• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.60-70
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• 2022

We evaluated the performance of in-situ capping to prevent the release of phenol, one of hazardous chemicals of concern for their impact on sediment. Sediment near the estuary of Hyeongsan River, Korea, and commercially-available sand were collected to evaluate their physical properties and phenol sorption characteristics. Biodegradation kinetics of phenol spiked into the sediment was evaluated under freshwater and estuarine salinity conditions. These experimental measurements were parameterized and used as input parameters for executing CapSim, a software predicting the performance of in-situ capping. The CapSim simulation demonstrated that capping with 50-cm sand reduced the phenol release by several orders of magnitude over 0.25- and 1-year duration for almost all simulation scenarios. The variables tested, i.e., cap thickness, pore-water movement, and biodegradation rate, showed high correlation to each other to influence the extent of phenol release from sediment to the water column. The findings and the framework employed to evaluate the performance of in-situ capping in this study can be adopted to determine whether in-situ capping is appropriate remedial approach at sediment sites impacted by hazardous chemicals due to accidental spills.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.32-37
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• 2022

Food waste is produced from food factories, food services, and home kitchens. The generated mass reached 5.4 million tons/year in 2020. The basic management technology for such waste has been biological degradation under an anaerobic environment. However, the whole process is intrinsically slow and considerably affected by the inner physicochemical properties of the waste and other surrounding conditions, which makes optimization of the process difficult. The most promising options to counter this massive generation of waste are eco-friendly treatments or recycling. As a preliminary step for these options, attempts were made to evaluate the feasibility and usability of three simulative models based on reaction kinetics. Model (A) predicted relative changes over reaction time for reactant, intermediate, and product. Overall, an increased reaction rate produced less intermediate and more product, thereby leading to a shorter total reaction time. Particle diminishing model (B) predicted reduction of the total waste mass. The smaller particles diminished faster along with the dominant effect of microbial reaction. In Model (C), long-chain cellulose was predicted to transform into reducing sugar. At a standard condition, 48% of cellulose molecules having 10⁵ repeating units turned into reducing sugar after 100 h. Also it was found that the optimal enzyme concentration where the highest amount of remnant sugar was harvested was 1 mg L^-1.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.12-20
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• 2003

This study presents a mathematical model for simulating the fate and transport of a reactive organic contaminant, TCE, degraded by cometabolism in dual-porosity soils during the installation of in situ biobarrier. To investigate the effect of dual-porosity on transport and biodegradation of organic hydrocarbons, a bimodal approach was incorporated into the model. Modified Monod kinetics and a microcolony concept were employed to represent the effects of biodegrading microbes on the transport and biodegradation of an organic contaminant. The effect of permeability reduction in biobarrier due to biomass accumulation on the flow field were examined in the simulation of a hypothetical field-scale in situ bioaugmentation. Simulation results indicate that the presence of the immobile region can decrease the bioavailability of biodegradable contaminants and that the placement of microbes and nutrients injection wells should be considered for an effective installation of biobarrier during in situ bioaugmentation scheme.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.131-137
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• 2007

In this study, the biodegradation test on lignocellulose under sulfate reducing conditions was carried out. In particular, the interaction between cellulose and lignin was investigated with various g-cellulose/g-lignin (C/L) ratios: 42.15, 4.59, 2.51, 1.14 and 0.7. It was shown that the rate of cellulose degradation decreased in proportion to the lignin content. Assuming first order degradation kinetics, the consequences of competitive inhibition were graphically shown for different C/L ratios. The relation between cellulose reduction rate and C/L ratio was expressed by logarithm function with a determination coefficient of 0.97. Lignocellulose reduction rate was also described as a logarithm function of C/L ratio showing a inhibition effect by lignin. In the mean time, the rate of lignin decomposition was higher at C/L ratio of 2.51 and 1.14 compared with C/L ratios of 4.59 and 0.7, indicating that excessive extra carbon source is not appropriate for lignin biodegradation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.927-932
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• 2009

Toxic and recalcitrant organic pollutants in wastewaters can be effectively treated when advanced oxidation and biodegradation are combined, ideally with intimate coupling, in which both processes occur simultaneously in the same system. One means to achieve intimate coupling is to coat nanoscale $TiO_2$ on the outside of macroporous biofilm carriers. This study investigated the kinetics of photocatalysis with $TiO_2$-coated porous carriers. The carriers were made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and coated with $TiO_2$ using a low-temperature sol-gel process. The $TiO_2$-coated carriers catalyzed the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) effectively under irradiation of UV light. The overall reaction rate with adsorption and photolysis saturated at high MB concentration, and approached the adsorption rate, which was first order for all MB concent rations. This result indicates that adsorbed MB may have slowed photocatalysis by blocking active sites for photocatalysis. The overall kinetics could be described by a quasi-Langmuir model. The estimated maximum specific (per unit mass of $TiO_2$) transformation rate of MB by the $TiO_2$-coated carriers was four times larger than that obtained from slurry-$TiO_2$ reactors. This observation demonstrated that the $TiO_2$ present as a coating on the carriers maintained high efficiency for transforming recalcitrant organic matter via photocatalysis. These findings serve as a foundation for advancement of an intimate coupling of photocatalysis to biodegradation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.92-95
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• 2000

A mixed bacterial culture capable of mineralizing methyl tort-butyl ether (MTBE), other fuel oxygenates ethers, tertiary carbon alcohols, benzene and toluene was used to inoculate batch reactor and sequence batch reactor (SBR) to treat gasoline contaminated ground water containing about 60 mg/L MTBE, 5 mg/L benzene, 5 mg/L toluene, and low concentrations of several other aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Respirometery studies showed that MTBE degrading mixed culture could treat MTBE contaminated ground water with addition of nitrogen and phosphate. SBR was operated to demonstrate the feasibility of using suspended growth activated system for the treatment of ground water and to confirm that the respirometry derived kinetics and stoichiometric coefficients were useful for predicting reactor performance. Theoretical performance of the reactor was predicted using mathematical models calibrated with biokinetic parameters derived from respirometry studies.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.193-199
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• 1997

From several industrial wastewaters, 14 bacterial strains which degrade benzene, toluene, o-xylene, m-xylene, or p-xylene (BTX) were obtained. These strains were characterized as to their species composition and the substrate range, kinetic parameters and the substrate interactions were investigated. Although BTX components have a similar chemical structure, isolated strains showed different substrate ranges and kinetic parameters. None of the strains could degrade all of BTX components and most of them showed an inhibition (Haldane) kinetics on BTX, BTX mixtures were removed under inhibitory substrate interactions with variation in the intensity of inhibition. For a complete degradation of BTX, a defined mixed culture containing three different types of patyways was constructed and all of the BTX components were simultaneously degraded with the totla removal rate of 225.69 mg/g biomass/h Judging from the results, the obtained mixed culture seems to be useful for the treatment of BTX-contaminated wastewater or groundwater as well as for the removal of BTX from the contaminated air stream.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.229-243
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• 2013

Coagulation-flocculation (CF) was tested coupled with an aerobic biofilter to reduce total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPHs) concentration and toxicity from petrochemical wastewater. The efficiency of the process was followed using turbidity and chemical oxygen demand (COD). The biofilter was packed with a basaltic waste (tezontle) and inoculated with a bacterial consortium. Toxicity test were carried out using Lactuca sativa var. capitata seeds. Best results for turbidity removal were obtained using alum. Considerable turbidity removal was obtained when using Opuntia spp. COD removal with alum was 25%, for Opuntia powder it was 36%. The application of the biofilter allowed the removal of 70% of the remaining TPHs after 30 days with a biodegradation rate (BDR) value 47 $mgL^{-1}d^{-1}$. COD removal was slightly higher with BDR value 63 $mgL^{-1}d^{-1}$. TPH kinetics allowed a degradation rate constant equal to $4.05{\times}10^{-2}d^{-1}$. COD removal showed similar trend with $k=4.23{\times}10^{-2}d^{-1}$. Toxicity reduction was also successfully achieved by the combined treatment process.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.513-525
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• 2006

In recent decades, biofiltration has been widely accepted for the treatment of contaminated air stream containing low concentration of odorous compounds or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this study, conventional biofilters packed with flexible synthetic polyurethane (PU) foam carriers were operated to remove toluene from a contaminated air stream. PU foams containing various amounts of pulverized activated carbon (PAC) were synthesized for the biofilter media and tested for toluene removal. Four biofilter columns were operated for 60 days to remove gaseous toluene from a contaminated air stream. During the biofiltration experiment, inlet toluene concentration was in the range of 0-150 ppm and EBRT (i.e., empty bed residence time) was kept at 26-42 seconds. Pressure drop of the biofilter bed was less than 3 mm $H_2O/m$ filter bed. The maximum removal capacity of toluene in the biofilters packed with PU-PAC foam was in the order of column II (PAC=7.08%) > column III (PAC=8.97%) > column I (PAC=4.95%) > column IV (PAC=13.52%), while the complete removal capacity was in the order of column II > column I > column III > column IV. The better biofiltration performance in column II was attributed to higher porosity providing favorable conditions for microbial growth. The results of biodegradation kinetic analysis showed that PU-PAC foam with 7.08% of PAC content had higher maximum removal rate ($V_m$=14.99 g toluene/kg dry material/day) than the other PU-PAC foams. In overall, the performance of biofiltration might be affected by the structure and physicochemical properties of PU foam induced by PAC content.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2006

In this study, conventional biofilters packed with flexible synthetic polyurethane (PU) foam carriers were operated to remove toluene from a contaminated air stream. PU foams containing various adsorbents (e.g., zeolite, sepiolite, dolomite and barite) were synthesized for the biofilter media and their adsorption characteristics of toluene were determined. Adsorption capacity of PU-adsorbent foam was in the order of PU-dolomite ${\approx}$ PU-zeolite > PU-sepiolite > PU-barite. During the biofiltration experiment, influent toluene concentration was in the range of 0-160 ppm and EBRT (i.e., empty bed residence time) was 45 seconds. Pressure drop of the biofilter bed was 4-5 mm $H_2O/m$ column height. The maximum removal capacity was in the order of PU-dolomite > PU-zeolite > PU-sepiolite > PU-barite, while the complete removal capacity was in the order of PU-dolomite > PU-sepiolite > PU-zeolite > PU-barite. The better biofiltration performance in PU-dolomite foam was because PU-dolomite foam had lower density and higher porosity than the others providing favorable conditions for microbial growth. The results of biodegradation kinetic analysis showed that PU-dolomite foam had higher maximum removal rate ($V_m\;=\;11.04\;g$ toluene/kg dry material/day) and saturation constant ($K_s\;=\;26.57\;ppm$) than the other PU foams. This supports that PU-dolomite foam was better than the others for biofilteration of toluene.