• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.588-597
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• 2016

In this study, we attempted to improve the biogas production efficiency by varying the mixing ratio of the mixed sludge of organic wastes in the improved single-phase anaerobic digestion process. The types of organic waste used in this study were raw sewage sludge, food wastewater leachate and livestock excretions. The biomethane potential was determined through the BMP test. The results showed that the biomethane potential of the livestock excretions was the highest at $1.55m^3CN4/kgVS$, and that the highest value of the composite sample, containing primary sludge, food waste leachate and livestock excretions at proportions of 50%, 30% and 20% respectively) was $0.43m^3CN4/kgVS$. On the other hand, the optimal mixture ratio of composite sludge in the demonstration plant was 68.5 (raw sludge) : 18.0 (food waste leachate) : 13.5 (livestock excretions), which was a somewhat different result from that obtained in the BMP test. This difference was attributed to the changes in the composite sludge properties and digester operating conditions, such as the retention time. The amount of biogas produced in the single-phase anaerobic digestion process was $2,514m^3/d$ with a methane content of 62.8%. Considering the value of $2,319m^3/d$ of biogas produced as its design capacity, it was considered that this process demonstrated the maximum capacity. Also, through this study, it was shown that, in the case of the anaerobic digestion process, the two-phase digestion process is better in terms of its stable tank operation and high efficiency, whereas the existing single-phase digestion process allows for the improvement of the digestion efficiency and performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제35권1호
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• pp.57-63
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• 2013

A combined process consisted of a biofilm reactor and a continuously stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was investigated for highly loaded ammonium wastewater treatment via nitrite accumulation. To enhance ammonium oxidizing bacteria over nitrite oxidizing bacteria on the surface of carriers, the biofilm reactor was operated at temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ for more than three months but the influent ammonium (500 mg-N/L) was partially oxidized to nitrite (240 mg-N/L). As pH was increased from 7.5 to 8.0, nitrite accumulation was fully achieved due to the inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria under high free ammonia concentration. The biofilm reactor performance was severely deteriorated at the hydraulic retention time of 12 hr, at which incomplete nitrification of ammonia was observed. Various solubilization methods were applied to sewage sludge for enhancing its biodegradability and the combined method, alkaline followed by ultrasonic, gave the highest solubilization efficiency (58%); the solubilized solution was used as the external carbon source for denitrification reaction in CSTR. FISH analysis showed that the dominant microorganisms on the carriers were ammonium oxidizing bacteria such as Nitrosomonas spp. and Nitrospirar spp. but low amounts of nitrite oxidizing bacteria as Nitrobacter spp. was also detected.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.1-9
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• 1995

This study was carried to investigate the biodegradability of phenol in the wastewater with the two sludge blanket-packed bed reactor in series. Each reactor had a dimension of 0.09 m i.d. and 1.5 m height and consisted of two regions. The lower region was a sludge blanket of 0.5 m height and the upper region was a packed-bed of 1 m height. The packed bed region was charged with ceramic raschig rings of 10 mm i.d., 15 mm o.d. and 20 mm length. The reactors were operated at 35$\circ$C and the hydraulic retention time(HRT) was maintained 24 hours. The synthetic wastewater composed of glucose and phenol as major components was fed into the reactor in a continuous mode with incereasing phenol concentration. In addition, the nutrient trace metals($Na^+, Mg^{2+}, Ca^{2+}, PO_4^{3-}, NH_4^+, Co^{2+}, Fe^{2+}$ etc.) were added for growing anaerobes. The phenol concentration of the effluent, the overall gas production, the composition of product gas, the efficiency of COD reduction and the duration of acclimation period were measured to determine the performance of the anaerobic wastewater treatment system as the phenol concentration of the influent was increased from 600 to 2400 mg//l. Successfully stable biodegradation of phenol could be achieved with the anaerobic treatment system from 600 to 1, 800 mg/l of the influent phenol concentration. The upper level of influent phenol loading was high enough to meet most of the practical requirement. The duration of acclimation increased with the phenol loading. At steady state of the influent phenol concentration of 1800 mg/l, the treatment performance indicated the phenol reduction efficiency of 99%, the COD reduction efficiency of 99% and the gas production rate of 37 l/day. At the influent phenol concentration of 2400 mg/l, however, the operation of the treatment system was noted unstable. While the concentration of methane in biogas decreased with increasing the influent phenol loading, the carbon dioxide was increased. However, the concentration of hydrogen was varied negligibly. The concentration of methane was high enough to be used as a fuel. As a result, it is suggested that anaerobic phenol wastewater treament was economical in the sense of energy recovery and wastewater treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.629-637
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• 2000

A two-phase anaerobic reactor with a submerged microfiltration system was tested for its ability to produce methane energy from organic wastewater. A membrane separation system with periodic backwashing with compressed air was submerged in the acidogenic reactor. The cartridge type of microfiltration (MF) membrane with pore size of $0.5{\mu}m$ (mixed esters of cellulose) was tested. An AUBF (Anaerobic Upflow Sludge Bed Filter: 1/2 packed with plastic media) was used for the methanogenic reactor. Soluble starch was used as a substrate. The COD removal was investigated for various organic loading with synthetic wastewater of 5,000 mg starch/L. When the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the acidogenic reactor was changed from 10 to 4.5 days, the organic loading rate (OLR) varied from 0.5 to $1.0kg\;COD/m^3-day$. When the HRT of the methanogenic reactor was changed from 2.8 to 0.5 days, the OLR varied from 0.8 to $5.8kg\;COD/m^3-day$. The acid conversion rate of the acidogenic reactor was over 80% in the 4~5 days of HRT. The overall COD removal efficiency of the methanogenic reactor showed over 95% (effluent COD was below 300 mg/L) under the highly fluctuating organic loading condition. A two-phase anaerobic reactor showed an excellent acid conversion rate from organic wastewater due to the higher biomass concentration than the conventional system. A methanogenic reactor combined with sludge bed and filter, showed an efficient COD and SS removal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제28권8호
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• pp.866-871
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• 2006

The nutrient recovery in phosphate crystallization process was investigated by using laboratory scale uptlow reactors, adopting sequencing batch type configuration. The industrial waste lime was used as potential cation source with magnesium salt($MgCl_2$) as control. The research was focused on its successful application in a novel integrated sludge treatment process, which is comprised of a high performance fermenter followed by a crystallization reactor. In the struvite precipitation test using synthetic wastewater first, which has the similar characteristics with the real fermentation effluent, the considerable nutrient removal(about 60%) in both ammonia and phosphate was observed within $0.5{\sim}1$ hr of retention time. The results also revealed that a minor amount(<5%) of ammonia stripping naturally occurred due to the alkaline(pH 9) characteristic in feed substrate. Stripping of $CO_2$ by air did not increase the struvite precipitation rate but it led to increased ammonia removal. In the second experiment using the fermentation effluent, the optimal dosage of magnesium salt for struvite precipitation was 0.86 g Mg $g^{-1}$ P, similar to the mass ratio of the struvite. The optimal dosage of waste lime was 0.3 g $L^{-1}$, resulting in 80% of $NH_4-N$ and 41% of $PO_4-P$ removal, at about 3 hrs of retention time. In the microscopic analysis, amorphous crystals were mainly observed in the settled solids with waste lime but prism-like crystals were observed with magnesium salt. Based on mass balance analysis for an integrated sludge treatment process(fermenter followed by crystallization reactor) for full-scale application(treatment capacity Q=158,880 $m^3\;d^{-1}$), nutrient recycle loading from the crystallization reactor effluent to the main liquid stream would be significantly reduced(0.13 g N and 0.19 g P per $m^3$ of wastewater, respectively). The results of the experiment reveal therefore that the reuse of waste lime, already an industrial waste, in a nutrient recovery system has various advantages such as higher economical benefits and sustainable treatment of the industrial waste.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.421-427
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• 2015

In ASM model, organic matters are classified according to their characteristics and general classification into COD and BOD cannot satisfy conditions required by ASM. In this study, it was performed to study classification of organic matters required by ASM on the basis of microorganisms' respiration rate subject to wastewater and sludge treatment. As results of analysis of the organic matter's appearance, it was found that there were some differences in composition of organic matters between wastewaters. It is considered that it is an important characteristic of wastewater that should be understood in treating wastewater in each process. Therefore, it is considered that appearance of organic matters in each wastewater identified by this study will be used as important basic data for operation of municipal wastewater treatment plant. It was identified that SS was an important factor affecting nitrification through organic matter and ammonium nitrogen change analysis according to reaction time in the nitrification. It is considered that the nitrification has close relationship with choice of optimal retention time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제31권2호
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• pp.109-113
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• 2009

This study was performed to investigate the characteristics of nutrient removal of municipal wastewater in membrane bioreactor system. Membrane bioreactor consists of four reactors such as the anaerobic, the stabilization, the anoxic and the submerged membrane aerobic reactor with two internal recycles. The hydraulic retention time (HRT), sludge retention time (SRT) and flux were 6.2 h, 34.1 days and 19.6 L/$m^2$/hr (LMH), respectively. The removal efficiency of $COD_{Cr}$, SS, TN and TP were 94.3%, 99.9%, 69.4%, and 74.6%, respectively. The estimated true biomass yield, specific denitrification rate (SDNR), specific nitrification rate (SNR), specific phosphorus release rate (SPRR) and specific phosphorus uptake rate (SPUR) were 0.653 kgVSS/kgBOD/d, 0.044 $mgNO_3$-N/mgVSS/d, 0.035 $mgNH_4$-N/mgVSS/d, 51.0 mgP/gVSS/d and 5.4 mgP/gVSS/d, respectively. The contents of nitrogen and phosphorus of biomass were 8.86% and 3.5% on an average.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제22권11호
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• pp.2047-2058
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• 2000

The effects of operating parameters on performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket(UASB). anaerobic filter(AF), and two-stage anaerobic sludge bed filter (ASBF) bioreactors in treating swine wastewater were evaluated by operating the lab-scale bioreactors upto hydraulic retention time(HRT) of 1 day and organic loading rate (OLR) of $5.1kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ for 200 days. Swine wastewaters of which characteristics were affected by types of hog raising and seasons contained high concentrations of COD, SS, and ammonia. Inoculation of the bioreactors with waste sludge from anaerobic treatment facility of local municipal wastewater treatment plant was effective in developing biomass in the bioreactors. Acclimation period of the bioreactors with swine wastewaters required approximately 40 days, but that for AF and two-stage ASBF, which were filled with media, was faster than VASB. The bioreactors showed high and stable COD removal efficiency of 77~91% at influent T-N concentrations of 370~800mg/L but low and unstable COD removal efficiency of 24~94% at influent T-N concentrations of 760~1,310mg/L. It is essential to remove ammonia prior to anaerobic treatment since the concentrations of ammonia in swine wastewaters showed toxic effects to methanogenic bacteria. The bioreactors were effective in treating swine wastewaters with COD removal efficiency of 78.9~81.5% and biogas generation rate of $0.39{\sim}0.59m^3/kg-COD_r$ at OLR of $1.1{\sim}2.2kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$: however, an increase of OLR by reducing HRT and increasing influent COD caused decrease of COD removal efficiency. The extent of decrease in COD removal efficiency was higher in UASB than AF and two-stage ASBF. AF and two-stage ASBF anaerobic bioreactors were effective in treating varing characteristics of swine wastewaters since they showed high and stable COD removal efficiency at high OLR due to effective retention of biomass by media and staging.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.981-987
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• 2000

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket(UASB) reactor was operated for treating swine wastewater containing high ammonia nitrogen to assess their performance and toxicity of free ammonia concentration. In the reactor, chemical oxygen demand(COD) removed about 70% at $2.6kgCOD/m^3.day$ of organic loading rate(OLR) and 3 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT), while it was decreased when OLR and HRT was maintained $7kg\;COD/m^3.day$ and 2 days, respectively. Also UASB reactor was evaluated the activity of methane producing bacteria(MPB) according to change of free ammonia concentrations, MPB activity of applied sludge in the 500 and $1000mg-N/{\ell}$ of free ammonia concentration was inhibited by 4% and 40%, respectively. This clearly showed that free ammonia concentration less than $500mg-N/{\ell}$ showed no inhibition to MPB in anaerobic treatment of organics, UASB reactor was stabilized easily less than $1000mgVSS/{\ell}$ due to degradation of organic solids by the high activities of anaerobes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.959-970
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• 2000

A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of soluble microbial products(SMP) on permeate flux in the submerged membrane separation activated sludge process. Continuous and batch filtration test were operated to understand mechanism of relationship between membrane fouling and SMP. Synthetic wastewater(phenol) was used as a carbon source. Hydraulic retention time(HRT) and mixed-liquor volatile suspended solids(MLVSS) of the reactor were kept at 12 hours and 9.000mg VSS/L, respectively. Batch filtration tests ($J_{60}/J_o$) using the mixed liquor from reactor showed that the increase of accumulated SMP concentration in the reactor caused to the decreasing permeate flux and the increasing of the adhesion matters which form cake and gel layer. The resistance value of cake layer was measured $2.9{\times}10^{10}{\sim}4.0{\times}10^{10}(1/m)$, this value showed more significant effect on flux drop than that of among other resistance layers. Batch phenol-degradation experiment was conducted to observe SMP type expected $SMP_{nd}$ and $SMP_{e}$ (SMP resulted from endogenous cell decomposition), these are non-biodegradable high molecular weight organic matter and playa significant role in permeate flux drop. Also, SMP concentration was accumulated as increased of HRT against flux drop.