• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.367-377
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• 2019

In this study, the fate and removal of 15 pharmaceuticals (including stimulants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, etc.) in unit processes of a sewage treatment plant (STP) were investigated. Mass loads of pharmaceuticals were 2,598 g/d in the influent, 2,745 g/d in the primary effluent, 143 g/d in the secondary effluent, and 134 g/d in the effluent. The mass loads were reduced by 95% in the biological treatment process, but total phosphorous treatment did not show a significant effect on the removal of most pharmaceuticals. Also, mass balance analysis was performed to evaluate removal characteristics of pharmaceuticals in the biological treatment process. Acetaminophen, caffeine, acetylsalicylic acid, cefradine, and naproxen were efficiently removed in the biological treatment process mainly due to biodegradation. Removal efficiencies of gemfibrozil, ofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were not high, but their removal was related to sorption onto sludge. This study provides useful information on understanding removal characteristics of pharmaceuticals in unit processes in the STP.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.403-408
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• 2017

In these days, wastewater reclamation and seawater desalination play essential role in addressing the challenge of worldwide water scarcity. Particularly, reverse osmosis (RO) for seawater desalination process is commonly used due to less energy consumption than conventional thermodynamic systems. However, membrane fouling and electrical energy consumption during operation of RO system for seawater desalination haver continued to be a obstruction to its application. In this study, therefore, wastewater secondary effluent is used for osmotic dilution of seawater. Firstly, fouling behaviour of RO by simulating wastewater effluent in osmotic dilution process was measured and we calculated energy consumption of overall desalination process by theoretical equations and commercial program. Our results reveal that RO membrane fouling can be efficiently controlled by pre-treatment systems such as nano filtration (NF) or forward osmosis (FO) process. Especially FO system for osmotic dilution process is a non-pressurized membrane system and, therefore, the operating energy consumption of overall desalination system was the lowest. Moreover, fouling layer on FO membrane is comparatively weak and reversible enough to be disrupted by physical cleaning. Thus, RO system with low salinity feed water through FO process is possible as a less energy consuming desalination system with efficient membrane fouling control.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.78-95
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• 1991

Water factory 21(WF 2) in Orange County California, is a advanced wastewater treatment(AWT) plant designed to reclaim biologically treated munidpal wastewater for injection into a seawater barrier system. Processes included are lime treatment air stripping, filtration, activated carbon adsorption, reverse osmosis(RO), and chlorination. The effectiveness of each treatment process is presented including pretreatment, RO dimineralization. The data collected show that the processes, including RO, used at WF-21 are capable of producing a very high quality water on a reliable basis. Treatment reduced all contaminants, to levels below national primary drinldng water regulation maximum contaminant levels. It was found that lime clarified secondary effluent can be used as feedwater to a RO dimineralizer. Experiments with new low pressure membrane(250psi) show great potential for reducing RO cost.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.355-362
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• 2021

This study investigated the fate of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in a water reclamation facility (WRF) in Korea. The WRF consists of coagulation, sedimentation, microfiltration, and reverse osmosis (RO) components. The production capacity of WRF is 90,000 m³/day. The reclaimed water is reused as industrial water. We also characterized DOM in raw, processed, and finished waters based on analysis of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UVA₂₅₄), fluorescence excitation emission matrix (FEEM), and DOC fractions via liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD). Based on the results of DOC, UVA₂₅₄, and FEEM analyses, neither the coagulation/sedimentation nor the microfiltration at the WRF effectively removed DOM. The RO process removed more than 94% of DOM. The raw water (i.e., secondary treated effluent obtained from a wastewater treatment plant) exhibited tryptophan-like peaks, which are a promising marker of wastewater, in the FEEM analysis. Coagulation and microfiltration failed to eliminate the wastewater marker, whereas RO completely removed it. The raw water also carried high levels (89.4%) of hydrophilic and low-molecular weight substances, which are difficult to remove via coagulation-sedimentation or microfiltration. Humic substance was a major component of the hydrophilic fractions. Based on the LC-OCD analysis, RO effectively removed the humic and polymeric materials from DOM.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 2009

Floodplain areas of major South Korean rivers were determined by analyzing topographical maps and hydraulic properties of floodplain soil were measured using disc tension infiltrometer. To assess the possibility of treating secondary effluents of municipal wastewater with floodplain soil, a computer code for the analysis of unsaturated flow in soil was employed along with searches conducted in the literature. Based on the data generated, an estimate of total floodplain filtration capacity in Korea was obtained. The results of our study reveal that Korean floodplains have surface soil that is adequate for treating water. Moreover, the distributions of floodplains are substantial over the entire reaches of the rivers, indicating that the conditions are favorable for floodplain filtration as additional treatment of secondary effluent. The capacity of floodplain filtration in Korea is circa 182,000,000 $m^3$/day and most of the rivers are estimated to have enough capacity of floodplain filtration to meet all the secondary effluent, indicating that this technology may be expected to make further improvements on river water quality. Furthermore, this method may also be applied to better the source-water quality for drinking water.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2009

Water stress has become a major concern in agriculture. Korea suffers from limited agricultural water supply, and wastewater reuse has been recommended as an alternative solution. A study was performed to examine the effects of microorganism concentration in the ponded-water of a paddy rice field with reclaimed-water irrigation for evaluating the microbial risk to farmers and neighborhood children. Most epidemiological studies were performed based on an upland field, and they may not directly applicable to paddy fields. Beta-Poisson model was used to estimate the microbial risk of pathogen ingestion. Their risk value increased significantly high level after irrigation and precipitation. It implies that agricultural activities such as plowing, and fertilizing, and precipitation need be practiced a few days after irrigation considering health risks. The results about field application of the microbial risk assessment using E. coli showed difference according to monitoring time and treatment plot. Result of the microbial risk assessment showed that risk values of ground-water and reclaimed secondary wastewater irrigation were lower than directly use of wastewater treatment plants' effluent. This paper should be viewed as a first step in the application of quantitative microbial risk assessment of E. coli to wastewater reuse in a paddy rice farming.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.642-649
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• 2007

The effectiveness of add-on tertiary treatment processes for the polishing of the effluent of a biological nutrient removal (BNR) system from a modified $A^2/O$ process has been examined under the field condition with pilot-scale plants. The add-on treatment processes of 1) combined biofilm anoxic reactor and sand filtration, and 2) two-stage denitrification filter had been operated with various operating conditions. The experimental results indicated that two-stage denitrification filter could produced a better polished tertiary effluent. Filtration rate of $150m^3/m^2{\cdot}d$ for the 2-stage denitrifying filter could decrease the nitrate removal probably due to shorter detention time that caused insufficient reaction for denitrification. Two stage denitrification filter operated with M/N ratio of 3.0 and filtration rate of $100m^3/m^2{\cdot}d$ produced the tertiary effluent with nitrate and SS concentraitons of 2.8 mg/L and 2.3 mg/L, respectively. When the operating temperature reduced $30^{\circ}C$ to $18^{\circ}C$, $NO_3{^-}-N$ removal efficiency decreased from 73% to 68%.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.767-773
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• 2011

The objectives of this research are to investigate the proper coagulation conditions which are a type and doses of coagulants, mixing conditions (velocity gradients and mixing times), pH and so on through Jar-test, to evaluate the flux variations, permeate, backwashing according to characteristics of pretreatment of the wastewater by means of MF membranes for river maintenance water reuse. The effluent water from B-city K-sewage treatment plant are used for this research. Turbidity and suspended solids(SS) are 14.2 NTU and 10.4 mg/L respectively. This condition causes fouling for membrane process. The flux decline could be reduced when coagulation pretreatment was carried out. Optimal coagulations PAC which are commonly used in the sewage treatment plant was observed in this research. The results indicate that an optimal coagulation dose and pH are 80 ppm and pH of 7 respectively, but coagulation efficiency was lower at strong acid or strong base. Results showed that continuous and steady operations in membrane separation process by means of the effective removal of organic matter and turbidity with coagulation pretreatment of sewage secondary effluent were achieved.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.259-268
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• 2004

For the last years, it has become hot issue such as disposal of the treated wastewater, which caused by increment of a population and industrial development at the coastal areas. The ocean outfall system discharges primary or secondary treated effluent into coastline or at the deep water, or between these two. The effluent, which has a density similar to that of fresh water, rises to the see, surface forming plume or jet, together with entraining the surrounding salt water and becomes very dilute. This paper deals ocean outfall design which effects to decision-making about marine environment management and wastewater treatment. In order to make predictions of dilution of discharged water and the trajectory of a plume, CORMIX has been used considering several elements including a seasonal and tidal changes. These solutions are strung together to provide basic data and general drawings for effective management of outfall.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.991-995
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• 2006

The layered double hydroxide with the insertion of chloride ions (LDH-Cl), which was synthesized by the co-precipitation method, was applied to investigate the fundamental aspects of the absorptive agent for phosphate removal from wastewater. The adsorption capacity was best described by the Langmuir-FreundIich isotherm, and the estimated isotherm parameters indicate that the LDH-CI capacity for the phosphate removal is much higher than that observed using a natural adsorbent material such iron oxide tailing. The kinetic experiment also showed that the LDH-Cl adsorption reaction rapidly at the adsorptive rate of 0.55 mg-P/g-LDH/min, implying that this adsorbent can be of use in the full-scale applications. The pH had a minimal effect on the LDH adsorption capacity in the range of 5 to 11, although the capacity dropped at the low pHs because of the change in LDH surface properties. Furthermore, other anions such as $Cl^-$ and $NO_3{^-}$ commonly found in the wastewater streams insignificantly affected the phosphate removal efficiencies, while $HCO_3{^-}$ ions had a negative effect on the LDH adsorption capacity due to its high selectivity. The phosphate removal experiment using the actual secondary effluent from a wastewater treatment plant showed the similar decrease in adsorption capacity, indicating that the bicarbonate ions in the wastewater were competing with phosphate for the adsorptive site in the surface of the LDH-Cl. Overall, the synthetic adsorbent material, LDH-Cl, can be a feasible alternative over other conventional chemical agents, since the LDH-Cl exhibits the high phosphate removal capacity with the low sensitivity to other environmental conditions.