• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.103-109
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• 2010

Anaerobic digestion has been widely used for the treatment of sludge, which is generated from the municipal and industrial wastewater treatment, for its volume reduction and methane production. Many researches on sludge pre-treatment have been carried out in order to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion by increasing the hydrolysis of sludge which is the rate limiting step of anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of pre-treatment on sludge hydrolysis(solubilization), methane production and sludge reduction by anaerobic digestion after thermal, ultrasonic, and thermal-alkali sludge treatment were compared. Thermal-alkali treatment showed 67 and 70% solubilization with municipal and industrial wastewater sludge, respectively, while ultrasonic treatment and thermal treatment gave similar solubilization efficiency of 40% or more. Methane content of the anaerobic digestion gas reached 45~70% and pretreated sludge gave higher methane content than the control sludge. Methane production of thermal, ultrasonic, and thermal-alkali pre-treatment gave 2.6, 2.7, 3.5 times of municipal control sludge and 3.5, 4.1, 4.2 times of industrial control sludge, respectively. Sludge reduction of pre-treated sludge after anaerobic digestion gave 5~19% point higher than that of control sludge, and thermal-alkali treatment showed higher reduction efficiency than thermal and ultrasonic treatment. The results proved that pre-treatment contributed significantly not only for the methane production but also for the cost reduction of sludge treatment and disposal, and thermal-alkali treatment gave the best performance for the sludge treatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.815-824
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• 2011

In this study, a non-thermal plasma system was employed to simultaneously remove odorous compounds and organic sludge. The system consisted of two reactors; the first one was the non-thermal plasma reactor where ozone was produced by the plasma reaction and the ozone oxidized hydrogen sulfide, the model odorous compound, and then the ozone-laden gas stream was introduced to the second reactor where wasted sludge was disintegrated and solubilized by ozone oxidation. In this study, the gas retention time (GRT) and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) were changed in the two-reactor system, and the effects of GRT and HRT on reduction efficiencies of odor and sludge were determined. As the GRT increased, the ozone concentration increased resulting in an increasing efficiency of hydrogen sulfide removal. However, the overall ozone loading rate to the second sludge reactor was the same at any GRT, which resulted in an insignificant change in sludge reduction rate. When HRTs in the sludge reactor were 1, 2, 4 hours, the sludge reduction rates were approximately 30% during the four-hour operation, while the rate increased to 70% at the HRT of 6 hours. Nevertheless, at HRTs greater than 4 hours, the solubilization efficiency was not proportionally increased with increasing specific input energy, indicating that an appropriate sludge retention time needs to be applied to achieve effective solubilization efficiencies at a minimal power consumption for the non-thermal plasma reaction.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.424-429
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• 2012

The intention of this research was to investigate the solubilization of primary sewage sludge using lactic acid bacteria cultured in a glucose and yeast extract medium. Glucose as the carbon source and yeast extract as the source of nitrogen were chosen as an economic medium with the potential for the mass production of lactic acid bacteria. The optimal concentrations of the medium were 3% (w/v) glucose and 2% (w/v) yeast extract. In this study, in order to improve field applications for the solubilization of sludge at sewage treatment plants, a powdered form of lactic acid bacteria was produced. The optimal inoculum of the powder for the maximum efficiency of solubilization was 1% (w/v). In that condition, the SCOD value increased from 8600 (mg/L) at the beginning of experiment to 10290 (mg/L) at 96 h, with the highest solubilization rate (20.6% DDCOD) and 11.2% (SCOD). Also, the TVFAs of the lactic acid bacteria inoculation group were produced more than that of the control group. In particular, acetic acid was produced 5 times more in the experimental group than in the control group. In this research, the potential of lactic acid bacteria in the pretreatment of primary sewage sludge as a solubilizer, and as an energy source producer for microbial fuel cells was revealed.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.35-40
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• 2021

In order to investigate the degree of solubilization of sewage sludge using sono-activated persulfate(UV/PP), VSS reduction rate, solubilization rate and extracellular polymeric substances were measured. Ultrasonic(US) and alkali·ultrasonic method using sodium hydroxide(US/SH) were compared. Under the persulfate·ultrasonic conditions, the VSS reduction rate and the solubilization rate increased to 27.6% and 58.9%, respectively. TB-EPS as Carbohydrate and Protein were extracted by 770 mg/L and 2,162 mg/L. Compared to the other methods, US and US/SH, the VSS reduction rate and solubilization rate were higher. And also, according to the TB-EPS values, cell wall destruction was more efficient.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2007

In this study, thermalpretreatment was used to solubilize organic matter contained in sewage sludge before acid fermentation. By thermal pretreatment, solubilization of particulate CODcr, carbohydrate and protein increased. By thermal treatment at $120^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes, CODcr solubilization efficiency of the primary sludge reached 8.3%. Meanwhile, for the secondary sludge, CODcr solubilization efficiency reached 16.5% because of high solubilization ratio of protein under the same pretreatment conditon. The results of anaerobic biodegradability test showed that both VFAs conversion ratio and hydrolysis rate of organic compounds in sewage sludge were improved by thermal pretreatment. Meanwhile, the optimum thermal pretreatment condition was varied with composition of organic compounds in sludge. In this study, the optimun thermal pretreatment condition of the primary sludge, containing high concentration of carbohydrate, was $80^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, for the secondary sludge, mainly composed of protein, the sludge treated at $120^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes showed the effective organic removal and VFAs production.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.194-201
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• 2012

In this research, a sewage sludge solubilization study using electrolysis was performed as a pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion efficiency improvement. SCOD potency increased as the treatment time and electric current density increased with sludge electrolysis treatment while SCOD, TN, and TP especially showed the highest increase of 7.4 times, 1.9 times, and 1.3 times respectively at the 60 minute point of treatment. Solubilization was high at the strong acidic and alkaline status for the sewage sludge electrolysis treatment results along early stage pH, and especially, a high solubilization percentage of 32.9% was seen at pH 12. The above result shows that there was an increase of organic matter able to be used by microorganisms from sludge floc and the destruction of EPS structure due to direct and indirect oxidation following electrolysis.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.279-283
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• 1998

To investigate the feasibility of the microbial process for removal of heavy metals from the high solid content sludge, the effect of sludge concentration on the solubilization of heavy metals by an iron oxidizing bacterium Thiolbacillus ferrooxidans was examined. With increasing the sludge concentration, the removal efficiency of heavy metals and the oxidation rate of iron were inhibited. Especially, when the sludge concentration is over 5% (w/v), the activity of T. ferrooxidans was remarkably inhibited. This inhibition is considered to occur due to the dissolved inhibitory materials such as organic compounds, heavy metals, and others which were extracted from the sludge during incubation period. In conclusion, the microbial process by T. ferrooxidans is only effectively used in ranges of 1.3 to 4.0% (w/v) sludge concentration.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.362-369
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• 2019

In this study, biodegradation efficiency improvement of mixed sludge for the anaerobic digestion process in wastewater treatment plant was investigated. In order to release the organic material contained in the sludge cell and promote the hydrolysis step, mixed sludge of 7% TS (Total Solids) was physically shear-treated at a shear strength of 1,000 ~ 4,000 rpm and a maximum of 120 mins. As a result of the comparison between mixed sludge before and after the treatment, the concentration of $SCOD_{Cr}$(Soluble Chemical Oxygen Demand-chromium method) was increased through the conversion of granular organic matter into dissolved organic matter as shear strength and treatment time increases. The solubilization efficiency increased rapidly after 30 min of solubilization application time, and they were 11.23 %, 20.10 %, 22.52 % and 25.43% at 120 min for each shear strength conditions, respectively. Additionally, the BMP(Biochemical Methane Potential) test was conducted with the optimized samples to determine the increase of methane production by the shear pre-treatment. Consequently, methane production of each samples were 0.275, 0.310, 0.323 and $0.335m^3/kg\;VS_{add}$, which indicates that methane production was increased to a maximum of 21.28% compared to the control without the solubilization process ($0.262m^3/kg\;VS_{add}$). As a result, the physical shear-treatment is a promising process for sewage sludge pre-treatment to reduce the organic waste and increase the energy production.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.84-89
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• 2011

In this study, individual(alkaline, ultrasonic) and combined(alkaline+ultrasonic) pretreatment effect on sewage sludge solubilization was investigated. COD solubilization rates increased with the dose of NaOH added: solubilization reached 27.6%. Additional alkaline agents did not increase solubilization further. Ultrasonic pretreatment achieved 33~39% solubilization when 140 W/L amplitude. In(alkaline(pre-treatment)+ultrasonic (after-treatment)) treatment, solubilization increased as the combined intensity in creased($70.4{\pm}9.4%$). SCOD rising rate(0.076) was achieved.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1113-1122
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• 2009

In order to find the way to solve the problem of sewage sludge discharge into the ocean, the sludge solubilization by ultrasonic and the improvement methods of wastewater treatment process were studied. In the membrane bioreactor the sludge retention time was stepwise increased from 5.1 day to 442 days where the biomass average concentration has been increased from $c_B$=3.4 $gTSSL^{-1}$ to $c_B$=14.5 $gTSSL^{-1}$ respectively. At the same time, the biomass yield coefficients were reduced from 0.5-0.7 at SRT=5.1 day to 0.005-0.007 at SRT=442 days which means the reduction of sludge production. Oxygen mass transfer coefficients and ${\alpha}$-factor were investigated with changing stirrer speed to find the relation between the high biomass concentration and aeration efficiency in the propeller loop reactor. As a result of sludge solubilization, the solubilization of sludge by ultrasound was increased with increasing energy input and it led to improved anaerobic digestion rate with more biogas production than that of nonsolubilized sewage sludge.