• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.676-681
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• 2013

Perchlorate (${ClO_4}^-$) is an emerging contaminant found in surface water and soil/groundwater. Microbial removal of perchlorate is the method of choice since perchlorate-reducing bacteria (PRB) can reduce perchlorate to harmless end-products. A previous study [3] showed experimental evidence of autotrophic perchlorate removal using elemental sulfur granules and activated sludge. The granular sulfur is a relatively inexpensive electron donor, and activated sludge is easily available from a wastewater treatment plant. A batch test was performed in this study to further investigate the effect of various environmental parameters on the perchlorate degradation by sludge microorganisms when elemental sulfur was used as electron donor. Results of the batch test suggest optimum conditions for autotrophic perchlorate degradation by sludge microorganisms. The results also show that sulfur-oxidizing PRB enriched from activated sludge removed perchlorate better than activated sludge. Taken together, this study suggests that autotrophic perchlorate removal using elemental sulfur and activated sludge can be improved by employing optimized environmental conditions and enrichment culture.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.855-859
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• 2011

The main pollutants from zirconium alloy tubing manufacturing process in nuclear industry are nitrate ($NO_3-N$) and fluoride (F-)Nitric acid, and hydrofluoric acid is used for acid pickling. The process for the removal of nitrate and fluoride is composed of 1st chemical coagulation, SOD (Sulfur Oxidation Denitrification) process using sulfur-oxidizing denitrification, and 2nd chemical coagulation. The characteristic of the wastewater treatment is an application of SOD process. The SOD Process is highly received attention because it is significantly different from existing processes for sulfur denitrification. A JSC (JeonTech-Sulfur- Calcium) Pellet is unification of sulfur and alkalinity material. According to result of SOD process in wastewater treatment plant, the removal efficiency of T-N was over 91% and the average concentration of T-N from influent was 147.55 mg T-N/L and that from effluent was 12.72 mg T-N/L. Therefore, SOD process is a useful to remove nitrogen from inorganic industrial wastewater and a new development of microbial activator was shown to be stable for activation of autotrophic bacteria.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.851-856
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• 2010

A sulfur utilizing nitrite denitrification process could be placed after the shortcut biological nitrogen removal (SBNR) process. In this study, removal of nitrite using sulfur oxidizing denitrifier was characterized in batch tests with granular elemental sulfur as an electron donor and nitrite as an electro acceptor. At sufficient alkalinity, initial nitrite nitrogen concentration of 100 mg/L was almost completely reduced in the batch reactor within a incubation time of 22 h. Sulfate production with nitrite was 4.8 g ${SO_4}^{2-}/g$ ${NO_2}^-$-N, while with nitrate 13.5 g ${SO_4}^{2-}/g$ ${NO_3}^-$-N. Under the conditions of low alkalinity, nitrite removal was over 95% but 15 h of a lag phase was shown. For nitrate with low alkalinity, no denitrification occurred. Sulfate production was 2.6 g ${SO_4}^{2-}/g$ ${NO_2}^-$-N and alkalinity consumption was 1.2 g $CaCO_3/g$ ${NO_2}^-$. The concentration range of organics used in this experiment did not inhibit autotrophic denitrification at both low and high alkalinity. This kind of method may solve the problems of autotrophic nitrate denitrification, i.e. high sulfate production and alkalinity deficiency, to some extent.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.12
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• pp.956-966
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• 2011

Bioleaching studies of metals from a spent catalyst were conducted using both adapted and unadapted bacterial cultures. The bacterium used in this experiment was Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. A comparison of the kinetics of leaching was made between the two cultures by varying the leaching parameters, including the pulp density, particle size and temperature. Both cultures showed similar effects with respect to the above parameters, but the leaching rates of all metals were higher with the adapted compared to the unadapted bacterial cultures. The leaching reactions were continued for 240 h in the case of the unadapted bacterial culture, but only for 40 h in the case of the adapted bacterial culture. The leaching reactions followed first order kinetics. In addition, the kinetics of leaching was concluded to be a diffusion control model; therefore, the product layers were impervious.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 2012

The performance and removal efficiencies of a pilot scale biofilter were estimated by using ammonia and hydrogen sulfide as the odorous gases. Expanded polyurethane foam coated with powdered activated carbon and zeolite was used as a biofilm supporting medium in the biofilter. Odorous gases from the sludge thickener of a municipal wastewater treatment plant were treated in the biofilter for 10 months and the inlet ammonia and hydrogen sulfide concentrations were 0.1-1.5 and 2-20 ppmv, respectively. The removal efficiencies reached about 100% at the empty bed retention time (EBRT) of 3.6-5 seconds except for the adaptation periods. The pressure drop of the biofilter caused by the gas flow was also low that the maximum attained was 31 mm $H_2O$ during the operation. Its stability was confirmed in the long term due to the fact that the biofilter and the polyurethane medium had a minimum plugging and compression. The microbial community on the medium is critical for the performance of the biofilter especially the distribution of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and sulfur oxidizing bacteria (SOB). The distribution of Nitrosomonas sp. (AOB) and Thiobacillus ferroxidans (SOB) was confirmed by FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis. The longer the operation time, the more microbial population observed. Also, the medium close to the gas inlet had more microbial population than the medium at the gas outlet of the biofilter.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.971-978
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• 2022

Sulfur-oxidizing, ammonium-oxidizing, and nitrogen-oxidizing media were used to isolate bacteria to degrade malodor gas effectively in piggery manure or soil. Twelve different strains were isolated: Paenibacillus amylolyticus, Rhodococcus jostii, Rhodococcus qingshengii, Rhodococcus opacus, Alcaligenes faecalis, Alcaligenes faecalis, Kastia adipate, Kastia adipata, Microbacterium oxydans, Halomonas campisalis, Acinetobacter oleivorans, and Micrococcus luteus. By inoculating each strain in the piggery liquid manure by 1%, the pH in most strain treatments was maintained at 8.0. Total bacterial counts were maintained at 7.3~7.9 log CFU/ml until 15 days, and then they dropped dramatically down to 5.1~5.5 log CFU/ml. On the 30th day, the treatment group inoculated with Rhodococcus opacus SK2659 showed a relatively high level of ammonium nitrogen removal, which was 39% of that of the control group. When Rhodococcus opacus SK2659 was inoculated, H2S concentration after 100 days was 3.23% compared with the control (no inoculation), suggesting that Rhodococcus opacus SK2659 is an excellent strain for removing malodor gas. The gas production of the treatments was lower than that of the control. The total accumulated amount of gas production in most strain treatments was a quarter of the gas production compared to the control throughout the experimental periods. Acinetobacter oleivorans SK2675 showed the lowest level at 12.39% compared to the control in gas production. In conclusion, the use of mixture strains, such as Rhodococcus opacus SK2659 and Acinetobacter oleivorans SK2675 isolated in this study could increase the efficacy of malodor gas reduction in the biological treatment of piggery manure.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.5 no.3 s.17
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• pp.75-82
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• 2005

Sewage facilities are positively necessary for environment improvement such as rainwater removal, sewage disposal, preservation of the quality of water and health of the citizens in present-day. Meanwhile, a deterioration of the concrete sewer pipe is increasing rapidly due to the chemical and physical attack and especially biochemical attack that is to say biodeterioration. So, in advanced countries, prediction techniques and corrosion inhibition system for sewer concrete are developed and are being applied. Also, antibiotics were developed already but application of that is low because it is not economical and has no practical use. But, in domestic, countermeasures for the corrosion of sewage concrete are not sufficient and biochemical attack is not reflected in those essentially. In this study, to prevent biochemical corrosion of the sewer concrete, surface of the concrete was spread with liquefied inorganic antibiotics and then its engineering properties were experimentally investigated. As a result, compressive strength of the specimen spread with antibiotics were similar to those of non spread, Both bond strength and abrasion amount of the specimen spread with antibiotics were inferior to non spread. Properties of absorption and air permeability of the specimen spread with antibiotics were superior to non spread. Finally, carbonation depth, chloride ion penetration depth and weight change ration of the specimen spread with antibiotics were smaller than non spread.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.1046-1054
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• 2001

Bioleaching is the process in which insoluble metal sulfide is oxidized by specialized iron- and/or sulfur-oxidizing lithotrophic bacteria in acidic, metal-rich environments. Most of these processes are carried out by the genus Thiobacillus. Three novel Thiobacillus strains (Thiobacillus thiooxidans AZ11, Thiobacillus thiooxidans MET, and thiobacillus thiooxidans TAS) associated with bioleaching have been isolated from soil and sludge (Korean patent No. 1999-0073060 for T. thiooxidans AZ11, Korean patent No. 1999-0005798 for T. thiooxidans MET, and Korean patent No. 1999-0073059 for T. thiooxidans TAS). A partial sequence of 16S ribosomal RNA gene (16S rDNA) and the entire sequence of 16S/23S intergenic spacer region (ISR) were determined in the three above novel strains and in Thiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC19859 as a reference strain. When phylogenetic analysis was performed based on G+C contents and sequence alignments, T. ferroxidans ATCC19859 was found to be closely related to previously registered T. ferrooxidans strains in a monophyletic manner, while the three novel T. thiooxidans strains were classified in a paraphyletic manner. Close examination on the base composition of 16S/23S ISR revealed that the 5\` part (nucleotide residues 21-200) was specific for the genus Thiobacillus. On the other end, the 3\` part (nucleotide residues 201-520) showed specificity in T. ferrooxidans strains, but not in T. thiooxidans strains. These results suggest that the proximal and distal halves of 16S/23S could be used as a genetic marker for the identification of the genus Thiobacillus and the species T. ferrooxidans, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1459-1469
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• 2008

Using a rotating biological contactor modified with a sequencing bath reactor system (SBRBC) designed and operated to remove phosphate and nitrogen [58], the microbial community structure of the biofilm from the SBRBC system was characterized based on the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) constituents, electron microscopy, and molecular techniques. Protein and carbohydrate were identified as the major EPS constituents at three different biofilm thicknesses, where the amount of EPS and bacterial cell number were highest in the initial thickness of 0-100${\mu}m$. However, the percent of carbohydrate in the total amount of EPS decreased by about 11.23%, whereas the percent of protein increased by about 11.15% as the biofilm grew. Thus, an abundant quantity of EPS and cell mass, as well as a specific quality of EPS were apparently needed to attach to the substratum in the first step of the biofilm growth. A FISH analysis revealed that the dominant phylogenetic group was $\beta$- and $\gamma$-Proteobacteria, where a significant subclass of Proteobacteria for removing phosphate and/or nitrate was found within a biofilm thickness of 0-250${\mu}m$. In addition, 16S rDNA clone libraries revealed that Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp. were most dominant within the initial biofilm thickness of 0-250${\mu}m$, whereas sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, such as Beggiatoa sp. and Thiothrix sp., were detected in a biofilm thickness over 250${\mu}m$. The results of the bacterial community structure analysis using molecular techniques agreed with the results of the morphological structure based on scanning electron microscopy. Therefore, the overall results indicated that coliform bacteria participated in the nitrate and phosphorus removal when using the SBRBC system. Moreover, the structure of the biofilm was also found to be related to the EPS constituents, as well as the nitrogen and phosphate removal efficiency. Consequently, since this is the first identification of the bacterial community and structure of the biofilm from an RBC simultaneously removing nitrogen and phosphate from domestic wastewater, and it is hoped that the present results may provide a foundation for understanding nitrate and phosphate removal by an RBC system.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.113-120
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• 2007

In this study, researches for the development of antibiotics and antimicrobial concrete were conducted to reduce biochemical corrosion of sewage concrete. First of all, desired performance, such as watertightness, antibiosis, homogeneity, workability and harmlessness, was proposed and performance of antibiotics and antimicrobial concrete were evaluated by them. As results of this study, dispersibility and antibiosis of liquid antibiotics superior to powdery antibiotics. Antibiosis of antimicrobial concrete was verified, and amount of elution of harmful and effective ingredients was little. In workability, setting time of antimicrobial concrete was delayed. Compressive strength and resistance to carbonation of antimicrobial concrete were more increased than ordinary concrete. Also, as little pore volume and closed structure of antimicrobial concrete were observed, watertightness of it was verified. Finally artificial accelerating test for biochemical corrosion was proposed, and its suitability was experimentally proved.