• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.769-778
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• 2009

Performances and internal behaviors of the upflow hybrid anaerobic filters treating a dairy wastewater were analyzed to identify the functions and roles of the modular crossflow media and sludge bed layer and to discover their interrelationship in the filter. The media could perform independent biological and physical separation role without buildup of sludge bed, while the role of sludge bed was dependent on the function of the media. The filter packed with the crossflow media did not necessarily require the formation of sludge bed when treating a dairy wastewater. Biological contribution of the media was controlled by that of biologically active sludge bed complementing mutually each other. The gas-liquid-solid separation capability of the media was indispensible to ensure the active biological role of sludge bed, since sludge bed buildup without the media had no independently effective biological function. It was believed that the filter in itself could also function as a selector for physical gas-liquid-solid separation resulting in selectively concentrating particles with superior settleability in sludge bed. The sludge bed in the filter played a key role in the physical solids capture from influent as well as biological organics removal.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.17-21
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• 1993

Characteristics of a downflow anaerobic packed bed reactor with raschig ring ceramics as a packing were measured and discussed for the basic evaluation of the process. A synthesized glucose substrate wastewater were used as a feed and process characteristics such as pH, biogas production, composition of produced gas, COD removal and VSS were measured with the hydraulic retention time (HRT) changing from 0.25 to 2 days. As a result, this type of reactor was applicable in continuous operation within the given HRT range and the transient period approaching the steady state was about 20 days. The content of methane in produced gas increase with HRT was always high above 50% enough to use as energy source. The COD removal efficiency increased gradually as HRT increased. The axial profile of VSS concentration in the reactor usually showed the maximum at the lower region and the minimum at the middle. The VSS concentration at the upper region and the exit appeared similarly. However, at 0.25 day of HRT, the VSS concentration of effluent became higher than that of the upper region. Therefore the optimum HRT of this reactor occurred about 0.5 day, at which the production of methane began to be just stabilized and loss of VSS and COD removal were resonable.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.353-360
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• 2009

This study was accomplished using Anaerobic/Anoxic/Oxic upflow packed-bed column reactors with fixed media and Loop Reactor with fluidized media instead of Oxic reactor. The objectives of this study was to investigate the characteristics of organics, nitrogen and phosphorus removal from sewage with the HRT. The average removal efficiencies of $BOD_5$ and SS increase as increasing the hydraulic retention time (HRT) until 16 h of the HRT, and they were constant over 16 h of the HRT. The removal efficiency of $BOD_5$ in case of packed-bed reactor and Loop Reactor was about 86.6% and 90.9% respectively at 16 h of the HRT. The removal efficiency of SS in packed-bed reactor and Loop Reactor was about 78.0% and 88.2% respectively at 16 h of the HRT. The average removal efficiencies of $COD_{Cr}$ and $COD_{Mn}$ showed similar trends as those of $BOD_5$ and SS. At the HRT of 16 h, the removal efficiency of $COD_{Cr}$ in case of packed-bed reactor and Loop Reactor was 63.5%, 75.2% and that of $COD_{Mn}$ was 60.7%, 73.6% respectively. The average removal efficiencies of T-N and T-P increase as increasing the HRT. The removal efficiencies of T-N and T-P in Loop Reactor were 33.6% and 54.5% respectively at 16 h of the HRT and T-N and T-P were better removed in Loop Reactor. From this result, it was found that the performance of Loop Reactor was much higher than the performance of packed-bed reactor and the optimum HRT was 16 h.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.465-469
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• 2006

Two mesophilic trickling bed bioreactors filled with two different types of media, hydrophilic- and hydrophobic-cubes, were designed and tested for hydrogen production via anaerobic fermentation of sucrose. Each reactor consisted of a column packed with polymeric cubes and inoculated with heat-treated sludge obtained from anaerobic digestion tank. A defined medium containing sucrose was fed with changing flow rate into the capped reactor, hydraulic retention time and recycle rate. Hydrogen concentrations in gas-phase were constant, averaging 40% for all conditions tested. Hydrogen production rates increased up to $10.5 L{\cdot};h^{-1}{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of reactor when influent sucrose concentrations and recycle rates were varied. Hydrophobic media provided higher value of hydrogen production rate than hydrophilic media at the same operation conditions. No methane was detected when the reactor was under a normal operation. The major fermentation by-products in the liquid effluent of the both trickling biofilters were acetate and butyrate. The reactor filled with hydrophilic media became clogged with biomass and bio gas, requiring manual cleaning of the system, while no clogging occurred in the reactor with hydrophobic media. In order to make long-term operation of the reactor filled with hydrophilic media feasible, biofilm accumulation inside the media in the reactor with hydrophilic media and biogas produced from the reactor will need to be controlled through some process such as periodical backwashing or gas-purging. These tests using trickling bed biofilter with hydrophobic media demonstrate the feasibility of the process to produce hydrogen gas in a trickle-bed type of reactor. A likely application of this reactor technology could be hydrogen gas recovery from pre-treatment of high carbohydrate-containing wastewaters.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 1992

It has known that the intermediates formed in acid reactions occuring during anaerobic reactions for instance, acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid have significant effects or the formations of biogases(e. g. mainly CH$_{4}$ and CO$_{2}$). A study on the effects of these intermediates for the formations of biogases, however, is still on initial stage due to the type and structural problems of reactor. The primary objective of this reserch program is to provide a funadmantal mechanism of involved reactions using a modified downflow multistage pecked bed bioreactor. As a first stage of this reaserch program, the following theoretical principles was applied 1. Principle of electroneutrality where the molar concentrations of cation and anion in solution are the same. 2. Relationship between the concentration of bicarbonate anion and pH as follows [HCO$_{3}^{-}$]= $K_{H}P_{T}Y_{CO_{2}}10^{pH-K_{1}}$ Based upon the above two principles, a series of experimental works was conducted to elucidated the relationship between the concentration of CO$_{2}$ and the pH related to the concentrations of cations and anions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.629-637
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• 2000

A two-phase anaerobic reactor with a submerged microfiltration system was tested for its ability to produce methane energy from organic wastewater. A membrane separation system with periodic backwashing with compressed air was submerged in the acidogenic reactor. The cartridge type of microfiltration (MF) membrane with pore size of $0.5{\mu}m$ (mixed esters of cellulose) was tested. An AUBF (Anaerobic Upflow Sludge Bed Filter: 1/2 packed with plastic media) was used for the methanogenic reactor. Soluble starch was used as a substrate. The COD removal was investigated for various organic loading with synthetic wastewater of 5,000 mg starch/L. When the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the acidogenic reactor was changed from 10 to 4.5 days, the organic loading rate (OLR) varied from 0.5 to $1.0kg\;COD/m^3-day$. When the HRT of the methanogenic reactor was changed from 2.8 to 0.5 days, the OLR varied from 0.8 to $5.8kg\;COD/m^3-day$. The acid conversion rate of the acidogenic reactor was over 80% in the 4~5 days of HRT. The overall COD removal efficiency of the methanogenic reactor showed over 95% (effluent COD was below 300 mg/L) under the highly fluctuating organic loading condition. A two-phase anaerobic reactor showed an excellent acid conversion rate from organic wastewater due to the higher biomass concentration than the conventional system. A methanogenic reactor combined with sludge bed and filter, showed an efficient COD and SS removal.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 1999

Three different types of lab-scale anaerobic bioreactors, AF and two-stage ASBF-PR and ASBF-SP, were evaluated in treating swine wastewater by operating at $1{\sim}2$ days of hydraulic retention time with increasing organic loading rate upto 6.3 $kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ at $35^{\circ}C$. Seeding the anaerobic bioreactors with waste anaerobic digester sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was effective and a 40-day acclimation period was required for steady-state operation. Three anaerobic bioreactors were effective in treating swine wastewater with COD removal efficiency of $66.4{\sim}84.9$% and biogas production rate of $0.333{\sim}0.796m^3/kg-COD_{removed}{\cdot}d$. Increases of organic loading rate by increasing influent COD concentration and/or decreasing hydraulic retention time caused decreases in COD removal efficiency and increases in biogas production rate. At relatively high organic loading rate employed in this study, the treatment efficiency of AF and ASBF-PR were similar but superior than that of ASBF-SP, indicating that porosity and pore size of the media packed in the bioreactors are more important factors contributing the performance of to bioreactors than specific surface area of the media. TKN in swine wastewater must be removed prior to the anaerobic processes when anaerobic process is considered as a major treatment process since influent TKN concentration of $1,540{\sim}1,870mg/L$ to the bioreactors adversely affect the activity of methanogenic bacteria, resulting in decreases of treatment efficiency and biogas production rate by 50%.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.379-388
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• 2006

Two mesophilic trickling bed bioreactors filled with two different types of media, hydrophilic- and hydrophobic-cubes, were designed and conducted for hydrogen production under the anaerobic fermentation of sucrose. Each bioreactor consisted of the column packed with polymeric cubes and inoculated with heat-treated sludge obtained from anaerobic digestion tank. A defined medium containing sucrose was fed by the different hydraulic retention time(HRT), and recycle rate. Hydrogen concentrations in gas-phase were constant, averaging 40% of biogas throughout the operation. Hydrogen production rate was increased till $10.5\;L{\cdot}h^{-1}{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of bioreactor when influent sucrose concentrations and recycle rates were varied. At the same time, the hydrogen production rate with hydrophobic media application was higher than its hydrophilic media application. No methane was detected when the reactor was under a normal operation. The major fermentation by-products in the liquid effluent of the both trickling biofilters were acetate, butyrate and lactate. In order to run in the long term operation of both reactor filled with hydrophilic and hydrophobic media, biofilm accumulation on hydrophilic media and biogas produced should be controlled through some process such as periodical backwashing or gas-purging. Four sample were collected from each reactor on the opposite hydrogen production rate, and their bacterial communities were compared by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of PCR products generated using bacterial 16s rRNA gene primers (8f and 926r). It was expressed a marked difference in bacterial communities of both reactors. The trickling bed bioreactor with hydrophobic media demonstrates the feasibility of the process to produce hydrogen gas. A likely application of this reactor technology can be hydrogen gas recovery from pre-treatment of high carbohydrate-containing wastewaters.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.458-463
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• 2005

[ $H_2$ ] from CO and water was continuously produced in a trickle bed reactor(TBR) using Citrobacter amalonaticus Y19. When the strain C. was cultivated in a stirred-tank reactor under a chemoheterotrophic and aerobic condition, the high final cell concentration of 13 g/L was obtained at 10 hr. When the culture was switched to an anaerobic condition with the continuous supply of gaseous CO, CO-dependent hydrogenase was fully induced and its hydrogen production activity approached 16 mmol/g cell/hr in 60 hr. The fully induced C. amalonaticus Y19 cells were circulated through a TBR packed with polyurethane foam, and the TBR was operated for more than 20 days for $H_2$ production. As gas retention time decreased or inlet CO partial pressure increased, $H_2$ production rate increased but the conversion from CO to $H_2$ decreased. The maximum $H_2$ production rate obtained was 16 mmol/L/hr at the gas retention time of 25 min and the CO inlet partial pressure of 0.4 atm. The high $H_2$ production rate was attributed to the high cell density in the liquid phase circulating the TBR as well as the high surface area of polyurethane foam used as packing material of the TBR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.797-806
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• 2000

The objectives were to compare the biodegradable threshold concentrations of phenol with the different composition of the influent carbon source and examine the SMA (Specific Methanogenic Activity)and the possibility of simultaneous removal of high-strength organics and nitrogen compounds in UASB(Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) - PBR(Packed Bed Reactor) process. The results showed that UASB reactors were efficient to remove phenol and phenol + glucose from synthetic wastewater. At phenol conc, of 600 mg/L and SCOD conc. of 2100 mg/L in UASB reactor(with only phenol as substrate), the removal efficiencies of phenol and SCOD were over 99% and 93% respectively, under MLVSS of 20 g. The activity of microorganism was $0.112g\;phenol/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$, $0.351g\;SCOD/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$. The gas production rate was $0.115L/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$ and $CH_4$ content in gas was about 70%. At phenol conc. of 760 mg/L and SCOD conc. of 4300 mg/L in UASB reactor( with phenol + glucose as substrates), the removal efficiencies of phenol and of SCOD were over 99% and 90% respectively, under MLVSS of 20 g. The activity of microoganism was $0.135g\;phenol/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$, $0.696g\;SCOD/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$. The gas production rate was $0.257L/g\;VSS{\cdot}d$ and $CH_4$ content in gas was about 70%. Serum bottle test showed that the activity of granule was inhibited over 1600 mg/L phenol conc, and denitrification and methanogenesis simultaneously took place in UASB granules under co-substrates conditions. PBR reactor packed with cilium type media, was efficient in nitrification. In condition of $0.038kg\;NH_4-N/m^3-media{\cdot}d$. 10~12 mg/L phenol conc. and 200~500 mg/L SCOD conc., nitrification efficiency was over 90% and phenol removal efficiency was over 98%.