• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.374-381
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• 2015

Occurrences of coastal dredged materials are ever increasing due to port construction, navigational course maintenance and dredging of polluted coastal sediments. Ocean dumping of the coastal dredged materials has become virtually prohibited as London Treaty will be enacted as of the year 2012. It will be necessary to treat and recycle the dredged materials that may carry organic pollutants and heavy metals in a reasonable and effective process: collection of the dredged materials, liquid and solid separation, and treatment of organic compounds and heavy metals. In this study we have developed a continuous bioreactor system that can treat a mixture of silt and particulate organic matter using a microbial consortium (BM-S-1). The steady-state operation conditions were: pH (7.4-7.5), temperature ($16^{\circ}C$), DO (7.5-7.9), and salt concentration (3.4-3.7%). The treatment efficiencies of SCOD, T-N and T-P of the mixture were 95-96%, 92-99%, and 79-97%. The system was also effective in removal of heavy metals such as Zn, Ni, and Cr. Levels of MLSS during three months operation period were 11,000-19,000 mg/L. Interestingly, there was little sludge generated during this period of operation. The augmented microbial consortium seemed to be quite active in the removal of the organic component (30%) present in the dredged material in association with indigenous bacteria. The dominant phyla in the treatment processes were Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes while dominant genii were Marinobacterium, Flaviramulus, Formosa, Alteromonadaceae_uc, Flavobacteriaceae_uc. These results will contribute to a development of a successful bioremediation technology for various coastal and river sediments with a high content of organic matter, inorganic nutrients and heavy metals, leading to a successful reuse of the polluted dredged sediments.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

Two phase UASB reactors for treating wastewater with sulfate were operated to assess the performance and competition of organics between sulfate reducing bacteria(SRB) and methane producing bacteria(MPB), and the change of characteristics of microorganisms. The reactors were fed in parallel with a synthetic wastewater of 4,000-5,000 mgCOD/L and sulfate concentration of $800-1,000\;mgSO_4/L$. In the MPR(methane producing reactor) and CR(control reactor), COD removal efficiencies were 90% and 60%, respectively, at the OLR(organic loading rate) of 6 gCOD/L, while the amount of biogas and methane content were 6.5 L/day and 80%, and 3 L/day and 50%, respectively. However, the portion of electron flow used by SRB at the OLR of 6 gCOD/L day in MPR and CR was 3% and 26%, respectively. This indicated that the increase of OLR of wastewater containing high sulfate like CR resulted in activity decrease and cell decay of MPB, while SRB was adapted immediately to new environment. The MPB activities in MPR and CR were 2 and $0.38\;kgCH_4-COD$/gVSS day at the OLR of 6 gCOD/L. This indicated hat SRB dominated gradually over MPB during long-term operation with wastewater containing sulfate as a consequence of outcompeting of SRB over MPB. In addition, the solution within AFR was maintained around pH 5.0, the MPB such as Methanothrix spp. which was very important to formation of granules was detached from the surface of granules due to the decrease of activity by limitation of substrate transportation into MPB. Therefore, a significant amount of sludge was washed out from the reactor.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.190-195
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• 2004

A new technology for advanced wastewater treatment was developed using a modified Rotating Biological Contactor (RBC) process, named as Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process that utilizes Bacillus sp., the facultatively anaerobic or activated microaerophilic bacteria on multiple-stage reticular rotating carriers, as a predominant species. The RABC process for a municipal wastewater with relatively low concentrations of organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus showed stable and high removal efficiencies, less than $BOD_5$ 10 mg/L, T-N 15 mg/L, and T-P 1.5 mg/L in final effluent. The performance load of RABC process was shown to be $1.23kg{\cdot}BOD/m^2{\cdot}day$ for the first stage (average $0.31kg{\cdot}BOD/m^2{\cdot}day$ for the total stages) based on both removed BOD and converted disc area corresponding to the reticular one. The sludge produced in the RABC process is characterized by low generation rate (about $0.18kg{\cdot}MLSS/kg{\cdot}BOD$) and excellent settleability. The number ratio of Bacillus ($2.4{\times}10^6CFU/ml$) to heterotrophic bacteria ($3.6{\times}10^7CFU/ml$) inhabiting in the biofilms of the RABC process was 6.7 %, indicating that Bacillus sp. was a predominant species in the biofilms. The RABC process with reticular rotating carriers showed its excellent performance for the advanced wastewater treatment without any offensive odor problem due to organic overloading.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.261-271
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• 2009

Deep sea water exists at depths of over 200m under the sea. As no sunlight reaches it, photosynthesis does not take place within it, and it contains no organic matter. In addition, its temperature is maintained at a stable low level throughout the year, so it does not get mixed with the sea water on the surface. It contains a large amount of nutritious salts, whose cleanness is maintained. It is a marine resource that has matured for a long period of time. Research into deep sea water, which started in the 1970s, has been made around the whole world, including the USA and Japan. In Korea, research has been active in this area since 2000. As there has been a good amount of research into industrial applications for deep sea water, since 1993, patents for the relevant technologies have been applied. This paper intends to provide a resource to researchers of deep sea water, by summarizing of all domestic deep sea water-related patents applied with Korean Intellectual Property Office from 1993 to 2008. This research was conducted using a computer and KIPRIS Database owned by the Korea Institute of Patent Information. 'Deep sea water' was used as the search keyword. A total of 222 Korean patents relating to deep sea water have been registered on the basis of IPC. Of these, 126 patents relate to the manufacturing and the treatment of foods, foodstuffs, or non-alcoholic beverages(A23L), while 50 patents relate to the production for medical, dental, or cosmetic purposes(A61K). 38 patents relate to water purification, treatment of wastewater, sewage and sludge (C02F), while 8 patents relate to fishery and farming(A01K). In summary, it was found that studies for the practical use of deep sea water have been conducted in relation to the manufacturing and the treatment of foods, foodstuffs, beverages, and cosmetics.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.210-213
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performances of organic removal and methane recovery in the full scale two-phase anaerobic system. The full scale two-phase anaerobic system was consists of an acidogenic ABR (Anaerobic Baffled Reactor) and a methanognic UASB (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactor. The volume of acidogenic and methanogenic reactors is designed to 28.3 $m^3$ and 75.3 $m^3$. The two-phase anaerobic system represented 60-82% of COD removal efficiency when the influent COD concentration was in the range of 7,150 to 16,270 mg/L after screening (average concentration is 10,280 mg/L). After steady-state, the effluent COD concentration in the methanogenic reactor showed 2,740 $\pm$ 330 mg/L by representing average COD removal efficiency was 71.4 $\pm$ 8.1% when the operating temperature was in the range of 19-32$^{\circ}C$. The effluent SCOD concentration was in the range of 2,000-3,000 mg/L at the steady state while the volatile fatty concentration was not detected in the effluent. Meanwhile, the COD removal efficiency in the acidogenic reactor showed less than 5%. The acidogenic reactor played key roles to reduce a shock-loading when periodic shock loading was applied and to acidify influent organics. Due to the high concentration of alkalinity and high pH in the effluent of the methanogenic reactor, over 80% of methane in the biogas was produced consistently. More than 70 % of methane was recovered from theoretical methane production of TCOD removed in this research. The produced gas can be directly used as a heat source to increase the reactor temperature.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.207-217
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• 1992

In this study, isolated and cultured nitrogen fixed microbes were seeded in the three-phase fluidized bed in which gas, solid and liquid were contacted directly. Input velocity was varied from 8.12 cm/hr to 16.32 cm/hr. And upflow gas pressure was fixed to 80 psi. Return ratios were from 0.2 to 0.6 with the each experimental condition. According to these condition, movement of media, growth of biofilm and removal efficiency were measured. As the results, in case of briquette ash, biofilm was developed to $170{\mu}m$ when velocity was 8.12 cm/hr and return ratio was 0.6. In this condition, COD removal efficiency was 97% and $NH_4$-N removal efficiency was 83%. At the same condition, biofilm thickness of glass bead was $17.59{\mu}m$ and its COD and $NH_4$-N removal efficiency was 83% and 72%. Nitrogen fixed microbes have following characters: it formed dark-brownish sludge, excellent adhesive force, easy solid-liquid separation and low oxygen uptake ratio, but sensitive to DO concentration. Not only it endured shock loading, but required short time to steady state.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1198-1204
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• 2005

The objectives of this study were to isolate and culture methanotrophs and to apply them for biological removal of nitrogen and phosphorous. Methanotrophs (dominant species: Methylomonas methanica) were isolated from a landfill cover soil, cultured in a NMS medium, and analyzed to reveal their characteristics of growth and nutrient removal. The methanotrophs themselves can produce substantial amount of organic substances(as COD) including methanol, formaldehyde, and formate, as carbon sources required for denitrification. For instance, the production rate for methanol was $8\;mg/L{\cdot}hr$. Moreover, the analysis of nitrogen and phosphorous in the sludge suggested that the methanotrophs assimilate nitrogen and phosphorous as growth substances.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2005

This study is to install the flexible vertical in order to separate not only the time but also the space in the single reactor by opening and closing the flexible vertical, and to intensify the aerobic, anaerobic and anoxic reactions by reducing the time to activate the microorganism for nitrification, denitrification, release of organic phosphate and luxury uptake of ortho-phosphate. Eventually the result of this study obtained each 90.9%, 76.4% for the removal efficiency of total nitrogen and phosphate. Also, content rate of phosphate at excess sludge was higher $25{\sim}30%$ for SBR reactor with the flexible verticals than existing SBR process. It would be concluded that SBR reactor with flexible verticals is promising for nitrogen and phosphate removal conditions than conventional SBR processes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.511-520
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• 2016

The most energy-demanding step of wastewater treatment is the aeration-dependent elimination of organic carbon. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) offer an alternative strategy in which carbon elimination is conducted by anaerobic microorganisms that transport respiratory electrons originating from carbon oxidation to an anode. Hence, chemical energy is directly transformed into electrical energy. In this study, the use and stability of barcode-containing exoelectrogenic model biofilms under non-axenic wastewater treatment conditions are described. Genomic barcodes were integrated in Shewanella oneidensis, Geobacter sulfurreducens, and G. metallireducens. These barcodes are unique for each strain and allow distinction between those cells and naturally occurring wild types as well as quantification of the amount of cells in a biofilm via multiplex qPCR. MFCs were pre-incubated with these three strains, and after 6 days the anodes were transferred into MFCs containing synthetic wastewater with 1% wastewater sludge. Over time, the system stabilized and the coulomb efficiency was constant. Overall, the initial synthetic biofilm community represented half of the anodic population at the end of the experimental timeline. The part of the community that contained a barcode was dominated by G. sulfurreducens cells (61.5%), while S. oneidensis and G. metallireducens cells comprised 10.5% and 17.9%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to describe the stability of a synthetic exoelectrogenic consortium under non-axenic conditions. The observed stability offers new possibilities for the application of synthetic biofilms and synthetically engineered organisms fed with non-sterile waste streams.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.600-606
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• 2007

Livestock wastewater containing concentrated organic matters and nutrients has been known as one of the major pollutants. It is difficult to apply the conventional activated sludge process to treat livestock wastewater because of high Non-biodegradable (NBD) matter and ammonia. The objectives of this study are to remove NBD matters including aromatic compounds and ammonia in livestock wastewater using Coagulation-Fenton oxidation-Zeolite (CFZ) processes and ascertain applicable feasibility in the field through pilot plant experiment. NBD matters and color remained in the treated water were removed over 92% by Fenton oxidation as the second treatment process. Ammonia was removed by over 99.5% in the zeolite ion exchange process as the last treatment method. From $UV_{254}$, $E_2/E_3$ ratio and GC/MS analyses of treated water at each process, the aromatic compound was converted to aliphatic and aromaticity was decreased. In pilot scale test, organics and ammonia removal efficiencies were not much different from the result of lab-scale test at various operation conditions. Furthermore, reaction time and dosage of Fenton reagent in pilot scale experiment reduced by 40 min and 50% rather than in lab-scale test. $BOD_5$, $COD_{Mn}$, SS, T-N and T-P of treated water in the pilot-scale experiment also met the effluent standards.