• KSBB Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.80-87
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• 2002

Laboratory scale aerobicfanaerobic biofilm reactor was used for simultaneous and stable removal of organics, N and P components to investigate optimum design and operation parameters and to analyze the microbial distribution and consortium structure of nitrification and denitrification bacteria in aerobic and anaerobic biofilm systems. The biofilm reactor was successfully operated for 143 days to show $COD_{cr},\;BOD_5$, SS removal efficiencies of 88, 88, and 97%, respectively. During the experiment period, almost complete nitrification efficiency of 96% was achieved. Denitrification efficiency was about 45% without addition of any external carbon sources. In case of total phosphorus removal, 74% of the inlet phosphorus was removed. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) results showed that most of the ammonia oxidizing bacteria in the aerobic nitrification zone was found to be Nitrosomonas species while Nitrospira was the representative nitrite oxidizing bacteria. For the denitrification, Rhodobacter, Rhodovulum, Roseebacter and Paracouus were the dominant denitrification bacteria which was 10 to 20% of the total bacteria in numbers.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.62-75
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• 2000

Most of biological treatment to remove contaminants in municipal wastewater have been conducted by activated sludge process. But, the process have several probIems such as enormous site needed for construction of treatment facilities, unstable treatment due to limited ability to control load fluctuation, frequent sludge bulking and appearance of lots of surplus sludge. In this study, the experiments were performed through submerging biofilm of PEPP media in existing aeration tank with raw water from municipal wastewater treatment plant and then submerging PVDC and PEPP media, different from shape and chemical peculiarity in anoxic reactor. Throughout the experience, nutrient removal efficiency according to HRT, nitrogen phosphorous removal efficiency, behavior of nitrogen and dewatering efficiency have been compared and analysed with those of activated sludge process. As the results, BOD removal efficiency according to BOD volumetric load and F/M ratio was not found any differency in two processes, but was decreased below 90% as going along the condition of high load in activated sludge process. Kinetic coefficient was $K_{max}=1.162day^{-1}$, $K_s=53.77mg/L$, $Y=0.166mgVSS/mgBOD_{rem}$. and $K_d=0.019day^{-1}$. It was found that the removal efficiency, even though in aerobic condition, in biofilm process equipped anoxic reactor was higher than the one in activated sludge process within the range of 70~80%, and became better as HRT increased. Phosphorous removal efficiency was not found any differency in two processes. In biofilm process, treament efficiency even in conditions of high load was not decreased, because the biomass concentration could be maintained in high condition compared with activated sludge process. As HRT increased, suspended and attached biomass was increased and the other hand, F/M ratio was decreased as biomass' increasing. Biomass thickness was increased. from $10.43{\mu}m$ to $10.55{\mu}m$ as HRT increased and density of biomass within $40.79{\sim}41.16mg/cm^2$. The results also present that the dewatering efficiency of sludge generated in biofilm process was higher than in activated sludge process, and became better as HRT increased.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.671-678
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• 1997

This study was conducted to use oyster shell as media for biological wastewater treatment. The comparison between the removal efficiencies of the activated sludge and the submerged biofilm process with oyster shell media (5% of reactor volume) for domestic sewage treatment was made. The contaminant removal efficiencies of the submerged process were higher than that of the activated sludge process. And the removal efficiencies of the submerged biofilm process with oyster shell media of 10% and 18% were Investigated at various loading rate. The removal efficiencies of 10% were higher than that of the 18% during the experimental period. The effluent concentration from the sub- merged bloom process using oyster shell media was prediceted by the Stover-Kincannon model.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.767-777
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• 2012

Annular Biofilm Reactor (ABR) equipped with coupons of three different pipe materials (STS 304, PVC, PE) was used to generate drinking water biofilm samples. The level of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) during the sample generation period was $37.3{\mu}g/L$, and this level did not seem to be low enough to limit the formation of biofilm in this study. Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses determined T-RF profile as early as 3 h of exposure on PVC coupons. Average surface roughness ($R_a$) measured by atomic force microscopic analyses was 125.7 nm for PVC, and this value was higher than for STS (71.6 nm) and PE (74.0 nm). However, biofilm formation was faster on STS (6 h) than on PE (12 h), which indicated that surface roughness might not be the only factor that controlled the initiation of biofilm development. Upon detection of the T-RF peaks, richness (S) and diversity indices such as Shannon (H) and Simpson (1/D) demonstrated a rather slow increase until 48 h followed by rapid increase regardless of the pipe materials. Differences of microbial community structures among the biofilm samples were determined based on the cluster analysis using Jaccard coefficients (Sj). Biofilm communities could be divided into two distinct groups according to the exposure time regardless of the pipe materials. First group contained a young (< 48 h) biofilm samples (10 out of 11) but second group contained a mature (${\geq}$ 48 h) samples (11 out of 14). Results suggested that, due to the complexity of biofilm, the targeting of the first group of cluster was crucial for optimizing the management of drinking water distribution systems and controlling microbial growth.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 1997

This study was aimed to estimate removal efficiency(%) of BER(Biofilm-Electrode Reactor) and A.S(Activated Sludge) treatments. When were analyzed COD$_{Cr}$, NH$_3$-N and T-P by current density and reaction time, the results were as follows : 1) In BER treatment, the removal efficiency of COD$_{Cr}$ in domestic wastewater was 79-86% when current density was 2.39 mA/dm$2$(15mA)-3.98 mA/dm$^2$(25mA) and reaction time was 48 hr. 2) Removal efficiency of NH$_3$-N was 71-73% when current density was 2.39-3.98 mA/dm$^2$ and reaction time 48 hr. 3) When the reaction time was 48 hr removal efficiency(%) of BER treatment for COD$_{Cr}$, NH$_3$-N and T-P were more excellent than A.S. treatment. And then we prospect that was because activated microorganism colonies attached in biofilm on surface of electrode pannel. Therefore, In order to derive BER treatment efficiency(%) should establish optimum conditions of pH, temp., reaction time, current density and biochemical and electrochemical states.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.521-529
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• 2007

Nutrient removal from synthetic wastewater was investigated using a MLE (Modified-Ludzack Ettinger) type MBBR (Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor), with different phenol ($C_6H_5OH$) concentrations, in order to determine the inhibition effects of phenol on biological nutrient removal and the biodegradation of phenolic wastewater. The wastewater was prepared by mixing a solution of molasses with known amounts of phenol and nutrients. The experiments were conducted in a lab-scale MLE type MBBR, operated with four different phenol concentrations (0, 67, 100 and 168mg/L) in the synthetic feed. Throughout the experiments, the ratio of the phenolic COD concentration to the total COD was varied from 0 to 1. Throughout batch test, the SNR (Specific Nitrification Rate) and SDNR (Specific Denitrification Rate) were significantly influenced by changes of the phenol concentration. Phenol was inhibitory to the nitrification/denitrification process, and showed greater inhibition with higher initial phenol concentrations. The SNR observed with 0, 67, 100 and 168mg phenol/L were very different like 10.12, 6.95, 1.51 and $0.35mg\;NH_{3^-}N/gMLVSS$ hr, respectively. Similarly, the SDNR observed at 0, 67, 100 and 168mg phenol/L were different like 0.322, 0.143, 0.049and 0.006mgN/gMLVSS day, respectively.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.457-460
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• 2000

A biofilm airlift reactor filled with biomass-covered carriers (sand) were used to remove ammonium by selective nitrification (ammonium to nitrite). The effects of experimental conditions (ammonium load, pH, dissolved oxygen) on nitrification and nitrite accumulation were investigated. The reactor showed more than 90% nitrification efficiencies at 2.5 kg $NH_4\;^+-N/m^3/d$ and $NO_2\;^--N$ could be accumulated between 75% and 90% in the effluent. It is likely that nitratation (nitrite oxidizer) was inhibited by low dissolved oxygen concentration while nitritation (ammonium oxidizer) was kept stable.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.235-245
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• 1992

A number of experiments to treat wastewater of a dye plant were conducted to investigate the basic design parameters and effluent characteristics for aerobic fixed biofilm reactor upon the variation of organic loading rate. The media used for this study were SARAN 4000 D with specific surface area $153m^2/m^3$, and 1000 D with specific surface area $307m^2/m^3$. The influent COD concentration ranged from 1250 to 4080 mg/L. Substrate removal and variation of biomass concentration were observed. At the beginning, the effluent quality was poor but improved as the time passed. However the effluent quality became seriously deteriorated when the media clogged. At influent COD of 1250mg/L, the effluent COD varied little, even if the organic loading rate increased from 0.63 to 2.5kg COD/$m^3$/day. It was also noted that the design parameters for activated sludge process could be applied to an aerobic fixed biofilm process under the experimental conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1221-1228
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• 2005

Carbon electrode was applied to a wastewater treatment system as biofilm media. The spatial distribution of heterotrophic bacteria in aerobic wastewater biofilm grown on carbon electrode was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and biomass measurement. Five volts of electric oxidation and reduction potential were charged to the carbon anode and cathode of the bioelectrochemical system, respectively, but were not charged to electrodes of a conventional system. To correlate the biofilm architecture of bacterial populations with their activity, the bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons was measured in the bioelectrochemical system and compared with that in the conventional system. In the SEM image, the biofilm on the anodic medium of the bioelectrochemical system looked intact and active; however, that on the carbon medium of the conventional system appeared to be shrinking or damaging. In the AFM image, the thickness of biofilm formed on the carbon medium was about two times of those on the anodic medium. The bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons in the bioelectrochemical system was about 1.5 times higher than that in the conventional system. Some denitrifying bacteria can metabolically oxidize $H_{2}$, coupled to reduction of $NO_{3}^{-}\;to\;N_{2}$. $H_{2}$ was produced from the cathode in the bioelectrochemical system by electrolysis of water but was not so in the conventional system. The denitrification efficiency was less than $22\%$ in the conventional system and more than $77\%$ in the bioelectrochemical system. From these results, we found that the electrochemical coupling reactions between aerobic and anaerobic reactors may be a useful tool for improvement of wastewater treatment and denitrification efficiency, without special manipulations such as bacterial growth condition control, C/N ratio (the ratio of carbon to nitrogen) control, MLSS returning, or biofilm refreshing.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1908-1919
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• 2015

This work investigated the potential of curcumin (CCM) and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to inhibit N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated biofilm formation in gram-negative bacteria from membrane bioreactor (MBR) activated sludge. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of CCM alone against all the tested bacteria were 200-350 μg/ml, whereas those for EGCG were 300-600 μg/ml. Biofilm formation at one-half MICs indicated that CCM and EGCG alone respectively inhibited 52-68% and 59-78% of biofilm formation among all the tested bacteria. However, their combination resulted in 95-99% of biofilm reduction. Quorum sensing inhibition (QSI) assay with known biosensor strains demonstrated that CCM inhibited the expression of C4 and C6 homoserine lactones (HSLs)-mediated phenotypes, whereas EGCG inhibited C4, C6, and C10 HSLs-based phenotypes. The Center for Disease Control biofilm reactor containing a multispecies culture of nine bacteria with one-half MIC of CCM (150 μg/ml) and EGCG (275 μg/ml) showed 17 and 14 μg/cm² of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on polyvinylidene fluoride membrane surface, whereas their combination (100 μg/ml of each) exhibited much lower EPS content (3 μg/cm²). Confocal laser scanning microscopy observations also illustrated that the combination of compounds tremendously reduced the biofilm thickness. The combined effect of CCM with EGCG clearly reveals for the first time the enhanced inhibition of AHL-mediated biofilm formation in bacteria from activated sludge. Thus, such combined natural QSI approach could be used for the inhibition of membrane biofouling in MBRs treating wastewaters.