• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.31 no.10
• /
• pp.927-932
• /
• 2009

Toxic and recalcitrant organic pollutants in wastewaters can be effectively treated when advanced oxidation and biodegradation are combined, ideally with intimate coupling, in which both processes occur simultaneously in the same system. One means to achieve intimate coupling is to coat nanoscale $TiO_2$ on the outside of macroporous biofilm carriers. This study investigated the kinetics of photocatalysis with $TiO_2$-coated porous carriers. The carriers were made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and coated with $TiO_2$ using a low-temperature sol-gel process. The $TiO_2$-coated carriers catalyzed the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) effectively under irradiation of UV light. The overall reaction rate with adsorption and photolysis saturated at high MB concentration, and approached the adsorption rate, which was first order for all MB concent rations. This result indicates that adsorbed MB may have slowed photocatalysis by blocking active sites for photocatalysis. The overall kinetics could be described by a quasi-Langmuir model. The estimated maximum specific (per unit mass of $TiO_2$) transformation rate of MB by the $TiO_2$-coated carriers was four times larger than that obtained from slurry-$TiO_2$ reactors. This observation demonstrated that the $TiO_2$ present as a coating on the carriers maintained high efficiency for transforming recalcitrant organic matter via photocatalysis. These findings serve as a foundation for advancement of an intimate coupling of photocatalysis to biodegradation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.69-75
• /
• 2009

The characteristics of disinfection and organic removal were investigated with pulse UV lamp in this study. The intensity and emission wavelength of pulse UV Lamp were compared with low pressure UV lamp. The emission spectrum range of pulse UV lamp was between 200 and 400 nm while the emission spectrum of low pressure UV lamp was only single wavelength of 254nm. 3 Log inactivation rate of B. subtilis spore by pulse UV and low pressure UV irradiation was determined as $44.71mJ/cm^2$ and $57.7mJ/cm^2$, respectively. This results implied that wide range of emission spectrum is more effective compared to single wavelength emission at 254nm. 500ng/L of initial 2-MIB concentration was investigated on the removal efficiency by UV only and $UV/H_2O_2$ process. The removal efficiency of UV only process achieved approximately 80% at $8,600mJ/cm^2$ dose. 2-MIB removal rate of $UV/H_2O_2$ (5 mg/L $H_2O_2$) process was 25 times increased compared to UV only process. DOC removal efficiency for the water treatment plant effluent was examined. The removal efficiency of DOC by UV and $UV/H_2O_2$ was no more than 20%. Removal efficiency of THMFP(Trihalomethane Formation Potential), one of the chlorination disinfection by-products, is determined on the UV irradiation and $UV/H_2O_2$ process. Maximum removal efficiency of THMFP was approximately 23%. This result indicates that more stable chemical structures of NOM(Natural Organic Matter) than low molecule compounds such as 2-MIB, hydrogen peroxide and other pollutants affect low removal efficiency for UV photolysis. Consequently, pulse UV lamp is more efficient compared to low pressure lamp in terms of disinfection due to it's broad wavelength emission of UV. Additional effect of pulse UV is to take place the reactions of both direct photolysis to remove micro organics and disinfection simultaneously. It is also expected that hydrogen peroxide enable to enhance the oxidation efficiency on the pulse UV irradiation due to formation of OH radical.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.341-345
• /
• 2020

An in situ regeneration of activated carbon bed using an ozonated water was studied in order for avoiding the carbon loss, contaminant emission and time consuming for discharge-regeneration-repacking in a conventional thermal regeneration process. Using phenol and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as adsorbates, the adsorption breakthrough and in situ regeneration with the ozonated water were repeated. These organics were supposed to degrade by the oxidation reaction of ozone, regenerating the bed for reuse. As the number of regeneration increased, the adsorption capacity for phenol was reduced, but the change was stabilized showing no further reduction after reaching a certain degree of decrement. The reduction of adsorption capacity was due to the increase of pore size resulting in the decrease of specific surface area during ozonation. The adsorption capacity of phenol decreased after the ozonated regeneration because the in-pore adsorption was prevalent for small molecules like phenol. However, PEG did not show such decrease and the adsorption capacity was constantly maintained after several cycles of the ozonated regeneration probably because the external surface adsorption was the major mechanism for large molecules like PEG. Since the reduction in the pore size and specific surface area for small molecules were proportional to the duration of contact time with the ozonated water, careful considerations of the solute size to be removed and controlling the contact time were necessary to enhance the performance of the ozonated in situ regeneration of activated carbon bed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.78-82
• /
• 2005

Display manufacturing process has adopted RCA cleaning, applying to larger area and coping with environmental issue for last ten years. However, the approaching concept of ozonized, hydrogenised, or electrolyzed water cleaning technologies is within RCA clean paradigm. In this work, only electrolyzed anode water was applied to clean particles and organics as well as metals based on Pourbaix concept, and as a test vehicle, MgO particles were introduced to prove the new concept. The electrolyzed anode water is very oxidative with high oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and low in pH of more than 900 mV and 3.1, respectively. MgO particles were immersed in the anode water and its weight losses due to dissolution were measured with time. Weight losses were in the ranges of 100 to 500 micrograms in 250 ml anode water depending on their ORP and pH. Therefore it was concluded that the cleaning radicals in the anode water was at least in the range of 1 to $5{\times}10^{20}$ ea per 250 ml anode water equivalent to $1{\times}10^{18} ea/cm^2$. Hence it can be assumed that the anode water applied to display cleaning from now on $1{\times}10^{10}$ to $1{\times}10^{15} ea/cm^2$ ranges of contaminants are being treated. In addition, it was observed that anode water did not develop micro-roughness on hydrophobic surface while it did on the native silicon oxide.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.33 no.1 s.89
• /
• pp.23-30
• /
• 2000

n situ sediment oxygen demand (SOD), which takes place with the uptake of dissolved oxygen for biological metabolism and chemical oxidation in sediments, ranged from 1.57 to $12.55\;mg\;O_2\;m^{-2}\;h^{-1}$ in onshore of Lake Paldang from April to November 1999. SOD was influenced by the amount of organics and oxygen diffusion. Comparing the oxygen demands partitioning between overlying water and sediment during initial phase, SOD accounted for $63.8{\sim}94%$ of total oxygen demand in Lake Paldang. The chemical SOD and nitrogenous oxygen demand ranged $1.2{\sim}18.3%$ and $8.3{\sim}51.7%$ of total SOD, respectively. This result indicated that SOD in Lake Paldang occurred mainly by aerobic respiration and nitrification. Although the flow velocity could increase SOD within a certain limit, the effect of sediment depth on SOD was dependent on physicochemical properties of the sediment. This study showed that SOD can represent a significant portion of the total oxygen up-take in Lake Paldang. Therefore, the assessment of SOD might be necessary for the control of water quality.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 2007

A new technology that utilizes a microbial fuel cell (MFC) has been developed to generate electricity directly from the oxidation of organic matters such as carbohydrates or complex organics in wastewater. Fermentation of these organic matters results in production of volatile fatty acids (VFAs), alcohols, $CO_2$ and $H_2$. We investigated the electricity-producing potential of the VFAs and actual food processing wastewater using a two-chambered MFC. The electrons produced by acetate degradation were proportional to acetate concentration in the medium. Acetate concentration and generated power were linearly correlated at a low range or acetate concentration (< 8 mg/L), but at above 8 mg/L of acetate the power produced was maintained at 0.1 mW. When butyrate was added to the anode acclimated to acetate, there was a lag period of 30 hr for electricity generation. However, when propionate was added to the same anode bottle, lag periods were not existed. The wastewater from baby food processing generated the maximum power density of $81{\pm}7\;mW/m^2$ of electricity and exhibited the Coulombic efficiencies of 27.1% and 40.5% based on TCOD and SCOD, respectively. Sugars in the food processing wastewater were reduced within 50 h from 230 mg/L < 30 mg/L.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.1024-1030
• /
• 2006

Genus Nitrospira and Nitrobacter species are the key nitrite-oxidizing bacteria(NOB) in nitrifying wastewater treatment plants. It has been hypothesized that genus Nitrospira are K-strategists(low $K_6$ value) that can exploit low amounts of nitrite more efficiently than Nitrobacter. In contrast, Nitrobacter species are r-strategists(high $V_{max}$) that can grow faster than Nitrospira. It has also been known that the availability of organic compounds and dissolved oxygen as well as nitrite affects the distribution of NOB. In this study, we determined the distribution and competition of NOB in wastewater nitrification systems where nitrite, organic compounds, and dissolved oxygen concentrations were compositively varied. For the purpose, several compounds of the laboratory-scale nitrificaiion bioreactor and full-scale $A_2O$ wastewater treatment plant and their distribution of NOB were analyzed and compared. The analysis showed that Nitrobacter was the dominant NOB in nitrification bioreactor where average nitrite was maintained at 5 mg-N/L with very low organic concentration in aerobic condition, whereas Nitrospira was the dominant NOB in full-scale $A_2O$ plant where nitrite was maintained very low and organic compounds were maintained relatively high in alternating aerobic-anoxic condition. The result indicates that nitrite concentration is more critical factor than organics and dissolved oxygen which determines the dominant NOB in nitrification system and it is confirmed that Nitrospira and Nitrobacter showed the characteristics of r-strategist and K-strategist, respectively.