• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
• /
• 1998.10a
• /
• pp.2-4
• /
• 1998

Proliferation of Nocardia amarae cells in activated sludge has often been associated with the generation of nuisance foams. Despite intense research activities in recent years to examine the causes and control of Nocardia foaming in activated sludge, the foaming continued to persist throughout the activated sludge treatment plants in United States. In addition to causing various operational problems to treatment processes, the presence of Nocardia may have secondary effects on the fate of heavy metals that are not well known. For example, for treatment plants facing more stringent metal removal requirements, potential metal removal by Nocardia cells in foaming activated sludge would be a welcome secondary effect. In contrast, with new viosolid disposal regulations in place (Code o( Federal Regulation No. 503), higher concentration of metals in biosolids from foaming activated sludge could create management problems. The goal of this research was to investigate the metal sorption property of Nocardia amarae cells grown in batch reactors and in chemostat reactors. Specific surface area and metal sorption characteristics of N. amarae cells harvested at various growth stages were compared. Three metals examined in this study were copper, cadmium and nickel. Nocardia amarae strain (SRWTP isolate) used in this study was obtained from the University of California at Berkeley. The pure culture was grown in 4L batch reactor containing mineral salt medium with sodium acetate as the sole carbon source. In order to quantify the sorption of heavy metal ions to N amarae cell surfaces, cells from the batch reactor were harvested, washed, and suspended in 30mL centrifuge tubes. Metal sorption studies were conducted at pH 7.0 and ionlc strength of 10-2M. The sorption Isotherm showed that the cells harvested from the stationary and endogenous growth phase exhibited significantly higher metal sorption capacity than the cells from the exponential phase. The sequence of preferential uptake of metals by N. amarae cells was Cu>Cd>Ni. The specific surFace area of Nocardia cells was determined by a dye adsorption method. N.amarae cells growing at ewponential phase had significantly less specific surface area than that of stationary phase, indicating that the lower metal sorption capacity of Nocardia cells growing at exponential phase may be due to the lower specific surface area. The growth conditions of Nocardia cells in continuous culture affect their cell surface properties, thereby governing the adsorption capacity of heavy metal. The comparison of dye sorption isotherms for Nocardia cells growing at various growth rates revealed that the cell surface area increased with increasing sludge age, indicating that the cell surface area is highly dependent on the steady-state growth rate. The highest specific surface area of 199m21g was obtained from N.amarae cell harvested at 0.33 day-1 of growth rate. This result suggests that growth condition not only alters the structure of Nocardia cell wall but also affects the surface area, thus yielding more binding sites of metal removal. After reaching the steady-state condition at dilution rate, metal adsorption isotherms were used to determine the equilibrium distributions of metals between aqueous and Nocardia cell surfaces. The metal sorption capacity of Nocardia biomass harvested from 0.33 day-1 of growth rate was significantly higher than that of cells harvested from 0.5- and 1-day-1 operation, indicatng that N.amarae cells with a lower growth rate have higher sorpion capacity. This result was in close agreement with the trend observed from the batch study. To evaluate the effect of Nocardia cells on the metal binding capacity of activated sludge, specific surface area and metal sorption capacity of the mixture of Nocardia pure cultures and activated sludge biomass were determined by a series of batch experiments. The higher levels of Nocardia cells in the Nocardia-activated sludge samples resulted in the higher specific surface area, explaining the higher metal sorption sites by the mixed luquor samples containing greater amounts on Nocardia cells. The effect of Nocardia cells on the metal sorption capacity of activated sludge was evaluated by spiking an activated sludge sample with various amounts of pre culture Nocardia cells. The results of the Langmuir isotherm model fitted to the metal sorption by various mixtures of Nocardia and activated sludge indicated that the mixture containing higher Nocardia levels had higher metal adsorption capacity than the mixture containing lower Nocardia levels. At Nocardia levels above 100mg/g VSS, the metal sorption capacity of activate sludge increased proportionally with the amount of Noeardia cells present in the mixed liquor, indicating that the presence of Nocardia may increase the viosorption capacity of activated sludge.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.253-262
• /
• 2016

This paper proposes a balance-swap method for the dynamic economic load dispatch problem. Based on the premise that all generators shall be operated at valve-points, the proposed algorithm initially sets the maximum generation power at $P_i{\leftarrow}P_i^{max}$. As for generator i with $_{max}c_i$, which is the maximum operating cost $c_i=\frac{F(P_i)-F(P_{iv_k})}{(P_i-P_{iv_k})}$ produced when the generation power of each generator is reduced to the valve-point $v_k$, the algorithm reduces i's generation power down to $P_{iv_k}$, the valve-point operating cost. When ${\Sigma}P_i-P_d$ > 0, it reduces the generation power of a generator with $_{max}c_i$ of $c_i=F(P_i)-F(P_i-1)$ to $P_i{\leftarrow}P_i-1$ so as to restore the equilibrium ${\Sigma}P_i=P_d$. The algorithm subsequently optimizes by employing an adult-step method in which power in the range of $_{min}\{_{max}(P_i-P_i^{min}),\;_{max}(P_i^{max}-P_i)\}$>${\alpha}{\geq}10$ is reduced by 10; a baby step method in which power in the range of 10>${\alpha}{\geq}1$ is reduced by 1; and a swap method for $_{max}[F(P_i)-F(P_i-{\alpha})]$>$_{min}[F(P_j+{\alpha})-F(P_j)]$, $i{\neq}j$ of $P_i=P_i{\pm}{\alpha}$, in which power is swapped to $P_i=P_i-{\alpha}$, $P_j=P_j+{\alpha}$. It finally executes minute swap process for ${\alpha}=\text{0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001}$. When applied to various experimental cases of the dynamic economic load dispatch problems, the proposed algorithm has proved to maximize economic benefits by significantly reducing the optimal operating cost of the extant Heuristic algorithm.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.253-260
• /
• 2005

Salt accumulation in the plastic film house soils under continuous cultivation condition causes problems such as salt damages to plants, nitrate accumulation in vegetables, groundwater contamination, etc. due to excess application of fertilizers. Objective of this research was to find an optimum adsorbent to reduce salt concentration in the soil solution of plastic film house soils, where crop injuries have been observed due to the salt accumulation. The soils were significantly high in available P $(1,431{\sim}6,516mg\;kg^{-1}),\;NO_3-N\;(117.60{\sim}395.73mg\;kg^{-1})$, exchangeable Ca $(4.06{\sim}11.07\;cmol_c\;kg^{-1})$ and Mg $(2.59{\sim}18.76\;cmol_c\;kg^{-1})$, as compared to those of the average upland soils in Korea. Soils were treated with each of adsorbent such as ion-exchange resin, zeolite, rice bran, etc. at 2% level and prepared into saturated-paste samples. After equilibrium, soil solution was vacuum-extracted from the soil and measured for changes of the pH, EC, and concentrations of $Ca^{2+},\;Mg^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+,\;{NH_4}^+,\;{PO_4}^{3-}\;and\;{NO_3}^-$. Rice bran effectively removed ${PO_4}^{3-}\;and\;{NO_3}^-$ in the soil solution up to 100%. Efficiency was decreased in the orders of rice bran > ion-exchange resin > zeolite. Removal efficiencies of zeolite and ion-exchange resin for $Ca^{2+}$ were ranged from 1 to 65% and from 7 to 61%, respectively. Ion-exchange resin was also effective for removing $Mg^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+,\;and\;{NH_4}^+$. Overall results demonstrated that rice bran and ion-exchange resin could be applicable for salt accumulated soil to remove the respective anion and cation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.103-115
• /
• 2000

The formation of brown-colored precipitates is one of the serious problems frequently encountered in the development and supply of groundwater in Korea, because by it the water exceeds the drinking water standard in terms of color. taste. turbidity and dissolved iron concentration and of often results in scaling problem within the water supplying system. In groundwaters from the Pajoo area, brown precipitates are typically formed in a few hours after pumping-out. In this paper we examine the process of the brown precipitates' formation using the equilibrium thermodynamic and kinetic approaches, in order to understand the origin and geochemical pathway of the generation of turbidity in groundwater. The results of this study are used to suggest not only the proper pumping technique to minimize the formation of precipitates but also the optimal design of water treatment methods to improve the water quality. The bed-rock groundwater in the Pajoo area belongs to the Ca-$HCO_3$type that was evolved through water/rock (gneiss) interaction. Based on SEM-EDS and XRD analyses, the precipitates are identified as an amorphous, Fe-bearing oxides or hydroxides. By the use of multi-step filtration with pore sizes of 6, 4, 1, 0.45 and 0.2 $\mu\textrm{m}$, the precipitates mostly fall in the colloidal size (1 to 0.45 $\mu\textrm{m}$) but are concentrated (about 81%) in the range of 1 to 6 $\mu\textrm{m}$in teams of mass (weight) distribution. Large amounts of dissolved iron were possibly originated from dissolution of clinochlore in cataclasite which contains high amounts of Fe (up to 3 wt.%). The calculation of saturation index (using a computer code PHREEQC), as well as the examination of pH-Eh stability relations, also indicate that the final precipitates are Fe-oxy-hydroxide that is formed by the change of water chemistry (mainly, oxidation) due to the exposure to oxygen during the pumping-out of Fe(II)-bearing, reduced groundwater. After pumping-out, the groundwater shows the progressive decreases of pH, DO and alkalinity with elapsed time. However, turbidity increases and then decreases with time. The decrease of dissolved Fe concentration as a function of elapsed time after pumping-out is expressed as a regression equation Fe(II)=10.l exp(-0.0009t). The oxidation reaction due to the influx of free oxygen during the pumping and storage of groundwater results in the formation of brown precipitates, which is dependent on time, $Po_2$and pH. In order to obtain drinkable water quality, therefore, the precipitates should be removed by filtering after the stepwise storage and aeration in tanks with sufficient volume for sufficient time. Particle size distribution data also suggest that step-wise filtration would be cost-effective. To minimize the scaling within wells, the continued (if possible) pumping within the optimum pumping rate is recommended because this technique will be most effective for minimizing the mixing between deep Fe(II)-rich water and shallow $O_2$-rich water. The simultaneous pumping of shallow $O_2$-rich water in different wells is also recommended.