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

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.22-27
• /
• 2006

Thermal treatment and ozone oxidation methods were examined to reuse waste activated sludge (WAS) produced from a livestock wastewater treatment plant. Analysis of WAS property was made to study usefulness of the recycled waste as fertilizer. From the results of quantitative analysis, WAS particles were found to be composed of 44.25 wt% carbon, 8.43 wt% nitrogen, and 1.35 wt% phosphorus. It was confirmed that the inactivation of pathogenic microorganism was required from the quantitative analysis of microbes. From the results of TSS, COD, SCOD, and pathogenic microorganism measurement, the optimal operating conditions of thermal treatment and ozone oxidation were determined to be 70, 10 min and $0.6L\;O_3/L\;solution{\cdot}min$, 60 min, respectively. The optimized thermal treatment and ozone oxidation represented the efficient pathogen inactivation and particle dissolution, respectively. However, the two methods examined were not themselves sufficient but they need to combine with another treatment for the effective reuse of wastes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.45 no.1
• /
• pp.73-80
• /
• 2007

This article aims to optimize the nitrogen removal of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) through the use of the activated sludge model and iterative dynamic programming (IDP). Using a minimum batch time and a maximum nitrogen removal for minimum energy consumption, a performance index is developed on the basis of minimum area criteria for SBR optimization. Choosing area as the performance index makes the optimization problem simpler and a proper weighting in the performance index makes it possible to solve minimum time and energy problem of SBR simultaneously. The optimized results show that the optimal set-point of dissolved oxygen affects both the total batch time and total energy cost. For two different influent loadings, IDP-based SBR optimizations suggest each supervisory control of batch scheduling and set-point trajectory of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, and can save 20% of the total energy cost, while meeting the treatment requirements of COD and nitrogen. Moreover, it shows that the re-optimization of IDP within a batch can solve the modelling error problem due to the influent loading changes, or the process faults.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.1
• /
• pp.9-14
• /
• 2009

In this research, a polyester manufacturing company (i.e. K Co.) in Gumi, South Korea was investigated regarding the release of high concentrations of 1,4-dioxane(about 600 mg/L) and whether treatment prior to release should occur to meet with the level of the regulation standard (e.g., 5 mg/L in 2011). The pilot-scale (reactor volume, 10 $m^3$) treatment system using Photo-Fenton Oxidation was able to remove approximately 90% of 1,4-dioxane under the conditions that concentrations of 2,800 ppm $H_2O_2$ and 1,400 ppm $FeSO_4$ were maintained along with 10 UV-C lamps (240 ${\mu}W/cm^2$) illuminated during aeration. However, the effluent concentration of 1,4-dioxane was still high at about 60 mg/L. Thus, further investigation is needed to see whether the bench scale (reactor volume, 8.9 L) of activated sludge could facilitate the decomposition of 1,4-dioxane. As a result, 1,4-dioxane in the effluent has been decreased as low as about 2~3 mg/L. Consequently, Photo-Fenton Oxidation coupled with activated sludge process can make it possible to efficiently decompose 1,4-dioxane to keep up with that of the regulation standard.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.669-678
• /
• 1994

The BOD removal characteristics of submerged biofilters filled with three kinds of filter media respectively were experimentally examined with constant temperature, pH value and variable BOD loading and recirculation ratio. Obtained results are as follows; 1. The BOD removal ratio decreases with the increasing $BOD_5$ volumetric loading rate, and the loading rate for the BOD removal over 90% is lower thean $1.6kg{\cdot}BOD_5/m^3{\cdot}d$ for the plastic media of Netring and cubic wire meshes. This is a much large value than $0.3{\sim}0.8kg{\cdot}BOD_5/m^3{\cdot}d$ for conventional activated sludge process. The required submerged biofilter volume is found to be much samller than that of conventional activated sludge process. 2. The decreasing order of BOD removal is Netring (random plastic media), cubic wire meshes (plastic module), and then gravel (stone media). This is mainly due to the media characteristics such as void ratio, specific surface area and media shapes. 3. The $BOD_5$ removal rate increases with the recircuration ration, but the rate of increases becomes samaller as the recirculation ratio increases over 20. When $BOD_5$ loading is $1.8kg{\cdot}BOD_5/m^3{\cdot}d$, the required recirculation rationto obtain 90% $BOD_5$ removal is about 20 for Netring and it was about 30 for cubic wire meshes. 4. Reynold's Number increases with recirculation ratio, and the Reynold's Numbers corresponding to the recircuration ratio of 10~50 are less than 52, showing laminar up flows in the filter. The settled and effluent sludges increase with increase of Reynol's Number, and there are the definite Reynold's Numbers at which the settling sludge concentrations become nearly constant respectively in each filters. 5. In this submerged biofilter system, small volume of sludge hopper can be substituted for a separated settling tank.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.42-49
• /
• 2017

The application of electro-coagulation has been attempted to control the membrane fouling problem in a MBR (Membrane Bio-Reactor). This study examined the effects of the operating parameters (current density and contact time) of the electro-coagulation process on the change in the characteristics of activated sludge. The current density changed from 2.5 to 12, $24A/m^2$, and the contact time was varied from 0 to 2 and 6 hr, respectively. At a current density of $24A/m^2$ and 6 hr of operation, the MLSS changed from 6,800 to 7,000 mg/L (3% increase), but the MLVSS did not increase significantly. After 6 hr of operation, the soluble COD decreased from 71 to 37 mg/L under the $24A/m^2$ condition, from 113 to 67 mg/L under the $12A/m^2$ condition, and from 84 to 80 mg/L under the $2.5A/m^2$ condition. On the other hand, soluble-TN and -TP concentration showed slight changes. The soluble-EPS and Bound-EPS concentration decreased slightly with increasing current density. The membrane filtration performance of activated sludge before and after electro-coagulation was compared. The filtration resistances after electro-coagulation decreased from 6 to 61 %, particularly as the current density and contact time were increased. This indicates that electro-coagulation can be used to control membrane fouling in the MBR process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.7
• /
• pp.738-745
• /
• 2006

In this research, the decolorization mechanisms of dye wastewater were divided into two pathways, one was physicochemical sorption to biomass flocs and the other was biological removal by microbial metabolisms. Batch tests were conducted to examine the reaction conditions, anaerobic and aerobic conditions, types and dose of cosubstrates, and to confirm the mechanisms of decolorization through the biosorption tests using the activated sludge and the autoclaved deactivated sludge. From the tests, the decolorization efficiencies of dye wastewater were 102 ${\Delta}$unit/g MLSS under the aerobic condition and 123 ${\Delta}$unit/g MLSS under the anaerobic condition, and organic removals were 82 $mg{\Delta}$COD/gMLSS and 75 $mg{\Delta}$COD/gMLSS respectively. Acetate was the more efficient cosubstrate than the domestic wastewater in the decolorization step. In addition the removal of colors and organics was increased with cosubstrates dosage. And $20.3{\sim}37.3$ ${\Delta}$unit/g MLSS was removed by the autoclaved sludge and $102.0{\sim}159.0$ ${\Delta}$unit/g MLSS by the activated sludge. The physicochemical sorption was dominant in the beginning of biosorption tests, and the biological decolorization was increased with a cosubstrate in the course of time.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.553-560
• /
• 2002

The research was performed to compare to the biofilm characteristics and phenol removal efficiency in RBCs(Rotating Biological Contactor) using Rhodococcus sp. EL-GT(single population) and activated sludge(mixed population) as inoculum. Both reactors showed similar tendency on variations of dry weight, thickness and dry density of biofilm. However, the growth of biofilm thickness in 3 and 4 stage of single population reactor has sustained longer than that of the mixed population reactor. Unlike the mixed population reactor, the dry density of biofilm in the single population reactor had a difference between 1, 2 stage and 3, 4 stage. The single population reactor was stably operated without the decrease of phenol removal efficiency in the range of pH 6 ~ 9 and 15mM phenol was completely degraded in these pH ranges. But in case of the mixed population reactor, the phenol degradability was dramatically decreased at over 5mM phenol concentration because of the overgrowth and detachment of its biofilm.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.47-53
• /
• 2012

In this study, the adsorption of $Cu^{2+}$ and $Cd^{2+}$ from aqueous solution on the biochar derived from used coffee grounds at different pyrolysis temperatures has been investigated as a potential low-cost treatment method for heavy metal-containing waters. Three biochar samples prepared by heating coffee sludge at temperature of $300^{\circ}C$ (B300), $500^{\circ}C$ (B500), and $700^{\circ}C$ (B700) were tested for the adsorption capacity and kinetics of Cd and Cu. Also the influencing factor of heavy metal removal by ion exchange in terms of cation exchange capacity (CEC) of each biochar was measured. Adsorption of Ca and Cu by biochar produced at higher pyrolysis temperature showed higher adsorption capacity but the optimal pyrolysis temperature based on performance and economy was known as $500^{\circ}C$. Sorption of Cu and Cd by biochar followed a Langmuir model at pH 6~6.5, attributing mainly to surface sorption. The biochar was more effective in Cu and Cd sorption than activated carbon (AC), with BC 500 being the most effective, which indicates that sorption of Cd and Cu by coffee sludge biochar is partly influenced by chemical sorption on surface functional group as well as physical sorption.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.8
• /
• pp.1513-1518
• /
• 2017

Anaerobic mono- and co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste leachate (FWL) were performed by assessing methane production and characterizing microbial communities. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) alone produced the lowest methane ($281ml\;CH_4$), but an approximately 80% increase in methane production was achieved via co-digestion of WAS and FWL ($506ml\;CH_4$). There were less differences in the diversity of bacterial communities in anaerobic digesters, while archaeal (ARC) and bacterial (BAC) amounts reflected AD performance. Compared with the total ARC and BAC amounts in the mono-digestion of WAS, the ARC and BAC amounts increased two and three times, respectively, during co-digestion of FWL and WAS. In characterized archaeal communities, the dominant ratio of hydrogenotrophic methanogens in the mono-digestion of WAS approached nearly a 1:1 ratio of the two acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogens in the co-digestion of FWL and WAS. The ARC/BAC ratio in the digesters varied in the range of 5.9% to 9.1%, indicating a positive correlation with the methane production of AD.