• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.345-351
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• 2004

We investigated the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reaction in a lab-stale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Our aim was to detect and enrich the organisms responsible for the anammox reaction using a synthetic medium that contained low concentrations of substrates (ammonium and nitrite). The reactor was inoculated with granular sludge collected from a full-scale anaerobic digestor used for treating brewery wastewater The experiment was performed during 260 days under conditions of constant ammonium concentration ($50\;mg\;NH_4^+-N/L$) and different nitrite concentrations ($50{\~}150\;mg\;NO_2-N/L$). After 200 days, anammox activity was observed in the system. The microorganisms involved in this anammox reaction were identified as Candidatus B. Anammoxidans and K. Stuttgartiensis using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH ) method.

• Ocean Science Journal
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2005

Bioassay using the marine bacteria, Vibrio fischeri and rotifer, Brachionus plicatilis, and chemical analyses were conducted to assess the toxicity of the various sewage sludges, one of the major ocean dumped materials in the Yellow Sea of Korea. Sludge elutriates extracted by filtered seawater were used to estimate the ecotoxicity of the sludge. Chemical characterization included the analyses of organic contents, heavy metals, and persistent organic pollutants in sludge. Bacterial bioluminescent inhibition (15 min), rotifer mortality (24 hr) and rotifer population growth inhibition (48 hr) assay were conducted to estimate the sludge toxicity. EC50 15 min (inhibition concentration of bioluminescence after 15 minutes exposed) values by Microtox(R) bioassay clearly revealed different toxicity levels depending on the sludge sources. Highest toxicity for the bacteria was found with the sludge extract from dyeing waste and followed by industrial waste, livestock waste, and leather processing waste. Clear toxic effects on the bacteria were not found in the sludge extract from filtration bed sludge and rural sewage sludge. Consistent with Microtox(R) results, rotifer neonate mortality and population growth inhibition test also showed highest toxicity in dyeing waste and low in filtration bed and rural sewage sludge. High concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals were measured in the samples from the industrial wastes, leather processing plant waste sludge, and urban sewage sludge. However, there was no significant correlation between pollutant concentration levels and the toxicity values of the sludge. This suggests that the ecotoxicity in addition to the chemical analyses of various sludge samples must be estimated before release of potential harmful waste in the natural environment as part of an ecological risk assessment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 1990

Four crop plants, such as green onion(Allium ascalonicum L.), radish(Raphanus sativus L.), potato(Solanum tubersum L.) and chinese cabbage(Brassica pekinensis Rupr), were grown in greenhouses to determine the accumulations of Cd and Zn absorbed by the plants grown on soils treated with municipal sewage sludge of different levels of 0, 22.5, 45.0 and 90.0 ton $ha^{-1}$ as soil dry weight. The result was analyzed to be comparable to the heavy metal content in the plant tissues among the crop species and the statistical characteristics were investigated to determin a possible relationship between causes of increased contents of Cd and Zn in plants and in soils. The results were as follows : 1. The Cd and Zn content in experimental crop plants increased with increase in quantity of treatment sludge. 2. The Cd and Zn content in roots of all experimental plants increased with sludge treatment amount in soil, in the following order : green onion>potato>chinese cabbage>radish. 3. The Cd content in leaves of crop plants were high in this order : green onion>radish>potato>chinese cabbage, and the Zn content in leaves of crop plants was high in this order. : potato>radish>chinese cabbage>green onion. 4. Concentrations of Cd in potato tubers, radish roots and chinese cabbage leaves ranged from 0.03 to 0.12 ppm. 5. Concentrations of Cd and Zn in plant tissues grown in sludge treated soil of 90.0 ton $ha^{-1}$ were 1.2 to 10 times and 0.4 to 2.3 times higher as compared with those absorbed from sludge-free soil, respectively. 6. The accumulation rates of Cd and Zn in sludge-treated plant tissue were almost constant except for green onion roots.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.83-96
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• 2012

The water sludge is generated from the treatment of water with alum. Disposing of sludge again to the streams raises the concentrations of aluminum oxides in water, which has been linked to Alzheimer's disease. The use of water treatment plant (WTP) sludge in manufacturing of constructional elements achieves both the economical and environmental benefits. Due to the similar mineralogical composition of clay and WTP sludge, this study investigated the complete substitution of brick clay by sludge incorporated with some of the agricultural and industrial wastes, such as rice husk ash (RHA) and silica fume (SF). Three different series of sludge to SF to RHA proportions by weight were tried, which were (25: 50: 25%), (50: 25: 25%), and (25: 25: 50%), respectively. Each brick series was fired at 900, 1000, 1100, and $1200^{\circ}C$. The physical and mechanical properties of the produced bricks were then determined and evaluated according to Egyptian Standard Specifications (E.S.S.) and compared to control clay-brick. From the obtained results, it was concluded that by operating at the temperature commonly practiced in the brick kiln, a mixture consists of 50% of sludge, 25% of SF, and 25% of RHA was the optimum materials proportions to produce brick from water sludge incorporated with SF and RHA. The produced bricks properties were obviously superior to the 100% clay control-brick and to those available in the Egyptian market.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2014

The effects of initial solid concentration and microwave irradiation (MWI) time on the hydrolysis of waste activated sludge (WAS) were investigated. MWI time strongly influenced WAS hydrolysis for all initial solid concentrations of 8.20, 31.51, and 52.88 g VSS/L. For all WAS, the volatile suspended solids (VSS) solubilization degree ranged from 35.6% to 38.4% during a total MWI time of 10 min. Soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) concentration increased at a rate proportional to the decrease of VSS during the MWI. However, the clearly different VSS solubilization patterns that were observed during the MWI were explained by the 2-step hydrolysis of WAS, consisting of the initial disintegration of the easily degradable part of the sludge, followed by the subsequent disintegration of the hardly degradable part of the sludge. WAS hydrolysis rates for 3 to 6 min of MWI were significantly lower than those for less than 3 min, or more than 6 min. From these results, 3 min MWI time and WAS of 31.51 g VSS/L (centrifugal thickener WAS) showed the most efficient hydrolysis of WAS at 36.0%. The profiles of total nitrogen (T-N) concentrations corresponded well to the SCOD increases in terms of the empirical formula of bacterial cell mass ($C_5H_7O_2N$). The negligible T-N increase and pH decrease during WAS hydrolysis by MWI will allow the application of this process to subsequent biological processes, such as anaerobic digestion.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2013

This study was carried out to understand the long-term effects of organic waste treatments on the fate of heavy metals in soils originated from the organic wastes and consequent uptake of heavy metals by plant, together with examination of changes in soil properties and plant growth performance. In this study, the soils treated with three different organic wastes (municipal sewage sludge, alcohol fermentation processing sludge, pig manure compost) at three different rates (12.5, 25.0, 50.0 ton $ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$) for 7 years (1994 - 2000) were used. To see the long-term effect, plant growth study and soil examination were conducted twice in 2000 and 2010, respectively. There was no additional treatments of organic wastes for 10 years after the organic waste treatment for 7 years. Compared to plant growth examination conducted in 2000 using radish (Raphanus sativus cv. sodamaltari), it appeared that height, root length and diameter, fresh weight of radish grown in 2010 decreased in the plots treated with municipal sewage sludge and alcohol fermentation processing sludge and that the extent of decrease was higher with increase of sludge application rates. On the other hand, pig compost treatment increased plant height, root length and diameter, fresh weight with increasing application rates. Cu and Pb concentrations in radish root and leaves increased in 2010 compared to those in 2000 while Ni concentrations in root and leaves decreased. Zn concentration was increased only in the soils treated with pig manure compost. Multiple regression analysis among heavy metal species fractions in soils, soil pH, and metal concentrations in radish root and leaves indicated that the metal uptake by radish was governed mainly by the soil pH and subsequent increase of available heavy metal fractions in soils with organic waste treatments.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.677-687
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• 2019

This study evaluated the biosorption properties of calcium ion using Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS). A sequencing batch reactor was used to induce the production of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) through salinity injection, and the calcium ion adsorption efficiency was analyzed by a batch test. The EPS contents showed significant changes (104-136 mg/g MLVSS) at different salinity concentrations. The calcium ion adsorption efficiency was highest for AGS collected at 5.0% salinity, and it was confirmed that the biosorption efficiency of AGS was increased owing to the increase in EPS content. The results of the Freundlich isotherms showed that the ion binding strength (1/n) was 0.3941-0.7242 and the adsorption capacity ($K_f$) was 2.4082-3.3312. The specific surface area and the pore size of the AGS were $586.1m^2/g$ and 0.7547 nm, respectively, which were not significantly different from each other. It was confirmed that the influence of biological properties, such as EPS content, was relatively large among the factors affecting calcium ion adsorption.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.489-501
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• 2012

The nitrogen removal characteristics of the MBR system consisted of two intermittent reactors, a membrane reactor and a deaeration reactor under constant flow and wastewater composition at different operational temperature and SRTs (Sludge Retention Times) were studied by computer simulation. The nitrogen removal efficiencies were dropped from 59% to 31%, when operational temperature was increased to $25^{\circ}C$ from $13^{\circ}C$ with same SRT of 25 days. Lower RBO (Readily Biodegradable Organic) concentrations at intermittent reactors at $25^{\circ}C$ compared with those at $13^{\circ}C$ of operational temperature were believed to be the main cause. The nitrogen removal efficiencies and RBO concentrations at each intermittent reactors were recovered when SRT was reduced to 12.6 days at $25^{\circ}C$. The effect of both SRT and operational temperature on RBO concentrations at intermittent reactors is need to be studied further.

• Water for future
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.117-125
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• 1989

This study deals with the performance of an acivated sludge system which is modified by the researcher to function without any additional chemical or internal recyle in removing organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus from synthetic wastewater. To improve the nutrient removal efficiency, the researcher utilized the anoxic, anaerobic, and aerobic reactor sequences with a single sludge return, whiched to nitrification/denitrification and phosphorus release/overplus accumulation. A bench scale system was operated with a view to investigating the reaction characteristics of each reactor, and to measuring the biological kinetic coefficients(Y, $K_d$, k, $K_s$) for theremoval of COD in relation to the mean cell residence time at five different MLSS concentrations, 5000, 4200, 3300, 2600, and 1900 mg/l. The results of the research showed that organic substance and nutrient were removed simultaneously by this modified activated sludge process. And the process kad 66%-99% ortho-p removal efficiency.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.241-250
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• 2009

During the past few years, titanium salts were investigated as alternative coagulants for the removal of organic matter of different molecular sizes in contaminated water. The flocculation efficiency of Ti-salt was comparable to those of $FeCl_3$ and $Al_2(SO_4)_3$ salts, commonly used coagulants. Incinerated sludge-$TiO_2$ showed higher surface area and photocatalytic activity than commercially available $TiO_2$. Metal-doped forms were produced by adding coagulant aids such as iron (Fe-), aluminium (Al-) and (Ca-) calcium salts during Ti-salt flocculation to increase pH. Ca- and Al- doped $TiO_2$ showed very high photocatalytic activity compared to Fe-doped $TiO_2$. When tested in a pilot scale plant for treatment of dye wastewater to check practical feasibility of the novel process, the removal ratio of the chemical oxygen demand was comparable to those of commonly used coagulants but the settling of sludge was faster. The $TiO_2$ generated after sludge incineration showed a high photocatalytic activity for degradation of volatile organic compounds and increased the rate of hydrogen production by water photosplitting. $TiCl_4$ coagulant and $TiO_2$ produced from different water sources with different concentrations had low acute toxicity compared to heavy metals and commercial $TiO_2$ when examined based on D. Magna mortality. This paper presents the production, characterisation and the photoactivity of $TiO_2$ produced from Ti-salt flocculated sludge. Different case studies are discussed to highlighted recent advances in this field.