• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.125-138
• /
• 2023

Most of previous cesium (Cs) sorbents have limitations on the treatment in the large-scale water system having low Cs concentration and high ion strength. In this study, the new Cs sorbent that is eco-friendly and has a high Cs removal efficiency was developed by improving the coal mine drainage treated sludge (hereafter 'CMDS') with the addition of Na and S. The sludge produced through the treatment process for the mine drainage originating from the abandoned coal mine was used as the primary material for developing the new Cs sorbent because of its high Ca and Fe contents. The CMDS was improved by adding Na and S during the heat treatment process (hereafter 'Na-S-CMDS' for the developed sorbent in this study). Laboratory experiments and the sorption model studies were performed to evaluate the Cs sorption capacity and to understand the Cs sorption mechanisms of the Na-S-CMDS. The physicochemical and mineralogical properties of the Na-S-CMDS were also investigated through various analyses, such as XRF, XRD, SEM/EDS, XPS, etc. From results of batch sorption experiments, the Na-S-CMDS showed the fast sorption rate (in equilibrium within few hours) and the very high Cs removal efficiency (> 90.0%) even at the low Cs concentration in solution (< 0.5 mg/L). The experimental results were well fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model, suggesting the mostly monolayer coverage sorption of the Cs on the Na-S-CMDS. The Cs sorption kinetic model studies supported that the Cs sorption tendency of the Na-S-CMDS was similar to the pseudo-second-order model curve and more complicated chemical sorption process could occur rather than the simple physical adsorption. Results of XRF and XRD analyses for the Na-S-CMDS after the Cs sorption showed that the Na content clearly decreased in the Na-S-CMDS and the erdite (NaFeS₂·2(H₂O)) was disappeared, suggesting that the active ion exchange between Na⁺ and Cs⁺ occurred on the Na-S-CMDS during the Cs sorption process. From results of the XPS analysis, the strong interaction between Cs and S in Na-S-CMDS was investigated and the high Cs sorption capacity was resulted from the binding between Cs and S (or S-complex). Results from this study supported that the Na-S-CMDS has an outstanding potential to remove the Cs from radioactive contaminated water systems such as seawater and groundwater, which have high ion strength but low Cs concentration.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.24 no.11
• /
• pp.1485-1491
• /
• 2015

There are two treatment processes that are currently applied to ships are the biological treatment process using the activated sludge and the electrochemical treatment. However, neither of them are able to remove both nitrogen and phosphorus due to their limited ability to remove organic matters, which are main causes of the red tide. This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of nitrogen removal factors from manure wastewater by replacing the final settling tank in SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) process and applying immersion type hollow fiber membrane. SBR process is known to have an advantage of the least land requirement in special environment such as in ship and the immersion type hollow fiber membrane is more stable in water quality change. As the result, the average in the cases of DO (Dissolved Oxygen) is 2.9(0. 6~3.9) mg/L which was determined to be the denitrifying microorganism activity in anaerobic conditions. The average in the cases of ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential) is 98.4~237.3 mV which was determined to be the termination of nitrification since the inflection point was formed on the ORP curve due to decrease in the stirring treatment after the aeration, same as in the cases of DO. Little or no variation in the pH was determined to have positive effect on the nitrification. T-N (Total Nitrigen) removal efficiencies of the finally treated water were 71.4%, 72.3% and 66.5% in relatively average figures, thus was not a distinct prominence. In being applied in ships in the future, the operating conditions and structure improvements are deemed necessary since the MEPC (Marine Environment Protection Committee). 227(64) ship sewage nitrogen is less than the standard of 20 Qi/Qe mg/L or the removal rate of 70%.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.68-75
• /
• 2014

Soluble nitrogen produced from anaerobic digestor is able to have a strong influence on the effluent water quality of municipal wastewater treatment plants during a winter season in particular. The modeling results using the GPS-X simulation software shows that the soluble nitrogen concentration generated from the anaerobic digestor is 214.1 mg/L in the return flow and 6.2 mg/L in the inflow of the primary settler higher than those in nonexistence of the anaerobic digestor, respectively. In the case of using a separation process (flotation thickener) in order to treat the return flow from the sludge treatment system, the soluble nitrogen concentration in the effluent from the separation process and in the inflow of the primary setter could be 6.0 mg/L higher and 0.7 mg/L lower than those of nonexistence of the process, respectively. The modeling results propose the need of the equipments to be able to remove the soluble nitrogen ($NH_3-N$) produced from the digestor in the improvement projects of anaerobic digestor in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.105-109
• /
• 2008

In our country, limiting nutrient is known as phosphorus in the most lakes. Therefore, the removal of phosphorus is a very important process in sewage treatment. However, many of the sewage treatment plants employ the conventional activated sludge process, known to remove $10{\sim}30%$ of phosphorus. Thus, additional phosphorous removal process will be needed. Oyster shells have been known to remove phosphorus in water. The removal efficiency of phosphorus was highest at smallest size of oyster shells and at the highest pH for batch test. The phosphorous removal rate with various calcium concentrations was increased by increasing calcium concentration. At the 20 mg/l of calcium, more than 90% of phosphorous was removed in two hours. The removal efficiency of phosphorous was increased greatly at 300% of recirculation rate. With 300% of recirculation rate, the removal efficiency reached 80% at pH 11. The negative effects of bicarbonate on crystallization were observed in oyster shells. The effects of bicarbonate on rate constant were also investigated by applying these results to experimental equation. The rate constant was decreased at the inverse logarithm bicarbonate concentration.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
• /
• 2019.10a
• /
• pp.134-134
• /
• 2019

Utilization of organic waste as a renewable energy source is promising for sustainability and mitigation of climate change. Pyrolysis converts organic waste to gas, oil, and biochar by incomplete biomass combustion. Biochar is widely used as a soil conditioner and adsorbent. Biochar adsorbs/desorbs metals and ions depending on the soil environment and condition to act as a nutrient buffer in soils. Biochar is also regarded as a carbon storage by fixation of organic carbon. Phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) are strictly controlled in many wastewater treatment plants because it causes eutrophication in water bodies. P and N is removed by biological and chemical methods in wastewater treatment plants and transferred to sludge for disposal. On the other hand, P is an irreplaceable essential element for all living organisms and its resource (phosphate rock) is estimated about 100 years of economical mining. Therefore, P and N recovery from waste and wastewater is a critical issue for sustainable human society. For the purpose, intensive researches have been carried out to remove and recover P and N from waste and wastewater. Previous studies have shown that biochars can adsorb and desorbed phosphates implying that biochars could be a complementary fertilizer. However, most of the conventional biochar have limited capacity to adsorb phosphates and nitrate. Recent studies have focused on biochar impregnated with metal salts to improve phosphates and nitrate adsorption by synthesizing biochars with novel structures and surface properties. Metal salts and metal oxides have been used for the surface modification of biochars. If P removal is the only concern, P adsorption kinetics and capacity are the only important factors. If both of P and N removal and the application of recovery are concerned, however, P and N desorption characteristics and bioavailability are also critical factors to be considered. Most of the researches on impregnated biochars have focused on P removal efficiency and kinetics. In this study, coffee waste is thermally treated to produce biochar and it was impregnated with Mg/Al to enhance phosphates and nitrate adsorption/desorption and P bioavailability to increase its value as a fertilizer. Kinetics of phosphates and nitrate adsorption/desorption and bioavailability analysis were carried out to estimate its potential as a P and N removal adsorbent in wasewater and a fertilizer in soil.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.52-57
• /
• 2007

A gas-circulating bioreactor was used for enrichment of autotrophic methanogens. Mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide (5:1) was used as a sole energy and carbon source. Anaerobic digestive sludge isolated from wastewater treatment system was inoculated into the gas-circulating bioreactor. The enrichment of two chemolithotrophic methanogens, Methanobacterium curvum and Methanobacterium oryzae was accomplished in the gas-circulating bioreactor. The enriched bacteria were cultivated in a bioreactor equipped with hollow-fiber hydrogen-supplying system (hollow-fiber bioreactor), and a hybrid-type bioreactor equipped with hollow-fiber hydrogen-supplying system and electrochemical redox control system. The methane productivity was maximally 30% (V/V) in the hollow-fiber bioreactors and 50% (V/V) in the hybrid-type bioreactor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2000

Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the performances of anaerobic filters packed with ceramic tube and pall-ring media treating a dairy waste. The media packing volume was 65% of effective volume of anaerobic filter. Organics removals of anaerobic filters were maintained above 80% even at an organics loading rate of $10kgCOD/m^3/d$, and this was comparable to aerobic treatment of organic wastes. Organics removals of the ceramic tube anaerobic filters were always lower than those of the pall-ring anaerobic filters due to intrinsic physical property of ceramic tube, especially lower void space which caused to clogging and entrapment of biogas, substrate transfer limitation, and irregular evolution of biogas leading to loss of solids and biomass. This was clearly observed in higher concentration of TSS in the effluent from the ceramic tube anaerobic filter despite of higher retention capacity of TSS compared with pall-ring media. Vertical distribution of organics and solids in the filters showed above 90% of organics and solids in influent were removed below 20% of reactor height, and 50% of remaining organics and solids were removed though media packing zone. Effluent quality from the anaerobic filter was heavily depended on media itself as well as suspended biomass formed below media. It is therefore concluded that the type of media played an important role in biomass accumulation arid gas-liquid-solid separation efficiency. Type of media did not affect the start-up behaviors of the anaerobic filter, and supernatant from anaerobic digested sludge showed a good performance as a seeding materials.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.383-390
• /
• 2011

In this study, a process combined biofiltration with sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification and membrane separation was proposed to examine the efficiency of nitrogen removal. As an experimental device, hollow-fiber module was installed in the center of reactor to generate the flux forward sulfur layer in the cylinder packed with granular sulfur. In addition, a simple module was installed in activated sludge aeration tank which inside and outside of sulfur-using denitrification module was covered with microfilter and the module was considered as an alternative of clarifier. The experiment for developing new MBR process was carried out for three years totally. As the results of first two-year experiment, successful nitrogen removal performance was revealed with lab-scale test and pliot scale plant using artificial wastewater and actual plating wastewater. In this year, pilot scale test using actual domestic wastewater was performed to prove field applicability. As the results, high-rate nitrogen removal performance was confirmed with about 0.19 kg ${NO_3}^--N/m^3$ day of rate. Also significant fouling and pressure increase were not found during the experiment. And, the production ratio of sulfate and the consumption ratio of alkalinity showed a slightly higher value about 311 mg ${SO_4}^{2-}/L$ and 369 mg $CaCO_3$/L, respectively. In conclusion, the developed MBR process can be utilized as an alternative for retrofiting existing wastewater plants as well as new construction of advanced sewage wastewater treatment plants, with cost-effective merit.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.183-190
• /
• 2020

Although membrane bio-reactor (MBR) has been widely applied for wastewater treatment plants, the membrane fouling problems are still considered as an obstacle to overcome. Thus, many studies and commercial developments on mitigating membrane fouling in MBR have been carried out. Recently, high voltage impulse (HVI) has gained attention for a possible alternative technique for desalting, non-thermal sterilization, bromate-free disinfection and mitigation of membrane fouling. In this study, it was verified if the HVI could be used for mitigation of membrane fouling, particularly the internal pore fouling in MBR. The HVI was applied to the fouled membrane under different conditions of electric fields (E) and contact time (t) of HVI in order to investigate how much of internal pore fouling was reduced. The internal pore fouling resistance (R_f) after HVI induction was reduced as both E and t increased. For example, R_f decreased by 19% when the applied E was 5 kV/cm and t was 80 min. However, the R_f decreased by 71% as the E increased to 15 kV/cm under the same contact time. The correlation between E and t that needed for 20% of R_f reduction was modeled based on kinetics. The model equation, E^1.54t = 1.2 × 10³ was obtained by the membrane filtration data that were obtained with and without HVI induction. The equation states the products of En and t is always constant, which means that the required contact time can be reduced in accordance with the increase of E.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.113-120
• /
• 2013

This study aimed to obtain quantitative data for WWTP operators in phosphorus removal process. This was done by reviewing and comparing phosphorus removal efficiency(%), coagulants dosage(Al/P and $Al_2O_3$(mg/L)), sludge production($kg/m^3$), and operation cost($won/m^3$) of start-up and normal operation data. Phosphorus removal efficiency of all tertiary treatment process was up to 70 ~ 89 % in start-up and normal operation. Average molar ratio(Al/P) was similar as 5 in both operations, but average coagulants dosage (mg/L) of start-up (8.5 mg/L) was higher than normal operation (6.2 mg/L). Average operation cost was higher for start-up ($33.6won/m^3$) than normal operation ($28.4won/m^3$), while electricity cost required for the normal operation ($9.0won/m^3$) was higher by $3.5won/m^3$.