• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2013

A combined process consisted of a biofilm reactor and a continuously stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was investigated for highly loaded ammonium wastewater treatment via nitrite accumulation. To enhance ammonium oxidizing bacteria over nitrite oxidizing bacteria on the surface of carriers, the biofilm reactor was operated at temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ for more than three months but the influent ammonium (500 mg-N/L) was partially oxidized to nitrite (240 mg-N/L). As pH was increased from 7.5 to 8.0, nitrite accumulation was fully achieved due to the inhibition of nitrite oxidizing bacteria under high free ammonia concentration. The biofilm reactor performance was severely deteriorated at the hydraulic retention time of 12 hr, at which incomplete nitrification of ammonia was observed. Various solubilization methods were applied to sewage sludge for enhancing its biodegradability and the combined method, alkaline followed by ultrasonic, gave the highest solubilization efficiency (58%); the solubilized solution was used as the external carbon source for denitrification reaction in CSTR. FISH analysis showed that the dominant microorganisms on the carriers were ammonium oxidizing bacteria such as Nitrosomonas spp. and Nitrospirar spp. but low amounts of nitrite oxidizing bacteria as Nitrobacter spp. was also detected.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2012

In order to find a feasibility of applying an agricultural biomass to the anaerobic digestion system, the effects of pre-treatment of rice straw was investigated by different sizes,temperatures, ultrasonic frequencies, and with/without NaOH treatment on the change of soluble organic matter, which is generated most dominantly in Korea. It was observed that SCOD(soluble chemical oxygen demand) as the index for the decomposition of rice straw increased with the smaller particle size, higher reaction temperature and alkali treatment. With treatment of 5% NaOH, it was shown that the highest concentrations of SCOD were observed at 9,000 mg $L^{-1}$ and 6,000mg $L^{-1}$ at $35^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$, respectively. Agitating with ultrasonic irradiation could be enhanced SCOD of rice straw less than 3 cm with 40 kHz of ultrasound. Optimal RPM in this study was at 150 rpm regardless of reaction temperatures.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.329-336
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• 2013

This study was conducted to reduce excess sludge generation by recycling of return sludge to the aeration tank after solubilization by electric field charger and ultrasonifier. The return sludge was purposely broken-up to the ratio of $SCOD_{Cr}/TCOD_{Cr}$ at 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3, which was tested along with control (i.e., untreated). Solubilized sludge was subsequently treated in a bench-scaled conventional activated sludge reactor. According to varying $SCOD_{Cr}/TCOD_{Cr}$ ratios, TSS in the reactor was correspondingly increased from 129 to 219 mg/L and $TCOD_{Cr}$ was also from 257 to 335 mg/L. However, TSS in the effluent was nevertheless kept lower at below 30 mg/L and $TCOD_{Cr}$ was also unvaryingly below 40 mg/L. For $SCOD_{Cr}/TCOD_{Cr}$ = 0.3, the amount of excess sludge produced was at the highest decreased up to as high as 78%.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.675-682
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• 2009

Sludge minimization from wastewater treatment plant is becoming more important to save disposal costs and to contribute to sustainable development. For the reduction of sludge production, solubilization and dewaterability of sludge are important factors in sludge processing. Ultrasonic treatment has been used to enhance sludge solubility and dewaterability with anaerobic digestion sludge, primary sludge, and activated sludge. At the ultrasonic power of 0.2 kW/L for 1 hour, anaerobic sludge and activated sludge showed higher solubilization efficiency than the primary sludge in terms of COD, proteins, and suspended solids. Ultrasonic treatment decreased sludge dewaterability and sludge settling characteristics up to 720 kJ/L of ultrasonic energy. In conclusion, ultrasonic treatment was effective for sludge solubilization but it deteriorate dewaterability (specific resistance) and settling characteristics (SVI) of sludge at the experimental conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.98-103
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• 2017

In this study, contributes to improving the state of this problem using cavitation by ultrasonic energy to reduce fuel costs, which take up a considerable part of ship operation costs, by making the use of on-board blended fuel oil more stable. An experiment simulating on-board blending methods was completed. Fuel (M.G.O & MF-180) was mixed at a volume ratio of 0.25:0.75 and, 0.75:0.25, and the effect of ultrasonic energy on blended fuel oil was examined after applying ultrasonic energy to blended fuel oil using an ultrasonic treatment unit. With the results, we confirmed the blending problem reported by vessels and residual carbon was reduced by up to 28.4%. In addition, based on the results for reduction of residual carbon content and dispersion stability, it was confirmed that the collapse pressure of the cavity due to the ultrasonic energy was effective to atomization of fuel particle and the temporary availability of mixed fuel containing a heavy fuel increased.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.580-586
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• 2010

Acid and alkali pretreatments were applied to tofu processing waste (TPW) to increase the solubility of ingredients in TPW. Pretreatment at 1.0% of HCl and 2.5% of NaOH condition resulted in the increase of SCOD concentration from 3.2 g COD/L to 27 g COD/L and 33 g COD/L, respectively. The acid and alkali-pretreated TPW was studied for its fermentative $H_2$ production capacity in batch mode using a thermophillic mixed culture. Alkali pretreatment on presence of 2.5% NaOH exhibited more soluble portion released compared to acid pretreatment using HCl, however the $H_2$ production from acid pretreated TPW was better than alkali-pretreated TPW probably due to the sodium inhibition on microbial activity. In addition, sewage sludge was externally added to the acid-pretreated (1.0% HCl) TPW by 20% (on volume basis). Average H2 production rate was increased from 31 to 78 ml/L-broth/hr, and it was attributed to the high buffer capacity and abundant nutrients especially divalent cation in sewage sludge.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.355-369
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• 2013

Economic feasibility is one of the most important factors in energy production from regenerative biomass. From the aspect, biogas from anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge is regarded as the most economical because of its cheap substrate and additional income from the disposal of waste sludge. Sludge hydrolysis has been regarded as the rate limiting step of anaerobic digestion and many sludge pre-treatment technologies have been developed to accelerate anaerobic sludge digestion for enhanced biogas production. Various sludge pre-treatment technologies including biological, thermo hydrolysis, ultrasonic, and mechanical methods have been applied to full-scale systems. Sludge pre-treatment increased the efficiency of anaerobic digestion by enhancing hydrolysis, reducing residual soilds, and increasing biogas production. This paper introduces the characteristics of various sludge pre-treatment technologies and the energy balance and economic feasibility of each technology were compared to prepare a guideline for the selection of feasible pre-treatment technology. It was estimated that thermophilic digestion and thermal hydrolysis were most economical technology followed by Cell rupture$^{TM}$, OpenCEL$^{TM}$, MicroSludge$^{TM}$, and ultrasound. The cost for waste sludge disposal shares the biggest portion in the economic analysis, therefore, water content of the waste sludge was the most important factor to be controlled.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.362-367
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• 2006

Waste activated sludge(WAS) collected from domestic wastewater treatment plant is biomass that contains large quantities of organic matter. However, relevant literature show that the bio-hydrogen yield using WAS was too low. In this study, the effect of pretreatment of WAS on hydrogen yield was investigated. Pretreatment includes acid and alkali treatments, grinding, heating, ozone and ultrasound methods. After pretreatment organic matters of WAS were solubilized and soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD) was increased by 14.6 times. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of pre-treatment methods and buffer solution, hydrogen partial pressure, and sodium ion on hydrogen production from WAS by using heated anaerobic mixed cultures. Experimental results showed that addition of buffer solution, efficient pre-treatment method with alkali solution, and gas sparging condition markedly increased the hydrogen yield to 0.52 mmol $H_2/g$-DS.