• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.87-98
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• 2007

As the interest in environmental problems increased, the guideline of effluent qualities becomes strict and the amount of sludge produced from the wastewater treatment facilities steeply increased. The revised Korean acts prohibit the direct reclamation of the sludge exhausted in sewage treatment works from 2003, and the ocean dump of sludge will be also prohibited from 2012. Therefore, the sludge must be recycled, incinerated or composted. To properly perform the utilization and disposal operations, the establishment of well-defined procedures for the characterization of sludge by physical, chemical and biological method and setting up of guidelines for different treatment and disposal routes has become necessary. However, there have not been such standardized methods for sludge characterization in Korea. This review analyzes the present status of establishment and problems of sludge characterization method of Korea. Finally, it was proposed total 15 items of standardized characterization methods suitable to our country for proper sludge recycling and disposal, which was based on the more systematic standard methods of Germany (DIN 38414) and those of advanced nations.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.27-31
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• 1994

We tested the limestone sludge produced in Pohang Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. as a filler powder for the effective use of portland cement. Hydration process was investigated by measuring the hydration rate, the amounts of non-evaporable water and compressive strength of cement-limestone sludge paste prepared by mixing limes-tone sludge with cement. The results obtained in this study can be summarized as follows: 1. There is no significant difference between the cases of adding up to 10% limestone sludge and those of unmixed cement system. However the reaction rate increases in the 5% limestone sludge system(due to the effects of fine). 2. The compressive strength increases proportionally with increasing the measured amount of non-evaporable water, Adding 5% limestone sludge also increases the strength a little higher, and the compressive strength and calcium silicate hydrates. In the case of the mixed limestone sludge, $2\theta$=$11.7^{\circ}$ peak appears in the samples of 28 days hydration. This peak indicted the presence of calcium carboaluminate hydrate. Although limestone sludge is generally regarded as a inert materials, some kinds of cement can produce a calcium carboaluminate by reacting with aluminate in cement pastes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.85-93
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• 2011

The structural components of microorganism are quite related to the toxin and environmental conditions. The vegetative and dormant cells are quite affected by the physical and chemical environments to survive and they will be dormant when they are in the extreme environment. The mechanism to activate the microorganisms however, is not well defined yet in the area of activation state and sporulation state through the analysis of EPS. Other than that even the main mechanism of prior to acquisition of analysis values is not well understood. Therefore, what kind of specific environment to affect the activation and sporulation will be discussed through the analysis of the extracellular polymeric substances(EPS). EPS are a high molecular weight mixture of polymers presenting both outside of cells and interior of microbial aggregates. They are a major complex materials in microbial aggregation for sustaining them together in a three dimensional matrix. Three commonly used extraction methods were applied to this study their effectiveness and quantification in extracting EPS from several Bacillus microorganisms and activated sludge. Three extraction methods used for this study are regular centrifugation with formaldehyde (RCF), Steaming, and EDTA extraction. The results of EPS contents such as the quantitative proteins, carbohydrates and the ratio of protein versus carbohydrate from the several species with the several specific methods showed in this research. This study aims to get comparable results of the quantitative production of EPS and the effectiveness of sedimentation for Bacillus microorganisms and activated sludge from several wastewater treatment plans. The results revealed that the protein amount extracted was the highest by the Steaming method of three extraction methods before sporulation and the carbohydrate amount extracted was the highest by the RCA method of three extraction methods after sporulation. The higher amount of protein compared with carbohydrate from Bacillus microorganisms affected higher sedimentation efficiency, however it could not be found the relation between the EPS production and sedimentation efficiency for the activated sludge.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.460-464
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• 2000

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are believed to play a role in the binding and formation of microbial flocs. However, the precise role is not well known. Sludge settling characteristics and the carbohydrate to protein ratio in EPS were tested with various airflow rates in this study. Sludge was collected from three modified sequencing batch reactors (SBRs), which were operated at 16$\^{C}$ with an airflow rate of 0.8L/min, 3L/min and 6L/min, respectively. During the operation, the reactor operated at an airflow rate of 0.8L/min showed sludge volume index (SVI) of 80 to 90ml/g and a constant ratio of carbohydrate to protein in the EPS, while a significant increase in the SVI was seen in the other reactors. Sludge bulking increased the amount of carbohydrate in the EPS, while kept protein almost constant in the airflow rate of 3L/min ad 6L/min. Surface charge also increased with increases in the carbohydrate to protein ratio in the EPS, which weakens the attraction between the EPS and multivalent cations. The ratio of carbohydrate to protein in the EPS was tween the EPS and multivalent cations. The ratio of carbohydrate to protein in the EPS was inferred to be essential for bioflocculation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.182-186
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• 2001

An acid forest surface soil as a land farming medium was treated with a water plant alum sludge at 0 to 18%. Indian mustard was grown in the treated soil in a greenhouse for 5 weeks and watered with pH 4 tap water adjusted with a mixed acid (1HNO$_3$: 2H$_2$SO$_4$) during plant growth. Changes in soil property, leachate chemistry, plant growth, and plant uptake of elements by the sludge treatment were determined. The alum sludge treatment increased buffer capacity to acidity, hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity, and phosphate adsorption of the soil and decreased bulk density and mobility of small particles. The sludge treatment reduced leaching of Al, Mg, K, Na, and root elongation. Plant did uptake less amount of the cations and P but more Ca with the sludge treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.179-182
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• 2008

The KIDEA process, occurred in single reactor, is operated by three consequential steps, i.e., aerobic, settling, and discharge while introducing wastewater into the bottom of reactor continuously. It could accomplish biological oxidation (BOD), nitrification, denitrification (T-N), phosphate removal (T-P), and solid separation (SS) through the operational mode mentioned. Especially, this system has removed the T-P by wasting certain amount of sludge at the end of aeration phase during 5~10 minutes and not returned the activated sludge into the reactor, that is, no RAS (Return Activated Sludge). All running mode and instrumentation were controlled by the PLC equipment automatically. In this study, therefore, we have evaluated T-P removal efficiency and moisture content (MC) performance under the different excess sludge wasting mode. T-P track study and MC with TS concentration were analyzed during aerobic and settling phase. It has revealed that there was no significant difference of released T-P concentration between the first case which waste the sludge at the end of aerobic phase (0.2mg/L) and the second case which waste the sludge at 40 min of settling phase (0.25mg/L). Also, dewatering duration and MC have decreased 1.7% when TS concentration was increased from 0.31% to 0.5% during aerobic condition. Hence, it has concluded the system performance was less influenced by the operation time change of PLC program.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.10 no.S_1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2001

Effect of the addition of an enzyme/microbial additive(EMA) to enhance anaerobic digestion of the primary sludge was investigated. Two laboratory scale anaerobic digester were operated with primary sludge taken from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The digester receiving EMA with the sludge feed performed better than the control digester, when both were operated at 10-days and 15-days Solid Retention Time(SRT). Addition of EMA to the experimental digester provided 7%(10-days SRT) and 16%(15-days SRT) higher gas production compared to the control digester when both were fed with the same amount of volatile solids. The reduction in volatile solids was 24% better in the experimental digester compared to the control ar 10-days SRT, and the improvement 10% at 15-day SRT. Improvement in COD reduction, and fecal coliform density reduction were also seen in the experimental digester due to EMA addition compared to the control both ar 10-days SRT and 15-day SRT operation. Preliminary cost benefit analysis for a wastewater treatment plant showed that approximately $115/day in gas production improvements can be realized upon addition of EMA to primary sludge anaerobic digesters operating at 10-day SRT. The value of increased gas production was $172/day if the same digesters are operated with EMA addition at 15-day SRT.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.432-436
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• 2001

In this study, calcium sulfate(gypsum) powder was obtained using waste sulfuric acid and stainless refinery sludge by- produced from chemical reagent and the iron industry, by the neutralization of waste sulfuric acid. As variables for the experiment the mole ratio of the H$_2$SO$_4$ : Ca(OH)$_2$, the pH, the reaction temperature and time, the amount of catalyst were used. The crystal shape and microstructure of obtained powder were observed by XRD and SEM, and the thermal property was investigated by DTA. As the NaCl is added 0~20wt% as a catalyst to the H$_2$SO$_4$ : Ca(OH)$_2$, system it can be found that the crystal shape goes through the processes as follows : gypsum dihydratlongrightarrowgypsum hemihydrate＋gypsum dihydratelongrightarrowgypsum hemihydrate. And gypsum hemihydrate is $\beta$-type as the result of DTA. As waste sulfuric acid and stainless refinery sludge were used, the pH of reacted solution (which was 0.8) was rapidly raised up to 8~9 by the addition of stainless sludge and gypsum dihydrate was produced as a by-product. Therefore, it was found that stainless refinery sludge is sufficiently applicable for the neutralization of waste sulfuric acid.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2015

Recently, Korea's municipal wastewater treatment plants generated amount of wastewater sludge per day. However, ocean dumping of sewage sludge has been prohibited since 2012 by the London dumping convention and protocol and thus removal or treatment of wastewater sludge from field sites is an important issue on the ground site. The hydrothermal carbonization is one of attractive thermo-chemical method to upgrade sewage sludge to produce solid fuel with benefit method from the use of no chemical catalytic. Hydrothermal carbonization improved that the upgrading fuel properties and increased materials and energy recovery, which is conducted at temperatures ranging from 200 to $350^{\circ}C$ with a reaction time of 30 min. Hydrothermal carbonization increased the heating value though the increase of the carbon and fixed carbon content of solid fuel due to dehydration and decarboxylation reaction. Therefore, after the hydrothermal carbonization, the H/C and O/C ratios decreased because of the chemical conversion. Energy retention efficiency suggest that the optimum temperature of hydrothermal carbonization to produce more energy-rich solid fuel is approximately $200^{\circ}C$.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.389-397
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• 2001

The effect of sludge digestion on the leaching efficiency of heavy metals from sludge by bioleaching with Thiobacillus thiooxidans MET was investigated. The used sludges were a non- and anaerobically digested. The leaching efficiency of heavy metals was strongly dependent on the pH of the sludge solution rather than the sludge condition and stolid concentration. The lower the pH the more heavy metal was leached from 3.0 of pH. The sequent orders of leaching heavy metals were Zn, Cu, and Cr. Although the buffering capacity of non-digested sludge was similar to anaerobically digested sludge, the pH decrease rate of the anaerobically digested sludge solution was faster than that of the non-digested sludge solution due to the higher sulfur oxidation rate of T. thiooxidans MET in the anaerobically digested sludge. The amount of leached heavy metals from the anaerobically digested sludge showed higher than that of non-digested sludge at the same pH value. This result might be caused by the difference of the insoluble metal types, which were contained in the sludge. An increase in sludge solids concentration decreased the leaching efficiency of heavy metals in the range of solids concentration 10 g/L to 70 g/L. The optimum ratio of S° to sludge stolid was 0.1 in both the sludge. The bioleaching process of heavy metals with T. thiooxidans MET showed the disinfecting effect over 90% as well as the reduction effect in sludge weight of 20%.