• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.80-85
• /
• 2013

The bacterial community structure in a biological reactor fed influent from a wastewater treatment system was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and in situ hybridization. Sludges were collected from three biological reactors (aerobic, oxic, and anoxic tanks) at the M wastewater treatment facility (WTF). The influent of the MWTF consisted of mixed tannery wastewater (40~65%) and seafood wastewater (35~60%). The treatment processes resulted in a removal efficiency for BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) of 83.6~98.2% and 72.8~84.6%, respectively for tannery wastewater than for seafood wastewater resulted in greater survival of biomass in the biological reactors and a higher removal of BOD, COD, and T-N of about 8~18%. In contrast, addition of greater amounts of seafood wastewater decreased the amount of biomass in the bioreactors due to the increasing concentration of chromium from that wastewater and it also. The dominant bacterial species during the high seafood wastewater input period were Burkholderia cepacia (JX901049) and an uncultured bacterium (JF247555), while Pseudomonas geniculata (HQ256559) was dominant during the high tannery wastewater input period. Flavobacteriumsp. BF.107 (FM173271) and Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii (Y14306) were dominant under anoxic conditions.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.189-203
• /
• 2015

Membrane biofouling impedes wide application of membrane bioreactor (MBR) for wastewater treatment. Recently, quorum sensing (QS) mechanisms are accounted for one of major mechanisms in biofouling of MBRs. In this study, vanillin was applied to investigate reduction of biofouling in MBRs. MBR sludge was analyzed to contain QS signal molecules by cross-feeding biosensor assay and HPLC. In addition, the inhibitory activity of vanillin against bacterial quorum sensing was verified using an indicator strain CV026. The vanillin doses greater than 125 mg/L to 100 mL of MBR sludge showed 25% reduction of biofilm formed on the membrane surfaces. Two MBRs, i.e., a typical MBR as a control and an MBR with vanillin, were operated. The TMP increases of the control MBR were more rapid compared to those of the MBR with the vanillin dose of 250 mg/L. The treatment efficiencies of the two MBRs on organic removal and MLSS were maintained relatively constant. Extracellular polymeric substance concentrations measured at the end of the MBR operation were 173 mg/g biocake for the control MBR and 119 mg/g biocake for the MBR with vanillin. Vanillin shows great potential as an anti-biofouling agent for MBRs without any interference on microbial activity for wastewater treatment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.15-26
• /
• 2015

The compact structure and high-quality effluent of membrane bioreactors make them well-suited for decentralized greywater reclamation. However, the occurrence of membrane fouling continues to limit their effectiveness. To address this concern, a unique membrane module configuration was developed for use in a decentralized greywater treatment system. The module featured local aeration directly below a series of inclined membrane bundles, giving the overall module a twisted appearance compared to a module with vertically orientated fibres. The intent of this design was to increase the frequency and intensity of collisions between rising air bubbles and the membrane surface. Material related to the construction of custom-fit modules is rarely communicated. Therefore, detailed design and assembly procedures were provided in this paper. The twisted module was compared to two commercially available modules with diverse specifications in order to assess the relative performance and marketability of the twisted module with respect to existing products. Contaminant removal efficiencies were determined in terms of biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and turbidity for each module. Membrane fouling was monitored in terms of permeate flux, transmembrane pressure, and membrane resistance. Following 168 h of operation, the twisted module configuration demonstrated competitive performance, indicating good potential for further development and commercialization.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.11-22
• /
• 2016

The characterization of treatment performance with respect to mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration enables greater control over system performance and contaminant removal efficiency. Hybrid membrane bioreactors (HMBRs) have yet to be well characterized in this regard, particularly in the context of greywater treatment. The aim of this study, therefore, was to determine the optimal MLSS concentration for a decentralized HMBR greywater reclamation system under typical loading conditions. Treatment performance was measured at MLSS concentrations ranging from 1000 to 4000 mg/L. The treated effluent was characterized in terms of biochemical oxygen demand ($BOD_5$), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, ammonia ($NH_3$), total phosphorus (TP), total kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total nitrogen (TN). An MLSS concentration ranging from 3000 to 4000 mg/L yielded optimal results, with $BOD_5$, COD, turbidity, $NH_3$, TP, TKN, and TN removals reaching 99.2%, 97.8%, 99.8%, 99.9%, 97.9%, 95.1%, and 44.8%, respectively. The corresponding food-to-microorganism ratio during these trials was approximately 0.23 to 0.28. Operation at an MLSS concentration of 1000 mg/L resulted in an irrecoverable loss of floc, and contaminant residuals exceeded typical guideline values for reuse in non-potable water applications. Therefore, it is suggested that operation at or below this threshold be avoided.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.122-128
• /
• 1992

A study on the citric acid production was performed in various size dual hollow fiber bioreactors with immobilized Aspergillus niger (KCTC 1232). The final dry cell mass density reached 300g/l based on the space volume available for cell growth. Under air and oxygen aeration the volumethe productivity reached 0.63 and 1.02g/l.h, which cormsponded to 10 and 16 fold over those of batch fermentation, respectively. The initial pH of the medium was a critical factor and the lower value resulted in higher citric acid yield. The increase in the feeding rate of medium or the number of reactor unit resulted in the improvement of the productivity due to higher consumption rate of substrate.

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.191-196
• /
• 2012

Analysis of hydrological safety as well as the determination of many substance concentrations are necessary when bioreactor systems are introduced to landfill operations. Therefore, hydrological and substance balance model was developed since it can be applied to various bioreactor landfill operation systems. For the final evaluation of the model's effectiveness, four different methods of injections (leachate alone, leachate and organic waste water, leachate and reverse osmosis concentrate, and all the above three combination) was applied to 1st landfill site of Sudokwon landfill. As a result, the water content of the hypothetical cases for four different systematic bioreactors is projected to be increased up to 35.5% in next 10 years, and this indicated that there will be no problems in meeting the hydrological safety. Also, the final $Cl^-$ concentration after 10-yr time period was projected to be between from minimum 126 to maximum 3,238 mg/L, which could be still a decrease from the original value of 3,278 mg/L. According to the proposed model, whether the substance concentration becomes increased or decreased largely depends on the ratio of initial quantity of inner landfill leachate and the rate of injection.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
• /
• v.6 no.6
• /
• pp.426-432
• /
• 2001

Perstractive fermentation is a good way to increase the productivity of bioreactors. Us-ing Propionibacteria as the model system, the feasibility of using supported emulsion liquid mem-brane(SELM) fro perstractive fermentation is assessed in this study. Five industrial solvents were considered as the solvent for perparing the SELM. The more polar a solvent, is the higher the par-tition coefficeint However, toxicity of a solvent also increases with its polarity. CO-1055(indus-trial decanol/octanol blend)has the highest partition coefficient toward propionic acid among the solvents that has no molecular toxicity toward Propionibacteria, A preliminary extraction study was conducted using tetradecane as solvent in a hydrophobic hollow fiber contactor. The results confirmed that SELM eliminates the equilibrium limitation of conventional liquid-liquid extrac-tion and allows the use of a non-toxic solvent with low partition coefficient.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.27 no.5
• /
• pp.529-545
• /
• 2013

With the increasing concern on climate changes and energy shortage, anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) become a promising alternative to aerobic processes for domestic wastewater treatment. Two major advantages of AnMBRs are energy production and sludge reduction. Recently, several different configurations of AnMBRs have been proved to produce high quality effluent at reasonable hydraulic retention time and ambient temperature. One of the major problems of the AnMBR is membrane fouling control, and some solutions are already suggested. Other problems to be solved before the full application of the AnMBR are recovery of dissolved methane, management of residual nutrients and sulfide. Considering the potential advantages and future technology development, AnMBR will become major domestic wastewater treatment process in near future.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.15-25
• /
• 2011

Marine sponges are a rich source of highly diversified bioactive compounds. These medicinally valuable molecules represent extreme physiological and ecological functions in sponges, more presumably involving in the resistance to the feeding by other marine organisms like fish and fouling by barnacles, bacteria, fungi, etc. This feature of attaining resistance made sponges as successful poriferans that possess an impressive array of biological properties ranging from antimicrobial to anticancerous activities. The diversified bioactive principle of sponges might be due to their spacio-temporal distribution and although, the gateway for exploiting the sponges for isolating these distinct, potential molecules is open, suitable technical and methodological approaches are yet to be implemented in order to bring the sponges as successful pharmaceutical leads in the field of marine biotechnology. Despite of the identified difficulties of marine sponge research from past few decades, one should concentrate not only on the basic and applied technical/methodological considerations, but also on the novel strategies like in vitro sponge cell, fragment and whole sponge culture; sponge symbiont cell culture; in situ and ex situ sponge cultivation; and sponge bioreactors and metagenomic approaches, for the successful exploitation of marine sponges towards the novelty in sponge biotechnology. The present review narrates the pros and cons of the nowadays-marine sponge research by focusing on the suggestive ecobiotechnological approaches, based on the latest studies for feasible ecological exploitation and biotechnological application of sponges from the sea.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.124-132
• /
• 2015

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench (purple cone flower) is an important medicinal plant; it can enhance immunity, relieve pain, and reduce inflammation, and also has hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects. Adventitious root biomass of Echinacea purpurea was produced in commercial-scale bioreactors for use as a dietary supplement in the food industry and in traditional medicine. Biosafety and toxicological evaluations of tissue-cultured Echinacea purpurea adventitious roots (TCEPARs) were performed. Reverse mutation and chromosomal aberration tests showed no significant mutagenicity. Furthermore, repeated four-week oral dose tests performed in Sprague-Dawley rats did not show any notable changes in the general behavior of the rats, in the gross appearance of their internal organs, or in their mortality rate. There were no differences between the control group and the treatment group in parameters such as absolute body weight, hematology, blood chemistry, and absolute and relative organ weights. These findings indicate that TCEPARs are safe and nontoxic when consumed at an average dietary level and can be used as raw material for traditional medicine and the food industry.