• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.202-210
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• 2019

In order to maximize the utilization of sewage sludge, a waste from wastewater treatment facility, the residual sewage sludge generated after lipid and carbohydrate extraction for biodiesel and bioethanol production was used to produce bio-oil by pyrolysis. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that sludge pyrolysis mainly occurred between 200 and $550^{\circ}C$ (with peaks formed around 337.0 and $379.3^{\circ}C$) with the decomposition of the main components (carbohydrate, lipid, and protein). Bio-oil was produced using a micro-tubing reactor, and its yield (wt%, g-bio-oil/g-residual sewage sludge) increased with an increase in the reaction temperature and time. The maximum bio-oil yield of 33.3% was obtained after pyrolysis at $390^{\circ}C$ for 5 min, where the largest amount of energy was introduced into the reactor to break the bonds of organic compounds in the sludge. The main components of bio-oil were found to be trans-2-pentenoic acid and 2-methyl-2-pentenoic acid with the highest selectivity of 28.4% and 12.3%, respectively. The kinetic rate constants indicated that the predominant reaction pathway was sewage sludge to bio-oil ($0.1054min^{-1}$), and subsequently to gas ($0.0541min^{-1}$), rather than the direct conversion of sewage sludge to gas ($0.0318min^{-1}$).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.64-73
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• 1997

Most of the municipal wastewater treatment plants operated in Korea are designed for high concentrations municipal sewage. However, activated sludge process employed by municipal wastewater treatment plant is operated at low organic loading. The objective of this study was to determine optimum operating condition of activated sludge process for treatment of low concentration municipal sewage. Three bench scale activated sludge reactors were operated to investigate the effect of HRT and SRT on the COD and TSS removal efficiency. The average concentration of TSS, SCOD, SBOD and TKN in influent were 118mg/l, 61mg/l, 21mg/l, and 12mg/l, respectively. The activated sludge reactors operated with various HRT and SRT showed about 89-93% TSS removal efficiency. HRT and SRT does not affect the TSS removal efficiency of actvatied sludge process significantly. However, HRT affected the SCOD removal efficiency slightly. As the HRT decreases from 13hours to 3hours, the SCOD removal efficiency decreases from 67% to 56%. The average effluent TCOD concentration of the reactor operated with 3hours of HRT was approximatly 40-45mg/l. Kinetic coefficient yield (Yt) and decay coefficients(Kd) were 0.594-0.954 mgMLVSS/mgCOD and $0.0197-0.0317day^{-1}$, respectively. Low concentration municipal sewage can be treated with 3 hours of HRT without effluent quality deterioration and SRT does not affect the substrate removal efficiency at this operation condition.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.413-425
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• 2005

The 16 priority PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) designated by US Environmental Protection Agency were analyzed for some digested sludges from wastewater treatment plants in Korea. PAHs are an important group of organic contaminants present in sewage sludge due to their persistence and toxic potential. PAHs were extracted from freeze-dried sludges using a methylene chloride-methanol (2:1) mixture in a soxhlet extractor. The extracts were cleaned-up by silica gel/alumina combination column and subsequently fed into gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for determining PAH contents. The sum of the 16 PAHs in the sewage sludge varied from 534.8 to $5754.5 {\cal}ug/{\cal}kg$, dry wt.. In the sewage sludge, phenanthrene appears as the most abundant PAHs, followed by naphthalene, pyrene, fluoranthene. Source of the investigated sewage sludges relatively predominated pyrogenic. PAHs levels of sewage sludges in Korea appeared to be lower than those in other countries.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.37-52
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• 1992

Since the first sewage treatment plant was constructed in 1976, the sewerage systems of Korea have been rapidly expanded. As of the end of 1991, 22 sewage treatment plants with total capacity of 5.4 million tons/day are in operation which is equivalent of 3395 total daily sewage generation. Total extension of sewer 39.534 km in 1990 which is 55% of the target extension for the year 2001. However, the most sewage treatment plants employ activated sludge process which may not be suitable for medium and/or small scale plants. The poor existing sewer systems do not effectively collect and transport sewage to adversely affect the function of sewage treatment plant. To select the appropriate treatment system, the cities are classified into 3 categories such as large and medium size inland cities, small size cities and coastal cities. Considering the criteria suggested during this study, appropriate treatment processes were selected for each category. Conventional activated sludge process and step aeration process were found to be the most appropriate for big inland cities while biological nutrient removal processes should be considered for the cities discharge the effluent to lakes or reservoirs. RBC or Oxidation Ditch process might be appropriate for the medium size cities while several processes which do not require skilled operation and maintenance were suggested for the small cities. Ocean discharge after primary treatment can be considered for some east coast cities, Appropriate methodology to rehabilitate the existing sewers and strategy to convert combined sewer system to separate sewer system were proposed. This paper also include the appropriate management system for industrial wastewater, sludge and nightsoil.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.567-573
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• 2003

The pretreatment process was carried out to solubilize the sewage sludge for enhancing its biodegradability using alkaline treatment, ultrasonic treatment(15kHz), ozone treatment and different combination of these three methods: alkaline followed by ultrasonic as well as ozone, and ultrasonic followed by alkaline. The solubilization efficiency was evaluated based on the SCOD/TCOD ratio and VSS/TS ratio. In results, the proper condition of alkaline treatment was shown as 30meq/l of NaOH, pH 12 and 3hours of reaction time. Solubilization efficiency increased to 17% from initial 2% based on SCOD/TCOD ratio under this condition. In ultrasonic treatment, the higher ultrasonic power, the longer treatment time and the lower sludge volume resulted in higher solubilization respectively. There was a rapid increase in solubilization efficiency after 20 minute, then it was measured as 32% of SCOD/TCOD ratio in 1 hour at a ultrasonic power of 1,300W with 1/sludge. Solubilization efficiencies in combined treatment using alkaline and ultrasonic were 47-53% higher than single treatment at a sonicated time of 1 hour. Ozone treatment followed by alkaline treatment also represented the enhanced solubilization compared to ozone treatment. Therefore, ultrasonic or ozone treatment assisted by alkaline could achieve the short treatment time as well as high solubilizetion efficiency.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.229-236
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• 2006

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) contents in the sewage sludge derived from the residential and industrial areas were determined in order to characterize contemporary organic contamination levels as a part of the ongoing development of the environmentally sound sewage sludge management strategy in Korea. OPPs were extracted from freeze-dried sludges in a ultrasonic extractor. The extracts were cleaned-up by florisil column and subsequently fed into gas chromatograph/nitrogen phosphorus detector (GC/NPD) for determining OPP contents. Diazinon, dimethoate, disulfoton, EPN, malathion, methyl parathion, parathion, phorate and sulfotep were present in the appreciable amount in the domestic sewage sludges. The sum of the 9 OPPs in the sewage sludge varied from 534.8 to 15552.1 ${\mu}g/kg$, dry wt..

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2006.05b
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• pp.117-120
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to efficiently treat the sewage sludge discharged from sewage treatment plants and evaluate the feasibility of the manufacture of lightweight aggregates(LWA) using a large quantity of sewage sludge. Sintered lightweight aggregate from sewage sludge is experimentally manufactured with various mass ratios of clay to sewage sludge by a pilot plant, and is tested for density, water absorption and crushing value. Their physical properties are compared to those of a commercial sintered lightweight aggregate. As a result, an experimentally manufactured lightweight aggregate is similar or superior in physical properties to the commercial lightweight aggregate. The manufactured lightweight aggregate could be used for structural concrete and non-structural concrete.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.505-510
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• 2008

Excess sludge and raw sludge were treated by ball mill in order to promote solubilization, and it was known that the level of solubilization was higher in excess sludge rather than raw sludge. About solid concentration, with the increase of TS, the amounts of solubilization was increased. And excess sludge was solubilized more effectively with the increase of ball mill treatment time. Especially, in case of excess sludge, within 5 min of ball mill treatment, 6 times of solubilization was achieved compared with raw sludge. The effect of bead size was also tested and 1 mm bead was most desirable when applied to the TS 4% of excess sludge. Particle size decrease by the ball mill treatment was more effective in raw sludge, nevertheless the level of solubilization was always higher in excess sludge. This means that the results of particle analysis could not be understood as a indicator for sludge solubilization. Generally, excess sludge and raw sludge are mixed at the thicker in the STP, but considering a ball mill pretreatment as an alternative for sludge solubilization, it is desirable to treat not raw sludge but excess sludge alone in the aspect of solubilization yield and economical process.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.83-88
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• 2002

This study was performed to determine the possibility of sludge treatment by ozone for reducing the sludge production in sewage treatment. To evaluate the characteristics of the release of organic matters and nutrient from sludge degradation by ozone, SCOD, SBOD/TCOD, T-N and T-P were analyzed. From the results, we concluded that the concentration of soluble organic matters(SCOD) was increased with reaction time. Also, The concentration of T-N and T-P were increased with time like as organic matters. Quantities of released SCOD, SBOD, T-N and T-P by ozonization were 0.038g, 0.058 g, 0.011 g, 0.012 g per g MLSS, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2018

Domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) consume about 0.5 % of total electric energy produced annually, which is equivalent to 207.7 billion Korean won per year. To minimize the energy consumption and as a way of mitigating the depletion of energy sources, the sewage treatment strategy should be improved to the level of "energy positive". The core processes for the energy positive sewage treatment include A-stage for energy recovery and B-stage for energy-efficient nitrogen removal. The integrated process is known as the A/B-process. In A-stage, chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) or high rate activated sludge (HRAS) processes can be utilized by modifying the primary settling in the first stage of sewage treatment. CEPT utilizes chemical coagulation and flocculation, while HRAS applies returned activated sludge for the efficient recovery of organic contents. The two processes showed organic recovery efficiencies ranging from 60 to 70 %. At a given recovery efficiency of 80 %, 17.3 % of energy potential ($1,398kJ/m^3$) is recovered through the anaerobic digestion and combustion of methane. Besides, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can recover 85% of organic contents and generate $1,580kJ/m^3$ from the sewage. The recovered energy is equal to the amount of energy consumption by sewage treatment equipped with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX)-based B-stage, $810{\sim}1,620kJ/m^3$. Therefore, it is possible to upgrade STPs as efficient as energy neutral. However, additional novel technologies, such as, fuel cell and co-digestion, should be applied to achieve "energy positive" sewage treatment.