• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.754-760
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• 2010

This study was carried out not only to evaluate optimal operating condition to increase biogas production, but also to estimate feasibility of renewable energy from anaerobic digester of sewage sludge. Semi- continuous Fed and Mixed Reactors (SCFMRs) were operated in various condition to quantify the reactor variables. The result of SCFMR operation showed that the biogas productivity and total volatile solids (TVS) removal of total solids (TS) 4% reactor at hydraulic retention time (HRT) 20 days with Organic Loading Rate (OLR) of $1.45kg/m^3-d$ were $0.39m^3/m^3-d$ and 26.7%, respectively which was two times higher than that of TS 2.5% reactor. Consequently the daily biogas production of $20,000m^3$ would be possible from the total volume of $52,000m^3$ of anaerobic digesters of the municipal wastewater treatment plant in D city. In feasibility study for the Biogas utilization, combined heat and power system (CHP) and CNG gasification were examined. In case of CHP, the withdrawal period of capital cost for gas-engine (GE) and micro gas-turbine (MGT) were 7.7 years and 9.1 years respectively. biogas utilization as Clean Natural Gas (CNG) shows lower capital cost and higher profit than that of CHP system. CNG gasificaion after biogas purification is likely the best alternative for Biogas utilization which have more economic potential than CHP system. The withdrawal period of capital cost appeared to be 2.3 years.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.75-82
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• 2008

Two UASB reactors were operated to investigate the effect of high concentration of sulfate on anaerobic digestion of propionate using an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. An organic loading rate of $1.2kg\;COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ and a hydraulic retention time of 1.6 d were maintained during this study. In the absence of sulfate, the UASB reactor achieved about 95% removal of chemical oxygen demand whereas in the presence of $2,000\;SO_4^{2-}mg/L$, the COD removal rate decreased to 83% due probably to the inhibition of dissolved sulfide inhibition. Interactions between the methane producing bacteria (MPB) and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were measured to investigate the competition between MPB and SRB. The MPB consumed average 58% of the available electron donors at $COD/SO_4^{2-}$ ratio of 1. Propionate was consumed mainly by SRB, converting sulfate into sulfide and suppressing the methane production. The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) using acetate and propionate increased as microorganism acclimated to the substrate.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.232-239
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• 2006

The microbial activity and bacterial community structure of activated sludge reactors, which treated free cyanide (FC), zinc-complexed cyanide (ZC), or nickel-complexed cyanide (NC), were studied. The three reactors (designated as re-FC, re-ZC, and re-NC) were operated for 50 days with a stepwise decrease of hydraulic retention time. In the re-FC and re-ZC reactors, FC or ZC was almost completely removed, whereas approximately 80-87% of NC was removed in re-NC. This result might be attributed to the high toxicity of nickel released after degradation of NC. In the batch test, the sludges taken from re-FC and re-ZC completely degraded FC, ZC, and NC, whereas the sludge from re-NC degraded only NC. Although re-FC and re-ZC showed similar properties in regard to cyanide degradation, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis of the 16S rRNA gene of the bacterial communities in the three reactors showed that bacterial community was specifically acclimated to each reactor. We found several bacterial sequences in DGGE bands that showed high similarity to known cyanide-degrading bacteria such as Klebsiella spp., Acidovorax spp., and Achromobacter xylosoxidans. Flocforming microorganism might also be one of the major microorganisms, since many sequences related to Zoogloea, Microbacterium, and phylum TM7 were detected in all the reactors.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.215-221
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• 2006

This research presents results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments to remove high-nitrate in pickling wastewater using the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as a biological method. During the experimental periods, the influent concentrations of NOx-N and $Ca^{+2}$ were analyzed to be 350-1,600 and 700-800 mg/L, respectively. In order to provide carbon source for denitrification, methanol has been added in proportion to the influent nitrate loading. The mean concentrations of MLSS and MLVSS, the fraction of volatile solids in sludge and the sludge volume index were measured to be 27 g/L, 5 g/L, 18.5% and 7.5, respectively. The solid retention time was kept in the range of 18 to 22 days, specific denitrification rate ($U_{dn}$) was $0.301g{NO_3}^--N/gVSS/day$. The oxidized nitrogen concentration of effluent ranged 2-34 mg/L with an average of 5.2 mg/L, the overall reduction in total nitrogen was more than 99.2%. In order to treat the pickling wastewater including the high concentration of nitrate and $Ca^{+2}$, the continuous flow process is not suitable because the specific gravity of the sludge is considerably increased by $Ca^{+2}$, thus the SBR process is shown to be very effective to treat the pickling wastewater.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.389-395
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• 2017

In this paper, we investigate the characteristics of membrane fouling caused by water temperature in the Membrane bioreactor(MBR) process and try to derive the membrane fouling control by chemical enhanced backwashing(CEB). The extracellular polymeric substances(EPS) concentration was analyzed according to the water temperature in the MBR, and the membrane fouling characteristics were investigated according to the conditions, with sludge & without sludge, through a lab-scale reactor. As shown in the existing literature the fouling resistance rate was increased within sludge with the water temperature was lowered. However, in the lab-scale test using the synthetic wastewater, the fouling resistance increased with the water temperature. This is because that the protein of the EPS was more easily adsorbed on the membrane surface due to the increase of entropy due to the structural rearrangement of the protein inside the protein as the water temperature increases. In order to control membrane fouling, we tried to derive the cleaning characteristics of CEB by using sodium hypochlorite(NaOCl). We selected the condition with the chemicals and the retention time, and the higher the water temperature and the chemical concentration are the higher the efficiencies. It is considered that the increasing temperature accelerated the chemical reaction such as protein peptide binding and hydrolysis, so that the attached proteinaceous structure was dissolved and the frequency of the reaction collision with the protein with the chemical agent becomes higher. These results suggest that the MBRs operation focus on the fouling control of cake layer on membrane surface in low temperatures. On the other hand, the higher the water temperature is the more the operation strategies of fouling control by soluble EPS adsorption are needed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.668-673
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• 2012

Biohydrogen production from organic wastewater by anaerobically activated sludge fermentation has already been extensively investigated, and it is known that hydrogen can be produced by glucose fermentation through three metabolic pathways, including the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid to acetyl-CoA, oxidation of NADH to $NAD^+$, and acetogenesis by hydrogen-producing acetogens. However, the exact or dominant pathways of hydrogen production in the anaerobically activated sludge fermentation process have not yet been identified. Thus, a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was introduced and a specifically acclimated acidogenic fermentative microflora obtained under certain operation conditions. The hydrogen production activity and potential hydrogen-producing pathways in the acidogenic fermentative microflora were then investigated using batch cultures in Erlenmeyer flasks with a working volume of 500 ml. Based on an initial glucose concentration of 10 g/l, pH 6.0, and a biomass of 1.01 g/l of a mixed liquid volatile suspended solid (MLVSS), 247.7 ml of hydrogen was obtained after a 68 h cultivation period at $35{\pm}1^{\circ}C$. Further tests indicated that 69% of the hydrogen was produced from the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid, whereas the remaining 31% was from the oxidation of NADH to $NAD^+$. There were no hydrogen-producing acetogens or they were unable to work effectively in the anaerobically activated sludge with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of less than 8 h.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.382-389
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• 2013

Propionate is an important intermediate product during the methane fermentation of organic matter, and its degradation is crucial for maintaining the performance of an anaerobic digester. In order to understand the effect of temperature on propionate degradation, an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with synthetic wastewater containing propionate as a sole carbon source was introduced. Under the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 10 h and influent propionate of 2,000 mg/l condition, propionate removal was above 94% at 30-$35^{\circ}C$, whereas propionate conversion was inhibited when temperature was suddenly decreased stepwise from $30^{\circ}C$ to $25^{\circ}C$, to $20^{\circ}C$, and then to $18^{\circ}C$. After a long-term operation, the propionate removal at $25^{\circ}C$ resumed to the value at 30- $35^{\circ}C$, whereas that at $20^{\circ}C$ and $18^{\circ}C$ was still lower than the value at $35^{\circ}C$ by 8.1% and 20.7%, respectively. Microbial community composition analysis showed that Syntrophobacter and Pelotomaculum were the major propionate-oxidizing bacteria (POB), and most POB had not changed with temperature decrease in the UASB. However, two POB were enriched at $18^{\circ}C$, indicating they were low temperature tolerant. Methanosaeta and Methanospirillum were the dominant methanogens in this UASB and remained constant during temperature decrease. Although the POB and methanogenic composition hardly changed with temperature decrease, the specific $COD_{Pro}$ removal rate of anaerobic sludge (SCRR) was reduced by 21.4%-46.4% compared with the control ($35^{\circ}C$) in this system.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.738-742
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• 1996

An efficient packed-bed type biofilm reactor charged with immobilized phototrophs was developed to treat organic wastewater at an extremely high volumetric loading rate. The packed bed reactor (PBR) charged with porous ceramic beads was superior to a fluidized-bed reactor suspended with activated carbon powders in terms of many aspects such as BOD removal efficiency, operational stability, and overall economics. For wastewater with BOD concentration as high as 20, 000mg/l, the BOD removal efficiency was maintained above 90% when the hydraulic retention time (HRT) was longer than 1 day. The allowable volumetric BOD loading rate of this reactor (20gBOD/l day) is more than ten-folds higher than that of an ordinary activated sludge method. The behaviour of the reactor was represented well by a Monod type kinetic equation with a maximum specific BOD loading rate(P) of 22.2gBOD/l day and a half saturation constant(K$_{s}$) of 1, 750 mgBOD/l.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.22 no.B
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• pp.109-115
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• 2002

This research was performed to investigate the COD removal efficiency and methane production in slurry-typed swine wastes using UASB(upflow anaerobic sludge blanket)reactor. The USAB reactor was operated from 0.8 through 3.3days of HRT in a range of 3 to 15 kg $TCOD/m^3/day$ of volumetric organic loading rate. The removal rate of TCOD was increased with the increase of the HRT. The removal rate of TCOD at an HRT over 2days, became greater than 68% with the methane contents being from 70 to 80%. Methane production rates were increased from 0.27 to $0.36m^3\;CH_4/kg$ CODrem. as HRTs were increased from 0.8 to 3.3days.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.95-102
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• 1997

The process which can stabilize water quality of treatment and improve nitrogen removal rate under the condition of high organic loading was developed by charging fibrous HBC media to single sludge nitrification-denitrification process. This process was operated easier, minimized the treatment cost, and shortened the retention time. To improve T-N removal rate, a part of nitrifing liquid at aerobic zone was recycled to anoxic zone by approximate internal recycle ratio. The experimental results are as follows ; T-N removal efficiency in the organic volumetric loading 0.14-0.19 kg/COD/m$^{3}$·d was obtained asmaxium of 85% at internal recycle ratio 2.5 and in more ratio than this it was decreased. Organic removal efficiency was about 91% under the overall experimental conditions and not influenced by recycle ratio.