• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.573-578
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• 2001

The effects of organic supplement (acetate) and dissolved oxygen concentration on the nitrification rate of wastewater were investigated in the 27.7 L pilot-scale airlift biofilm reactor with the granular activated carbon media of 0.613 mm diameter. The ammonium oxidation rate increased stepwise up to 5 kg N/㎥$.$d at the riser air velocity of 0.063 m/s, when the air velocity and the ammonium loading rate were raised alternately. The nitrite build-up was observed during the early stage of the biofilm formation, which disappeared after the reactor operation of 128 days. As increasing the organic loading rate, the organic oxidation rate increased up to 25.0 kg COD/㎥$.$d with the removal efficiency of 94% but the oxidation rates of ammonium and nitrite decreased. The oxidation rates of ammonium and nitrite increased with the dissolved oxygen concentrations. When the pure oxygen was sparged, the ammonium oxidation rate was almost five times higher than that with air at the same velocity.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4B
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• pp.427-432
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• 2006

The effects of free ammonia (FA) concentration and temperature on nitrite accumulation were studied. To estimate the most effective ammonium oxidation and nitrite build-up condition, nitrification tests were conducted in batch conditions at various FA concentrations, and at different ammonium concentration and temperature. The activation energies of ammonium oxidizer were 81.7 KJ/mol below $20^{\circ}C$, and 32.5 KJ/mol over $20^{\circ}C$, while that of nitrite oxidizer was 35.5 KJ/mol irrespective of temperature variations. The results of nitrification tests conducted at different FA concentrations and temperatures showed that temperature strongly affects nitrite accumulation, while effects due to FA concentrations were found negligible.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.355-361
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• 2006

In this study, effects of influent C/N(COD/Nitrate) ratio and dissolved oxygen(DO) concentration on biological nitrate removal from groundwater were investigated in the fixed-type biofilter. Influent nitrate of 30 mg/L was removed completely by biological denitrification at the C/N ratio of 10 and 4.0, while residual nitrate of 5 mg/L occurred at the C/N ratio of 2.0, which resulted from deficiency of organic electron donor. Furthermore, nitrite was accumulated up to about 5 mg/L as the C/N ratio decreased to 2.0. Increase in DO concentration also inhibited denitrification activity at the relatively high C/N ratio of 5.0, which decreased the nitrate removal efficiency. Although the influent DO concentration was reduced as low as 0.3 mg/L using sodium sulfite($Na_2SO_3$), effluent nitrite was up to 3.6 mg/L. On the other hand, nitrate was completely removed without detection of nitrite at the DO concentration of 0.3 mg/L using nitrogen gas($N_2$) sparging. The organic matter for denitrification in biofilter were in the range from 3.0 to $3.5gSCOD/g{NO_3}^--N$, while utilized these values increased at the high DO concentration of 5.5 mg/L. In addition to the high DO concentration and the low influent C/N ratio, DO control by chemical such as sodium sulfite affected on biological denitrification, which resulted in the reduction of nitrate removal efficiency and nitrite build-up in a biofilter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.51-62
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• 2010

The high concentration of N in the wastewater from livestock farming generally renders the efficiency of the wastewater treatment. Therefore, removal of N in livestock wastewater is crucial for successful treatment. The current study was conducted to investigate the optimum conditions for partial nitrification under anaerobic condition following nitritation in TPAD-BNR(two-phase anaerobic digestion-biological nitrogen removal) operating system. Sequential operating test to stimulate partial nitrification in reactor showed that partial nitrification occurred at a ratio of 1.24 in $NO_2{^-}$-N:$NH_4{^+}$-N. With this result, a wide range of factors affecting stable nitritation were examined through regression analysis. In the livestock wastewater treatment procedure, the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and pH range for optimum nitrite accumulation in the reactor were 1-1.5 days and 7-8, respectively. It was appeared that accumulation of $NO_2{^-}$-N in the reactor is due to inhibition of the $NO_2{^-}$-N oxidizer by free ammonia (FA) while the effect of free nitrous acid was minimal. Nitrification was not influenced by DO concentration at a range of 2.0-3.0 mg/L and the difference in the growth rate between $NH_4{^+}$-N oxidizer and $NO_2{^-}$-N oxidizer was dependent on the temperature in the reactor.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.200-206
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• 2006

In a biological aerated filter (BAF) packed with ceramic media (void fraction of BAF=0.32), nitrite accumulation was studied with the variation of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and superficial air velocity. Synthetic ammonium wastewater and petrochemical wastewater were fed at a constant load of $1.6kgNH_4^+-N/m^3{\cdot}d$. Ammonium removal rate was mainly affected by the superficial air velocity in BAF, but nitrite ratio($NO_2-N/NO_x-N$) in the effluent was dependent on both HRT and superficial air velocity. For a fixed HRT of 0.23 hr (corresponding to the empty bed contact time of 0.7 hr) ammonium removal rate was 73/90/92％ and nitrite ratio was 0.92/0.82/0.48 at the superficial air velocity of 0.23/0.45/0.56 cm/s, respectively. When HRT is increased to 0.9 hr with superficial air velocity ranging from 0.34 to 0.45 cm/s, the ammonium removal rate was 89％ on average. However nitrite ratio decreased significantly down to 0.13. When HRT was further increased to 1.4 hr, ammonium removal rate decreased, thereby resulting in the free ammonia ($NH_3-N$, FA) build-up and nitrite ratio gradually increased (>0.95). Although aeration rate and FA concentration at HRT of 0.23 hr were unfavorable for nitrite accumulation compared with those at HRT of 0.9 hr, nitrite ratio at HRT of 0.23 hr was higher. Taken together, HRT and nitrogen load were found to be critical, in addition to FA concentration and aeration condition, for nitrite accumulation in the BAF tested in the present study.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.1079-1085
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to find the operational characteristics of nitrifier-dominated membrane bioreactor (MBR), which has been extensively studied for organic removal, especially in terms of nitrite ($NO_2$-N) build-up and membrane fouling. Membrane fouling is one of the important factor which determines the economics of MBR system. The characteristics of membrane fouling was monitored in terms of the fouling indices such as sludge volume index (SVI), the concentration of total organic carbon (TOC) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in a membrane permeate or sludge extract, the absorbance of supernatant at 260 nm. Most of index values except for protein concentration in EPS had a close relation with the increase of suction pressure and SVI value. Nitrifying MBR was superior to the conventional organic-oxidizing MBR in terms of membrane fouling since the fouling index value of nitrifying MBR was lower than that of BOD-oxidizing MBR.