Yuhoon Hwang

Selective removal of heavy metal ions by disulfide linked polymer networks

Heavy metal contaminated surface water is one of the oldest pollution problems, which is critical to ecosystems and human health. We devised disulfide linked polymer networks and employed as a sorbent for removing heavy metal ions from contaminated water. Although the polymer network material has a moderate surface area, it demonstrated cadmium removal efficiency equivalent to highly porous activated carbon while it showed 16 times faster sorption kinetics compared to activated carbon, owing to the high affinity of cadmium towards disulfide and thiol functionality in the polymer network. The metal sorption mechanism on polymer network was studied by sorption kinetics, effect of pH, and metal complexation. We observed that the metal ions-copper, cadmium, and zinc showed high binding affinity in polymer network, even in the presence of competing cations like calcium in water.

Termination of nanoscale zero-valent iron reactivity by addition of bromate as a reducing reactivity competitor

Remediation of contaminated groundwater by nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) is widely becoming a leading environmentally friendly solution throughout the globe. Since a wide range of various nZVI-containing materials have been developed for effective remediation, it is necessary to determine an appropriate way to terminate the reactivity of any nZVI-containing material for a practical experimental procedure. In this study, bimetallic Ni/Fe-NPs were prepared to enhance overall reduction kinetics owing to the catalytic reactivity of nickel on the surface of nZVI. We have tested several chemical strategies in order to terminate nZVI reactivity without altering the concentration of volatile compounds in the solution. The strategies include surface passivation in alkaline conditions by addition of carbonate, and consumption of nZVI by a reaction competitor. Four halogenated chemicals, trichloroethylene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, atrazine, and 4-chlorophenol, were selected and tested as model groundwater contaminants. Addition of carbonate to passivate the nZVI surface was not effective for trichloroethylene. Nitrate and then bromate were applied to competitively consume nZVI by their faster reduction kinetics. Bromate proved to be more effective than nitrate, subsequently terminating nZVI reactivity for all four of the tested halogenated compounds. Furthermore, the suggested termination method using bromate was successfully applied to obtain trichloroethylene reduction kinetics. Herein, we report the simple and effective method to terminate the reactivity of nZVI by addition of a reducing reactivity competitor.

Optimization of Operation and Backwashing Condition for an Upflow Stormwater Filtration System Utilizing Ceramic Media

Stormwater filtration is widely used for the urban runoff treatment. However, intensive maintenance and lack of information about the performance have resulted in an increased need of proper evaluation. In this study, the performance of an upflow stormwater runoff filtration system, consisting of a supporting unit and a filtration unit filled with a ceramic media, was investigated. The maximum head loss increase was about 3 cm under the suspended solid (SS) load of 30 kg/m 2 and the SS removal was more than 96%, when the filtration velocity was 20-40 m/h. The head loss and the porosity of the media can successfully be described by a power model. It was confirmed that the a significant amount of SS can effectively be removed at supporting unit, minimizing SS load to the filter media bed. Several backwashing strategies have been tested to establish the optimum condition. It was found that the stagnant water discharge is important to minimize the SS release immediately after backwashing. Also, the filter bed loaded with 400-450 kg/m 2 SS can almost completely be washed to reduce the head loss to the that of empty bed. The results in this study indicate that the upflow ceramic media filter is an excellent alternative to stormwater treatment, with high SS removal and long lifespan.