• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.142-150
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• 2003

Performance of a biological filter, the rotating biological contactor (RBC), is affected by rotational speed and hydraulic residence time (HRT). A RBC with a disc diameter of 62 cm, total surface area of 48.28 $m^2$, volume of 0.34 ㎥, and submergence ratio of 35.4% was tested for the combinations of five rotational speeds (1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 rpm) and three HRT (0.5, 1.0 & 2.0 hr) to find out the maximum removal efficiencies of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) and nitrite nitrogen of a simulated recirculating aquaculture system. Ammonia loading rate in the system was 25 g of TAN/ ㎥. day. Removal efficiencies were checked when TAN concentrations in the system stabilized for 3 days in each treatment. The concentration of TAN in the system decreased with increasing rotational speed of the RBC up to 4 rpm in all HRT (P<0.05). At the rotational speed of 5 rpm, the efficiencies decreased in all HRT (P<0.05). When the rotational speeds were 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 rpm, TAN concentrations in the system were 1.35, 0.94, 0.69, 0.66, and 0.76 mg/L at the 0.5 hr HRT, 2.86, 1.18, 0.96, 0.87, and 1.11 mg/L at the 1.0 hr HRT, and 5.30, 2.44, 1.99, 1.77, and 2.01 mg/L at the 2.0 hr HRT, respectively. The TAN removal efficiencies of the RBC at the rotational speeds of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 rpm were 32.9, 49.5, 65.1, 72.9, and 62.9% in 0.5 hr HRT,33.1, 74.1, 87.1, 95.8, and 78.5% in 1.0 hr HRT, and 35.5, 76.7, 89.6, 97.0, and 85.5% in 2.0 hr HRT, respectively. TAN removal efficiency of RBC per pass increased with increasing HRT. However, TAN concentration in the system also increased. The best operating condition among the treatments was obtained at the treatment of 0.5 hr HRT and 4 rpm (P<0.05). The TAN concentration was 0.66 mg/L. Concentrations of nitrite nitrogen (NO$_2$$^{[-10]}$ -N) in the system decreased with increasing rotational speed in all HRT while that in the system increased with increasing HRT in all rotational speeds. The ranges of NO$_2$$^{[-10]}$ -N concentrations at HRT of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 hr in the system were 0.26~0.32, 0.31~0.56, and 0.43~l.45 mg/L, respectively. The ranges of daily removal rates of TAN in this system were 20.03~23.0 g TAN/㎥ㆍday and those of nitrite nitrogen were 19.65~30.25 g NO$_2$$^{[-10]}$ -N/㎥ㆍday.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.77-84
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• 2011

This study was conducted to develop a novel combined system of a hybrid rotating biological contactor (RBC) process that was composed of an attached- and suspended- biomass reactor, followed by a settler and a biological aerated filter (BAF) column to treat a high strength slaughter wastewater. Long term influences of organic and nitrogen loading rates were investigated to see how the combined system worked in terms of the removal efficiency. A synthetic wastewater containing a pork cutlet steak source (commercially available) and swine blood was used to feed the combined system. The hybrid RBC process showed excellent removals: about 95% for soluble COD and 85% for ammonium nitrogen. However, the unsettled solids seriously deteriorated the removal efficiency of total COD (TCOD) and total nitrogen (TN) in the RBC process. A significant fraction of the TCOD and suspended solids (SS) was further removed in the BAF column although the effluent quality was still unsatisfactory, giving TCOD 300 mg/L, SS 180 mg/L and TN 59 mg/L. An addition of polyaluminium chloride into the RBC effluent improved the performance of the settler and BAF, producing an excellent quality of final effluent; TCOD 16.5 mg/L, SS 0 mg/L, TN 55.5 mg/L, TP 1.3 mg/L. Therefore, it was confirmed that the combined system of hybrid RBC and BAF could treat a high strength slaughter wastewater excellently.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.69-76
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• 1996

Biological process have the potential to remove pollutants such as biodegradable organic fraction, $NH_3-N$, ABS, etc. that may be partially removed by conventional water treatment. This study was performed to evaluate four different processes of biological pretreatment as Biological Fluidized Bed(BFB), Biological Filter(BF), Rotating Biological Contactor(RBC) and Honey Comb(HC). In a given condition it proved out that BFB and BF are prospective biological pretreatment processes because they were the most effective on the removal of organic matter and ammonia. Preozonation of raw water for biological processes increased in biodegradable organic fraction about 10-40% with 0.425-0.85 mg $O_3/mg$ DOC.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2010

A pilot-scale wastewater treatment plant combined with rotating biological contactor and tapered aeration reactors was operated with the wastewater discharged from a food factory for 5 months. The bacterial communities of this plant were investigated by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA genes. In spite of high concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus as well as organic carbon, removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus was 98%, 93%, and 95%, respectively. Bacterial community at the initial operation stage was clearly distinguished from that of the stable operation stage. The most predominant phylum in the sample of stable stage was Bacteroidetes. Major population of operation period was Haliscomenobacter, Sphaerotilus, and candidate division TM7, which were classified as filamentous bacteria. However, sludge bulking caused by these bacteria was not observed. The population that has a close relationship with Haliscomenobacter increased during the stable operation stage, emerging as the most predominant group. These results suggest that the filamentous bacteria participated in nutrient removal when using rotating biological contactor and tapered aeration reactor.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2007

The bacterial diversity inherent to the biofilm community structure of a modified rotating biological contactor wastewater treatment process, referred to as the Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process, was characterized in this study, via both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. On the basis of culture-dependent methods, Bacillus sp. were found to exist in large numbers on the biofilm (6.5% of the heterotrophic bacteria) and the microbial composition of the biofilms was quite simple. Only three phyla were identified-namely, the Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (High G+C Gram-positive bacteria), and the Firmicutes (Low G+C Gram-positive bacteria). The culture-independent partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a considerably more diverse microbial composition within the biofilms. A total of eight phyla were recovered in this case, three of which were major groups: the Firmicutes (43.9%), the Proteobacteria (28.6%), and the Bacteroidetes (17.6%). The remaining five phyla were minor groups: the Planctomycetes (4.4%), the Chlorobi (2.2%), the Actinobacteria (1.1%), the Nitrospirae (1.1%), and the Verrucomicrobia (1.1%). The two most abundant genera detected were the endospore-forming bacteria (31.8%), Clostridium and Bacillus, both of which are members of the Firmicutes phylum. This finding indicates that these endospore-forming bacteria successfully colonized and dominated the RABC process biofilms. Many of the colonies or clones recovered from the biofilms evidenced significantly high homology in the 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria stored in databases associated with advanced wastewater treatment capabilities, including nitrification and denitrification, phosphorus accumulation, the removal of volatile odors, and the removal of chlorohydrocarbons or heavy metals. The microbial community structures observed in the biofilms were found to correlate nicely with the enhanced performance of advanced wastewater treatment protocols.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.97.1-97
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• 2001

One of the main problems to constitute control method on biologically oriented wastewater purification processes, e.g. activated sludge process, sequential batch reactor, rotating bio-disk contactor, etc. is that it is hard to control the target component directly. For instance, while biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and chemical oxygen demand are the key components to check the process performance, one may not control them directly since they are the results of microbial activities related to numerous physiochemical factors. Therefore controllers for bioprocess should be designed to make favorable condition for microorganisms´ living, e.g. dissolved oxygen level favorable, mixed liquor suspended solids concentration suitable ...

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Fisheries Technology Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.185-186
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• 2000

순환여과식 양식 시스템은 주위 환경에 영향을 최소로 할 수 있는(Ackefors and Enel, 1992) 환경친화적 양식 방법으로, 대부분의 순환수를 버리지 않고 재 이용하기 위해서는 사육시스템 내 생성된 어류 노폐물을 처리하기 위한 인위적인 처리 장치가 필수적이다. 이들 노폐물 중 암모니아 농도는 시스템 내 생산성을 제한하는 인자로서, 생물여과조를 이용한 수질관리가 이루어지고 있다. (중략)

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 1999

Air-drived rotating biological contactor (RBC) system, which is effective method in filtering performance, was tested for the nitrification capacity in a recirculating system. At ammonia concentrations between 0.029 and 0.528 mg/l, the effect of ammonia loading rate on ammonia removal rate at three different hydraulic loading rates could be defined by the following first­order regression models: Hydraulic loading rate of $14.8 m^3/m^3/day:\;y=39.2\times+3.4 (r^2=0.9137)$, Hydraulic loading rate of $26.5 m^3/m^3/day: y=53.3\times+4.0 (r^2=0.8686)$, Hydraulic loading rate of $37.3 m^3/m^3/day: y=58.4\times+4.2 (r^2=0.7755)$, where, $\times$ is ammonia loading rate (mg/l), y is ammonia removal rate $(g/m^3/day)$, The equations showed the optimal ammonia removal rate at the hydraulic loading rate of $26.5m^3/m^3/day$. Below the ammonia concentration of 2.72 mg/l, first-order regression models between ammonia loading rate and ammonia removal rate at three different rates of speed are defined as follows: Rotational speed of $0.75 rpm: y=28.5\times+4.7 (r^2=0.9143)$, Rotational speed of $1.0 rpm: y=33.6\times+8.4 (r^2=0.9534)$, Rotational speed of $2.0 rpm: y=28.9\times+3.6 (r^2=0.9488)$, where, x is ammonia loading rate (mg/l), y is ammonia removal rate $(g/m^3day)$. The equations show the ammonia removal rate at the rotational speed of 1.0 rpm is significantly higher than that at the rotational speed of either 0.75 rpm or 2.0 rpm (P<0.05).

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.70-76
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• 2001

An integrated recirculating aquaculture system suitable to our country's situation was designes and developed, The integrated recirculating aquaculture system consisting of a double drain type rearing tank of the $2.5 m^3$, a sedimentation tank for removal of settleable solids, a floating bead filter for the removal of suspended solids, a foam separator for removal of fine particles and a rotating biological contactor for the nitrification was designed and manufactured. The integrated recirculating aquaculture system was stocked with nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) at $2\%$ rearing density for 2 weeks. Feed coefficient was 1.4 and average daily growth rate was $0.64\%$ in the system for 2 weeks.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.132-140
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• 1998

Laboratory-scale experiments were conducted using a three-stage rotating biological contactor unit followed by lime precipitation and sedimentation with effluent recycle to the first stage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of hydraulic loadings of 0.031-0.076 $m^3/m^2/d and recycle ratio of 1 to 3 on the simultaneous removal of organics and nutrients from domestic wastewater. Lime was added to maintain pH of 10.4-11.0 in the coagulation-flocculation reactor. Results showed that the highest nitrogen removal rate of 70.5% occurred at the lower hydraulic loading of 0.031 $m^3/m^2/d at a recirculation rate of 300%, and similarly, highest nitrification occurred at the same hydraulic loading and recycle ratio. Concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the effluent was less than 1 mg/l at the same operating conditions for higher nitrogen removal. Whereas, high BOD and COD removal was observed at hydraulic loading rate of 0.054 $m^3/m^2/d, and high removal of organic matter was evident from the consistent low COD and BOD value. Results obtained from the operating condition of higher loading rate, 300% of recycle rate showed the highest removals. Increasing in recycle rate and hydraulic loading rate increased the volatile solids fraction of the sludges generated to the extent of 47% at 0.076 $m^3/m^2/d hydraulic loading and 300% recirculation rate. Since pH in the flocculator was maintained at the pH of 10.4-11.0, above 90% removal of phosphorus was obtained. Average concentration of suspended solids was always maintained over 40 mg/l in the effluent. Therefore an RBC unit operating at a hydraulic loading near 0.031 $m^3/m^2/d with a recycle rate of 300% is a viable and feasible alternate conditions to produce an effluent with relative low organic matter and phosphorus, provided that there is a neutralization unit to control the pH and SS of the effluent.