• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2010

In this study, the response surface method and experimental design were applied as an alternative to conventional methods for the optimization of coagulation tests. A central composite design, with 4 axial points, 4 factorial points and 5 replicates at the center point were used to build a model for predicting and optimizing the coagulation process. Mathematical model equations were derived by computer simulation programming with a least squares method using the Minitab 15 software. In these equations, the removal efficiencies of turbidity and total organic carbon (TOC) were expressed as second-order functions of two factors, such as alum dose and coagulation pH. Statistical checks (ANOVA table, $R^2$ and $R^2_{adj}$ value, model lack of fit test, and p value) indicated that the model was adequate for representing the experimental data. The p values showed that the quadratic effects of alum dose and coagulation pH were highly significant. In other words, these two factors had an important impact on the turbidity and TOC of treated water. To gain a better understanding of the two variables for optimal coagulation performance, the model was presented as both 3-D response surface and 2-D contour graphs. As a compromise for the simultaneously removal of maximum amounts of 92.5% turbidity and 39.5% TOC, the optimum conditions were found with 44 mg/L alum at pH 7.6. The predicted response from the model showed close agreement with the experimental data ($R^2$ values of 90.63% and 91.43% for turbidity removal and TOC removal, respectively), which demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach in achieving good predictions, while minimizing the number of experiments required.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

In this study, solid-liquid separation conditions for coagulation and sedimentation experiments using inorganic coagulant (aluminum sulfate and Poly-Aluminum Chloride (PAC)) were optimized with brine wastewater discharged by the epoxy-resin process. When the turbidity and suspended solid (SS) concentration in raw wastewater were 74 NTU and 4.1 mg/L, respectively, their values decreased the lowest in a coagulant dosage of 135.0 - 270.0 mg Al³⁺/L. The epoxy resin was re-dispersed in the upper part of wastewater treated above 405.0 mg Al³⁺/L. The removal efficiencies of turbidity and SS via dosing with aluminum sulfate and PAC were evaluated at initial turbidity and SS of 74 - 630 NTU and 4.1 - 38.5 mg/L, respectively. They increased most in the range from 135.0 - 270.0 mg Al³⁺/L. The solid-liquid separation condition was quantitatively compared to the correlation of SS removal efficiency between the coagulant dosage and SS concentration based on the concentration of aluminum ions. The empirical formula, R = be^aD, shows the relationship between SS removal efficiency (R) and coagulant dosage (D) at 38.5 mg/L; it produced high correlation coefficients (r²) of 0.9871 for aluminum sulfate and 0.9751 for PAC.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.689-697
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• 2017

As a fundamental study to apply the new flocculation method using ballast in water treatment process, the optimal conditions for general and ballast coagulant dosage, and pH, which are known to have a significant influence, were derived by response surface methodology. Poly aluminum chloride (PAC) and magnetite ballast were used as a general coagulant and ballast, respectively. Coagulation experiments were performed by jar-tester using the kaolin based synthetic water. The effects of three independent variables (pH, PAC, and ballast) on response variables (turbidity removal rate and average settling velocity of flocs) and the optimum condition of independent variables to induce the optimum flocculation were obtained by 17 experimental conditions designed by Box-Behnken procedure. After performing experiments, the quadratic regression model was derived for each of response variables, and the response surface analysis was conducted to explore the correlation between independent variables and response variables. The $R^2$ values for the turbidity removal rate and the average settling velocity were 0.9909 and 0.8295, respectively. The optimal conditions of independent variables were 7.4 of pH, 38 mg/L of PAC and 1,000 mg/L of ballast. Under these conditions, the turbidity removal rate was more than 97% and the average settling velocity exceeded 35 m/h.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.927-933
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• 2019

A lipid-enriched strain of Botryococcus braunii (UTEX 572) was cultivated in a semi-batch aeration tank to enhance biomass as well as to develop intracellular lipids and fatty acids. A 30 day period of incubation produced 1.39 g/L of biomass and 0.31 g/L of total lipids in the biomass. The grown biomass was pre-treated using several methods to extract the total lipid content efficiently: ultrasonication was found to yield the highest percentage of lipids-namely 19.8% per biomass. Direct heating of biomass in an autoclave also showed better performance than when using only conventional solvent extraction. To enhance the biomass harvest and lipid extraction efficiency, coagulation and flocculation steps were added to the extraction process. It is noteworthy that not only the solvent type but also the solvent/biomass ratio greatly affected efficiency. In addition, the moisture content of the harvested(wet) biomass affected the efficiency significantly. This study elucidated the need for future research on optimizing this extraction process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.877-882
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• 2013

The application of ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) membranes has been increased for drinking water purification. The advantages of UF/MF membrane process compared to conventional treatment processes are stable operation under varying feed water quality, smaller construction area, and automatic operation. Most membrane treatment plants are designed with polymeric membranes. Recently, some studies suggested that the process of treating surface water with ceramic membranes is competitive to the application of polymeric membranes. Higher water flux, less frequent cleaning, and much longer lifetime are the advantages of ceramic membrane comparing to polymeric membrane. Therefore, this research focused on the application of ceramic MF membrane pilot plant at the slow sand filtration plant. The ceramic membrane pilot plant has three trains that used raw water and sand filtered water as a feed water, respectively. For optimizing the pilot plant process, the coagulation with PACl coagulant was used as a pretreatment of ceramic membrane process. In addition, CEB (Chemical Enhanced Backwash) process using $H_2SO_4$ and NaOCl was used for 1.5 days, respectively. The experimental results showed that applying the optimum coagulant dose before membrane filtration showed enhancing membrane fluxes for both raw water and sand filtered water. Also, when using raw water as a feed of membrane, minimum fouling rate was 2.173 kPa/cycle with 25 mg/L of PACl and when using sand filtered water, the minimum fouling rate was 0.301 kPa/cycle with 5 mg/L of PACl.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.393-402
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• 2020

In the membrane process, it is important to improve water treatment efficiency to ensure water quality and minimize membrane fouling. In this study, a pilot study of membrane process using reservoir water was conducted for a long time to secure high flux operation technology capable of responding to influent turbidity changes. The raw water and DAF(Dissolved Air Flotation) treated water were used for influent water of membrane to analyze the effect of water quality on the TMP (Trans Membrane Pressure) and to optimize the membrane operation. When the membrane flux were operated at 70 LMH and 80 LMH under stable water quality conditions with an inlet turbidity of 10 NTU or less, the TMP increase rates were 0.28 and 0.24 kPa/d, respectively, with minor difference. When the membrane with high flux of 80 LMH was operated for a long time under inlet turbidity of 10 NTU or more, the TMP increase rate showed the maximum of 43.5 kPa/d. However, when the CEB(Chemically Enhanced Backwash) cycle was changed from 7 to 1 day, it was confirmed that the TMP increase rate was stable to 0.23 kPa/d. As a result of applying pre-treatment process(DAF) on unstability water quality conditions, it was confirmed that the TMP rise rates differed by 0.17 and 0.64 kPa/d according to the optimization of the coagulant injection. When combined with coagulation pretreatment, it was thought that the balance with the membrane process was more important than the emphasis on efficiency of the pretreatment process. It was considered that stable TMP can be maintained by optimizing the cleaning conditions when the stable or unstable water quality even in the high flux operation on membrane process.