• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.36-44
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• 2016

Constructed wetlands are established efficient technologies and provide sustainable solution for wastewater treatment. Similarly, biochar, which is an organic material, produced by means of pyrolysis, offers simple and low cost techniques to treat water and reduce carbon footprint. Combining both of these technologies can greatly augment the efficiency of the system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of constructed wetlands by using biochar as media. Horizontal wetland beds with dimension ($1m{\times}0.33m{\times}0.3m$) were prepared using gravels and biochar, and cultivated with the Canna species. Synthetic wastewater was passed through these beds with average flow rate of $1.2{\times}10^{-7}m^3/sec$ achieving a retention time of three days. Pollutant removal performance was compared between the controlled and experimental wetland beds. This study reveals that the wetland with biochar were more efficient as compared to the wetland with gravels alone with average removal rate of 91.3% COD, 58.3% TN, 58.3% $NH_3$, 92% $NO_3-N$, 79.5% TP, and 67.7% $PO_4$.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.64-69
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• 1999

This study was carried out the removal of Cr(VI) which was known to the toxic pollutant in industry using the process of UV and TiO$_2$ photocatalyst in a circular type reactor. In this experiment, the series of photocatalytic process for the removal of Cr(VI) has been selected as a model reaction in a circular type reactor in order to obtain the basic data on the influence of various experimental parameters such as circulation flow rate, pH of solution, initial Cr(VI) light illumination and TiO$_2$ dosage, and salicylic acid concentration. The results of this study were as follows; 1. With both UV light illumination and TiO$_2$ present, Cr(VI) was more effectively eliminated than with either UV or TiO$_2$ alone. 2. As the circulation flow rate of solution increased, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) was increased. However, over 2.4 l/min of circulation flow rate, the efficiency wa limited. 3. A increase in the photocatalytic removal of Cr(VI) was noticed with decreasing pH. 4. An increase in the photocatalytic removal of Cr(VI) was noticed with decreasing Initial Cr(VI) concentration and first order kinetics was observed from the result at different initial concentration of Cr(VI). 5. Photocatalytic removal efficiency of Cr(VI) increased with increasing TiO$_2$ dosage. However, over 1.0 g/l of TiO$_2$ dosage, the efficiency reached a plateau. 6. As low concentration of saliculic acid were added, there was an increase in the removal efficiency of Cr(VI). However, over 300 mg/l of salicylic acid, the efficiecy was decreased. It eas found that application of photocatalysis to water treatment that contains both Cr(VI) and salicylic acid was possible.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2010

Batch tests were carried out to examine the influence of the presence of soil and Fe(II) sorption capacity of soil on the ferrous catalyzed sodium persulfate oxidation for the destruction of organic pollutants in the application of in-situ chemical oxidation. Laboratory column tests were also conducted to investigate the transport of oxidant and catalyst in contaminated groundwater. Test results proved that Fe(II) was adsorbed on soil surface, and thus soil behaved as a heterogeneous catalyst, enhancing the naphthalene removal rate up to 50%. Column tests that were conducted with and without dissolved Fe(II) showed that naphthalene removal ratio were 24% and 25%, respectively. The removal efficiency was not enhanced with dissolved Fe(II), since the dissolved Fe(II) flew out of the column as the oxidant progressively injected into the column saturated with Fe(II). It indicates that the injected oxidant could not interact with dissolved Fe(II). But target organic pollutant was degraded in soil column system, implying that sulfate radical was produced by the reaction of dissolved persulfate with Fe(II) adsorbed on soil.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.332-340
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• 2007

Storm runoff from road contains significant loads of particulate and dissolved solids, organic constituents and metal elements. Micro particle is important when considering pollution mitigation because pollutant metal and organics have similar behavior with particles. The objective of this research is to evaluate the hydrodynamic filter separator performance for road storm runoff treatment. A various types of media such as perlite, granular activated carbon, zeolite were used for column test packing media and filter separator, and to determine the removal efficiency with various surface loading rate. As the results of column test, the highest SS removal efficiency was using mixed media(granular activated carbon, zeolite and perlite), and granular activated carbon mixed with zeolite has higher heavy metal removal efficiency than perlite. In laboratory scale hydrodynamic filter separator study, the operation ranges of surface loading rates were from 192 to 1,469 $m^3/m^2/day$. The estimated overall removal efficiencies of hydrodynamic filter separator for typical storm runoff were SS 48.1%, BOD 31.9%, COD 32.6%, TN 15.5%, and TP 17.3%, respectively. For the case of heavy metals, overall removal efficiencies were Fe 26.0%, Cu 19.4%, Cr 25.7, Zn 16.6%, and Pb 15.0%, respectively. The most appropriate medium for hydrodynamic filter separator was perlite mixed with granular activated carbon to treatment of road storm runoff.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.7
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• pp.947-954
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• 2015

Dielectric barrier discharge plasma is a new technique in water pollutant degradation, which that is characterized by the production of chemically active species such as hydroxyl radicals, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, etc. If dissolving of plasma gas generated in the plasma reaction has increased, it is possible to increase the contaminant removal capacity. In this study, the improvement on the dissolving performance of plasma gas was evaluated by the indirect method measuring the overall oxygen transfer coefficient. Experiments were conducted to examine the effects of nozzle type, distance from water surface, air supply rate and liquid circulation rate. The experimental results showed that the $K_{La}$ value of the 3-prong nozzle is 2.67 times higher than the diffuser. The order of $K_{La}$ value with nozzle type ranked in the following order: 3-prong nozzle (inner diameter, less 1 mm) > circular nozzle (inner diameter, 1.5 mm) > ellipse nozzle (short diameter 1 mm, long diameter 2.5 mm) > circular nozzle (inner diameter, 3 mm). Optimal liquid circulation rate was appeared to be 1.7 L/min, the value of $K_{La}$ was 0.510 1/min. The value of $K_{La}$ with increasing air supply rate was revealed in the form of an exponential such as $K_{La}=0.3581e^{0.2919^*air\;flow\;rate}$.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.89-99
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• 1998

Sorption of the aqueous cyanide onto steel mill sludge and steel mill slag, both of which are the by-products from the converter furnace, was studied. In the study, the influence of temperature, activation energy, concentration and pH on sorption of cyanide was investigated. Three different temperature($25^{\circ}C$ > $37^{\circ}C$> $50^{\circ}C$) was chosen to represent that of landfill leachate. Initial concentration was 1 mg/$\ell$ 5 mg/$\ell$, 10 mg/$\ell$, and 20 mg/$\ell$. In addition, pH was set to three different level, that is, 3, 7, and 11 respectively. As the result of batch mode experiment for cyanide adsorption, the removal rate was found to be proportional to the initial concentration of cyanide. The order of removal rate was 20 mg/$\ell$> 10 mg/$\ell$> 5 mg/$\ell$> 1 mg/$\ell$. Similarly the influence of pH was proportional because of the change in solubility of cyanide. The order of removal rate was pH 11 > pH 7 > pH 3. As the temperature increased, so did the removal rate. The reaction was endothermic and the value of activation energy(Ea) was 127.93 J/mole and 59.44 J/mole respectively at 1 mg/ιand 20 mg/ιof initial concentration. From the experiment, it can be postulated that the capability of steel mill by-products to attenuate aqueous cyanide is enough to be used as substitute for clay liner of landfill site in the aspect of pollutant removal.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.194-200
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• 2016

The impervious surface rate increased by urbanization causes various problems on the environment such as water cycle distortion, heat island effect, and non-point pollutant discharges. The Low Impact Development (LID) techniques are significantly considered as an important tool for stormwater management in urban areas and development projects. The main mechanisms of LID technologies are hydrological and environmental pollution reduction among soils, media, microorganisms, and plants. Especially, the media provides important functions on permeability and retention rate of stormwater runoff in LID facilities. Therefore, this research was performed to assess the pollutant removal efficiency for different types of media such as zeolite, wood chip, bottom ash, and bio-ceramic. All media show high pollutant removal efficiency of more than 60% for particulate materials and heavy metals. Double layered media is more effective in reducing heavy metals by providing diverse sizes of micro-pores and macro-pores compared to the single layered media. The results recommend the use of different sizes of media application is more cost-effective in LID than a single size of media. Furthermore, soluble proportion of total heavy metal in the stormwater is an important component in proper media selection and arrangement.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.153-164
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• 2023

The objective of this study is to examine the removal rate of air pollutants, specifically sulfur oxides (SO_x) and nitrogen oxides(NO_x), using concrete permeable blocks containing zeolite beads coated with materials capable of eliminating these pollutants. Titanium dioxide(TiO₂) powder and coconut shell powder were utilized for the removal of SO_x and NO_x and were applied as coatings on the zeolite beads. Concrete permeable block specimens embedded with the coated zeolite beads were produced using an actual factory production line. Test results demonstrated that the concrete permeable block containing zeolite beads coated with coconut shell powder in the surface layer achieved SO_x and NO_x removal rates of 12.5% and 99%, respectively, exhibiting superior performance compared to other blocks. Additionally, the flexural strength and slip resistance were 5.3MPa and 65BPN or higher, respectively, satisfying the requirements specified in KS F 4419 and KS F 4561. Conversely, the permeability coefficient exhibited low permeability, with grades 2 and 3 before and after contaminant pollution, according to the standard for 'design, construction, and maintenance of pavement using permeable block'. In conclusion, incorporating zeolite beads coated with coconut shell powder in the surface layer enables simultaneous removal of SO_x and NO_x, irrespective of ultraviolet rays, while maintaining adequate flexural strength and slip resistance. However, the permeability is significantly reduced, necessitating further improvements.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 2018

In this study, we compared the MZVI (Microscale Zero-Valent Iron) and NZVI (Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron) for reactivity and mobility in a column to reduce nitrate, which is a major pollutant in Korea, and investigated the effect of operational parameters on the NZVI filled column. For the comparison of MZVI and NZVI, samples were collected for 990 minutes using fractionator in the similar operation conditions (MZVI 10g, NZVI 2g). The nitrate reduction efficiency of NZVI was about 5 times higher than that of MZVI, which was about 7.45% and 38.75% when using MZVI and NZVI, respectively. In the mobility experiment, the MZVI descended due to gravity while NZVI moved up with water flow due to its small size. Furthermore, the optimum condition of NZVI filled column was determined by changing the flow rate and pH. The amount of Fe ions was increased as the pH of the nitrate solution was lowered, and the nitrate removal rate was similar due to the higher yield of hydroxyl groups. The removal rate of nitrate nitrogen was stable while flow rate was increased from 0.5 mL/min to 2.0 mL/min (empty bed contact time: 2.26 min to 0.57 min). NZVI has a high reduction rate of nitrate, but it also has a high mobility, so both of reactivity and mobility need to be considered when NZVI is applied for drinking water treatment.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 1999

$SO_2$and CO gas removal characteristics of a wire-to-cylinder type nonthermal discharge plasma reactor in various applied voltage (-dc, ac, fast rising pulse and high frequency pulse) and a crossed dc magnetic field have been investigated. The experiment has been emphasized on the oxidizing characteristics of $SO_2$ and CO gas by $O_3$ and the applying of a crossed magnetic field, which would induce the cyclotronic and drift motions of electrons making the residual time longer in the removal airgap space. And it also would enhance the energy of electrons and the electrophysicochemical actions to remove the pollutant gases effectively. It is found thatthe corona onset voltage and the breakdown voltage were decreased with increasing the crossed magnetic field and decrease initial fed $SO_2$and CO concentration. As a result, a higher ozone generation and $SO_2$ and CO gas removal rate of 20[%] can be obtained with -dc, ac and fast rising pulse corona discharges in the crossed dc current-induced magnetic field. But high frequency pulse didn't show effect in applying of a crossed magnetic field.