• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.141-146
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• 2023

Algal organic matters (AOMs) are challenging to remove using traditional water treatment methods. Additionally, they are recognized as disinfection by product (DBP) precursors during the chlorination process. These compounds have the potential to seriously harm aquatic creatures. Despite the fact that AOMs and DBPs formed from algae can harm aquatic species by impairing their cognitive function and causing behavioral problems, only a few studies on the effects of AOMs and associated DBPs have been conducted. To assess the impact of extracellular organic materials (EOMs) produced by three different hazardous algal species and the chlorinated EOMs on zebrafish, this study used fish acute embryo toxicity (FET) and cognitive function tests. With rising EOM concentrations, the embryo's survival rate and mental capacity both declined. Of the three algal species, the embryo exposed to Microcystis aeruginosa EOM exhibited the lowest survival rate. On the other hand, the embryo exposed to EOMs following chlorination demonstrated a drop in CT values in both the survival rate and cognitive ability. These findings imply that EOMs and EOMs treated with chlorine may have detrimental effects on aquatic life. Therefore, an effective EOM management is needed in aquatic environment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.453-458
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• 2008

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate disinfection as well as removal of color and residual organics from reclaimed municipal wastewater by electrochemical processes with Nb/Pt anode installed. RNO was rapidly bleached by OH$\cdot$ and the second order rate constants of RNO removal were $\frac{0.223l}{mg{\cdot}min}$, $\frac{1.679l}{mg{\cdot}min}$ and $\frac{2.322l}{mg{\cdot}min}$ with for 5 A, 10 A, and 15 A, respectively, with r$^2$ of > 96%. In batch electrochemical processes, after 15 min at currency of 15 A and initial pH of 5, 7,5 and 9, COD$_{Mn}$ was below 4 mg/L, color unit below 5 degree and general bacteria was not detected, the concentration of which are suitable for drinking water regulation. In the continuous electrochemical process, with HRT of 3.7$\sim$49.2 min, free chlorine were 0.2$\sim$0.7 mg/L, general bacteria was not detected, color unit below 5 degree and THMs was 0.017 mg/L. Therefore, electrochemical process with Nb/Pt anode was employed satisfactory to meet for reusing biologically treated water as well as disinfection.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2004

This study was carried out to investigate the formation of DBPs(Disinfection By-products) such as trihalomethane(THMs) and haloacetic acid(HAAs) by chlorination in raw water and finished water of Water Treatment Plant(WTP). The formation of THMs was increased with the increase of pH and reaction time. HAAs was found as a high formation at a pH 7 and low formation at pH 9. THMFP(Trihalomethane Formation Potential) was the highest formation potential in raw water of Pu-1 and the lowest in raw water of Pa-1. In case of HAAFP(Haloacetic acid formation potential), So-1 showed the highest value, while Pa-1 showed the lowest value. It was investigated the relationship between HAAs and organic matters which were described as DOC(dissolved organic carbon) and $UV_{254}$. In both DOC and $UV_{254}$ versus HAAFP, Pu-1 showed the good correlation coefficients($r^2$) with 0.95 and 0.84, respectively. For three WTP investigated, DBPs(THMs + HAAs) was shown over the range of $42.00{\sim}49.36{\mu}g/L$. This result might be due to the different characteristic of organic matters in raw water and the difference of chlorine dosage for a water treatment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.32-42
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• 2013

Objectives: Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite, has been recognized as a frequent cause of waterborne disease due to its extremely strong resistance against chlorine disinfection. Although there has as yet been no report of a Cryptosporidium outbreak through drinking water in Korea, it is important to estimate the health risk of Cryptosporidium in water supply systems because of the various infection cases in human and domestic animals and frequent detection reports on their oocysts in water environments. Methods: This study evaluated the annual infection risk of Cryptosporidium in tap water using the quantitative microbial risk assessment technique. Exposure assessment was performed upon the results of a national survey on Cryptosporidium on the water sources of 97 large-scale water purification plants in Korea, water treatment efficacy, and daily unboiled tap water consumption. The estimates of the US Environmental Protection Agency on the mean likelihood of infection from ingesting one oocyst were applied for effect assessment. Results: Using probabilistic methods, mean annual infection risk of Cryptosporidiosis by the intake of tap water was estimated to fall within the range of $2.3{\times}10^{-4}$ to $1.0{\times}10^{-3}$ (median $5.7{\times}10^{-4}$). The risk in using river sources was predicted to be four times higher than with lake sources. With 0.5-log higher removal efficacy, the risk was estimated to be $1.8{\times}10^{-4}$, and could then be lowered by one-third. Conclusions: These estimations can be compared with acceptable risk and then used to determine the adequacy and priority of various drinking water quality strategies such as the establishment of new treatment technology.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.127-137
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• 2007

To confirm whether or not the Electrochemical Disinfection System (EDS) meet with the D-2 regulation established by IMO (International Maritime Organization), the biological treatment efficacy of the EDS was assessed using three groups of natural marine plankton (bacteria, $10-50\;{\mu}m$ and $>50\;{\mu}m$ sized organisms). Influent water was passed through the EDS under the flow velocity ($23.8\;m^3/hr$) and test design was consisted of control (no treatment) and experimental (10 ppm and 30 ppm) condition for total residual chlorine (TRC). And the biological condition of the influent water followed the standards established by the guidelines for the approval of ballast water management systems. The disinfection efficacy of the $10-50\;{\mu}m$ sized organisms (phytoplankton) was assessed by three kinds of measurements using photomicroscope, epifluorescence microscope and fluorometer (fumer Designs 10-AU). After being passed through the EDS, all motile phytoplankton lost their motility under photomicroscope, the colour of chlorophyll fluorescence fumed from red into green under epifluorescence, and the high chlorophyll fluorescence (Expt. 1: 6.95, Expt. 2: 7.11) detected by fluorometer decreased into value not detected. These results indicated phytoplankton community was totally killed after electrochemical disinfection treatment. Survivorship of the larger organisms than $50\;{\mu}m$ was determined based on the appendage's movement under a stereomicroscope. Natural assemblage collected from ambient seawater was killed shortly after being passed through the EDS, whereas some Artemia remained alive. However, no live Artemia was found after 24 hour further exposure to each TRC concentration (10 and 30 ppm) under darkness. After electrochemical treatment, the target bacteria such as aerobes, coliform and Escherichia coli were completely killed on the basis of CFU (colony forming unit) on Petrifilm plate ($3\;M^{TM}$) after 48 hr incubation. Moreover, no regrowth was found in the three groups of plankton during five days under additional exposure to the treated water. These results indicated that the disinfection efficiency of the EDS on the three groups of plankton satisfy D-2 regulation.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.391-407
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• 2013

Micropollutants emerge in surface water through untreated discharge from sewage and wastewater treatment plants (STPs and WWTPs). Most micropollutants resist the conventional systems in place at water treatment plants (WTPs) and survive the production of tap water. In particular, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors (ECDs) are micropollutants frequently detected in drinking water. In this review, we summarized the distribution of micropollutants at WTPs and also scrutinized the effectiveness and mechanisms for their removal at each stage of drinking water production. Micropollutants demonstrated clear concentrations in the final effluents of WTPs. Although chronic exposure to micropollutants in drinking water has unclear adverse effects on humans, peer reviews have argued that continuous accumulation in water environments and inappropriate removal at WTPs has the potential to eventually affect human health. Among the available removal mechanisms for micropollutants at WTPs, coagulation alone is unlikely to eliminate the pollutants, but ionized compounds can be adsorbed to natural particles (e.g. clay and colloidal particles) and metal salts in coagulants. Hydrophobicities of micropollutants are a critical factor in adsorption removal using activated carbon. Disinfection can reduce contaminants through oxidation by disinfectants (e.g. ozone, chlorine and ultraviolet light), but unidentified toxic byproducts may result from such treatments. Overall, the persistence of micropollutants in a treatment system is based on the physico-chemical properties of chemicals and the operating conditions of the processes involved. Therefore, monitoring of WTPs and effective elimination process studies for pharmaceuticals and ECDs are required to control micropollutant contamination of drinking water.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2018

Objectives: The purpose of this study was the investigation of bromide and bromate in drinking water of water supply plants, mineral springs and small water supply system located in northern area of Gyeonggi province. Methods: Analytical method was based on EPA 326.0 to use Postcolumn reaction (PCR). The instrument was 887 professional UV/VIS detector IC manufactured in Metrohm. Results: Bromate was detected at $0.5{\sim}2.4{\mu}g/L$ in tap water from 5 water supply plants. These plants were used as disinfection method for sodium hypochlorite and on-site chlorine that causes generate bromate as a by products even if not used ozone. Conclusions: The bromate was detected up to $2.5{\mu}g/Lin$ drinking water in northern Gyeonggi area that showed within $10{\mu}g/L$ for standard of tap water. However, the continuous monitoring of bromate is necessary in drinking water.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.285-291
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• 2016

There has been an accelerating increase in water reuse due to growing world population, rapid urbanization, and increasing scarcity of water resources. However, it is well recognized that water reuse practice is associated with many human health and ecological risks due to numerous chemicals and pathogenic microorganisms. Especially, the potential transmission of infectious disease by hundreds of pathogenic viruses in wastewater is one of the most serious human health risks associated with water reuse. In this study, we determined the response of different bacteriophages representing various bacteriophage groups to chlorination in real wastewater in order to identify a more reliable bacteriophage indicator system for chlorination in wastewater. Different bacteriophages were spiked into secondary effluents from wastewater plants from three different geographic areas, and then subjected to various doses of free chlorine and contact time at $5^{\circ}C$ in a bench-scale batch disinfection system. The inactivation of ${\phi}X174$ was relatively rapid and reached ~4 log10 with a CT value of 5 mg/L*min. On the other hand, the inactivation of bacteriophage PRD1 and MS2 were much slower than the one for ${\phi}X174$ and only ~1 log10 inactivation was achieved by a CT value of 10 mg/L*min. Overall, the results of this study suggest that bacteriophage both MS2 and PRD1 could be a reliable indicator for human pathogenic viruses for chlorination in wastewater treatment processes and water reuse practice.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2005

Conventionally used flocculation tanks require large space and high energy requirement for mixing. Static flocculators using gravel bed filter operate at a lower flow rate ($5-10m^3/m^2{\cdot}h$). Further, the cleaning of this system is difficult. A novel high rate static flocculator/filter developed at UTS packed with buoyant media such as polystyrene, polypropylene has been found to operate at higher filtration rates (30-45 $5-10m^3/m^2{\cdot}h$). They can easily be cleaned with minimal energy. Detailed experiments conducted with an artificial kaolin clay solution show that buoyant media is an excellent static flocculator in producing uniform filterable microflocs (12-15 m) even when it is operated at a high rate of 30-40 m/h. Detailed filtration experiments were conducted in a wastewater treatment plant to treat the biologically treated effluent with a floating media of depth of 120 cm. This filter was able to remove majority of phosphorus and remaining solids. It reduced significantly the fecal coliforms and fecal streptoccoci, thus requiring less amount of chlorine for disinfection. The advantage of this system is the low energy and water requirement for cleaning of filter bed. The periodic backwash adopted 30 seconds air and water and 30 seconds water cleaning every 90 minutes filter operation. Thisis equivalent to 1-2% of filtered water production. Mechanical cleaning system on the other hand, requires very low energy requirement (<1% of filtered water production).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of submerged hollow fiber MF processes to treat secondary wastewater for water reuse. Specifically, membrane productivity and filtrate water quality were investigated under various operating conditions (i.e. flux, recovery, and backwash rate) at pilot-scale. Membrane fouling became more severe with increasing flux and recovery, suggesting that low flux operation (< 25 LMH) was desirable. At high flux operating(> 37.5 LMH), increasing backwash rate showed only limited success. The biofouling, quantified by PEPA and BFHPC, was also significant in wastewater reclamation, and biogrowth control by chlorine, were necessary to improve membrane productivity. Filtrate water qualities are in good compliance with water reuse regulations regardless of operating conditions (flux, recovery and backwash rate). Particle (e.g. turbidity) removal ranged from 89 to 98%, while only 11 to 21% of organics (e.g. NPDOC) were removed by MF membrane. Only small improvement in biostability (e.g. AOC) was achieved by MF system, and thus, without post disinfection, significant microorganisms might be present in the filtrate due to regrowth. Lastly, in order to further investigate pathogen removal, controlled microbial challenge tests were performed by monitoring Giardia, Cryptosporidium, bacteria and virus, and showed relatively good microbial removal.