• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.329-336
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• 2008

The pilot study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of air flotation(AF) processes combined with biological nutrient removal(BNR) for the retrofitting of conventional wastewater treatment facilities. The BNR system was operated in pre-denitrification and intermittent aeration; developed ceramic membrane diffusers were installed to separate the solid-liquid of activated sludge at the bottom of a flotation tank. Before performing a pilot scale study, the size distribution of microbubbles generated by silica or alumina-based ceramic membrane diffusers was tested to identify the ability of solid-liquid separation. According to the experimental results, the separation and thickening efficiency of the alumina-based ceramic membrane diffuser was higher than the silica-based ceramic membrane diffuser. In a $100m^3/d$ pilot plant, thickened and return sludge concentration was measured to be higher than 15,000mg SS/L, therefore, the MLSS in the bioreactor was maintained at over 3,000mg SS/L. The effluent quality of the AF-BNR process was 4.2mg/L, 3.7mg/L, 10.6mg/L and 1.6mg/L for $BOD_5$, SS, T-N and T-P, respectively. Lastly, it was revealed that the unit treatment cost by flotation process is lower than about $1won/m^3$ compared to a gravity sedimentation process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.551-559
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• 2008

An experimental study was carried out to evaluate the potential of flotation process for the secondary clarifier of an activated sludge process. Flotation techniques, applied in this study, include electrofloation (EF) which generated fine bubbles smaller than $35{\mu}m$ in average and diffuser flotation (DF) which generated fine bubbles smaller than $55{\mu}m$ in average. The batch experiments were done with activated sludge displaying various characteristics. It was shown that the efficiency of solids/liquid separation was reduced as the diluted sludge volume index ($DSVI_{30}$) of activated sludge increased. The dependency, however, gradually decreased as the gas to solids (G/S) ratio increased. Thickening efficiency of EF was more than 2~10 times and DF process was more than 1.5~5 times as compared with gravity sedimentation (GS). Stable sludge blanket was maintained regardless of sludge settleability when the G/S ratio was 0.019 in the EF. On the other hand, Serious deterioration in the sludge blanket was observed in the DF depends on G/S ratio and sludge settleability. And For EF and DF, the suspended solids concentration of effluent was not nearly influenced on settleability of activated sludge and more clear than GS. A biological nutrient removal (BNR) process, combined with EF as a secondary clarifier was operated for three months. The mean MLSS (mixed liquid suspended solids) concentration in the reactor and mean solids concentration of return sludge were estimated to be 5,340 mg/L and 16,770 mg/L, respectively. The water quality of effluent was considerably stable and low value was accomplished, that was, standard suspended solids concentration $0.07{\pm}0.51mg/L$ and standard turbidity $1.44{\pm}0.56NTU$. The EF could be applicable for enhancement of efficiency of activated sludge system as well as improvement of the water quality of effluent.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.251-259
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• 2016

This study examined the DO concentration distribution and ORP distribution using microbubbles on pilot-scale aeration tanks. As a result of MLSS mixing and oxygen transfer phenomenon using microbubbles, different DO concentrations were observed depending on the circulation of the liquid with the microbubble supply location on the lateral of an aeration tank. The simulation results of CFD (computational fluid dynamics) program showed that MLSS mixed with a microbubble supply in the middle the reactor is much better than on the left side of the reactor. A single reactor containing an anaerobic, anoxic, and aerobic zone, was evaluated without partition according to the location of the microbubble supply based on the experiments and CFD analysis. MLSS was separated into solid-liquid by the microbubble supply in the aeration tank. Consequently, selecting the appropriate microbubble size is important for MLSS mixing and was maintained at the proper DO concentration for biological treatment.