• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.543-558
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• 2019

In comparison to alternative advanced wastewater treatment technologies, the main problem associated with membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, which has become prominent in recent years, is biofouling. Within these systems, biofouling is typically the result of a biofilm layer resulting from bacterial gathering. One biological system that can be employed to interrupt the process of bacterial gathering is called 'Quorum Quenching (QQ)'. Existing QQ applications can be classified using three main types: 1) bacterial/whole-cell applications, 2) direct enzyme applications, and 3) natural sourced compounds. The most common and widely recognized applications for membrane fouling control during MBR operation are bacterial and direct enzyme applications. The purpose of this review was to identify and assess biofilm formation mechanism and results, the suggestion of the QQ concept and its potential to control biofilm formation, and the means by which these QQ applications can be applied within the MBR and present QQ MBR studies.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.59-66
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• 2024

This study evaluated the performance of a membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) for nitrogen removal from a high-strength ammonia nitrogen-containing wastewater. The experimental setup consisted of four compartments that are sequentially anaerobic and aerobic to achieve complete nitrogen removal. The last compartment of the reactor setup contained a membrane bioreactor (MBR) to reduce sludge production in the system and to obtain a better-quality effluent. Continuous experiment over a period of 47 days showed that MABR exhibited excellent NH₄⁺-N removal efficiency (99.5%) compared to the control setup without MABR (56.5%). The final effluent NH₄⁺-N concentration obtained in the MABR was 2.99±1.56 mg/L. In contrast to NH₄⁺-N removal, comparable TOC removal values in the MABR and the control reactor (99.2% and 99.3%, respectively) showed that air supply through MABR is much more critical for denitrification than for organic removal. Further study to understand the effect of air supply rate and holding pressure on NH₄⁺-N removal in MABR revealed that an increase in both these parameters positively impacted reactor performance. These parameters are related to oxygen supply to the biofilm formed over the membrane surface, which in turn influenced NH₄⁺-N removal in MABR. Among the two different strategies to control biofilm over the membrane surface, results showed that scouring for a duration of 10 min on a weekly basis, along with mixing air supply, could be an effective method.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.543-551
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• 2017

Membrane fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR) remains a primary challenge for its wider application. The focus of this study to investigate the influence of iron distribution in activated sludge on gel layer fouling in MBR. Significant reduction in the transmembrane pressure (TMP) rise rates was observed in the presence of iron as result of retarding the gel layer formation time. The spatial distribution of iron had a significant impact on the stratification structure of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) fractions, such as proteins (PN) and polysaccharides (PS). A mitigation of PN or PS from the supernatant to the EPS inner layers was observed in the presence of iron. Compared with the control reactor, the reduction in PN and PS of the supernatant and lower PN/PS rates of the LB-EPS were beneficial to decrease the membrane fouling potential during the gel layer formation. Consequently, the iron addition managed to control gel layer fouling could be a useful strategy in MBR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.325-334
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• 2023

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) provides the benefits on high effluent quality and construction cost without the secondary clarification. Despite of these advantages, fouling, which clogs the pore in membrane modules, affects the membrane life span and effluent quality. Studies on the laboratory scale MBR were focused on the control of particulate fouling, organic fouling and inorganic fouling. However, less studies were focused on the control of biofouling and microbial aspect of membrane. In the full scale operation, most MBR produces high effluent quality to meet the national permit of discharge regulation. In this study, the performance and microbial community analysis were investigated in two MBRs. As the results, the performance of organic removal, nitrogen removal, and phosphorus removal was similar both MBRs. Microbial community analysis, however, showed that Azonexus sp. and Propionivibrio sp. contributed to indirect fouling to cause the chemical cleaning in the DX MBR.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.675-681
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• 2010

It is well known that mesenchymal stem cell(MSCs) can be differentiated into fibroblasts, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts and that they develop into fibrous tissue, cartilage, or bone, as a result of mechanical stimulation. In this study, we developed a bioreactor system, which is composed of a reactor vessel that provides the required cell culture environment, an environment controlling chamber to control the media, a gas mixer, and a reactor motion control subsystem to apply mechanical stimuli to the cells. For the MSC culture, We used a poly-urethane (PU) scaffold, with a collagen coating to ensure improved cohesion ratio. Then, we transferred the cultivated MSCs in the PU scaffold, cultured the cells in the bioreactor system, and confirmed the proliferation, differentiation, and ossification processes, resulting from mechanical stimuli.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

Biofilms significantly affect the performance of wastewater treatment processes in which biodegradability of numerous microorganisms are actively involved, and various technologies have been applied to secure microbial biofilms. Understanding changes in biofilm characteristics by regulating expression of signaling molecules is important to control and regulate biofilms in membrane bioreactor, i.e., biofouling. This study investigated effects of addition of acyl-homoserine lactones (AHL) as a controllable factor for the microbial signaling system on biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 and multiple strains in membrane bioreactor. The addition of three AHL, i.e., C4-, C6-, and C8-HSL, at a concentration of 200 ㎍/L, enhanced the formation of the PAO1 biofilm and the degree of increases in the biofilm formation of PAO1 were 70.2%, 76.6%, and 72.9%, respectively. The improvement of biofilm formation of individual strains by C4-HSL was an average of 68%, and the microbial consortia increased by approximately 52.1% in the presence of 200 ㎍/L C4-HSL. CLSM images showed that more bacterial cells were present on the membrane surface after the AHL application. In the COMSTAT results, biomass and thickness were increased up to 2.2 times (PAO1) and 1.6 times (multi-strains) by C4-HSL. This study clearly showed that biofilm formation was increased by the application of AHL to individual strain groups, including PAO1 and microbial consortia, and significant increases were observed when 50 or 100 ㎍/L AHL was administered. This suggests that AHL application can improve the biofilm formation of microorganisms, which could yield an enhancement in efficiency of biofilm control, such as in various biofilm reactors including membrane bioreactor and bioflocculent systems in water/wastewater treatment processes.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.183-188
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• 2021

In the case of small-scale sewage treatment plants, it is reported that the amount of inflow fluctuates and it is difficult to operate the sewage treatment due to the inflow of unknown water due to the aging of sewage pipes. In particular, there are many overall operational problems due to the decrease in water temperature in winter. In this study, the operation status of small-scale sewage treatment facilities located in mountainous areas and water quality changes according to temperature were analyzed. It was found that the concentration of BOD, COD, and SS in effluent water was greatly changed depending on the temperature, and it was found that COD was particularly affected. Accordingly, the water level of the bioreactor was raised by 0.4m in order to temporarily apply measures to lower the water temperature in winter. As a result of comparing and analyzing the results when the bioreactor was covered and operated, a significant improvement effect occurred. In addition, a plan to improve the treatment efficiency of the bioreactor in winter is to extend the residence time of the bioreactor, a plan to expand the bioreactor specification, a new flow control tank and transport it to the outside, and an oxygen-free air diffuser to be used as an aerobic tank in case of an emergency in winter. The improvement plan was suggested. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for the operation plan of small-scale sewage treatment facilities in winter.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.988-998
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• 2015

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae is a well-known expression host used to express homologous and heterologous proteins in a number of industrial applications. To facilitate higher yields of proteins of interest, we constructed the pAsOP vector to express heterologous proteins in A. oryzae. pAsOP carries a selectable marker, pyrG, derived from Aspergillus nidulans, and a strong promoter and a terminator of the amyB gene derived from A. oryzae. pAsOP transformed A. oryzae efficiently via the PEG-CaCl₂-mediated transformation method. As proof of concept, green fluorescent protein (GFP) was successfully expressed in A. oryzae transformed by pAsOP-GFP. Additionally, we identified a novel fungal α-amylase (PcAmy) gene from Penicillium sp. and cloned the gene into the vector. After transformation by pAsOPPcAmy, the α-amylase PcAmy from Penicillium sp. was successfully expressed in a heterologous host system for the first time. The α-amylase activity in the A. oryzae transformant was increased by 62.3% compared with the untransformed A. oryzae control. The PcAmy protein produced in the system had an optimum pH of 5.0 and optimum temperature of 30^oC. As a cold-adapted enzyme, PcAmy shows potential value in industrial applications because of its high catalytic activity at low temperature. Furthermore, the expression vector reported in this study provides promising utility for further scientific research and biotechnological applications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.565-572
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• 2011

The effects of chemical pretreatments on the excess sludge production in the membrane-coupled bioreactor were investigated. In addition, their effects on membrane fouling were also evaluated. Two membrane bioreactors were operated. In one reactor, a part of the mixed liquor was t reated with NaOH and ozone gas consecutively and was returned to the reactor. T he f lowrate of the chemical pretreatment stream was 1.5% of the influent flowrate. During the 200days of operation, the MLSS level in the bioreactor with mixed liquor pretreatment was maintained relatively constant at the range of 8,000 ~ 10,000$mg/{\ell}$ while it increased steadily up to 26,000 $mg/{\ell}$ in the absence of the pretreatment. Each reactor was equipped with two laboratory membrane modules where the flux for each module was 20, and 30 ${\ell}/m^2{\cdot}h$, respectively. With pretreatment, almost constant transmembrane pressure(TMP) was observed throughout the operation at the flux of 20 ${\ell}/m^2{\cdot}h$. Without pretreatment the membrane module at the same flux could also be operated at relatively stable condition. However, as the MLSS increases up to 25,000 $mg/{\ell}$, a fast TMP increase was observed. In conclusion, a complete control of excess sludge production in the membrane-coupled bioreactor was possible without significant deterioration of the treated water quality. In addition, it was shown that stable operation in terms of TMP is possible with sludge pretreatment and recirculation.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.04a
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• pp.94-96
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• 1999