• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.563-580
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• 2010

In 2009 the Korea Ministry of Environment announced 'A Comprehensive Plan for the Improvement of Sewer Service in Rural Area' aiming at reduction of the sewer service gap between urban and rural areas as well as improvement in the residential environment of the rural area. According to the plan, the sewer system supply rate for the rural area is expected to reach up to 75% until 2015 with the budget of 4.7 trillion won (Korean currency). It is not certain, however, that the increase in the sewer system supply rate will accompany improvement of water quality in receiving water because several veiled problems that can occur in small-scale sewer treatment plants are poorly addressed in the plan. In this study, those issues for the small-scale sewer treatment plants and their solutions were discussed based on a case study in which we investigated 19 treatment facilities at two rural regions in Gyeonggi province. This study also included strategies useful for the plan. From the results of investigation, some problems, e.g., high hourly variations but low in flowrates and low mass loading were commonly identified. Although operation parameters in sewer treatment plants require to be modified depending on the mass loading, most of the plants were operated with the initial design parameters which causes the decrease of removal efficiency. In the intensive diagnosis, we arranged and applied solutions (e.g., flow equalization, air on/off time control, etc) to the two selected plants and found out improvement of effluent water quality, especially organic matters (COD and SS) and T-N with better denitrification performance.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.69-78
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• 2007

Constructed wetlands and other aquatic systems have been successfully used for waste and wastewater treatment in either temperate or tropical regions. To treat waste or wastewater in a sustainable manner, the integrated eco-engineering designs are explained in this paper with 2 case studies: (i) a combination of vertical-flow constructed wetland (CW) with plant irrigation systemfor fecal sludge management and (ii) integrated CW units with landscaping at full-scale application for domestic wastewater treatment. The pilot-scale study of fecal sludge management employed 3 vertical-flow CW units, each with a dimension of $5{\times}5{\times}0.65m$ (width ${\times}$ length ${\times}$ media depth) and planted with cattails (Typha augustifolia). At the solid loading rate of 250 kg total solids (TS)/$m^2.yr$ and a 6-day percolate impoundment, the CW system could achieve chemical oxygen demand (COD), TS and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) removal efficiencies in the range of 80 - 96%. The accumulated sludge layers of about 80 - 90 cm was found at the CW bed surface after operating the CW units for 7 years, but no clogging problem has been observed. The CW percolate was applied to 16 irrigation Sunflower plant (Helianthus annuus) plots, each with a dimension of $4.5{\times}4.5m$ ($width{\times}length$). In the study, the CW percolate were fed to the treatment plots at the application rate of 7.5 mm/day but the percolate was mixed with tap water at different ratio of 20%, 80% and 100%. Based on a 1-year data of 3-crop plantation were experimented, the contents of Zn, Mn and Cu in soil of the experimental plots were found to increase with increasing in CW percolate ratios. The highest plant biomass yield and oil content of 1,000 kg/ha and 35%, respectively, were obtained from the plots fed with 20% or 50% of the CW percolate, whereas no accumulation of heavy metals in the plant tissues (i.e. leaves, stems and flowers) of the sunflower is found. In addition to the pilot-scale and field experiments, a case study of the integrated CW systems for wastewater treatment at Phi Phi Island (a Tsunami-hit area), Krabi province, Thailand is illustrated. The $5,200-m^2$ CW systems on Phi Phi Island are not only for treatment of $400m^3/day$ wastewater from hotels, households or other domestic activities, but also incorporating public consultation in the design processes, resulting in introducing the aesthetic landscaping as well as reusing of the treated effluent for irrigating green areas on the Island.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to obtain practical information about membrane coupled $ A_2O$ system for muncipal wastewater treatment. A flat-plate microfiltration (MF) module with a pore size $0.25\;{\mu}m$ was submerged into the aeration basin and treated water was filtrated through the membrane by continuous suction with low pressure. The system was operated with synthetic wastewater to find operational parameters of internal recycle ratio and maximum MLSS showing best water quality and long-term stability. The internal recycle was defined as type 1 for aerobic to anoxic tank and type 2 for anoxic to anaerobic tank, respectively When the flux was maintained at $0.015\;m^3/m^2/hr$ (15 LMH) with 2Q type 1 internal recycle ratio, the optimal operational setting were 10 internal recycle ratio for type 2 and maximum MLSS of 11,000 mg/L among tested conditions. At this condition, removal efficiencies of BOD, CODcr, T-N and T-P showed $97.3\%,\;94.2\%,\;64.0\%,\;63.0\%$, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2012

Feasibility of co-digestion was investigated by a series of anaerobic batch experiments using sewage sludge, swine waste, and food waste leachate as substrates. The organic solid wastes were collected from M city, where the daily productions of sewage sludge, swine waste, and food waste leachate were 178 ton/d, 150 ton/d, and 8 ton/d, respectively. Both swine waste and food waste leachate showed superior methane yields, methane productivities, and organic pollutant removal efficiencies compared to sewage sludge. Co-digestion of the total amounts of organic solid wastes would enhance methane production by 5.60 times $(530\;m^{3}\;CH_{4}/d\;{\rightarrow}\;2,968\;m^{3}\;CH_{4}/d)$. However, it also increase the amount of digestate by 1.88 times with 3.79 to 4.92 times higher pollutants (chemical oxygen demands total nitrogen, and total phosphorus) loading rates. Co-digestion of organic solid wastes is a valid strategy to enhance the performance of an anaerobic sludge digester and the energy independence of a wastewater treatment plant. Anyhow,the increment of digestate with higher pollutant loading would need a careful counterplan in the operation of the main stream of the treatment plant.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.398-404
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• 1984

This study was attempted to investigate variation of the bacterial flora in waste water treatment of fish meat paste plant by batch and continuous culture. The results of the experiment are as follows : 1. The removal rate of BOD in waste water treatment by activated sludge of continuous culture was above $90\%$. 2. In the process of nitric acidification of protein waste water, $NH_4-N\;and\;NO_2-N$ increased untill the lapse of 48 hours from culture, but $NO_3-N$ showed little change. 3. In activated sludge obtained from acclimation by batch culture for 10 days, bacteria good in capacity of nitric acidification were not appeared. 4. Among 120 strains of isolated bacteria, the most predominantly appeared bacterial flora were Enterobacteriaceae ($28\%$) and Pseudomonas spp. ($25\%$), In the latter term of aeration during which ammonia originates in abundance, Pseudomonas spp. was decreased but Enterobarteriaceae was increased. 5. Fifty percent of the isolated strains were able to grow in $0\%,\;3\%$ NaCl and $75\%$ artificial sea water, Therefore, it is suggested that sea water can be used as dilution water instead of tap water during the treatment of waste water.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.27 no.6 s.122
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• pp.375-381
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• 2004

We investigate the biological treatment of processed-leachate from SUDOKWON landfill site in Korea by the reed (Phragmites australis)-bed with a continuous flow system. The reed individuals showing superior growth in processed-leachate experiment were selected among the reeds of thirteen natural habitats by means of the comparisons between the removal rates of nutrient salts, eco-physiological responses and growth. The reed-beds (combination of the reed individuals showing superior growth with helper microorganisms) were continuously supplied with processed-leachate. We monitored the effluents that passing through the reed-beds during the experiment period. After five weeks, analysis results of effluent from each reed-bed were as follows; chromaticity, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solid and salinity decreased $29.5{\sim}36.9\%,\;49.4{\sim}67.2\%,\;42.1{\sim}94.6\%,\;74.5{\sim}88.8\%,\;15.6{\sim}20.8\%,\;17.5{\sim}35.4\%\;and\;15.3{\sim}34.7\%$, respectively. These results represented the substantial improvement of water-quality after passing through reed-bed in a continuous flow system.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.20 no.1 s.55
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• pp.64-75
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• 2005

The total production of food waste was about 11,398ton/day('03) in Korea. Also, food waste was treated by landfill, incineration, reuse and anaerobic digestion. The method of food waste treatment depended primarily on landfill. However, the method of landfill causing social problems was prevented to treat food waste in the first of January 2005.12) Thus, anaerobic digestion is an important method to treat food waste because of possibility of energy recovery as methane gas. In this study, the possibility of food waste treatment containing high organic material and low pH in the one stage anaerobic reactor to save cost and time and energy recovery using $CH_{4}$ gas by the hybrid anaerobic reactor (HAR) was measured. The HAR was designed by combing the merits of the anaerobic filter (AF) to minimize the microorganism shock when food waste of very low pH was injected and up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) to prevent from plugging and channeling phenomena by large suspended solids when semi solids were injected. Granule was packed in the section of HAR. The purpose of the BMP experiment was to measure the amount of methane generated when organic material was resolved under anaerobic conditions, to grasp bio resolution of organic material. Total accumulated methane production per VS amount was $0.471(m^{3}/\cal{kg}\;VS)$. So, the value was about $81.2\%$ of theoretical methane production which was $0.58(m^{3}/\cal{kg}\;VS)$ by elementary analysis and organic matter removal velocity (K) was $0.18(d^{-1})$. From these results, food waste was treated by anaerobic treatment. From this study, $CH_{4}$ generation from food waste (11,398 ton/day) could be estimated. By using an energy conversion factor of Braun's study, $5.97KWh/m^{3}\;CH4,\;60\%\;of\;CH_{4}$ gas generation, the amount of total energy producing food waste is to 6,727MWh/day. It could be confirmed that energy recovery using $CH_{4}$ gas was possible. Above these results, food waste containing organic matters of high concentration could be treated in HRT 30 days under an anaerobic condition, using the hybrid anaerobic reactor and reuse of $CH_{4}$ gas was possible.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.100-108
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• 1989

Thirty-six aromatic compound biodegraders; 10 strains for benzoate, 10 for salicylate, 6 for m-toluate, and 10 for DL-camphor were isolated and taxonomically characterized. A mutant Pseudomonas strain, Ben 6-2, derived from Ben 6 revealed remarkably improved ability to metabolize benzoate. Thus enhancement of the average substrate removal rate from 5.2 to 11.0mg/$\ell$/ hr was attained by the mutant. Both of strains Sal 7 and Tol 2, degraders of salicylate and m-toluate respectively, were classified as Pseudomonas sup. Both strains were found to be extremely effective in metabolizing each aromatic substrates. The average substrate degradation rates in minimal salt media containing 2,200mg/$\ell$ of the substrate were calculated to be 40.1 mg/$\ell$/ hr for strain Sal 7 and 33.0mg/$\ell$/ hr for Tol 2. Cam 10, a camphor degrading strain was demonstrated to be capable of mineralizing benzoate, phenol, toluene, octane, cyclohexane and xylene as well as camphor. Strain 1040 isolated from Cam 10 after repented adaptation to 1,000 mg/$\ell$ m-toluate gained the ability to utilize toluate as a sole carbon source. The mutant Brew actively at the expense of a mixture of car-bon sources; camphor, m-toluate, benzoate and phenol (each: 200 mg/$\ell$) and utilized the substances in the preferential order of camphor, phenol, benzoate, and m-toluate. Among the biodegraders examined Cam 1040 and Tol 2 were detected to harbor plasmid. The plasmid from Cam 1001 was determined to be about 98kb, and evidenced to encode the enzyme(s) for the degradation of camphor. For the further diversification of the metabolic potentials of Cam 1040, the NAH 2 plasmid of Pseudomonas putida NCIB 9816 was transferred to Cam 1040 by conjugation. The exconjugant obtained, Cam 1043, proved to gain an additional ability to metabolize salicylate and naphthalene.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2014

The outdoor mass cultivation is not possible for microalgae in Korea all year round, due to cold winter season. It is not easy to maintain proper level of productivity of microalgae even in winter. To prevent a drastic decrease of temperature in a greenhouse, two layers were covered additionally, inside the original plastic layer of the greenhouse. The middle layer was made up of plastic and the inner layer, of non-woven fabric. Acrylic transparent bioreactors were constructed to get more sunlight, not only from the upper side but also from the lateral and bottom directions. In winter at freezing temperatures, six different culture conditions were compared in the triply covered, insulated greenhouse. Wastewater after anaerobic digestion was used for the cultivation of microalgae to minimize the production cost. Water temperature in the bioreactors remained above $10^{\circ}C$ on average, even without any external heating system, proving that the triple-layered greenhouse is effective in keeping heat. Algal biomass reached to 0.37g $L^{-1}$ with the highest temperature, in the experimental group of light-reflection board at the bottom, with nitrogen and phosphorus removal rate of 92% and 99%, respectively. When fatty acid composition was analyzed using gas-chromatography, linoleate (C18 : 3n3) occupied the highest proportion up to 61%, in the all experiment groups. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), however, did not decrease during the cultivation, but rather increased. Although the algal biomass productivity was not comparable to warm seasons, it was possible to maintain water temperature for algae cultivation even in the coldest season, at the minimum cost.