• Advances in environmental research
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.117-129
• /
• 2014

Groundwater contamination is seeking a lot of attention due to constant degradation of water by landfills and waste lagoons. In many cases heterogeneous soil system is encountered and hence, a finite element model is developed to solve the advection-dispersion equation for layered soil system as FEM is a robust tool for modelling problems of heterogeneity and complex geometries. Recently developed Meshfree methods have advantage of eliminating the mesh and construct approximate solutions and are observed that they perform effectively as compared to conventional FEM. In the present study, both FEM and Meshfree method are used to simulate phenomenon of contaminant transport in one dimension. The results obtained are agreeing with the values in literature and hence the model is further used for predicting the transport of contaminants. Parametric study is done by changing the dispersion coefficient, average velocity, geochemical reactions, height of leachate and height of liner for obtaining suitability.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.56-65
• /
• 1997

Chemical analysis, statistical analysis and geochemical study were carried out to investigate the influence of the geology on the chemical characferistics of the mineral water in Taegu area. A simple comparision between the chemical components of the mineral water and their bedrocks indicates that the bedrock types in the catchmerit area control the chemical characteristics of the surface water. However more objective evidences for the mineral water-bedrock relationship come from the statistical analyses(cluster analysis and factor analysis). The results of the statistical analyses suggest that the bedrock type factor explains the data variation seven times as much as pollution does, which evidently indicates that the bedrock in the study area mainly control the mineral water chemistries. The results of comparision of the statistical analyses results with the mineral weathering reactions and mineral stability diagrams can be summarized as follows: 1. Plagioclase weathering to kaolinite provides SiO$_2$ , Ca$^{2+}$ and Na$^+$, and muscovite weathering to kaolinite provides K$^+$, and amphibole and mica minerals weathering to kaolinite provides F to the mineral water. Most of Ca$^{2+}$ and Mg$^{2+}$ in the mineral water are the products of carbonate mineral dissolution. SO$_4^{2-}$ may be the byproduct of sulfide oxidation. 2. The weatering of silicate mineral produces Ca-rich smectite and kaolinite, but Ca-rich smectite is unstable and will be transformed to more stable kaolinite because of the continuous dilution of the mineral water by precipitation. By Hashimoto's Mineral Balance Index, S-10 and S-12 mineral spring water were evaluated tasty and healthy water, S-9 and S-11 mineral spring water were evaluated tasty water and S-7, S-8 and S-13 mineral spring water were evaluated healthy water.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.49 no.5
• /
• pp.371-380
• /
• 2016

This study aims to identify the mineraloical and petrographical characteristics of caprock from drilling cores of Pohang basin as a potential $CO_2$ storage site. Experiments and modeling were conducted in order to investigate the geochemical and mineralogical caprock effects of carbon dioxide. A series of autoclave experiments were conducted to simulate the interaction in the $scCO_2$-caprock-brine using a high pressure and temperature cell at $50^{\circ}C$ and 100 bar. Geochemical and mineralogical alterations after 15 days of $scCO_2$-caprock-brine sample reactions were quantitatively examined by XRD, XRF, ICP-OES investigation. Results of mineralogical studies, together with petrographic data of caprock and data on the physicochemical parameters of brine were used for geochemical modeling. Modelling was carried out using the The Geochemist's Workbench 11.0.4 geochemical simulator. Results from XRD analysis for caprock sample showed that major compositional minerals are quartz, plagioclase, and K-feldspar, and muscovite, pyrite, siderite, calcite, kaolinite and montnorillonite were included on a small scale. Results from ICP-OES analysis for brine showed that concentration of $Ca^{2+}$, $Na^+$, $K^+$ and $Mg^{2+}$ increased due to dissolution of plagioclase, K-feldspar and muscovite. Results of modeling for the period of 100 years showed that the recrystallization of kaolinite, dawsonite and beidellite, at the expense of plagioclase and K-feldspar is characteristic. Volumes of newly precipitation minerals and minerals passing into brine were balanced, so the porosity remained nearly unchanged. Experimental and modeling results indicate the interaction between caprock and $scCO_2$ during geologic carbon sequestration can exert significant impacts in brine pH and solubility/stability of minerals.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.87-98
• /
• 2015

Geochemical characteristics, water quality, $NO_3{^-}$ contamination and the origin of $NO_3{^-}$ were analyzed for the groundwater located at Ogcheon, Korea. The water qualities were weakly acidic to weakly alkalic and redox potentials indicated reduction condition. Compared to granitic rocks, metamorphic sedimentary rocks with intercalations of limestones and dolomites tended to be more effectively dissolved, resulting in higher pH and higher concentrations of dissolved ingredients. Contamination of heavy metals was not revealed. Geochemical reactions of carbonate rocks and influxes of artificial contamination ingredients seemed to simultaneously determine the geochemical characteristics and water qualities in the study area. From the results of ${\delta}^{15}N$ isotope analysis, the origin of $NO_3{^-}$ was estimated to be influenced dominantly by agricultural activities and human feces and urine.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.1541-1554
• /
• 2016

To understand the characteristics of vanadium leaching from soils formed by the weathering of basalts, paleo soil at Gosan, Jeju Island, Korea, and several present-day soils from neighboring areas were collected. Leaching experiments were carried out by two approaches: 1) batch experiments under various geochemical conditions (redox potential (Eh) and pH) and 2) continuous leaching experiments under conditions similar to those of natural environments. From the batch experiments, leached vanadium concentrations were highest under alkaline (NaOH) conditions, with a maximum value of $2,870{\mu}g/L$, and were meaningful (maximum value, $114{\mu}g/L$) under oxidizing ($H_2O_2$) conditions, whereas concentrations under other conditions (acidic-HCl, $neutral-NaHCO_3$, and $reducing-Na_2S_2O_3$) were negligible. This indicated that the geochemical conditions, in which soil-water reactions occurred to form groundwater with high vanadium concentrations, were under alkaline-oxidizing conditions. From the continuous leaching experiments, the pH and leached vanadium concentrations of the solution were in the ranges of 5.45~5.58 and $6{\sim}9{\mu}g/L$, respectively, under $CO_2$ supersaturation conditions for the first 15 days, whereas values under $O_2$ aeration conditions after the next 15 days increased to 8.48~8.62 and $9.7{\sim}12.2{\mu}g/L$, respectively. Vanadium concentrations from the latter continuous leaching experiments were similar to the average concentration of groundwater in Jeju Island ($11.2{\mu}g/L$). Furthermore leached vanadium concentrations in continuous leaching experiments were highly correlated with pH and Al, Cr, Fe, Mn and Zn concentrations. The results of this study showed that 1) alkaline-oxidizing conditions of water-rock (soil) interactions were essential to form vanadium-rich groundwater and 2) volcanic soils can be a potential source of vanadium in Jeju Island groundwater.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 2002.04a
• /
• pp.347-350
• /
• 2002

Arsenic speciation changes between As(V) and As(III) are subject to changes in accordance with redox conditions in the environment. It is common to find contaminated sites associated with mixed wastes including both organic pollutants and heavy metals. We conducted microcosm experiment under hypothesis that the co-disposed organic pollutants would influence on the arsenic forms and concentrations, via degradation of the organic pollutants and the consequent impact on the redox conditions in soil. Artificially contaminated soil samples were run for 40 days with control samples without artificial contamination. We noticed arsenic in the contaminated soil showed different behaviour compared with the arsenic in the control soil. The findings indicate degradation of organic pollutants in the contaminated soil influenced on the arsenic speciation and concentrations. A further work is needed to understand the process quantitatively. However, we could confirm that degradation of organic pollutants can influence on the abiotic processes associated with geochemical reactions in contaminated soil. Degradation of organic pollutants can increase the mobility and toxicity of arsenic in soil and sediment by changing redox conditions in the geological media and subsequently from As(V) to As(III).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.81-84
• /
• 1999

The aqueous geochemical characteristics of Cr(III) and Cr(Ⅵ) in environmental systems are very different from one another: Cr(Ⅵ) is highly soluble, mobile and toxic relative to Cr(III) Reduction of Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III) are beneficial in aquatic systems because of the transformation of a highly mobile and toxic species to one having a low solubility in water, thus simultaneously decreasing chromium mobility and toxicity. Fe(II) species are excellent reductants for transforming Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III), and in addition, keeping Cr(III) concentrations below the drinking water standard of 52 ppb at pH values between 5 and 11. Investigations of the effects of NOM on Cr(Ⅵ) reduction are for examining the feasibility of using ferrous iron to reduce hexavalent chromium in subsurface environments. Experiments in the presence of soils, however, showed that the solid phase consumes some of the reducing capacity of Fe(II) and makes the overall reduction kinetics slower. The soil components bring about consumption of the ferrous iron reductant. Particular attention is devoted to the complexation of Fe(II) by NOM and the subsequent effect on Cr(Ⅵ) reduction. Cr(Ⅵ) reduction rate by Fe(II) was affected by the presence of NOM (humic acid), The effects of humic acid was different from the solution pH values and the concentration of humic acid. It was probably due to the reactions between humic acid and Cr(Ⅵ), humic acid and Fe(II), and between Cr(Ⅵ) and Fe(II), at each pH.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.82-94
• /
• 2021

Facilities for low impact development (LID) or groundwater recharge have the high potential spreading groundwater nitrate contamination because of the rapid infiltration. This study was initiated to remove nitrate from the waters using agricultural byproducts as organic sources for denitrification during infiltration. As the first step of this purpose, we experimentally tested the denitrifying efficiency of 4 organic materials (pine tree woodchips, cherry leaves, rice straws, and rice hulls) and tried to identify the key factors controlling the efficiency. For this study, we precisely investigated the change of chemical reactions during the experiment by analyzing various geochemical parameters. The result shows that the denitrification efficiency is not simply linked to the availability of the easily decomposable contents in the organic matter. It is found that avoiding the severe pH decrease due to the CO₂ generation is the essence to derive the efficient denitrifying conditions when organic matters were used.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.175-182
• /
• 2023

APro, a modularized process-based total system performance assessment framework, was developed at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to simulate radionuclide transport considering coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical processes occurring in a geological disposal system. For reactive transport simulation considering geochemical reactions, COMSOL and PHREEQC are coupled with MATLAB in APro using an operator splitting scheme. Conventionally, coupling is performed within a MATLAB interface so that COMSOL stops the calculation to deliver the solution to PHREEQC and restarts to continue the simulation after receiving the solution from PHREEQC at every time step. This is inefficient when the solution is frequently interchanged because restarting the simulation in COMSOL requires an unnecessary setup process. To overcome this issue, a coupling scheme that calls PHREEQC inside COMSOL was developed. In this technique, PHREEQC is called through the "MATLAB function" feature, and PHREEQC results are updated using the COMSOL "Pointwise Constraint" feature. For the one-dimensional advection-reaction-dispersion problem, the proposed coupling technique was verified by comparison with the conventional coupling technique, and it improved the computation time for all test cases. Specifically, the more frequent the link between COMSOL and PHREEQC, the more pronounced was the performance improvement using the proposed technique.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.427-438
• /
• 2023

Thermodynamic sorption modeling can enhance confidence in assessing and demonstrating the radionuclide sorption phenomena onto various mineral adsorbents. In this work, Ca-montmorillonite was successfully purified from Bentonil-WRK bentonite by performing the sequential physical and chemical treatments, and its geochemical properties were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis, cesium-saturation method, and controlled continuous acid-base titration. Further, batch experiments were conducted to evaluate the adsorption properties of Cs(I) and Sr(II) onto the homoionic Ca-montmorillonite under ambient conditions, and the diffuse double layer model-based inverse analysis of sorption data was performed to establish the relevant surface reaction models and obtain corresponding thermodynamic constants. Two types of surface reactions were identified as responsible for the sorption of Cs(I) and Sr(II) onto Ca-montmorillonite: cation exchange at interlayer site and complexation with edge silanol functionality. The thermodynamic sorption modeling provides acceptable representations of the experimental data, and the species distributions calculated using the resulting reaction constants accounts for the predominance of cation exchange mechanism of Cs(I) and Sr(II) under the ambient aqueous conditions. The surface complexation of cationic fission products with silanol group slightly facilitates their sorption at pH > 8.