• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.565-572
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• 2011

The effects of chemical pretreatments on the excess sludge production in the membrane-coupled bioreactor were investigated. In addition, their effects on membrane fouling were also evaluated. Two membrane bioreactors were operated. In one reactor, a part of the mixed liquor was t reated with NaOH and ozone gas consecutively and was returned to the reactor. T he f lowrate of the chemical pretreatment stream was 1.5% of the influent flowrate. During the 200days of operation, the MLSS level in the bioreactor with mixed liquor pretreatment was maintained relatively constant at the range of 8,000 ~ 10,000$mg/{\ell}$ while it increased steadily up to 26,000 $mg/{\ell}$ in the absence of the pretreatment. Each reactor was equipped with two laboratory membrane modules where the flux for each module was 20, and 30 ${\ell}/m^2{\cdot}h$, respectively. With pretreatment, almost constant transmembrane pressure(TMP) was observed throughout the operation at the flux of 20 ${\ell}/m^2{\cdot}h$. Without pretreatment the membrane module at the same flux could also be operated at relatively stable condition. However, as the MLSS increases up to 25,000 $mg/{\ell}$, a fast TMP increase was observed. In conclusion, a complete control of excess sludge production in the membrane-coupled bioreactor was possible without significant deterioration of the treated water quality. In addition, it was shown that stable operation in terms of TMP is possible with sludge pretreatment and recirculation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.724-729
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• 2013

Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) occurs concurrently in the same reactor under micro dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions. Anaerobic zone was applied for phosphorus release prior to an aerated membrane bio-reactor (MBR), and anoxic zone was installed by placing a baffle in the MBR for enhancing denitrification even in high DO concentration in the MBR. Phosphorus removal was tested by alum coagulation in the anaerobic reactor preceding to MBR. DO concentration were 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, 0.75 mg/L in the MBR at different operating stages for finding optimum DO concentration in MBR for nitrogen removal by SND. pH was maintained at 7.0~8.0 without addition of alkaline solution even with alum addition due to high alkalinity in the raw sewage. Both TCODcr and $NH_4^+$-N removal efficiency were over 90% at all DO concentration. TN removal efficiencies were 50, 51, 54, 66% at DO concentration of 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, 0.75 mg/L, respectively. At DO concentration of 0.75 mg/L with addition of alum, TN removal efficiency decreased to 54%. TP removal efficiency increased from 29% to 95% by adding alum to anaerobic reactor. The period of chemical backwashing of the membrane module increased from 15~20 days to 40~50 days after addition of alum.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.521-526
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• 2006

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) is an effective tool for wastewater treatment with recycling. MBR process has several advantages over conventional activated sludge process (ASP); reliability, compactness, and quality of treated water. The resulting high-quality and disinfected effluents suggest that MBR process can be suitable for the reused and recycling of wastewater. An anoxic/oxic (A/O) type MBR was applied to simultaneous removal of organics and nutrients in sewage. At first, the efficiency of submerged MBR process was investigated using a hollow fiber microfiltration membrane with a constant flux of $10.2L/m^2{\cdot}h$ at each solids retention time (SRT). Results showed that protein/carbohydrate (P/C) ratio increased and total extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) remained constant with SRT increased. Secondly, A/O type MBR with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was employed to treat the municipal wastewater. The performance of A/O type MBR-RO process is better for the treatment of organics and nutrients than ASP-MF-RO process in terms of consistent effluents quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.559-566
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• 2003

From this research, the performances of a sludge reduction in the sewage sludge aerobic digestion was experimented by using a sludge pretreatment and membrane bioreactor. The submerged plate membrane was used as the solid-liquid separation membrane. After drawing small amounts of sludge in a bioreactor and then doing the alkaline treatment and ozone treatment, the sludge was sent to back to the reactor. The HRT in the reactor was set as 5 days and the operation in the reactor was carried out at the DO of 1mg/L on average. After 100 days of operation in the reactor, it was shown that the reduction efficiency of total solids was more than 83%. Most of volatile solids were removed through mineralization, and the considerable portion of the non-volatile solids was dissolved and then flowed out with the effluent. Only about 16.3% of total solids in the sludge was accmulated in the reactor even without the loss of volatile fraction. Also, by deriving nitrification and denitrification in one reactor simultaneously, more than 90% of nitrogen removal effect was realized and the experiment was run smoothly without fouling of membrane, even in the high concentration of MLSS. Based on this experiment, sludge can be reduced considerably at a low HRT by these two newly suggested approach.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.337-346
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• 2005

An MSBR using a membrane for not only filtration but also aeration (MA-MSBR) was designed to reduce membrane fouling and to enhance water quality, and compared with an MSBR using a membrane for only filtration (BA-MSBR). COD removal efficiency of the MA-MSBR was similar to that of the BA-MSBR, but membrane performance of the MA-MSBR was better than that of the BA-MSBR. The MA-MSBR had more small particles in mixed liquor, so the specific cake resistance of flocs in the MA-MSBR was higher than that in the BA-MSBR. However, in the aerobic reaction step of the MA-MSBR, air went through membrane pores and out of the membrane surface, so cake layers on the membrane surface and a portion of organics adsorbed on membrane pores could be removed periodically. Therefore, cake resistance, $R_c$, and fouling resistance by adsorption and blocking, $R_f$, for the MA-MSBR increased more slowly than those for the BA-MSBR. Additionally, in order to compare the energy efficiency for two MSBRs, oxygen transfer efficiency and power to supply air into the reactor by a membrane module and a bubble stone diffuser were measured using deionized water. From these measurements, the transferred oxygen amount per unit energy was calculated, resulting that of MA-MSBR was slightly higher than that of BA-MSBR.