• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.295-309
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the operational characteristics of wastewater treatment using Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) with Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) separator in the pilot plant. Pilot plant experiments were conducted using SBR with AGS separator and pollution removal efficiencies were evaluated based on the operational condition and surface properties of AGS. The results of the operation on water quality of the effluent showed that the average concentration of total organic carbon, suspended solids, nitrogen, and phosphorus was 6.89 mg/L, 7.33 mg/L, 7.33 mg/L, and 0.2 mg/L, respectively. All these concentrations complied the effluent standard in Korea. The concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) fluctuated, but the AGS/MLSS ratio was constant at 86.5±1.3%. Although the AGS/MLSS ratio was constant, sludge volume index improved. These results suggested that the particle discharged fine sludge and increased the AGS praticle size in the AGS. Optical microscopy revealed the presence of dense AGS at the end of the operation, and particles of > 0.6 mm were found. Compared to those of belt-type AGS separator, the required area and power consumption of the hydrocyclone-type AGS separator were reduced by 27.5% and 83.8%, respectively.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.238-245
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• 2019

This study investigated the characteristic of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) process to treat the sewage having low carbon/nitrogen ratio (Biochemical oxygen demand ($BOD_5$):Total nitrogen (T-N), 4.5:1) in sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The removal efficiency of $BOD_5$, suspended solid (SS), T-N and phosphorus ($PO_4{^{3-}}$-P) were 92.6%, 64.3% and 90.1%. Concentration and size of AGS were changed in proportion to the organic matters and nitrogen concentration of the influent (Concentration and size of AGS: 1,700-3,000 mg/L, 0.5-1.0 mm). Mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) also changed with the concentration of AGS (MLSS: 2,000-3,500 mg/L). When the settling time was shortened from 15 min to 10 min, size and shape of AGS were maintained (Size of AGS: 1.0-1.5 mm). In addition, the concentration of AGS and MLSS increased (Concentration of AGS: 3,500 mg/L, MLSS: 4,000 mg/L). Concentration, size and shape of AGS were affected the settling time of the reactor more than the concentration of organic matter and nitrogen in the influent. In the results of removal efficiency and changes in AGS, we confirmed that the SBR process using AGS can be used to treat the sewage having low carbon/nitrogen ratio by applying short settling time.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2014

In this study, aerobic granules were applied to a lab-scale aerobic granule sludge airlift reactor (AGSAR) and the ammonium nitrogen oxidation performance was evaluated at different ammonium nitrogen loading rate (NLR). At least 99% of the initial ammonium nitrogen was oxidized at an NLR of 0.27 and 0.53 kg $NH_4{^+}-N/m^3{\cdot}day$, for both aerobic granules (control), and nitrifying aerobic granules (NAGs). The ammonium nitrogen oxidation deteriorated, when the NLR was increased to 1.07 kg $NH_4{^+}-N/m^3{\cdot}day$. The NAGs were characterized by complete nitrification, while partial nitrification was observed in the control.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1798-1807
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• 2017

The differentiations in nitrogen-converting activity and microbial community structure between granular size fractions in a continuous completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) reactor, having a superior specific nitrogen removal rate of $0.24g/(g\;VSS{\cdot}h)$, were investigated by batch tests and high-throughput pyrosequencing analysis, respectively. Results revealed that a high dissolved oxygen concentration (>1.8 mg/l) could result in efficient nitrite accumulation with small granules (0.2-0.6 mm in diameter), because aerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (genus Nitrosomonas) predominated therein. Meanwhile, intermediate size granules (1.4-2.0 mm in diameter) showed the highest nitrogen removal activity of $40.4mg/(g\;VSS{\cdot}h)$ under sufficient oxygen supply, corresponding to the relative abundance ratio of aerobic to anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (genus Candidatus Kuenenia) of 5.7. Additionally, a dual substrate competition for oxygen and nitrite would be considered as the main mechanism for repression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, and the few Nitrospira spp. did not remarkably affect the overall performance of the reactor. Because all the granular size fractions could accomplish the CANON process independently under oxygen limiting conditions, maintaining a diversity of granular size would facilitate the stability of the suspended growth CANON system.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.303-309
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• 2016

This study aimed to assay the biological removal of TDS (total dissolved solids) from RO (reverse osmosis) rejected water. Following bio-sorption of TDS with AGS (aerobic granular sludge), the effects of TDS on biological nitrogen removal were examined. The bio-sorption of TDS after AGS treatment was confirmed by checking for TDS removal efficiency and surface analysis of microorganisms with SEM and EDS. Then, the effects of TDS on biological nitrogen removal and the denitrification efficiency were evaluated using the MBR reactor. According to the results, the bio-sorption of TDS with AGS was 0.1 mg TDS/mg AGS, and we confirmed that the microorganism surfaces had adsorbed the TDS. Biological nitrogen removal efficiency was measured at inhibiting denitrification at 4,000 mg/L of TDS-injected material. Based on this study, it is necessary to pretreat TDS-containing RO rejected water and to maintain TDS concentration lower than a specific value (≤4,000 mg/L), when considering biological nitrogen removal.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.534-538
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• 2004

Granulation characteristics have been studied with an aerobic sequencing batch reactor(SBR). Organic loading of 2.46kg COD/$m^3$/day followed by 4.14kg COD/$m^3$/day had been applied to the lab-scale SBR with a very short settling time during the operating cycle. The granulation proceeded to the diameter range of 3 to 5 mm with MLSS concentration of 12,000mg/L at 45th days of operation while COD removal efficiency remained almost consistent after the granule formation. It has been noticed that aerobic granulation under the higher loading with a very short settling time seemed to be due to the microbial selection of better flocculating species.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.79-86
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• 2016

The purpose of this study is to efficiently improve biological sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system of high-concentrated nitrate nitrogen in reverse osmosis (RO) concentrates by total dissolved solids (TDS) regulation. Since a laboratory-scale SBR system had been operated, we had analyzed specific denitrification rate (SDNR) and specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) for microbial activity in according to various injection concentration of TDS. As a result, higher injection concentration of TDS decreased SDNR, and delayed denitrification within denitrification process. Moreover, the higher injection concentration of TDS was, the lower microbial activity was during operation of laboratory-scale SBR system. Therefore, the regulation of TDS injection concentration is necessary to improve efficiency of nitrate nitrogen in the biological SBR system, and treatment of calcium ion ($Ca^{2+}$) is also specifically focused to remove nitrate nitrogen. Moreover, analytical data of SDNR and SOUR can be the effective kinetic design parameters to application of biological treatment of RO concentrate by aerobic granular sludge (AGS).

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.55-61
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• 2011

NDMA(N-Nitrosodimethylamine) has been considered as a carcinogenic pollutant even at extremely low-concentration (10ng/L). However, previous researches on NDMA have focused on mainly high concentration due to a difficulty of analysis. In this study, removal efficiencies were evaluated for individual or combined methods with PAC(Powder Activated Carbon), GS(Granular Sludge), MF(Microfiltration), UF(Ultrafiltration) and Silica gel(MCM-41, Diatomite, Spherical silica gel) at both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Combined method of GS, PAC and UF membrane at anaerobic condition showed the highest removal efficiency of 65% while Silica gel showed the lowest removal efficiency of 6%. The outcomes of this study could be used further study of extremely low-concentration NDMA removal.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.395-409
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• 2017

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a compact and efficient wastewater treatment and reclamation technology; but, it is limited by membrane fouling. The control of membrane fouling significantly increases operational and maintenance costs. Bacteria and their byproducts - extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) - are major contributors to membrane fouling in MBRs. A recent attempt at fouling mitigation is the development of aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) through the integration of a novel biotechnology - aerobic granulation - and MBR. This paper provides an overview on the development of AGMBR to mitigate membrane fouling caused by bacteria and EPS. In AGMBR, EPS are used up in granule formation; and, the rigid structure of granules provides a surface for bacteria to attach to rather than the membrane surface. Preliminary research on AGMBR using synthetic wastewater show remarkable membrane fouling reduction compared to conventional MBR, thus improved membrane filtration. Enhanced performance in AGMBR using actual municipal wastewater at pilot-scale has also been reported. Therefore, further research is needed to determine AGMBR optimal operational conditions to enhance granule stability in long-term operations and in full-scale applications.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.452-458
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• 2008

This study was undertaken to establish the biological reaction characteristics of the marine products industry wastewater which contains high concentrations of organic matter and saline. As the S/I is varied from 0.3 to 1.2, the results were follows : the observed ultimate anaerobic biodegradability varied from 72.0 to 88.0%, the first order reaction rate varied from 0.1735 to $0.3420\;day^{-1}$ and the second order reaction rate varied from 0.0132 to $0.0295\;day^{-1}$. When S/I was 0.9, the first order reaction rate had a maximum value, but the variations of the second order reaction rate were less than 1st-order reaction rate. When the operation time exceeded 2 days the gas production rapidly increased. The source of this rapid increase was due to that the activity of the granular sludge used in this study being faster than that of conventional sludge. Under aerobic condition, the characteristics of organic matter were as follows: the marine industry wastewater used in this study contained about 81% of biodegradable matter, and it was divided into readily biodegradable COD(Ss), slowly biodegradable COD(Xs), soluble COD(Si) and inert suspended COD (Xi). The percentages of each COD were 87.3%, 23.9%, 6.4% and 12.4% respectively.