• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.38 no.1 s.113
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• pp.45-53
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• 2006

This study was carried out to produce high functional and biodegradable coating agents for pulp mold by evaluating various kinds of biodegradable polymers. Five kinds of biodegradable polymers were used. In addition, the mixture of the carboxymethylated starch and biodegradable polymers(${\kappa}$-carrageenan, chitosan) were used for mixed coating agents. Physical properties of coated paperboards were evaluated. Conclusions obtained were as follows. 4% ${\kappa}$-carrageenan and 5% chitosan showed higher water and oil resistance. 10% sodium alginate, 4% corn zein and 15% polycaprolactone showed high water resistance while no improvement was found on oil resistance. The optimum mixture ratios for the mixed coating agents were 90:10(carboxymethylated starch : ${\kappa}$-carrageenan) and 50:50(carboxymethylated starch : chitosan). Since these mixed coating agents have excellent biodegradability with higher water and oil resistance, these can be used for the environmental-friendly coating agents.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2004

The aim of the present study was to investigate how the hardness of groundwater affects in the alcohol fermentation. Ozone plays an important role to enhance the water quality, resulting in 85% reduction of hardness, and 30% increase in total glucose produced due to increased conductivity and biodegradability of water. After all, experiments using ozone are presented for the improvement of alcohol productivity. Although initially increased slightly alcohol production, higher than expected ethanol production was observed, with ozone treatment resulting in 20% higher production.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.112-118
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• 2008

Residual solid in excess sludge treated by hydrothermal reaction was investigated as raw material for its recycling. Treated excess sludge and residual solid were also focused on their content change during hydrothermal reaction. Two kinds of excess sludge, obtained from a local food factory and a municipal wastewater treatment process, were tested under various conditions. Following hydrothermal reaction, depending on the reaction conditions, biodegradable substrates in treated excess sludge appeared to increase. The separated residual solid was a composite composed of organic and inorganic materials. The proportion of carbon varied from 34.0 to 41.6% depending on reaction conditions. Although 1.89% of hazardous materials were detected, SiO2 (Quartz) was a predominant constituent of the residual solid. X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments revealed that the residual solid was of a partially amorphous state, suggesting that the residual solids could be easily converted to stable and non harmful substances through a stabilization process. Thus, this technology could be successfully used to control excess sludge and its reuse.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1028-1033
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• 2008

Sequential quick crushing and alkali hydrolysis(SeCAH), as a pretreatment for foodwaste, incorporating mechanical crushing and alkali hydrolysis was proposed and investigated in this study. Focuses were placed on the improvement of biodegradability of foodwaste and the estimation of potential inhibitors for anaerobic digestion. The solubility of the pretreated foodwaste by SeCAH was increased 2.5 times rather than mechanical crushing. Considering solubility improvement and energy consumption, 2,000 rpm of crushing strength and 5$\sim$10 sec of crushing time are recommended. After SeCAH, the fraction of large organic particles(>2.36 mm) of foodwaste was sharply decreased from 88.0% to 29.0%, otherwise the fraction of small particles(<75 $\mu$m) was greatly increased from 10.5% to 40.7%. Ammouinum, potassium and sulfate were estimated as potential inhibitors for anaerobic digestion and their concentrations in pig slurry were 3331.3 mg/L, 4256.5 mg/L and 1017.5 mg/L, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.280-292
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• 2016

Objectives: The objective of this study was to build COD regression models for the Han River and evaluate water quality. Methods: Water quality data sets for the dry season (as of January) during a four-year period (2012-2015) were collected from the database of the Han River automatic water quality monitoring stations. Statistical techniques, including combined genetic algorithm-multiple linear regression (GA-MLR) were used to build five-descriptor COD models. Multivariate statistical techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) are useful tools for extracting meaningful information. Results: The $r^2$ of the best COD models provided significant high values (> 0.8) between 2012 and 2015. Total organic carbon (TOC) was a surrogate indicator for COD (as COD/TOC) with high reliability ($r^2=0.63$ in 2012, $r^2=0.75$ for 2013, $r^2=0.79$ for 2014 and $r^2=0.85$ for 2015). The ratios of COD/TOC were calculated as 2.08 in 2012, 1.79 in 2013, 1.52 and 1.45 in 2015, indicating that biodegradability in the water body of the Han River was being sustained, thereby further improving water quality. The BOD/COD ratio supported these findings. The cluster analysis revealed higher annual levels of microorganisms and phosphorous at stations along the Hangang-Seoul and Hantangang areas. Nevertheless, the overall water quality over the last four years showed an observable trend toward continuous improvement. These findings also suggest that non-point pollution control strategies should consider the influence of upstreams and downstreams to protect water quality in the Han River. Conclusion: This data analysis procedure provided an efficient and comprehensive tool to interpret complex water quality data matrices. Results from a trend analysis provided much important information about sources and parameters for Han River water quality management.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.29-35
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• 2017

BACKGROUND: This study was carried out to assess a biochemical methane potential of giant miscanthus (Miscanthus sacchariflorus) which was a promising candidate energy crop due to a high biomass productivity, in order to utilize as a feedstock for the biogas production. METHODSANDRESULTS: Giant miscanthus was sampled the elapsing drying time of 6 months after harvesting. TS (Total Solid) and VS (Volatile Solid) contents were 94.7 and 90.8%. And CP (Crude Protein), EE (Ether Extracts), and CF (Crude Fiber) contents of giant miscanthus were 1.4, 0.46, and 46.12%, respectively. In the organic composition of giant miscanthus, the NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber) representing cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose contents showed 86.88%, and the ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber) representing cellulose and lignin contents was 62.91%. Elemental composition of giant miscanthus showed 47.75%, 6.44%, 41.00%, and 0.28% for C, H, O, and N, respectively, and then, theoretical methane potential was obtained to $0.502Nm^3kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$. Biochemical methane potential was assessed as the range of $0.154{\sim}0.241Nm^3kg^{-1}-VS_{added}$ resulting the lower organic biodegradability of 30.7~48.0%. CONCLUSION: Therefore the development of pretreatment technology of the giant miscanthus was needed for the improvement of anaerobic digestability.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.255-261
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• 2004

Experiments using ozone are presented for the water purification and wine quality improvement. Advanced oxidation process results reveal water treatment by both ozone and UV radiation increases quality of the takju prepared using a Korean conventional nuruk than with ozone-treatment or convectional method only. Water quality was enhanced by ozone treatment, resulting in 85% reduction of hardness, and 30% increase in total glucose produced due to increased conductivity and biodegradability of water. Although initially decreased slightly due to oxidation of takju, higher than expected ethanol production was observed, with ozone plus UV treatment resulting in 20% higher production compared with other methods.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.382-387
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• 2013

Biodegradable polyurethane (PU)/clay nanocomposite films were prepared via extrusion compounding process followed by casting film process. Organically modified montmorillonite (denoted as C30B) with a large amount of hydroxyl groups on its surface was used for the formation of strong bonding with PU resin. From both XRD analysis and TEM observations, the intercalated and exfoliated structure, and dispersion state of silicate platelets in the compounded nanocomposite films were confirmed. In addition, the rheological and tensile properties, optical transparency, oxygen permeability of the prepared nanocomposites were investigated as a function of added nanoclay content, and moreover based on these results, the corelation between the morphology and the resulting properties of the nanocomposites could be presented. The inclusion of nanoclays at appropriate content resulted in remarkable improvement in the nanocomposite performance including tensile modulus, elongation, transparency, and oxygen barrier property, however at excess amount of nanoclays, reduction or very slight increase was observed due to poor dispersion. The biodegradability of the prepared nanocomposite film was evaluated by examining the deterioration in the barrier and tensile properties during degradation period under compost.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

Biofilms significantly affect the performance of wastewater treatment processes in which biodegradability of numerous microorganisms are actively involved, and various technologies have been applied to secure microbial biofilms. Understanding changes in biofilm characteristics by regulating expression of signaling molecules is important to control and regulate biofilms in membrane bioreactor, i.e., biofouling. This study investigated effects of addition of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHL) as a controllable factor for the microbial signaling system on biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and multiple strains in membrane bioreactor. The addition of three AHL, i.e., C4-, C6-, and C8-HSL, at a concentration of 200 ㎍/L, enhanced the formation of the PAO1 biofilm and the degree of increases in the biofilm formation of PAO1 were 70.2%, 76.6%, and 72.9%, respectively. The improvement of biofilm formation of individual strains by C4-HSL was an average of 68%, and the microbial consortia increased by approximately 52.1% in the presence of 200 ㎍/L C4-HSL. CLSM images showed that more bacterial cells were present on the membrane surface after the AHL application. In the COMSTAT results, biomass and thickness were increased up to 2.2 times (PAO1) and 1.6 times (multi-strains) by C4-HSL. This study clearly showed that biofilm formation was increased by the application of AHL to individual strain groups, including PAO1 and microbial consortia, and significant increases were observed when 50 or 100 ㎍/L AHL was administered. This suggests that AHL application can improve the biofilm formation of microorganisms, which could yield an enhancement in efficiency of biofilm control, such as in various biofilm reactors including membrane bioreactor and bioflocculent systems in water/wastewater treatment processes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.253-259
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• 2023

Bioreactors are devices used by sewage treatment plants to process sewage and which produce active sludge, and sediments separated by solid-liquid are treated in anaerobic digestion tanks. In anaerobic digestion tanks, the volume of active sludge deposits is reduced and biogas is produced. After dehydrating the digestive sludge generated after anaerobic digestion, anaerobic digested wastewater, which features a high concentration of organic matters, is generated. In this study, the decomposition of organic carbon and nitrogen was studied by advanced oxidation process. Ozone-microbubble flotation process was used for oxidation pretreatment. During ozonation, the TOC decreased by 11.6%. After ozone treatment, the TOC decreased and the removal rate reached 80.4% as a result of the Ultra Violet-Advanced Oxidation Process (UV-AOP). The results with regard to organic substances before and after treatment differed depending on the organic carbon index, such as CODMn, CODCr, and TOC. Those indexes did not change significantly in ozone treatment, but decreased significantly after the UV-AOP process as the linkage treatment, and were removed by up to 39.1%, 15.2%, and 80.4%, respectively. It was confirmed that biodegradability was improved according to the ratio of CODMn to TOC. As for the nitrogen component, the ammonia nitrogen component showed a level of 3.2×10² mg/L or more, and the content was maintained at 80% even after treatment. Since most of the contaminants are removed from the treated water and its transparency is high, this water can be utilized as a resource that contains high concentrations of nitrogen.