• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.151-159
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• 2003

Absorbent Biofilter Systems (ABS), composed of an anaerobic septic tank, a pump chamber and an absorbent biofilter tank, have been found to economically provide rural on-site wastewater treatment. This study was conducted to assess the potential of ABS effluent as an alternative water resource for agricultural and environmental use, with respect to the removal of pathogenic microorganism and their fertilization effect. A pilot scale ABS was used to compare its removal efficiency of pathogens from effluent water. Overall, more than 95 percent of Salmonella and E. coli were removed. This result demonstrates that a significant reduction in the pathogenic microorganism of effluents can occur in ABS, which implies the feasibility for the use of ABS effluent in agriculture and environment, with the provision of a further simple disinfection step, in order to satisfy the WHO guidelines for the microbiological quality in agriculture. In addition, because of the abundant nutritional content of ABS effluent, the substitution effect of fertilizer (N, P and K) in paddy irrigation, i.e. 2/3 for nitrogen, l/3 for phosphorus and 1/5 for potassium would be expected. Based on the experimental data, the ABS effluent could be used as a new alternative water resource for paddy irrigation, as well as for environmental purposes, such as supplying water to ecological parks in rural villages.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.310-315
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• 1999

The feasibility of an absorbent biofilter system was examined for rural wastewater treatment. Hydraulic loading rates varied from 50 to 250 cm/day. Effluent of the septic tank was fed into the absorbent biofilter, and small ventilation fan was provided to supply air at the rate of 250 L/min to aerate the biofilter. The biofilter system demonstrated high removal rates for $BOD_5$ and TSS at the loading rate of 150 cm/day, generally meeting the Korean effluent water quality standard of 20 mg/L applicable to both. The nutrient removal was less satisfactory than the results of $BOD_5$ and TSS, but it was within the expected range of biological treatment processes. Considering the abnormally high influent concentration of nutrients during the experiment, better performance results could have been obtained if ordinary domestic wastewater was used. The system performance was not significantly affected by the hydraulic loading up to 150 cm/day, which is far more than the loading limit of the sand filter systems. Maintenance requirement was minimal, and no problems with noise, odor, flies or sludge arose. Since the biofilter system can be operated at a distance, operation in remote rural area and multi-system connected to one control office might be advantageous to the rural area. Overall, considering the cost-effectiveness, stable performance, and minimum maintenance, the biofilter system was thought to be a competitive alternative to treat wastewater in Korean rural communities.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 1999.10c
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• pp.789-794
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• 1999

The performance of a small on-site wastewater treatment system consisting of an anaerobic septic tank and upgraded absorbent biofilter was investgted . The anaerobic septic tank was used as a pre-treatment of the absorbent Biofitler instead of the primary clarifier. The treatment capacity of the system was examined by changing the hydraulinc loadings to the Absorbent Biofilter as 2.5㎥/day , 4.5㎥/day, 6.0㎥/day, respective. The effluent from the septic tank was fed into the Absorbent Bilfilter. Based on the experimental results, the quality of treated wastewater satisfied the regulation and the BOD and SS was removed down to approximately 5mg/$\ell$ and 1mg/$\ell$, respectively.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.161-173
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• 2002

Recently, absorbent biofilters, which are inexpensive and easy to manacle, have been supplied to the rural areas, but have limitations in removing the nutrients effectively. Accordingly, as an alternative plan. natural zeolites were arranged in front or at the rear of the absorbent biofilters, and their removal efficiency for nitrogen and, ultimately, their applicability to the on-site wastewater treatment system were studied. Furthermore, the same experiments were carried out on artificial zeolites, made from coal ashes at National Honam Agricultural Experiment Station, to compare natural zeolites with artificial ones. Treated wastewater through the Absorbent Biofilter showed 22.6% nitrogen removal efficiency, while 64.6% was attained when natural Zeolites were placed in front of the absorbent biofilters (Zeolite-Aerobic process). As an addition, phosphorus was also efficiently removed. On the other hand, Aerobic-Zeolite process, which arranged natural zeolites at the rear of the biofilters, did not have significantly higher nitrogen removal as compared to the treatment using only the absorbent biofilters. Furthermore, upon regeneration of the natural zeolite, the ion exchange rate was fecund to increase over 10% as compared to before regeneration. Our results show that natural zeolites, applied to the on-site wastewater treatment system through the Zeolite-Aerobic process, not only increase the removal efficiency of nutrients, but, by choosing the appropriate regeneration time, can also be cast-effective. Artificial zeolites, on the other hand, though more efficient in removing nutrients, cannot be regenerated and, therefore, are not cost-effective.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.131-139
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• 2004

In this study, on-site sewage treatment tests were conducted using the Absorbent Biofilter System (ABS) under different hydraulic loading rates to examine its treatment characteristics and efficiencies and to determine its feasibility as a small on-site sewage treatment system in a rural area. Results showed that the removal rates of BOD and SS were satisfactory at hydraulic loading rates of 100~150 cm/day, meeting the Korean effluent water quality standards for the riparian zone (10 mg/L). In the case of nutrients (N, P), however, the system did not perform well, necessitating further improvement for nutrient removal. A comparative analysis indicated that as a small on-site sewage treatment system, the ABS would be more suitable than other treatment systems in terms of performance stability, maintenance requirement, and cost-effectiveness and could be applied as an alternative treatment system in Korean rural areas.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2005

An Absorbent Biofilter System (ABS) combined with the recirculation process was investigated for the feasible application in additional removing of organics (BOD, SS) as well as nutrients (TN, TP) from small Community wastewater in Korea. Polyurethane biofilter media with high porosity and large surface area were /used for the aerobic system. A part of treated wastewater was recirculated into the anoxic septic tank to promote removal of nutrients. The concentrations of BOD and SS of treated wastewater satisfied the regulations for small on-site wastewater treatment facility (10 mg/L) during the overall experimental period. The effluent concentrations of BOD and SS were decreased with enhancement of removal efficiencies of 95.7 and $96.7\%$. The nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies by the recirculation increased to $52.9\%\;and\;43.2\%$ in average during the overall experimental period, respectively. With the improvement, these values were increased as much as additional 42 and $18\%$ compared with those of non-recirculation. The rates of nitrification and denitrification were enhanced showing $65\~77\%\;and\;42\~92\%$, respectively. The described process modification is a low cost and effective method of enhancing nitrogen and phosphorus removal, especially on existing systems without changing major design components of a treatment facility.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.73-82
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• 2005

This study was performed to evaluate the need for heating wastewater to enhance treatment efficiency of organic matter (BOD, SS) during cold winter in newly developed Absorbent Biofilter System (ABS) which was established in the Suwon Campus of the Seoul National University. Treatments consisted of non-heating (2000 year) and heating(2001, 2002 year), and sampled data were analyzed during cold winter period as well as post winter period to investigate the influence of heating after winter season. Even the average air temperature showed only $0.4^{\circ}C$ difference between two experimental years, the difference in the average effluent temperature during cold winter period between heating and non-heating experiment was approximately $11^{\circ}C$. The average effluent concentration of organic matter in non-heating treatment exceeded the Korean standards for water quality of discharged effluent in riparian area (BOD and SS 10 mg/L); however, the standards were met in case of heating treatment during both winter and post winter period. Therefore, the need fur heating wastewater during cold winter season in ABS was justified. On the other hand, there was no improvement of treatment efficiency in T-N and T-p, but we observed the more activated nitrification as increasing the wastewater temperature. Because the average underground temperature was $5^{\circ}C$ higher than the average air temperature during cold winter period, we recommend that the ABS can be established in the underground rather than on-ground for saving the heating cost.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.508-512
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• 1998

Recently, biofilm reactors are considered as efficient wastewater treatment system in rural areas, because of characteristics of easy operation and economic feasibility. In order to select the most efficient media, an experimental apparatus with five different media was designed, installed and examined. The media used in this study were zeolite, artificial sponge gourd, absorbent biofilter, non-woven fabric and charcoal. With only one month investigation, all five media showed high removal efficiencies of BOD.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.643-648
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• 2000

The purpose of this study is to remove the ammonia by using the ion exchange effect of natural zeolite (clinoptilolite in this system) and artificial zeolite and remove the organic material by using the Absorbent Biofilter. On the removal of ammonia, natural zeolite is the more effective than artificial zeolite But on the simultaneous removal of ammonia and phosphorus, artificial zeolite is the more effective than natural zeolite.