• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.296-314
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• 2014

In recent years, Ministry of Environment (MOE) has been implementing a phased strengthening of the effluent standards for sewage treatment plants. In this regard, a comprehensive system should be developed to help check the appropriateness of such standards by specifying the grounds for standard-setting and investigating the current operation of sewage treatment plants clearly. It is necessary to establish a new standard-setting system for the effluent that is in a closer connection with the environmental criteria and rating systems. In the United States, the federal government provides guidelines on the least provisions and requirements for the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs). Local governments set the same or stricter guidelines that reflect the characteristics of each state. In Japan, the sewage treatment plants are subject to both the effluent standards and the discharge acceptable limits to pubic waters under the sewerage law. Specific requirements and limits are set in accordance with local government regulations. The European Union imposes sewage treatment plants with different provisions for effluent standards, depending on the sensitivity of public waters to eutrophication. The effluent standards for sewage treatment plants are classified by pollutant loads discharged to receiving waters. MOE also needs to introduce systems for setting new parameter standards on a POTW effluent by applying statistical means and treatment efficiencies or optimal treatment techniques, as seen in the cases of the US National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) or the EU Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC).

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.79-84
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• 2010

Three biological aerated filters (BAFs) composed of a PVC pipe with a diameter of 75 mm were constructed and operated at a waste-water temperature at $13^{\circ}C$. The media used for each BAF were: 5-mm gravel; 5-mm lava rock; 12.5-mm diameter by 15-mm long plastic rings, all with a media depth of 1.7 m. The feedwater, which simulated the effluent of aerated lagoons, had influent soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) and ammonia concentrations of approximately 50 and 25 mg/L, respectively. For a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of two hours without recirculation, ammonia percent removals were 98.5, 98.9, and 97.8%, for the gravel, lava rock, and plastic rings, respectively. By increasing the effluent recirculation from 100 to 200% for an HRT of one hour, respective ammonia removals improved from 90.1 to 96, 76.5 to 90, and 65.3 to 79.5% for gravel, lava rock, and plastic rings. Based on the ammonia and sCOD loadings for different HRTs, the estimated maximum ammonia loading was approximately 0.6 kg $NH_3-N/m^3$-day for the three BAFs of different media types. The zero-order biotransformation rates for the BAF with gravel were found to be higher than the lava rock and plastic ring media. The results ultimately showed that BAF can be used as an add-on system to aerated lagoons or as a secondary treatment unit to meet ammonia discharge limits.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2010

Technology-Based Effluent Limitations (TBELs) is a permit limits for a pollutant that is based on the capability of a treatment technology to reduce the pollutant to a certain concentration. Widely practiced for regulations of industrial wastewater in US, TBELs has been accepted as an effective means that can achieve balanced goals between complete elimination of pollutants discharge and economic feasibility for industries. The review of TBELs application in US and the applicability of TBELs to the domestic industry categories was given in three papers. In the first paper, the development and practices of TBELs in US were reviewed including case studies. The developments of TBELs in US in the four major categories, the metal products & machinery, the petroleum refining, the porcelain enameling and the meat & poultry products were reviewed. The applicability of TBELs to the domestic industrial categories was also assessed. In the second paper, the pollution loads analysis for domestic industrial wastewater was conducted based on risk assessment indicator using Toxic Weighting Factors (TWFs). This is an essential part to determine the priority of TBELs application for the domestic industrial categories. In the last paper, the application of TBELs to the domestic industries was demonstrated through a case-study for the pulp/paper/paperboard category. Direct application of TBELs of US into the Korean regulation system may not be desirable because the specific goals and the environment for the regulations for the two countries may not be identical. For example, unlike US, Korea does not adopt the individual permit system for pollution sources. However, among the unproductive and exhaustive controversies over the uniform regulations regardless of the industrial categories in Korea, the introduction of the principles of TBELs are inevitable and more extensive study for applications of TBELs optimized for Korean regulation system will be necessary.