• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.299-307
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of low temperature thermal pre-treatment on biodegradation of waste activated sludge for anaerobic digestion as a countermeasure for increasing sludge generation. The experimental condition was accomplished in 2 %, 4 %, and 6 % TS concentration, and $70^{\circ}C$, $80^{\circ}C$, $90^{\circ}C$ of temperature for a maximum of 120 minutes retention time. Then, it was followed by analysis of physical/chemical properties, BMP test and composition of biogas. The biogas characteristic was evaluated by applying the modified Gomperz model. As a result, solubility of dissolved substrate, such as $SCOD_{Cr}$, soluble carbohydrate, and soluble protein, and biogas production increased as temperature increased. Solubilization efficiency at $90^{\circ}C$ was 18.4 %, 17.03 % and 16.88% in 2 %, 4 %, and 6 % TS concentration respectively. Also, solubilization rates of carbohydrate and protein similarly increased. BMP test results also showed that methane production in excess sludge increased to 0.194, 0.187 and $0.182m^3/kg$ VS. respectively, and lag phase decreased to 0.145, 0.220, 0.351 day due to acceleration of the hydrolysis step. Consequently, low-temperature thermal pre-treatment could increase biodegradability of sludge, positively affecting biogas production and sludge reduction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.516-522
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• 2011

The largest problem of domestic anaerobic digestion is low digestion efficiency. Reasons of the problem would be low organic matters input, low mixing efficiency in digestion tank, refractory excess sludge etc.. In this study, screw attached disk-type concentration system and a mechanical mixing system, solubilization facility improvements were performed to solve problems. Through these improvements, the sludge conc. of the concentrator increased 2.6-fold and the volume reduction efficiency was increased 3.0-fold. In addition, the dead-space is reduced by mechanical agitation. Anaerobic digester gas production in the digestion tank is increased from $193.8m^3$ to $386.0m^3$ per day. Digestion efficiency is improved to 54.6% from 47.6%. Digestion gas production is increased from $0.30Nm^3/kg$ VS to $0.42Nm^3/kg$ VS.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.60-65
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• 2022

This study presents the carburization process for recycling sludge, which was formed during silicon wafer machining. The sludge used in the carburization process is a mixture of silicon and silicon carbide (SiC) with iron as an impurity, which originates from the machine. Additionally, the sludge contains cutting oil, a fluid with high viscosity. Therefore, the sludge was dried before carburization to remove organic matter. The dried sludge was washed by acid cleaning to remove the iron impurity and subsequently carburized by heat treatment under vacuum to form the SiC powder. The ratio of silicon to SiC in the sludge was varied depending on the sources and thus carbon content was adjusted by the ratio. With increasing SiC content, the carbon content required for SiC formation increased. It was demonstrated that substoichiometric SiC_x (x<1) was easily formed when the carbon content was insufficient. Therefore, excess carbon is required to obtain a pure SiC phase. Moreover, size reduction by high-energy milling had a beneficial effect on the suppression of SiC_x, forming the pure SiC phase.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.93-97
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• 2004

We investigate the effect of enzyme pretreatment using protease, carbohydrase, and lipase on improvement of sludge treatment efficiency by measuring SCOD and TCOD. The enzyme-pretreatment increases SCOD of excess sludge. In addition, the amount of sludge reduction during digestion, in terms of SCOD and TCOD, are enhanced by enzyme-pretreatment. Among pretense, carbohydrase, and lipase, pretense showed the best enhancement of the sludge treatment efficiency. Sludge digestion followed by ozone and enzyme treatments showed more effective sludge treatment when compared with ozone treatment alone. Therefore, we expect that enzyme pretreatment can be used as a useful tool for enhancing the sludge treatment efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.948-954
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• 2008

Membrane bioreactor(MBR) processes have been widely applied to wastewater treatment for last decades due to its excellent capability of solid-liquid separation. However, membrane fouling was considered as a limiting factor in wide application of the MBR process. Excess aeration into membrane surface is a common way to control membrane fouling in most MBR. However, the excessively supplied air is easily dissipated in the reactor, which results in consuming energy and thus, it should be modified for effective control of membrane fouling. In this study, cylindrical tube was introduced to MBR in order to use the supplied air effectively. Membrane fibers were immersed into the cylindrical tube. This makes the supplied air non-dissipated in the reactor so that membrane fouling could be controlled economically. Two different air supplying method was employed and compared each other; nozzle and porous diffuser which were located just beneath the membrane module. Transmembrane pressure(TMP) was monitored as a function of airflow rate, flux, and ratio of the tube area and cross-sectioned area of membrane fibers(A$_m$/A$_t$). Flow rate of air and liquid was regulated to obtain slug flow in the cylindrical tube. With the same flow of air supply, nozzle was more effective for controlling membrane fouling than porous diffuser. Accumulation of sludge was observed in the tube with the nozzle, if the air was not suppled sufficiently. Reduction of membrane fouling was dependent upon the ratio, A$_m$/A$_t$. For diffuser, membrane fouling was minimized when A$_m$/A$_t$ was 0.27, but 0.55 for nozzle.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.105-113
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• 2003

Successful operation of a reactor can be accomplished when it is operated at proper D depending on the state of degradation. Operation at high D leads to the washout of biomass in the reactor while operation at low D leads to product inhibition due to the accumulation of excess VFA. These appear to limit the production of hydrogen to reach a higher level. Operation by D control was performed to improve the efficiency of hydrogen fermentation of food waste. Although simple organic matters were rapidly degraded in the early stage (day 1-2), proper VFA concentration and pH values were kept in the reactor at D of $4.5d^{-1}$, which was previously reported to be optimum initial D. High butyrate/acetate (B/A) ratios over 3.2 were obtained. Without D control, the reduction of simple organic matters after day 2 caused the decrease of VFA production and the increase of pH. Hydrogen production also decreased, as microbial proliferation was less than microbial loss by washout. However, the reactor performance was dramatically improved at D control from 4.5 to $2.3d^{-1}$. It showed the highest B/A ratios over 2.0 among the reactors on day 4-7. The second hydrogen peak appeared on day 4, resulting in the highest fermentation efficiency (70.8%) among the reactors. It was caused by the enhanced degradation of slowly degradable matters. The COD removed was converted to hydrogen (19.3%), VFA (36.5%), and ethanol (15.0%). Therefore, the strategy using D control, depending on the state of degradation, was effective in improving the efficiency of hydrogen fermentation.