• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.277-281
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• 2013

A dual-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) inoculated with Desulfovibrio desulfuricans and supplemented with lactate as an organic fuel was employed in this study. Biofilm formed on the anodic electrode was examined by scanning electron microscopy, revealing that the amount of biofilm was increased with repeated cycles of MFC operation. The maximum current production was notably increased from the first cycle ($1,310.0{\pm}22.3mA/m^2$) to the final cycle ($1,539.4{\pm}25.8mA/m^2$) of MFC run. Coulombic efficiency was also increased from $89.4%{\pm}0.2%$ to $98.9%{\pm}0.5%$. We suggest that the current production efficiency was related to the biomass of biofilm formed on the electrode, which was also increased as the MFC run was repeated. It was also found that D. desulfuricans, which colonized on the electrode, produced filaments or nano-pili. Nano-pili were effective for the attachment of cells on the electrode. In addition, the nano-pili provided a cell-to-cell link and stimulated the development of thicker electroactive biofilm, and therefore, they facilitated electron transfer to the anode. Conclusively, the biofilm of D. desulfuricans enhanced the current production in the MFC as a result of effective attachment of cells and electron transfer from the cell network to the electrode.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.82-90
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• 1996

The objectives of this study were to examine the start-up method and characteristics of biomass attachment on the media in an anaerobic fluidized bed reactor(AFBR). The media adopted was the granular activated carbon which was successfully capable of adsorbing organics and biomass. The reactor was operated at 5 kg $COD/m^3\cdot day$ and 24hr of HRT. There were important problems in the AFBR's start-up, which has been reported very long and unstable. Therefore, this research was to solve the problem of the start-up and it was performed, comparing two start-up ways that were initial fluidized system and initial static-fluidized system. The results were summarized as follows: (1) On the whole initial static-fluidized system was superior to initial fluidized system in the aspects of biogas production rate, methane content and COD removal efficiency etc. (2) At the steady state methane production rate and recoverable bioenergy of initial static-fluidized system were $2.074 m^3CH_4/m^3\cdot day$, $0.488 m^3CH_4/kgCOD_{removed}\cdot day$, and 81.3kcal/day, respectively. (3) Thickness of biofilm was about $5.11 \mu m$, $\rho_{bw}$ and $\rho_{bd}$ were $1.022 g/cm^3, 0.0953g/cm^3$ respectively. (4) Biomass concentration of fluidized state was about 35 mg/g GAC. In conclusion the efficient method on the start-up of the AFBR using GAC as media was initial static-fluidized system and the period of static state needed to reach steady state was considered about twenty days.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 1991

A number of experiments were conducted in order to investigate the COD removal rate according to the biofilm thickness in a Fluidized-Bed Biofilm Reactor(FBBR). The following conditions were fixed during the experiments: superficial upflow velocity was 0.47cm/sec, operating temperature was $22{\pm}1{\circ}C$ and pH was about $7{\pm}0.1$. The synthetic wastewater based on glucose was used as a substrate. The COD removal efficiencies were shown as 73% and 95%, respectively, when organic loading rate was increased from $10kgCOD\;/\;{\textrm{m}^3}$.day to $80kgCOD\;/\;{\textrm{m}^3}$.day. Andrew's model of substrate removal rate which was commonly used in fixed-biofilm reactor was transformed and applied in this FBBR experiment to predict substrate removal rate and gave 85% agreement with the experimental values.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.308-323
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• 2009

This review paper serves to describe the composition and activity of biological activated carbon (BAC) biofilm which is considered as a progressive process for water treatment. As well as several physical-chemical, biochemical and microbiological analysis methods for characterizing the composition and activity of BAC biofilm, the ability of the biofilm to remove and biodegrade organic matters and pollutants related to other water treatment processes such as pre-ozonation will be reviewed. In this paper, conversion of GAC into BAC, removal mechanism of pollutants, characteristics and affecting factors of BAC biofilm, and modeling of BAC are described in detail. In addition, strategies to control the growth of the BAC biofilm, such as varying the nutrient loading rate, altering the frequency of BAC filter backwashing and applying oxidative disinfection, will be dwelled on related to their respective process control challenges.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.171-176
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• 2022

Recently, an autotrophic single-stage nitrogen removal (ASSNR) process based on the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) reaction has been proven as an economical ammonia treatment. It is highly evident that double-layered gel beads are a promising alternative to the natural biofilm for ASSNR because of the high mechanical strength of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/alginate structure and efficient protection of ANAMMOX bacteria from dissolved oxygen (DO) due to the thick outer layer. However, the thick outer layer results in severe mass transport limitation and consequent lowered bacterial activity. Therefore, the effects of the thickness of the outer layer on the overall reaction rate were tested in the biofilm model using AQUASIM for ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and ANAMMOX bacteria. A thickness of 0.5~1.0 mm is preferred for the maximum total nitrogen (TN) removal. In addition, a DO of 0.5 mg/L resulted in the best total nitrogen removal. A higher DO induces NOB activity and consequent lower TN removal efficiency. The optimal density of AO B and NO B density was 1~10% for a 10% ANAMMOX bacterial in the double-layered PVA/alginate gel beads. The real effects of operating parameters of the thickness of the outer layer, DO and concentrations of biomass balance should be intensively investigated in the controlled experiments in batch and continuous modes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.1547-1554
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• 2015

The potential of microalgae biofuel has not been realized because of the low productivity and high costs associated with the current cultivation systems. In this study, a new low-cost and transparent attachment material was tested for cultivation of a filamentous algal strain, Stigeoclonium sp., isolated from wastewater. Initially, the different materials tested for Stigeoclonium cultivation in untreated wastewater were nylon mesh, polyethylene mesh, polypropylene bundle (PB), polycarbonate plate, and viscose rayon. Among the materials tested, PB led to a firm attachment, high biomass (53.22 g/m², dry cell weight), and total lipid yield (5.8 g/m²) with no perceivable change in FAME profile. The Stigeoclonium-dominated biofilm consisted of bacteria and extracellular polysaccharide, which helped in biofilm formation and for effective wastewater treatment (viz., removal efficiency of total nitrogen and total phosphorus corresponded to ~38% and ~90%, respectively). PB also demonstrated high yields under multilayered cultivation in a single reactor treating wastewater. Hence, this system has several advantages over traditional suspended and attached systems, with possibility of increasing areal productivity three times using Stigeoclonium sp. Therefore, multilayered attached growth algal cultivation systems seem to be the future cultivation model for large-scale biodiesel production and wastewater treatment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.20-26
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• 1995

The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of the bed expansion and the characteristics of attached biomass in the start-up in the anaerobic fluidized bed reactor(AFBR). The fluidized bed reactor was operated with bacteria supported on the bed of granular activated carbon(GAC). The reactor was operated at 35$\circ$C, 5 kg $COD/m^3\cdot day$ at bed expansion varying from 0 to 100% with soluble glucose wastewater(5,000 mg/l). When the effluent reached a steady state at 100% of bed expansion, maximum COD removal efficiency of 87.3% and 0.031 $m^3CH_4/kg COD_{removed}$ were obtained. At higher bed expansion, COD removal efficiency, methane production rate and biogas production rate increased. Especially, at 50% of bed expansion, the efficiency of the treatment increasedg rapidly in the AFBR. The biomass colonized in the pits and crevices of the GAC particle and no complete biofilm was established in the bioreactor during the experiment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.112-120
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• 1996

In this study, the porous glass media was utilized as biomass carrier, and the optimum characteristics of this new media in fixed bed biofilm process were investigated. The characteristics of media considered here are a void volume fraction, a specific surface area, and surface characteristics of media. The effect of surface roughness and material could be clearly demonstrated by the fact that the porous glass media showed a good potential for biofilm development. This might results from the fact that biofilm is initially formed in the surface cavities of the media is protect from the shear effect. Therefore, the microcolonies are not readily detached by the fluid shear. In the steady state, biofilm formation along the packing bed depth was different from media to media. The specific area was also an important factor for the attachment of microorganism on the media surface. The specific area was also an important factor for the attachment of microorganism on the media surface. In the case of porous glass media, about $100m^2/m^3$ was enough to obtain a good organic removal efficiency The organic removal efficiency could be improved by increasing the void volume fraction in the reactor, at least 80% was required to obtain a high removal efficiency and prevent clogging. From the analysis of kinetics study, the yield coefficient, Y, was 0.42 mgMLSS/mgSBOD, endogenous respiration coefficient, ke, was $0.12day^{-1}$ and substrate removel coefficient of Mckinney. km, was $16.8hr^{-1}$ for the porous glass media G-2

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.351-367
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• 2000

Air-lift biofilm reactor should be an admirable process substituting conventional activated sludge process, because of its small area requirement as well as high volumetric loading capacity and stability against loading and chemical shocks. However most of the past research on the performance of ABR was focused on the sewage treatment. This research studied the applicability of ABR to treat high strength wastewater. A bench-scale ABR was operated to treat high strength synthetic wastewater, tannery wastewater and petrochemical wastewater, and its applicability was conclusive In case of synthetic wastewater, ABR showed good performance in which the substarate removal efficiency was higher that 80% even under short HRT(1.4 hr) and high volumetric loading rate(9.3 kgCODcr/$m^3$.day). When ABR was applied to treat tannery wastewater, it was suggested that the maximum volumetric loading rate and F/M ratio should be 7.7kgCODcr/$m^3$.day, 0.76 $day^{-1}$, respectively. And high substrate removal efficiency over than 90 % was observed with 4,000 mgCODcr/L of petrochemical wastewater. Even though effluent concentration was quite high, ABR should be applicable to treat the high strength wastewater, because of its high loading capacity.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.457-460
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• 2000

A biofilm airlift reactor filled with biomass-covered carriers (sand) were used to remove ammonium by selective nitrification (ammonium to nitrite). The effects of experimental conditions (ammonium load, pH, dissolved oxygen) on nitrification and nitrite accumulation were investigated. The reactor showed more than 90% nitrification efficiencies at 2.5 kg $NH_4\;^+-N/m^3/d$ and $NO_2\;^--N$ could be accumulated between 75% and 90% in the effluent. It is likely that nitratation (nitrite oxidizer) was inhibited by low dissolved oxygen concentration while nitritation (ammonium oxidizer) was kept stable.