• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 1993

This paper describes an investigation to determine whether the activated sludge (AS) process could be used for the treatment of wastewater at the Union Carbide Coporation (UCC) plant in Seadrift, Texas. This plant presently utilizes a waste stabilization pond (WSP) system for treatment of the wastewater. The treatment system consists of an in-plant primary WSP and two off-plant WSPs (secondary and tertiary WSPs), run in series. The total hydraulic detention time of the WSP system is approximately 150 days. Several laboratory-based treatability studies have been conducted to evaluate the performace of the WSP system and the degradability of specific chemical compounds. From an additional study, it was determined that the WSP system was stressed and occasionally operating near the limit of its treatment capacity. The existing primary WSP plays an important role in the overall treatmemt system, because it not only functions as a pH and organic-strength equalization basin, but also serves as a "preconditioning" basin by fermenting high strength organic wastes to volatile organic acids for subsequent degradation in the escondary WSP. However, in view of pending RCRA legislatin conerning the "proposed organic toxicity characteristics limits" (40 CFR Part261: Federal Register, July, 1988), it is possible that the primary WSP will have to be abandoned in favor of alternative treatment options. Therefore the main purpose of this study was to perform activated sludge treatability evaluations for the development of an alternative to the existing primary WSP treatment ststem. In addition, another purpose was to determine the degradability of bis(2-chloroethyl)ether (Chlorex or CX) and benzene(BZ) in the activated sludge process. The presence of these two chemicals in the wastewater of the plant prompted the question of whatedether they could be degraded in an activated sludge system.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.238-244
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• 2005

This study performs the pilot-plant experiments to evaluate the effect of the oxygen enrichment on the co-incineration of municipal solid waste and organic sludge from a wastewater treatment facility. The design capacity of the stoker-type incinerator pilot-plant is 150 kg/h. Combustion chamber temperatures were measured as well as the stack gas concentrations, i.e., NOx, CO, and the residual oxygen. The maximum ratio of organic sludge waste to the total waste input is 30%. Also the oxygen-enriched air with 23% of oxygen in supplied air is used for stable combustion. As the co-incineration ratio of the sludge increased up to 30% of the total waste input, the primary and the secondary combustion chamber temperature was decreased $to900^{\circ}C$ (primary combustion chamber), $750^{\circ}C$(secondary combustion chamber), respectively, approximately $200^{\circ}C$ below the incineration temperature of the domestic waste only (primary: $1,100^{\circ}C$, secondary: $950^{\circ}C$). However, if the supplied air was enriched to 22% oxygen content in air, the incinerator temperature was high enough to burn the waste mixture with 30% sludge, which has the heating value of 1,600 kcal/kg.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.104-116
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• 1996

Anaerobic digestion is generally used for the treatment of volatile organic solids such as manure and sludge from waste water treatment plants. However, the reaction rate of anaerobic process is slow, and thus it requires a large reactor volume. To minimize such a disadvantage, physical and chemical pre-treatment is generally considered. Another method to reduce the reactor size is to adopt different reactor system other than CSTR. In this paper, the effects of heat pre-treatment and reactor configurations on the anaerobic treatability of volatile solids was studied. Carrot, kale, primary sludge, and waste activated sludge was chosen as the test materials, and the BMP method was used to evaluate the maximum methane production and first order rate constants from each sample. After the heat treatment at $130^{\circ}C$ for 30min., the measured increase in SCOD per gram VS was up to 394 mg/L for the waste activated sludge. However, the methane production potential per gram VS was increased for only primary and waste activated sludge by 17-23%, remaining the same for carrot and kale. The overall methane production process for the tested solids can be described by first order reactions. The increased in reaction constant after heat pre-treatment was also more significant for the primary and waste activated sludge than that for carrot and kale. therefore, the heat pre-treatment appeared to be effective for the solids with high protein contents rather than for the solids with high carbohydrate contents. Among the four reactor systems studied, CSTR, PFR, CSTR followed by PFR, and PFR with recycle, CSTR followed by PFR appeared to be the best choice considering methane conversion rate and the operational stability.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.498-503
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• 2007

The performance of elutriated acid fermentation to evaluate the effects of microwave irradiation and pH control as pretreatment was investigated. The MW pH 7 reactor which was used the pretreated primary sludge as microwave irradiation was operated at pH 7 and $35^{\circ}C$. The EAF pH 9 reactor was operated at pH 9 and $35^{\circ}C$ without pretreatment. The SCOD and VFAs production rate were 0.17 gSeOD/gVSrem. and 0.27 gVFAs as COD/gVSrem. in MW pH 7 reactor, 0.16 gSCOD/gVSrem. and 0.24 gVFAs as COD/gVSrem. in EAF pH 9 reactor, respectively. VS and Volume reduction were 54% and 48% in MW pH 7 reactor, 54.6% and 36% in EAF pH 9 reactor, respectively. A comparison of the microwave irradiation and controlled pH in elutriated acid fermentation showed that the former is more efficient in SCOD and VFAs production and it rises to slightly higher reduction in the volume of the sludge. In addition, E. coli. was not detected in the wasting sludge of MW pH 7 reactor. Based on the results, microwave irradiation appeared to be one of the viable options for generating class A sludge. According to the batch tests, sequencing batch test which was used the pretreated primary sludge as microwave was performed at pH 7 and $35^{\circ}C$, SCOD production was 0.16 gSCOD/gVSrem., VS reduction and volume reduction were 64% and 63%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.47-56
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• 2007

Utilization of sewage sludge for industrial fuel should be considered in appropriate calory with low emission of environmental pollutants and the amount of sewage sludge for continuously long-time operation. For the low grade fuel(<4,000kcal/kg), one of proper processes is that coal and oil are added into sewage sludge to remove impurities and increase calory(>7,000kcal/kg) and the amount of fuel having sewage sludge. Recently, 2-step agglomeration has been attempted by secondarily agglomerate sewage sludge onto the primary nuclei formed by agglomeration of coal and oil. Furthermore, sawdust and waste oil can substitute about 1/3 each for coal and mineral oil consumed in this process, which will lead to securing alternative energy resources from environmental pollutants as well as cost reduction.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2004

In this research, a 2-stage intermittently aerated activated sludge system(IA) and intermittently aerated dynamic flow activated sludge system(DF) were investigated for the removal of nutrients in domestic wastewater. Wastewater was characterized by low C/N( organics/nitrogen) ratio. $COD_{cr}$, $BOD_s$, TKN and TP concentrations of domestic wastewater were 235, 47, 32 and 5.4 mg/L, respectively. Three sets of IA and one set of DF were operated. Three of four systems were added with fermented settled sludge taken from primary settling tank as an external electron donor and the other(IA) for control reactor was operated without addition of electron donor. All systems were operated at same sludge retention time of 20 days and hydraulic retention time of 12hrs. The supplemental electron donor was supplied into the anoxic mode. A higher denitrification rate was observed from the reactors with fermented settled sludge as an electron donor for denitrification compared to that of without addition of organic source. The result of this study indicates that the settled primary sludge, if the fermented at the acid stage, was an excellent electron donor for denitrification. 81 % of TN and 80% of TP were removed from the systems with the supplemental organic source added. However, the control reactor without addition of electron donor showed only 39% of TN and 43% of TP.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 1994

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of digestion temperature on the settleability and dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge. The digesters were operated at a hydraulic retention time of 20 days with a loading rate of 0.63~0.66kg volatile solids per cubic meter per day at the temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$. A mixed primary and secondary municipal sludge was used as a feed. The interface height of the sludge during settling test was recorded to identify settleability. As a measure of dewaterability of the sludge, specific resistance and capillary suction time were also measured with and without chemical conditioning. Higher digestion efficiency was obtained at $55^{\circ}C$ than $35^{\circ}C$. However, the settleability and dewaterability of the sludge at $35^{\circ}C$ were quite higher than those of the sludge digested at $55^{\circ}C$. The optimum dosages of ferric chloride for sludge conditioning were 0.4% and 0.6% at $35^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$, respectively. The filtrate COD of the sludge digested at $55^{\circ}C$ was higher than at $35^{\circ}C$, which means that poor dewaterability of the sludge result in high filtrate COD.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2020

Because of the intensified environmental problems such as climate change and resource depletion, sewage treatment technology focused on energy management has recently attracted attention. The conversion of primary sludge from the primary sedimentation tank and excessive sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank into biogas is the key to energy-positive sewage treatment. In particular, the primary sedimentation tanks recover enriched biodegradable organic matter and anaerobic digestion process produces methane from the organic wastes for energy production. Such technologies for minimizing oxygen demand are leading the innovation regarding sewage treatment plants. However, sewage treatment facilities in Korea lack core technology and operational know-how. Actually, the energy potential of sewage is higher than sewage treatment energy consumption in the sewage treatment, but current processes are not adequately efficient in energy recovery. To improve this, it is possible to apply chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), high-rate activated sludge (HRAS), and anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to the primary sedimentation tank. To maximize the methane production of sewage treatment plants, organic wastes such as food waste and livestock manure can be digested. Additionally, mechanical pretreatment, thermal hydrolysis, and chemical pretreatment would enhance the methane conversion of organic waste. Power generation systems based on internal combustion engines are susceptible to heat source losses, requiring breakthrough energy conversion systems such as fuel cells. To realize the energy positive sewage treatment plant, primary organic matter recovery from sewage, biogas pretreatment, and co-digestion should be optimized in the energy management system based on the knowledge-based operation.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.70-73
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• 2003

Nitrate contamination in the aquatic systems is the primary indicator of poor agricultural management. The influence of sewage sludge application rates (0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 dry Mg/ha) on distribution of nitrate originating from the sewage sludge in soil profiles was investigated. Soil profile monitoring of nitrate was carried out with a Lakeland clay soil in 1997. Irrespectively of the sewage sludge application rates up to 50 dry Mg/ha, the concentration of $NO_3$-N at the 120 cm depth was below 10 mg/kg and the difference due to the amount of sewage sludge application was negligible at this depth. There was virtually no $NO_3$-N below 120 cm depth and this was confirmed by a deep sampling up to 300 cm depth. Most of the nitrate remained in the surface 60 cm of the soil. Below 120 cm depth nitrate concentration was very low because of the denitrification even at high sewage sludge rate of 100 dry Mg/ha. The $NO_3$-N concentrations in the soil fluctuated over the growing season due to plant uptake and denitrification. The risk of groundwater contamination by nitrate from sewage sludge application up to high rate of 100 dry Mg/ha was very low in a wheat grown clay soil with high water table ( < 3 m).

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2014

The practical route for disposal of sewage sludge becomes energy recovery by combustion after its ocean dumping is banned in 2012 in Korea. Due to the high moisture content, however, sewage sludge is required to be dried before transport and combustion. In this study, pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of dried sewage sludge was investigated in a small-scale fixed bed reactor in order to provide fundamental data for energy recovery of the fuel. As the first step of combustion, the primary products of pyrolysis were analyzed in a fixed bed reactor for the condensable volatiles (tar), non-condensable gases, and char. For the combustion characteristics, another fixed bed reactor was constructed to monitor the weight and temperature of the fuel particles during ignition and combustion under different air flow rates. The test results were used to derive the ignition and burning rates.