• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.113-133
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• 1998

In activated sludge process, sludge settling condition is affected by organic loading rate or operation condition, and if settling condition is getting worse, it is common that overall process fails due to wash-out of biomass causing low concentration in the aeration tank. Also activated sludge process has such several problems as requiring large area, consuming a lot of power and producing large volume of sludge. Increased public concern over health and the environment combined with a strong desire to reduce capital, operating and maintenance costs, have created a need for innovative technologies for building new high quality effluents which vail meet 21st century crkeria. MBR(Membrane Bioreactor) process consists of a biological reactor and ultrafiltration(UF) membrane system that replaces the conventional clarifier of an activated sludge process. The main operating advantages of this system are that the quality of the effluent is independent of the settleability of the mixed liquor and that the effluent is free of suspended solids in any operating condition. It is possible to eliminate clarifier and to reduce the volume of aeration tank because it can afford to accumulate high biomass concentration in the bioreactor(20, 000~30, 000mg/L), which would not be possible in a conventional activated sludge process. Therefore, this process reduces overall treatment plant area. In addition to those advantages, Longer SRT condition enables higher sludge digestion in MBR process so the sludge volume produced is 50 to 70% lower than that of conventional activated sludge process There are two kinds of MBR process according to the allocations of membrane. One is cross flow type MBR of which module is located outside of the bioreactor and mixed liquor is driven into the membrane module. The other is submerged type MBR process of which module is submerged in the bioreactor and mixed liquor is generally sucked from the lumen side. addition to that the cake layer is often removed by the uplifting flow of bubbling air. A submerged MBR process is superior to a crossflow MBR in regard to the power consumption because suction pressure of a submerged MBR is generally lower than that of a crossflow MBR which has recirculation pump. A submerged MBR, therefore, has the potential to be applied to small wastewater treatment plants that need low cost treatment systems.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.521-526
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• 2006

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) is an effective tool for wastewater treatment with recycling. MBR process has several advantages over conventional activated sludge process (ASP); reliability, compactness, and quality of treated water. The resulting high-quality and disinfected effluents suggest that MBR process can be suitable for the reused and recycling of wastewater. An anoxic/oxic (A/O) type MBR was applied to simultaneous removal of organics and nutrients in sewage. At first, the efficiency of submerged MBR process was investigated using a hollow fiber microfiltration membrane with a constant flux of $10.2L/m^2{\cdot}h$ at each solids retention time (SRT). Results showed that protein/carbohydrate (P/C) ratio increased and total extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) remained constant with SRT increased. Secondly, A/O type MBR with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was employed to treat the municipal wastewater. The performance of A/O type MBR-RO process is better for the treatment of organics and nutrients than ASP-MF-RO process in terms of consistent effluents quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.339-349
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• 2013

Biological treatment of RO concentrate from wastewater reuse process is known to be very difficult due to its high concentration of non-degradable organics and salt ions such as chloride, nitrate and phosphate. In this research, the treatment performance of MBR was examined using RO concentrate mixed with raw wastewater as the influent of MBR. Addition of PAC (powdered activated carbon) to MBR was also evaluated in order to enhance the treatment performance and stability. The performance of MBR for treating only RO concentrate decreased gradually although external carbon source was added. The average removal performance of MBR with and without PAC decreased from 99.1 %(98.8 %) to 94.9 %(91.4 %) for COD, 81.3 %(80.3 %) to 42.0 %(41.9 %) for T-N and 57.3(55.0 %) to 30.0 %(21.0 %) for T-P with the increase of RO concentrate mixing rate of 0 % to 20 % in the feed water. Addition of PAC showed positive effect on the performance of MBR for the removal of COD and phosphorus in case that the ratio of RO concentrate to feed water increased.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.82-92
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• 2013

The Intermittent Aeration MBR systems have the advantage of controlling reaction time by changing aeration period and are one of economic BNR systems since these processes do not require MLSS recirculation that demands capital and operation costs. In this study, two intermittent aeration MBR systems were studied by computer simulation: an intermittent aeration MBR system that had both 1hr/1hr and 4hr/4hr aeration/unaeration periods at intermittent reactor and NEW INTERMITTENT-process that was an energy saving process and certified as a new process by Korean government. Since DO concentration reached only at 0.23mg/L at intermittent reactor when it was aerated, the Intermittent aeration MBR system having 1hr/1hr aeration/unaeration period showed simultaneous nitrification/denitrification and had the highest nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies that were 57% and 55%, respectively. Since this study was based on the constant influent flow and characteristics, more studies are needed to define the operational characteristics of intermittent aeration MBR systems under dynamic influent conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2011

Membrane bio-reactor (MBR) has several advantages over the conventional activated sludge process, including a high biomass, low sludge production, and better permeate quality. Therefore, the MBR have gained popularity for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. However the MBR usually were used for sewage and low streng th wastewater treatment because of membrane fouling problem and limitation of oxygen transfer into biomass. In this study, the hybrid process combining MBR and pure oxygen was tested for high strength organic wastewater treatment in the COD loading range from 2 to $10kgCOD/m^3{\cdot}day$. The hybrid process, membrane coupled pure oxygen high compact reactor (MPHCR), had been operated for one year and operation parameters, the effect of COD loading, MLSS concentration and the location of membrane module were studied for membrane fouling characteristic. Also membrane resistance test and the component of foulant was analyzed to investigate what is specific foulant in the MBR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.619-627
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• 2012

In order to determine reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) when the submerged membrane bioreactor with granular sulfur (MBR-GS) is used in wastewater treatment plant (WTP), the amount of GHGs was compared and analyzed in the advanced treatment process of P wastewater treatment plant (WTP). The amount of GHGs was estimated by classifying as construction and operation phase in WTP. The amount of GHGs in construction phase was evaluated from multiplying raw materials by using carbon emission factors. Also the amount of GHGs in operating phase was calculated by using total electricity consumption and carbon emission factor. The construction of anoxic tank and secondary settling tank is unnecessary, because the MBR-GS conducts simultaneously the nitrification and denitrification in aeration tank and filtration by hollow fiber membrane. The amount of $CO_2$, $CH_4$, and $N_2O$ emitted by constructing the MBR-GS was 6.44E+06 kg, 8.16E+03 kg and 1.38E+01 kg, respectively. The result shows that the GHGs was reduced about 47 % as compared with the construction in the MLE process. In operating the MBR-GS, the electricity is not required in the biological reactor and secondary setting tank. Thus, the amount of $CO_2$, $CH_4$, and $N_2O$ emitted by operating in the MBR-GS was 7.39E+05 kg/yr, 5.80E+02 kg/yr and 2.44E+00 kg/yr, respectively. The result shows that the GHGs were reduced about 37 % as compared with the operation in the MLE process. Also, $LCCO_2$(Life Cycle $CO_2$) was compared and analyzed between MLE process and MBR-GS. The amount of $LCCO_2 $emitted from the MLE process and MBR-GS was 3.56E+04 ton $CO_2$ and 2.12E+04 ton $CO_2$, respectively. The result shows that the GHGs in MBR-GS were reduced to about 40 % as compared in the MLE process during life cycle. As a result, sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification process (SADP) is expected to be utilized as the cost-effective advanced treatment process, owing to not only high nitrogen removal efficiency but also the GHGs reduction in construction and operation stage.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.469-475
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• 2016

The study is the result of an practical operation analysis for the full scale fishery product wastewater treatment plant with immersed MBR (iMBR) process. Since fishery product industries show a wide range of wastewater generation by the season, design and operation of the equalization basin are very important factor. The aeration system for the equalization basin mixing can save the chemical consumption for followed system through the restriction of acid fermentation. The concentrations of wastewater primary DAF process treated were BOD 2,291 mg/L, $COD_{Mn}$ 530 mg/L, SS 256.8 mg/L, T-N 38 mg/L, T-P 13.5 mg/L respectively. It was considered that iMBR is the most efficient biological process for high salinity content wastewater since It is irrelevant to the capability of the sludge precipitation. SADp and SADm were 0.31, $26.5m^3/hr{\cdot}m^3$ respectively. In iMBR process, the critical F/M ratio was derived at 0.08~0.10 gBOD/gMLSS by analysing the correlations between MLSS, normalized TMP and temperature. The effluent concentrations were BOD 1.8 mg/L, $COD_{Mn}$ 12.4 mg/L, SS 1.0 mg/L, T-N 7.85 mg/L, T-P 0.1 mg/L and removal efficiencies were 99.9%, 97.6%, 96.3%, 95.7%, 97.8% respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.323-329
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• 2016

In this study, the applicability of MBR process was evaluated to improve processing of personal sewage treatment facilities of $50m^3/day$ or less. As result of the research, stable discharge water quality could be secured as result of the MBR effector operation according to rate of inflow and inflow load and treatment efficiency of 98% or higher was shown by the membrane filtering method operation for SS, $BOD_5$. it was found that high treatment efficiency of 99% or higher. It is judged that detention time can be designed until 6.9 hr when applying MBR process on personal sewage treatment facilities with high pollution load and that cutback of pollution load can be possible through this study. It was shown that MBR process application reduces an annual cost of 4,829,600 won based on the basic unit calculation results and solves burden of amount of borne by causers according to excess of discharge water quality standards.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-23
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• 2012

The coupling of anaerobic biological process and membrane separation could provide excellent suspended solids removal and better biomass retention for wastewater treatment. This coupling improves the biological treatment process while allowing for the recovery of energy through biogas. This review gives a basic description of the anaerobic wastewater treatment process, summarizes the state of the art of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs), and describes the current research trends and needs for the development of AnMBRs. The research interest on AnMBR has grown over the conventional anaerobic processes such as upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB). Studies on AnMBRs have developed different reactor configurations to enhance performances. The AnMBR performances have achieved comparable status to other high rate anaerobic reactors. AnMBR is highly suitable for application with thermophilic anaerobic process to enhance performances. Studies indicate that the applications of AnMBR are not only limited to the high strength industrial wastewater treatment, but also for the municipal wastewater treatment. In recent years, there is a significant progress in the membrane fouling studies, which is a major concern in AnMBR application.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.24-44
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• 2013

The MBR technology has evolved rapidly over the past two decades with significant gains in performance and reliability, and reductions in costs. Membrane bioreactors (MBR) technology is widely recognised as offering a key option for enhanced wastewater treatment or reuse. The objective of this paper is then to critically review the remarkable achievement on the research and commercial applications of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and to present current and potential MBR markets on a global scope. This brief review of the technology incorporates five key aspects : 1) evolution of MBR practice, 2) the commercial technologies of MBRs, 3) the largest MBR installations globally (e.g. > $10,000m^3/day$), 4) MBR market growth, and 5) directions for future research. Finally, the development directions of economical, environmental and technical aspects in MBRs; 1) investment costs; 2) effluent water quality; 3) membrane materials and modules; 4) MBR equipment and treatment process; 5) operating costs (higher energy & chemical consumption); and 6) sustainability such as anaerobic MBRs in the coming years were addressed.