• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.39 no.4 s.118
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• pp.489-497
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• 2006

The feasibility of the Natural and Ecological Wastewater treatment System (NEWS) was examined for rural wastewater treatment in Korea. The intermittent trickling biofilter with high hydrophilic filter media was used for pretreatment for suspended solids and organic pollutants. The subsequent constructed wetland with porous granule materials was used for promoting nutrient removal. The results show that the removal efficiencies of the system were high with respect to the water quality parameters except COD. Even if the effluent from the biofilter did not meet the guidelines for wastewater treatment plant effluent in Korea in terms of $BOD_5$ and TN, the final effluent of the system meets the guidelines us to good performance of the constructed wetland. The regression analysis between pollutant loading rate and removal rate indicated that the system could have stable removal for SS, $BOD_5$, TN, and TP in the given influent ranges. The analysis in the winter period indicated that the wetland covered with transparent polycarbonate glass had the statble performance during the winter period dus to increase of temperature inside the wetland without any heating system. With the stable performance, effective poilutant removal, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness, the NEWS could be considered as an alternative treatment system for decentralized regions and rural communities in Korea.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.41-49
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• 2016

P city government considers to treat a part of food waste leachate in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWWTP), as the capacity of an existing combined treatment plant for food waste leachate is lower than the generation of food waste leachate in the city. Furthermore, the combined treatment plant also treats landfill leachate and directly discharges the effluent to the sea, which may result in a potential environmental problem. Therefore, this study examined the feasibility of the addition of food waste leachate and the effluent of the combined treatment facility on the MWWTP. Acceptable addition amount of the food waste streams, increased pollution loading on the MWWTP, and the treatment cost were estimated according to four scenarios. All the scenarios estimated that the MWWTP would receive most of the food waste streams according to the manual of the ministry of environment with little increase of pollution loading.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.9-16
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• 2009

Further treatment facility using various filter materials was evaluated to treat effluent of constructed wetland. Further treatment facility was installed with 1m length in outlet of 3 constructed wetland (unplanted constructed; reed bed constructed wetland; cattail bed constructed wetland) using 3 filter materials (slag, activated carbon, oyster shell). Flow rate of three further treatment facility was 63 $m^3$/day (slag), 19 $m^3$/day (activated carbon), and 81 $m^3$/day (Oyster shell). COD removal rate of slag, activated carbon, and oyster shell was 6 %, 24 %, 1 %, and removal mass was 32 g/day, 30 g/day, and 5 g/day, respectively. All of further treatment facility was effective to removal organic materials. T-N and T-P removal rate of activated carbon was 24 % and 4 %, and slag and oyster shell was not effective to remove T-N and T-P. Overall, further treatment facility was effective to remove organic mater, constructed wetland combined with further treatment facility can remove nutrient and organic matters effectively.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.3 s.104
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• pp.356-368
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• 2003

Water quality of effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPS) was reviewed to examine the feasibility of agricultural reuse using USEPA and WHO guidelines. It might meet the guidelines for BOD and SS, however, the most critical microbiological concentration was too high and further treatment is required. The pilot study of three treatments were performed to reduce microbiological concentrations. The UV irradiation was proved to be very effective in disinfection of secondary level effluent, and about 30 mW ${\cdot}$ s/$cm^2$ of dose was suggested to meet the even most stringent USEPA guidelines. Slow sand filter demonstrated effective removal of bacteria, and effluent concentration of total coliform (TC), fecal coliform (FC), and E. coli. dropped from about 10,000/100 mL to 300, 200, and 150 MPN/100 mL, respectively, showing over 95% removal. These level of bacterial concentration sufficiently meet the WHO guidelines ($10^3\;{\sim}\;10^5$ FC/100 mL), and could meet the more stringent USEPA guidelines (200 FC/100 mL) if properly applied. Slow sand filter also provided about 50% removal of SS, turbidity, and BOD in addition to bacterial removal. The removal efficiency of pond system was relatively poor, but still showed over 85% removal and effluent concentration of TC, FC, and E. coli was all below 10,000/100 mL. The pond system alone could meet the WHO guidelines, but hardly meet the USEPA guidelines and further treatment might be necessary. Overall, three methods evaluated in the study treat the effluent to meet the WHO microbiological guidelines for agricultural reuse. The UV disinfection and slow sand filter might also could the USEPA guidelines, while the pond system can hardly meet the USEPA guidelines if applied alone. The WHO and USEPA guidelines were made based on data from upland field agricultural system and may not be directly applicable to the paddy field agricultural system. Therefore, national standards for agricultural reuse of reclaimed water should be made considering domestic agricultural systems as well as international guidelines. Also, further investigation is recommended to develop optimum and feasible treatment measures for agricultural reuse of effluent from WWTPs.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-117
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• 2003

Treatment of secondary effluent was investigated using sandy soil as a possible alternative to the tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater. Secondary effluent was applied with three different flow rates to the surface of pilot scaled lysimeters, which were filled with sandy soil. Some of the lysimeters were covered with osd, while others were kept bare in order to investigate the role of plantation on the treatment. The concentration changes in COD and nitrogen were measured along the unsaturated soil depth. The same set of experiment as with the secondary effluent was performed using tap water to investigate the dissolution of the contaminants from the soil. from the results it was found that when sandy soil was used for tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater COD removal efficiency reached about 70% regardless of the application rate. The soil depth needed to obtain such efficiency increased along with the application rate, which was about 60 cm at the application rate of 50 L/day. Results also showed that nitrification occurred rapidly. The process was completed in soil depth of first $10{\sim}20\;cm$. Nitrogen removal efficiency was as low as about 20% regardless of the application rate. Some supplementary means should be considered to improve the efficiency. Sod on the soil surface had no significant influence on the contaminant treatment but was helpful to keep the infiltration rate undiminished. Finally, the organic soil was found to release significant amount of contaminants when it was in contact with soil water.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.19 no.3 s.53
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• pp.1-12
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• 2004

This study was conducted to evaluate the variation characteristics of influent and effluent quality from sewage treatment facilities using activated sludge processes and to assess the impact caused by discharge of treated sewage on the receiving water Monthly data of five water quality items (BOD, COD, SS, T-N, T-P) were used to understand the water quality at three sewage treatment plants in Seoul for five years from 1999 to 2003. Concentration differences of water quality parameters were observed between upstream and downstream site at the sewage treatment plant outfall to investigate the impact of discharge in Tan stream and Han river basin. 1. Due to the effect of continuous improvement in sewer system, the concentrations of influent went on increasing generally. 2. Effluent concentrations of BOD, COD and SS showed the trend of a little decreasing, but the trend of increasing in T-N and T-P. 3. In Tan stream basin, the impact of sewage treatment plant discharge was not observed directly, because concentration of discharge was lower than stream water's. But discharges from sewage treatment plants affected water quality at downstream site in Han river, concentration of T-P especially.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2020

Submerged Membrane bioreactor (SMBR) is one of the last techniques that allow a high quality of treated industrial effluents by coupling biological treatment and membrane separation. Thus, this research was an effort to evaluate performance of a SMBR treating a model textile wastewater (MTWW). Different SMBR operating parameters like mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and Dissolved oxygen concentration, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and nutrients addition (N and P) have been investigated. MTWW (influent to the SMBR) was generated using the reactive azo-dye, Novacron blue FNG (100mg/L feed concentration). Results of MTWW treatment using SMBR under optimal operating conditions (MLSS, 4.2-13.3g/L; HRT, 4 days; pH, 6.9-7.2; conductivity, 400-900 μS/cm and temperature, 19.4-22.2 ℃) showed that COD and blue colour treatment performances are between 94-98% and 30-80%, respectively. It is concluded that SMBR can be used in large scale textile wastewater treatment plants to improve effluent quality in order to meet effluent discharge standards.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.257-274
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• 2020

There are many previous review articles are available to summarize either the characterization methods of effluent organic matter (EfOM) or the individual control treatment options. However, there has been no attempt made to compare in parallel the physicochemical treatment options that target the removal of EfOM from biological treatments. This review deals with the recent progress on the characterization of EfOM and the novel technologies developed for EfOM treatment. Based on the publications after 2010, the advantages and the limitations of several popularly used analytical tools are discussed for EfOM characterization, which include UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). It is a recent trend to combine an SEC system with various types of detectors, because it can successfully track the chemical/functional composition of EfOM, which varies across a continuum of different molecular sizes. FT-ICR-MS is the most powerful tool to detect EfOM at molecular levels. However, it is noted that this method has rarely been utilized to understand the changes of EfOM in pre-treatment or post-treatment systems. Although membrane filtration is still the preferred method to treat EfOM before its discharge due to its high separation selectivity, the minimum requirements for additional chemicals, the ease of scaling up, and the continuous operation, recent advances in ion exchange and advanced oxidation processes are greatly noteworthy. Recent progress in the non-membrane technologies, which are based on novel materials, are expected to enhance the removal efficiency of EfOM and even make it feasible to selectively remove undesirable fractions/compounds from bulk EfOM.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.754-768
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• 2017

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a group of industrial aromatic organobromine chemicals that have been used since the 1970s as flame retardants in a wide range of consumer products and articles, including plastics, computers, textiles and upholstery. Commercial PBDEs were added to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention as persistent organic pollutants in May 2009. PBDEs are still frequently found in sludge and effluent from wastewater treatment plants, even though commercial PBDEs were prohibited or voluntarily phased out several years ago. Conventional wastewater treatment processes are not designed to effectively remove PBDEs. This indicates that there is an urgent need for new developments and improvements to enhance upon the treatment techniques which are currently available. Several studies have suggested the potential removal and degradation technologies for PBDEs in wastewater. In this study, the concentrations and compositional profiles of PBDE congeners in sludge and effluent are investigated by analyzing the relevant literature data in relation to their usage patterns in commercial products in North America and South Korea. The strengths and weaknesses of the current PBDEs removal techniques (i.e., biodegradation, zero-valent iron, photolysis, sorption, etc.) are discussed critically. In addition, future research direction regarding the treatment and removal of PBDEs from wastewater is also suggested, based on the literature review.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2018

Due to the lack of water in arid and semi-arid areas, reuse of wastewater can be a suitable way to compensate for water scarcity. Therefore, in this research, evaluation of the quality of wastewater of Kashan Treatment Plant to use for irrigation was studied. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. pH, TSS, TDS, turbidity, COD, BOD5, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Total Coliform, fecal coliform, nematode eggs of inlet and outlet of wastewater treatment plant in Kashan were studied. Mean and standard deviation and wastewater quality parameters before and after treatment were tested with SPSS 22 (2014) software. The mean wastewater output of COD, BOD5, TSS, TDS and turbidity were respectively 86.6, 41.2, 11.11, 1095 mgL-1 and 17.5 NTU and the pH was equal to 7.22. Also, the average of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen and phosphorus were 22.4 and 2.2 mgL-1 respectively. The mean of Total Coliform and fecal coliform were 225, 161 MPN / 100 ml respectively. In addition, no nematode eggs were found in final effluent. The results indicated that the treatment plants had a significant role in the control of microbial and organic pollution load of wastewater. Also, it is concluded that all parameters were in accordance with the standards of Iran's Department of Environment, so, it can be used for unrestricted irrigation.