• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.154-165
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• 2014

Development of unconventional natural resources such as shale gas, shale oil and coal bed methane, has been activated and improved the productivity due to the recent technology advance in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. However, the flowback water mixed with chemical additives, and the brine water containing oil, gas, high levels of salts and radioactive metals is produced during the gas production. Potential negative environmental impact due to large volumes of the produced wastewater is increasingly seen as the major obstacles to the unconventional natural resource development. In this study an integrated framework for the flowback and brine water treatment is proposed, and we reviewed the upcoming state of the art technology in water treatment. Basic separation processes which include not only membrane, evaporation, crystallization and desalination processes, but the potential water reuse and recycling techniques can be applied for the unconventional natural resource industry.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.232-236
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• 2018

A radiation detection sensor was developed and characterized by combining three types of CsI(Tl) scintillators and an array-type SiPM to detect the radioactive contamination of discharged water in real time. The characterization results showed that type 3 exhibited the most desirable characteristics in response linearity (R-square: 0.97889) according to detection sensitivity and incident radiation dose. Furthermore, in terms of spectral characteristics, type 3 exhibited 16.54% at 0.356 MeV (the emission gamma ray energy of $^{133}Ba$), 10.28% at 0.511 MeV (the emission gamma ray energy of $^{22}Na$), 9.68% at 0.356 MeV (the emission gamma ray energy of $^{137}Cs$), and 2.55% and 4.80% at 1.173 MeV and 1.332 MeV (the emission gamma ray energies of $^{60}Co$), respectively. These measurements confirmed the good energy characteristics. The results were used to evaluate the spectral characteristics and energy linearity in a mixed source using type 3 with the best detection characteristics. It was confirmed that the gamma ray peaks of $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, $^{137}Cs$, and $^{60}Co$ were well resolved. Moreover, it was confirmed that R-square, which is an indicator of energy linearity, was 0.99986. This indicates a good linearity characteristic. Based on this study, further commercialization studies will contribute to measurements in real time and to the management of the contamination caused by radioactive wastewater or radioactive material leakage, which originate from facilities that use radioactive isotopes or care facilities.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.337-346
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• 2005

An MSBR using a membrane for not only filtration but also aeration (MA-MSBR) was designed to reduce membrane fouling and to enhance water quality, and compared with an MSBR using a membrane for only filtration (BA-MSBR). COD removal efficiency of the MA-MSBR was similar to that of the BA-MSBR, but membrane performance of the MA-MSBR was better than that of the BA-MSBR. The MA-MSBR had more small particles in mixed liquor, so the specific cake resistance of flocs in the MA-MSBR was higher than that in the BA-MSBR. However, in the aerobic reaction step of the MA-MSBR, air went through membrane pores and out of the membrane surface, so cake layers on the membrane surface and a portion of organics adsorbed on membrane pores could be removed periodically. Therefore, cake resistance, $R_c$, and fouling resistance by adsorption and blocking, $R_f$, for the MA-MSBR increased more slowly than those for the BA-MSBR. Additionally, in order to compare the energy efficiency for two MSBRs, oxygen transfer efficiency and power to supply air into the reactor by a membrane module and a bubble stone diffuser were measured using deionized water. From these measurements, the transferred oxygen amount per unit energy was calculated, resulting that of MA-MSBR was slightly higher than that of BA-MSBR.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.139-145
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• 1993

Biogas created from animal waste is a precious energy source. A practical and successful utilization of the biogas is not easy, because there lie some difficulties in biogas production and facilities investment. In this study, the requisites for a successful biogas utilization were discussed. The production results obtained in the previous operation of anaerobic digestion plant were used for the simulation. When the slurry heating was designed for constant biogas generation, depreciation costs of the facilities amounted 1,175,000 yen per year, and biogas productions at $24.5^{\circ}C$, $30.0^{\circ}C$ and $35.5^{\circ}C$ were $16.8m^3$, $17.6m^3$ and $25.1m^3$, respectively. Removal ratios of organic matters were not so high. At $35.5^{\circ}C$, energy value of the biogas produced was estimated 125.5 Mcal per day, and the following heat loss (y Mcal/day) was brought about by the temperature difference ($X^{\circ}C$) between the digester and atmosphere; y = 0.769X - 5.375. The costs of biogas production per cow were assumed to decrease according to enlargement of feeding scale, especially on scales of more than 30 cows. On recent levels of costs and prices of energy in Japan, they were nearly equal to 2 to 3 fold of the price of municipal mixed gas when a anaerobic digester was compulsorily heated and kept at $30.0^{\circ}C$ or $35.5^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.696-714
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• 2017

Simple material budget models were developed to predict the spring season (March ~ May) water quality for a river-type reservoir Paldang, in the Republic of Korea. These models are available at mixed water bodies whose light intensity is negligible at the bottom. The calculated data from the models fit quite well with field data collected for 30 years, from 1988 to 2017. The apparent settling velocity of total phosphorus was estimated to be $110m\;d^{-1}$. The critical hydraulic load that determines the usability of phosphorus for algal production appeared to be about $2.0m\;d^{-1}$. When a hydraulic load was larger than the critical value, the concentrations of chlorophyll ${\alpha}$ ($Chl.{\alpha}$), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and 5-day biochemical oxygen demand BOD in the reservoir water became insensitive to internal algal reactions. The model analysis showed that the allochthonous COD continued to increase while the allochthonous BOD slightly decreased after 1999. The decrease of allochthonous BOD is due to the expansion of sewage and wastewater treatment plants in the watershed. The increase of allochthonous COD seems to result from the increase in anthropogenic non-point sources as well as the increase in the discharge of natural organic matters due to climate change. Organic matter of algal origin continued to increase until the mid-2000s, but recently it has decreased as the phosphorus concentration has decreased. The COD and BOD of algal origin increased from 35 % and 27 % during 1988 ~ 1994 to 43 % and 40 % during 2000 ~ 2010, respectively, and then decreased to 25 % and 28 % during 2011 ~ 2017.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2016

Anaerobic digester supernatant including high concentrations of nitrogen is recycled to water treatment line and make pollutant load increase in municipal wastewater treatment plant(MWTP). To treat nitrogen in anaerobic digester supernatant is suggested the method of MWTP retrofit. In this study, the lab scale reactor was operated about 200 days using supernatant of anaerobic digester. The results could draw operation condition that ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency more than 90% and nitrite conversion efficiency over 70%. Correlation between operation efficiency and operation factors was analyzed based on the operation results. Ammonium nitrogen remove efficiency and nitrite conversion efficiency were related to solid retention time (SRT), ammonium nitrogen load and ammonium nitrogen loading per unit mixed liquer suspended solid (MLSS). Results of this study can be used effective data on nitritation of supernatant of anaerobic digester, and be expected to increase availability of nitritation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.668-673
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• 2012

Biohydrogen production from organic wastewater by anaerobically activated sludge fermentation has already been extensively investigated, and it is known that hydrogen can be produced by glucose fermentation through three metabolic pathways, including the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid to acetyl-CoA, oxidation of NADH to $NAD^+$, and acetogenesis by hydrogen-producing acetogens. However, the exact or dominant pathways of hydrogen production in the anaerobically activated sludge fermentation process have not yet been identified. Thus, a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was introduced and a specifically acclimated acidogenic fermentative microflora obtained under certain operation conditions. The hydrogen production activity and potential hydrogen-producing pathways in the acidogenic fermentative microflora were then investigated using batch cultures in Erlenmeyer flasks with a working volume of 500 ml. Based on an initial glucose concentration of 10 g/l, pH 6.0, and a biomass of 1.01 g/l of a mixed liquid volatile suspended solid (MLVSS), 247.7 ml of hydrogen was obtained after a 68 h cultivation period at $35{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Further tests indicated that 69% of the hydrogen was produced from the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid, whereas the remaining 31% was from the oxidation of NADH to $NAD^+$. There were no hydrogen-producing acetogens or they were unable to work effectively in the anaerobically activated sludge with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of less than 8 h.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.139-142
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• 2021

Coal-fired power plants use coal as the main raw material, and when a coal is moved, a dust generation and spontaneous ignition of coal occur. To prevent this, water is sprayed. As a result, wastewater called "coal-dust water" flows out of coal dust and water mixed together, causing environmental pollution. In this study, in order to solve this problem, we developed a natural flocculant that can purify water by aggregating fine dust using chitosan and tried to prove its applicability. It was found that the optimum flocculation concentration was 4 ppm by adding various concentrations of flocculant to the coal-dust water, and it was confirmed that the developed material had very good coal-dust flocculation capacity through permeability and coal-dust removal efficiency. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the flocculant was evaluated through the MTT assay and it was found that there is no toxicity at all. We believe that the flocculant developed in this study can effectively adsorb coal-dust without affecting human and natural ecosystems.

• Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.762-769
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• 2018

This study was carried out to examine the improvement plan by analyzing the characteristics of imported wastes, operation rate, and benefits of energy recovery for incineration facilities with a treatment capacity greater than 50 ton/day. The incineration facility capacity increased by 3,280 tons over 15 years, and the actual incineration rate increased to 2,783 ton/day. The operation rate dropped to 76% in 2010 and then rose again to 81% in 2016. The actual calorific value compared to the design calorific value increased by 33.8% from 94.6% in 2002 to 128.4% in 2016. The recovery efficiency decreased by 29% over 16 years from 110.7% to 81.7% in 2002. Recovery and sales of thermal energy from the incinerator (capacity 200 ton/day) dominated the operation cost, and operating income was generated by energy sales (such as power generation and steam). The treatment capacity increased by 11% to 18% after the recalculation of the incineration capacity and has remained consistently above 90% in most facilities to date. In order to solve the problem of high calorific value waste, wastewater, leachate, and clean water should be mixed and incinerated, and heat recovery should be performed through a water-cooled grate and water cooling wall installation. Twenty-five of the 38 incineration facilities (about 70%) are due for a major repair. After the main repair of the facility, the operation rate is expected to increase and the operating cost is expected to decline due to energy recovery. Inspection and repair should be carried out in a timely manner to increase incineration and heat energy recovery efficiencies.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.588-597
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• 2016

In this study, we attempted to improve the biogas production efficiency by varying the mixing ratio of the mixed sludge of organic wastes in the improved single-phase anaerobic digestion process. The types of organic waste used in this study were raw sewage sludge, food wastewater leachate and livestock excretions. The biomethane potential was determined through the BMP test. The results showed that the biomethane potential of the livestock excretions was the highest at $1.55m^3CN4/kgVS$, and that the highest value of the composite sample, containing primary sludge, food waste leachate and livestock excretions at proportions of 50%, 30% and 20% respectively) was $0.43m^3CN4/kgVS$. On the other hand, the optimal mixture ratio of composite sludge in the demonstration plant was 68.5 (raw sludge) : 18.0 (food waste leachate) : 13.5 (livestock excretions), which was a somewhat different result from that obtained in the BMP test. This difference was attributed to the changes in the composite sludge properties and digester operating conditions, such as the retention time. The amount of biogas produced in the single-phase anaerobic digestion process was $2,514m^3/d$ with a methane content of 62.8%. Considering the value of $2,319m^3/d$ of biogas produced as its design capacity, it was considered that this process demonstrated the maximum capacity. Also, through this study, it was shown that, in the case of the anaerobic digestion process, the two-phase digestion process is better in terms of its stable tank operation and high efficiency, whereas the existing single-phase digestion process allows for the improvement of the digestion efficiency and performance.