Kyoung-Woong Kim

Enhanced biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using nonionic surfactants in soil slurry

Abstract The effect of nonionic surfactants on the solubility and biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the aqueous phase and in the soil slurry phase, as well as the fate of these surfactants, were investigated. The PAH solubility was linearly proportional to the surfactant concentration when above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), and increased as the hydrophile–lipophile balance (HLB) value decreased. Substantial amounts of the sorbed phenanthrene in the soil particles were desorbed by non-ionic surfactants into the liquid phase when the ratio of soil to water was 1:10 (g/ml). Brij 30 was the most biodegradable surfactant tested, showed no substrate inhibition up to a concentration of 1.5 g/l, and was definitely used as a C source by the bacteria. Naphthalene and phenanthrene were completely degraded by phenanthrene-acclimatised cultures within 60 h, but a substantial amount of naphthalene was lost due to volatilization. The limiting step in the soil slurry bioremediation was bioavailability by the micro-organisms for the sand slurry and mass transfer from a solid to aqueous phase in the clay slurry.

Contamination of groundwater and risk assessment for arsenic exposure in Ha Nam province, Vietnam.

The characteristics of arsenic-contaminated groundwater and the potential risks from the groundwater were investigated. Arsenic contamination in groundwater was found in four villages (Vinh Tru, Bo De, Hoa Hau, Nhan Dao) in Ha Nam province in northern Vietnam. Since the groundwater had been used as one of the main drinking water sources in these regions, groundwater and hair samples were collected in the villages. The concentrations of arsenic in the three villages (Vinh Tru, Bo De, Hoa Hau) significantly exceeded the Vietnamese drinking water standard for arsenic (10 microg/L) with average concentrations of 348, 211, and 325 microg/L, respectively. According to the results of the arsenic speciation testing, the predominant arsenic species in the groundwater existed as arsenite [As(III)]. Elevated concentrations of iron, manganese, and ammonium were also found in the groundwater. Although more than 90% of the arsenic was removed by sand filtration systems used in this region, arsenic concentrations of most treated groundwater were still higher than the drinking water standard. A significant positive correlation was found between the arsenic concentrations in the treated groundwater and in female human hair. The risk assessment for arsenic through drinking water pathways shows both potential chronic and carcinogenic risks to the local community. More than 40% of the people consuming treated groundwater are at chronic risk for arsenic exposure.

Heavy metal contamination in dusts and stream sediments in the Taejon area, Korea

Abstract Associated with the rapid pace of urbanization and industrialization is the increase of automobile emissions, factory emissions, and industrial wastewater. Heavy metal contamination from these point sources has received much attention in the Taejon area, Korea. In order to investigate the degree of heavy metal contamination, 81 road dusts, 79 house dusts, 40 indoor dusts of subway stations and 21 stream sediments have been analyzed for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. Copper, Pb and Zn levels in road dusts from the control area are lower than average levels, while those from the traffic and industrialized areas including the city center and highway junctions are relatively high. In particular, the highest Pb concentration in road dust, 161 μg g −1 , is noted in dust samples from Yusung Highway Junction. The Pollution Index of multi-element contamination levels in road dust is found to correlate with a calculated Urbanization and Industrialization Index. Elevated levels of Cu, Pb and Zn are also noted in house dusts near the Yusung Highway Junction and industrialized areas. The age of property is found to influence the Pb levels in house dusts, with older houses (>15 years) having significantly higher concentrations than newer properties ( −1 Cu and 660 μg g −1 Pb. Elevated levels of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn are found in stream sediments from the Taejon industrialized area. The highest Zn concentration of 387 μg g −1 is found in the sediment close to the Sintanjin Industrial Complex. A sequential extraction procedure applied to stream sediments indicates a high percentage of easily exchanged metals. The exchangeable phase of the metals may originate not from parent materials but from wastewaters and exist in an adsorbed phase on the surfaces of sediments. These metals are easily dissolved into the water by reactions, and relative amounts of dissolved phase metals are in the order Cu = Zn > Pb.

Perchlorate adsorption and desorption on activated carbon and anion exchange resin

The mechanisms of perchlorate adsorption on activated carbon (AC) and anion exchange resin (SR-7 resin) were investigated using Raman, FTIR, and zeta potential analyses. Batch adsorption and desorption results demonstrated that the adsorption of perchlorate by AC and SR-7 resin was reversible. The reversibility of perchlorate adsorption by the resin was also proved by column regeneration test. Solution pH significantly affected perchlorate adsorption and the zeta potential of AC, while it did not influence perchlorate adsorption and the zeta potential of resin. Zeta potential measurements showed that perchlorate was adsorbed on the negatively charged AC surface. Raman spectra indicated the adsorption resulted in an obvious position shift of the perchlorate peak, suggesting that perchlorate was associated with functional groups on AC at neutral pH through interactions stronger than electrostatic interaction. The adsorbed perchlorate on the resin exhibited a Raman peak at similar position as the aqueous perchlorate, indicating that perchlorate was adsorbed on the resin through electrostatic attraction between the anion and positively charged surface sites.

Health risk assessment of inorganic arsenic intake of Cambodia residents through groundwater drinking pathway.

In order to compare the magnitudes and health impacts of arsenic and other toxic trace elements in well water, groundwater and hair samples were collected from three areas with different arsenic exposure scenarios in the Mekong River basin of Cambodia. Ampil commune in Kampong Cham province was selected as an uncontaminated area, Khsarch Andaet commune in Kratie province was selected as a moderately contaminated area, and Kampong Kong commune in Kandal Province was selected as an extremely contaminated area. Results of ICP-MS analyses of the groundwater samples revealed that As, Mn, Fe and Ba concentrations were significantly different among the three study areas (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.0001). Out of 46 observed wells in the Kandal province study area, 100% detected As > 50 μg L(-1) and Fe > 300 μg L(-1); 52.17% had Mn > 400 μg L(-1) and 73.91% found Ba > 700 μg L(-1). In the Kratie province study area (n = 12), 25% of wells showed elevated arsenic levels above 10 μg L(-1) and 25% had Mn > 400 μg L(-1), whereas samples from Kampong Cham province study area (n = 18) were relatively clean, with As < 10 μg L(-1). A health risk assessment model derived from the USEPA was applied to calculate individual risks resulting from drinking groundwater. Computational results indicated that residents from Kandal Province study area (n = 297) confronted significantly higher non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks than those in Kratie (n = 89) and Kampong Cham (n = 184) province study areas (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.0001). 98.65% of respondents from the Kandal province study area were at risk for the potential non-cancer effect and an average cancer risk index was found to be 5 in 1000 exposure. The calculations also indicated that, in the Kratie province study area, 13.48% of respondents were affected by non-cancer health risks and 33.71% were threatened by cancer, whereas none of respondents in the Kampong Cham province study area appeared to have non-carcinogenic effect. Positively significant correlations of the arsenic content in scalp hair (As(h)) with both arsenic levels in groundwater (As(w)) (r(s) (304) = 0.757, p < 0.0001) and individual average daily doses (ADD) of arsenic (r(s) (304) = 0.763, p < 0.0001) undoubtedly indicated that arsenic accumulation in the bodies of Cambodia residents in the Mekong River basin was mainly through a groundwater drinking pathway. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive report comparing individual health risk assessments of arsenic exposure through a groundwater drinking pathway to enriched arsenic levels from groundwater in the Mekong River basin, Cambodia. This study indicates that elevated arsenic concentrations in groundwater may lead to thousands of cases of arsenicosis in the near future if mitigating actions are not taken.

Pilot scale study on the ex situ electrokinetic removal of heavy metals from municipal wastewater sludges.

In order to remove toxic heavy metals from municipal wastewater sludges, the ex situ electrokinetic technique was studied at pilot scale. This study focused on the feasibility of the electrokinetic removal of heavy metals from sludge and the effectiveness of this technique on the variations of abiotic (physicochemical) and biotic (intracellular and extracellular) speciations of heavy metals using several analytical methods. Even though the sludge used was taken from a municipal wastewater treatment plant, the sludge contained relatively high concentrations of target metal contaminants (Cd = 6.8 mg/kg, Cr = 115.6 mg/kg, Cu = 338.7 mg/kg, and Pb = 62.8 mg/kg). The removal efficiencies of heavy metals were significantly dependent on their speciations in the sludge matrices. The electrokinetic removal efficiencies of abiotic heavy metals exceeded 70% for the mobile and weakly bound fractions, such as, the exchangeable and carbonate fractions and were lower than 35% for the strongly bound fractions, such as, the organic/sulfide and residual fractions. In the case of the biotic heavy metals, the removal efficiencies of the extracellular fractions were slightly higher than those of the intracellular fractions.

Metal contamination of soils and dusts in Seoul metropolitan city, Korea

To investigate the dispersion patterns and the characteristics of heavy metal contamination due to urbanisation and industrialisation, soils and dusts collected from the Seoul area were analysed for Cu, Pb, Zn and Cd. The metal concentrations in most soils and dusts are higher than the world averages. The pollution index ((Σ Metal concentrations in soils/Permissible level for metal)÷(Number of metals)) of soils and dusts is > 1 in most of the Seoul area, a result that concurs with the industrialisation and urbanisation index of the Seoul area. The soils are contaminated with Cu, Zn, Cd and particularly Pb. This suggests that the contamination of the soils in the Seoul area are mainly caused by vehicular emissions. The pollution index of soil is the highest in the Kuro area where Cu and Zn contamination in soils are due to the indigenous brass and bronze factories. From the discriminant analysis, the Seoul area may be partitioned into control, traffic and industrialized areas by the metal concentrations in the order of Zn > Cu > Pb.

Removal of heavy metals from soils using enhanced electrokinetic soil processing

In order to remediate contaminated land, a new process of electrokinetic purging of heavy metals from saturated soil is examined by laboratory experiments. Electrokinetic soil remediation is one of the most promising soil decontamination processes as it has high removal efficiency and time-effectiveness in low permeability soils such as clay. Being combined with several mechanisms-electromigration, electroosmosis, diffusion and electrolysis of water, electrokinetic soil processing can remove non-polar organics as well as ionic contaminants. This study suggests that the removal efficiencies for Pb and Cd are significantly influencedby applied voltage and current, type of purging solutions, soilpH, permeability and zeta potential of soil. The removal efficiencies for Pb and Cd were 75–85% for the kaolinite soil and 50–70% for the tailing soil over the duration of 4 days. For heavy metals, their adsorption capacities on the soil surface and mobilities in soil have significant effects on the removal efficiency.

Arsenic removal from Vietnamese groundwater using the arsenic-binding DNA aptamer.

Single-stranded DNA aptamers were generated from a random library to remove arsenic from Vietnamese groundwater. On the basis of significant arsenic contamination levels, three areas in Ha Nam province (Vinh Tru, Bo De, and Hoa Hau) and five areas near the Mekong River Delta (MR1-5) were selected as study areas. The aptamers were in vitro selected using an arsenic aptamer affinity column created by immobilizing arsenic on Affi-gel 10 resin. Quantitative analyses of the aptamer candidates Ars-1 to Ars-8 by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) revealed the Ars-3 aptamer to have the highest affinity to arsenate [(As(V)] and arsenite [As(III)] with a dissociation constant (K(d)) of 4.95 +/- 0.31 and 7.05 +/- 0.91 nM, respectively. The specific affinity interactions of the Ars-3 aptamer to arsenic were verified against other heavy metals. After obtaining successful removal results with a laboratory-prepared aqueous arsenic solution, Ars-3 was applied for removal of any arsenic present in the groundwater samples collected from the studied areas in Vietnam. Field results were also successful: various arsenic concentrations ranging from 28.1 to 739.2 microg/L were completely removed after 5 min of incubation with the arsenic-binding aptamer Ars-3.

ASSESSMENT OF As AND HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN THE VICINITY OF DUCKUM Au-Ag MINE, KOREA

In order to assess the potential of As and heavy metal contamination derived from past mining activity and to estimate the human bioavailability quotients for As and heavy metals. Tailings, soils and crop samples were collected and analysed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. The mean concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the tailings were 68.5, 7.8, 99, 3,754 and 733 µg g−1, respectively. Maximum Pb concentration in tailings was up to 90 times higher than its tolerable level. The concentrations of these metals were highest in the soils from the dressing plant area, and decreased in the order: farmland soil to paddy soil. In particular, some of the soils from the dressing plant area contained more than 1% of Pb and Zn. The pollution index ranged from 0.19 to 1.93 in paddy soils, and from 1.47 to 3.60 in farmland soils. The average concentrations of heavy metals in crops collected from farmland were higher than those in rice stalks or rice grains, and higher than the internationally accepted limits for vegetables. Element concentrations extracted from farmland soils within the simulated human stomach for 1 h are 9.4 mg kg−1 As, 3.8 mg kg−1 Cd, 37 mg kg−1 Cu, 250 mg kg−1 Pb and 301 mg kg−1 Zn. In particular, the extracted concentrations of Cd, Pb and Zn are in excess of the tolerable levels. The results of the simple bioavailability extraction test (SBET) indicate that regular ingestion (by inhalation and from dirty hands) of soils by the local population could pose a potential health threat due to long-term toxic element exposure.