• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.497-505
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• 2005

Domestic Sewage Treatment Plants are mostly based on biological treatment, in which large amounts of excess sludge are generated and occupy about 40 ~ 60% of the total sewage treatment costs. Several methods for sludge treatment has been so far reported as upgrading biodegradation of sludge; heat treatment, chemical treatment, including thermo-alkali and ozone, mechanical treatment including ultrasonic pulverization. But, it has a limitation in case of reducing the amount of excess sludge which are already producted. In this study, application of excess sludge reduction process using thermophilic aerobic bacteria for activated sludge was examined. The research was carried out two different stage. one for a biological wastewater treatment and the other for a thermophilic aerobic solubilization of the waste sludge. A portion of excess sludge from the wastewater treatment step was into the thermophilic aerobic sludge solubilization reactor, in which the injected sludge was solubilized by thermophilic aerobic bacteria. The solubilized sludge was returned to the aeration tank in the wastewater treatment step for its further degradation. Sludge solubilization reactor was operated at $63{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ with hydraulic retention time(HRT) of 1.5 ~ 1.7 day. Control group was operated with activated sludge process(AS) and experiment group was operated with three conditions(RUN 1, RUN 2, RUN3). RUN 1 was operated with AS without sludge solubilization reactor. RUN 2 were operated with AS with sludge solubilization reactor to examine correlation between sludge circulation ratio and sludge reduction ratio by setting up sludge circulation ratio to 3. RUN 3 was operated with sludge circulation ratio of 3 and MLSS concentration of 1,700~2,000mg/L to examine optimum operation condition. The quantity of excess sludge production was reduced sharply and in operation of RUN 3, sludge The quantity of excess sludge production was reduced sharply and in operation of RUN 3, sludge solubilization ratio and sludge reduction ratio were 53. 7%, 95.2% respectively. After steady state operation, average concentration of TBOD, SBOD, $TCOD_{Cr}$, $SCOD_{Cr}$, TSS, VSS, T-N, T-P of effluent were 4.5, 1.7, 27 .8, 13.8, 8.1, 6.2, 15.1, 1.8mg/L in the control group and were 5.6, 2.0, 28.6, 19.1, 9.7, 7.2, 16.1, 2.0mg/L in the experimental group respectively. They were appropriate to effluent standard of Sewage Treatment Plants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.505-510
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• 2008

Excess sludge and raw sludge were treated by ball mill in order to promote solubilization, and it was known that the level of solubilization was higher in excess sludge rather than raw sludge. About solid concentration, with the increase of TS, the amounts of solubilization was increased. And excess sludge was solubilized more effectively with the increase of ball mill treatment time. Especially, in case of excess sludge, within 5 min of ball mill treatment, 6 times of solubilization was achieved compared with raw sludge. The effect of bead size was also tested and 1 mm bead was most desirable when applied to the TS 4% of excess sludge. Particle size decrease by the ball mill treatment was more effective in raw sludge, nevertheless the level of solubilization was always higher in excess sludge. This means that the results of particle analysis could not be understood as a indicator for sludge solubilization. Generally, excess sludge and raw sludge are mixed at the thicker in the STP, but considering a ball mill pretreatment as an alternative for sludge solubilization, it is desirable to treat not raw sludge but excess sludge alone in the aspect of solubilization yield and economical process.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.103-109
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• 2010

Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for the treatment of sludge, which is generated from the municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, for its volume reduction and methane production. Many researches on sludge pre-treatment have been carried out in order to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion by increasing the hydrolysis of sludge which is the rate limiting step of anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of pre-treatment on sludge hydrolysis(solubilization), methane production and sludge reduction by anaerobic digestion after thermal, ultrasonic, and thermal-alkali sludge treatment were compared. Thermal-alkali treatment showed 67 and 70% solubilization with municipal and industrial wastewater sludge, respectively, while ultrasonic treatment and thermal treatment gave similar solubilization efficiency of 40% or more. Methane content of the anaerobic digestion gas reached 45~70% and pretreated sludge gave higher methane content than the control sludge. Methane production of thermal, ultrasonic, and thermal-alkali pre-treatment gave 2.6, 2.7, 3.5 times of municipal control sludge and 3.5, 4.1, 4.2 times of industrial control sludge, respectively. Sludge reduction of pre-treated sludge after anaerobic digestion gave 5~19% point higher than that of control sludge, and thermal-alkali treatment showed higher reduction efficiency than thermal and ultrasonic treatment. The results proved that pre-treatment contributed significantly not only for the methane production but also for the cost reduction of sludge treatment and disposal, and thermal-alkali treatment gave the best performance for the sludge treatment.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1053-1059
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• 2006

This study was performed to investigate the possible uses of waste sludge for the removal of heavy metal ions. The adsorption experiments were conducted with wastes such as sewage treatment sludge, water treatment sludge and oyster shell to evaluate their sorption characteristics. Heavy metals selected were cadmium, copper and lead. in the sorption experiments on the sewage treatment sludge, water treatment sludge, oyster shell and soil, sorption occurred in the beginning and it reached equilibrium after 40 minutes on the oyster shell and 4 hour on the sewage treatment sludge and water treatment sludge. Results of Freundlich isotherms indicated that sewage treatment sludge could be properly used as an adsorbent for heavy metals and sorption strength of heavy metals was in the order of Pb > Cu > Cd. In the influence of pH on the adsorbents, sorption rate was more than 80% in pH 4 and most of heavy metals were adsorbed in pH 9. Adsorption rate of Cd decreased with decreasing pH and then adsorption rate of Cu was lower in soil.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.675-682
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• 2009

Sludge minimization from wastewater treatment plant is becoming more important to save disposal costs and to contribute to sustainable development. For the reduction of sludge production, solubilization and dewaterability of sludge are important factors in sludge processing. Ultrasonic treatment has been used to enhance sludge solubility and dewaterability with anaerobic digestion sludge, primary sludge, and activated sludge. At the ultrasonic power of 0.2 kW/L for 1 hour, anaerobic sludge and activated sludge showed higher solubilization efficiency than the primary sludge in terms of COD, proteins, and suspended solids. Ultrasonic treatment decreased sludge dewaterability and sludge settling characteristics up to 720 kJ/L of ultrasonic energy. In conclusion, ultrasonic treatment was effective for sludge solubilization but it deteriorate dewaterability (specific resistance) and settling characteristics (SVI) of sludge at the experimental conditions.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.50-56
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• 2000

In this study, sewage were treated with operating Two-step Aeration System and conventional activated sludge process together in a condition. At the same HRT 8hr of Two-step Aeration System and Activated Sludge Process, BOD treatment efficiency of 1st sedimentation basin effluent 36.9% by Two-step Aeration system was 12.3% higher than 24.65 by Activated Sludge Process and the COD treatment efficiency 39.8% by two-step Aeration System was 11.6.3% higher than 28.2% by Activated Sludge Process. BOD and COD treatment efficiencies of 2nd sedimentation basin effluent were 88.1% and 85.6% Two-step Aeration System and were 83.8% and 82.3% Activated Sludge Process. In the first treatment, as BOD was relatively removed a lot, F/M ratio 0.17, $0.21{\cdot}BOD/kg{\cdot}MLSS.d$ was maintained by Activated Sludge Process. Therefore it was proved that organic matter treatment efficiency by Two-step Aeration System os Higher than by Activated Sludge Process in a aeration time 8hr. $NH_4^{+}-N$ treatment efficiencies were 55.5% by Two-step Aeration System and 39.75 by Activated sludge Process. $NO_3^{-}-N$ concentration in 2nd. sedimentation basin effluent were 3.33% by Two-step Aeration System and 2.36% by Activated Sludge Process. From this result, Two-step Aeration System was proved more advantageous treatment process for nitrification than Activated Sludge Process. The fluctuation range of BOD, COD and SS concentration in 2nd sedimentation basin effluent $16~33mg/{\ell}$, $15~23mg/{\ell}$ and $14~22mg/{\ell}$ by Two-step Aeration System was smaller than $16~57mg/{\ell}$, $15~25mg/{\ell}$ by Activated sludge Process. Overall the fluctuation range in 2nd sediment basin effluent by was smaller than by Activated Sludge Process. As a result, it is possible for this Two-step Aeration with no facility investment and a little of operation condition change in a conventional sewage treatment plant to get stability and nitrification of treatment water quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.279-290
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• 2004

Sludge quantity has increased at "A"water treatment plant due to deterioration of raw water quality and GAC installation. Increased sludge resulted in overloading on sludge handling facilities. The object of this study is to survey sludge quantity and capacity of sludge handling facilities at "A"water treatment plant. Measured quantity of sedimentation sludge considerably exceeded the design capacity of sludge holding basin. Sludge holding basin was properly designed, but low concentration of sludge discharged from sedimentation basin caused production of large volume of the sludge. Timer operated control system for sludge withdrawal unit and leakage through a control valve were suspected to cause the low concentration. Augmentation of the control system by a turbidity meter and addition of a new control valve successfully reduced the sludge volume enough to satisfy the design capacity of sludge holding basin. Unlike sedimentation sludge, measured quantity of washwater was considerably less than the design capacity of washwater basin because it was over-designed.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.251-262
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• 2016

The biodegradability and decomposition efficiencies increase with the pre-treatment of sludge in a digestion process. In this study, the feasibility of ultrasound coupled with potassium permanganate oxidation as a disintegration method and digestibility of aerobic reactor fed with disintegrated sludge with ultrasound coupled potassium permanganate were investigated. The first stage of the study focused on determining the optimum condition for ultrasonic pre-treatment for achieving better destruction efficiency of sludge. The second part of the study, the aerobic digestibility of sludge disintegrated with ultrasound and potassium permanganate oxidation alone and combined were examined comparatively. The results showed that when 20 min of ultrasonic pre-treatment applied, the specific energy output was 49384 kJ/kgTS with disintegration degree of 58.84%. During the operation of aerobic digester, VS/TS ratios of digesters fed with disintegrated sludge decreased indicating that disintegration methods could obviously enhance aerobic digestion performance. The highest reduction in volatile solids was 75% in the digester fed with ultrasound+potassium permanganate disintegrated sludge at the end of the operation compared to digester fed with raw sludge. Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) levels in sludge supernatant increased with this combined method significantly. Besides, it promoted the production of ${\bullet}OH$, thus enhancing the release of Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) from the sludge. Disintegration with all methods used in this study could not improve Capillary Suction Time (CST) reduction in disintegrated digesters during the operation. The results demonstrated that the combined ultrasound treatment and potassium permanganate oxidation method improves the biodegradability compared to control reactor or their single application.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.82-90
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• 2023

Biological process is used worldwide to treat domestic and industrial wastewater. The process generally uses a mixed microbial culture of sludge. The growth of microorganisms in the sludge produces excess sludge from the wastewater treatment process. Some of the excess sludge is recycled as inoculum for wastewater treatment, but the rest is removed as waste from the process. As wastewater production is increasing worldwide every year, the number of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is also in- creasing, resulting in the generation of large amount of waste sludge. The increasing amount of waste sludge from WWTPs has led to concerns about its management. Sludge disposal has been reported to account for 50~60% of the total operating costs of a WWTP. Sludge disintegration is a new technology that can minimize volume of waste sludge and recover useful components (e.g., P, N, and soluble organic compounds) from it. Various methods of sludge disintegration have been developed based on physical, chemical, and biological treatments or combinations of these. In this review, we focus on sludge disintegration by acid hydrolysis, which is less studied among sludge disintegration methods. Such information can be useful in the development and implementation of a new technology for better sludge treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.810-815
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• 2010

Ultrasonic sludge pre-treatment has been studied to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion by increasing sludge hydrolysis which is regarded as the rate-limiting-step of anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of ultrasonic pre-treatment on sludge hydrolysis (solubilization) and methane production was investigated. Sludge solubilization efficiency increased with ultrasonic energy input. However, it is uneconomical to apply more than 720 kJ/L as the solubilization efficiency per energy input declines afterwards. Volatile fatty acids concentration increased after the ultrasonic sludge hydrolysis. Anaerobic batch digestion showed that methane volume reached 64.7 and 84.5 mL after 18 days of incubation with the control sludge and ultrasonically hydrolyzed sludge, respectively. Methane production potential, maximum methane production rate, and the lag time of modified Gompertz equation were changed from 70 mL, 6.4 mL/day, and 1.2 days to 89 mL, 9.6 mL/day, and 0.5 day, respectively, after the ultrasonic sludge treatment. The results proved that ultrasonic pre-treatment contributed significantly not only for the methane production but also for the reduction of anaerobic digestion time which is critical for the performance of anaerobic sludge digestion.