to estimate methane emissions and GHG reductions in landfills located in developing countries. Although a signifiant difference was found between estimations calculated based on research methodologies and actual results monitored through registered CDM projects, there has not been a study conducted on what is causing such a difference. Accordingly, the research team conducted an analysis of 18 LFG projects out of 46 that were registered as LFG CDM projects under the UNFCCC and has identified precipitation(28%), malfunction(22%), organic content(11%), amount of landfilled waste(11%) and temperature(11%) as key parameters causing the difference between the amount of methane captured and the amount of GHG reduced.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2019

Microalgae do not require much land and make a higher efficient oil production. However, it costs still much higher than other biodiesel resources, such as crops. Sugars charge 80% of culture media when microalgae are massively cultured in the fermenter. This study aims to develop a cost-efficient process for sugar production from Chinese cabbage byproducts. Pre-treatment with 0.25% H₂SO₄ was most effective when chopped cabbage was incubated 50℃/130 rpm for 24 hours. To hydrolyze cabbage cellulose, we used cellulases secreted from Trichoderma. harzianum. T. harzianum was cultured at 28℃/pH 7/130 rpm for five days. Optimal enzymatic activity of cellulase was obtained by incubating at 0.24 FPU/ml/45℃/pH 5/130 rpm for three days. In comparison to other agricultural waste, such as rice straw, green tea leaves, and palm residue, Chinese cabbage produced the highest sugar yield. We found the optimal conditions to produce sugar from Chinese cabbage byproducts as a carbon source to culture biodiesel-producing microalgae. The efficient process developed in this study helps microalgae as a sustainable alternative energy source by cost-down.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.25-33
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• 2023

With the growth of the battery industry, a rapid increase in the production and usage of lithium-ion batteries is expected, and in line with this, much interest and effort is being paid to recycle waste batteries, including production scrap. Although much effort has been made to recycle cathode material, much attention has begun to recycle anode material to secure the supply chain of critical minerals and improve recycling rates. The proximate analysis that measures the content of coal can be used to analyze graphite in anode material, but it cannot accurately analyze due to the interaction between the components of the black mass. Therefore, in this study, thermogravimetric analysis of each component of black mass was measured as the temperature increased up to 950℃ in an oxygen atmosphere. As a result, in the case of cathode material, no change in mass was measured other than a mass reduction of about 5% due to oxidation of the binder and conductive material. In the case of anode material, except for a mass reduction of about 2% due to the binder, all mass reduction were due to the graphite(fixed carbon). In addition, metal conductors (Al, Cu) were oxidized and their mass increased as the temperature increased. Thermal analysis results of mixed samples of cathode/anode show similar results to the predictive values that can be calculated through each cathode and anode analysis results.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.45-53
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• 2023

This study discussed the trend and future strategy of adsorption technology R&D to effectively recover ammonia emitted from the livestock fields. A proper ammonia adsorbent should incorporate acidic or hydrogen bonding functional groups on the surface, as well as a high specific surface area and a good surface structure appropriate for ammonia adsorption. Activated carbon and minerals such as zeolite have widely been used as ammonia adsorbents, but their adsorption effects are generally low, so any improvement through surface modification should be necessary. For example, incorporation of metal chloride included in a porous adsorbent can promote ammonia adsorption effectiveness. Recently, new types of adsorbents such as MOFs (Metal-Organic Frameworks) and POPs (Porous Organic Polymers) have been developed and utilized. They have shown very high ammonia adsorption capacity because of adjustable and high specific surface area and porosity. In addition, Prussian Blue exhibited high ammonia adsorption and desorption performance and selectivity. This looks relatively advantageous in relation to the recovery of ammonia from livestock waste discharge. In the future, further research should be made to evaluate ammonia adsorption/desorption efficiency and purity using various adsorbents under conditions suitable for livestock sites. Also, effective pre- and/or post-treatment processes should be integrated to maximize ammonia recovery.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.21-29
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• 2024

Globally, the demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is surging due to carbon-neutral strategies aimed at decarbonization. Consequently, the demand for lithium-ion batteries, which are essential components of EVs, is also rising, leading to an increase in the generation of spent batteries. This has prompted research into the recycling of spent batteries to recover valuable metals. In this study, we aimed to selectively leach and recover lithium from the cathode material of spent LFP batteries. To enhance the reaction surface area and reactivity, the binder in the cathode material powder was removed, and the material was subjected to heat treatment in both atmospheric and nitrogen environments across various temperature ranges. This was followed by a mechanochemical process for aqueous leaching. Initially, after heat treatment, the powder was converted into a soluble lithium compound using sodium persulfate (Na₂S₂O₈) in a mechanochemical reaction. Subsequently, aqueous leaching was performed using distilled water. This study confirmed the changes in the characteristics of the cathode material powder due to heat treatment. The final heat treatment in a nitrogen atmosphere resulted in a lithium leaching efficiency of approximately 100% across all temperature ranges.