• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.67-76
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• 2021

Biogasification is a technology that produces environmentally friendly fuel using methane gas generated in the process of stably decomposing and processing organic waste. Biogasification is the most used method for energy conversion of organic waste with high moisture content, and is a useful method for organic waste treatment following the prohibition of direct landfill (2005) and marine dumping (2013). Due to African Swine Fever (ASF), which recently occurred in Korea, recycling of wet feed is prohibited, and consumers such as dry feed and compost are negatively recognized, making it difficult to treat food waste. Accordingly, biogasification is attracting more attention for the treatment and recycling of food waste. Korea's energy consumption amounted to 268.41 106toe, ranking 9th in the world. However, it is an energy-poor country that depends on foreign imports for about 95.8% of its energy supply. Therefore, in Korea, the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) is being introduced. The domestic RPS system sets the weight of the new and renewable energy certificate (REC, Renewable energy certificate) of waste energy lower than that of other renewable energy. Therefore, an additional incentive system is required for the activation of waste-to-energy. In this study, the operation of an anaerobic digester that treats food waste, food waste Leachate and various organic wastes was confirmed. It was intended to be used as basic data for preparing the waste-to-energy incentive system through precise monitoring for a certain period of time. Four sites that produce biogas from organic waste and use them for power generation and heavy gas were selected as target facilities, and field surveys and sampling were conducted. Basic properties analysis was performed on the influent sample of organic waste and the effluent sample according to the treatment process. As a result of the analysis of the properties, the total solids of the digester influent was an average of 12.11%, and the volatile solids of the total solids were confirmed to be 85.86%. BOD and CODcr removal rates were 60.8% and 64.8%. The volatile fatty acids in the influent averaged 55,716 mg/L. It can be confirmed that most of the volatile fatty acids were decomposed and removed with an average reduction rate of 92.3% after anaerobic digestion.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.151-164
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• 2024

In water treatment plants supplying potable water, the management of chlorine concentration in water treatment processes involving pre-chlorination or intermediate chlorination requires process control. To address this, research has been conducted on water quality prediction techniques utilizing AI technology. This study developed an AI-based predictive model for automating the process control of chlorine disinfection, targeting the prediction of residual chlorine concentration downstream of sedimentation basins in water treatment processes. The AI-based model, which learns from past water quality observation data to predict future water quality, offers a simpler and more efficient approach compared to complex physicochemical and biological water quality models. The model was tested by predicting the residual chlorine concentration downstream of the sedimentation basins at Plant, using multiple regression models and AI-based models like Random Forest and LSTM, and the results were compared. For optimal prediction of residual chlorine concentration, the input-output structure of the AI model included the residual chlorine concentration upstream of the sedimentation basin, turbidity, pH, water temperature, electrical conductivity, inflow of raw water, alkalinity, NH₃, etc. as independent variables, and the desired residual chlorine concentration of the effluent from the sedimentation basin as the dependent variable. The independent variables were selected from observable data at the water treatment plant, which are influential on the residual chlorine concentration downstream of the sedimentation basin. The analysis showed that, for Plant, the model based on Random Forest had the lowest error compared to multiple regression models, neural network models, model trees, and other Random Forest models. The optimal predicted residual chlorine concentration downstream of the sedimentation basin presented in this study is expected to enable real-time control of chlorine dosing in previous treatment stages, thereby enhancing water treatment efficiency and reducing chemical costs.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.168-181
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• 2024

Constructed wetlands (CWs) deliver a range of ecosystem services, including the removal of contaminants, sequestration and storage of carbon, and enhancement of biodiversity. These services are facilitated through hydrological and ecological processes such as infiltration, adsorption, water retention, and evapotranspiration by plants and microorganisms. This study investigated the correlations between microbial populations, soil physicochemical properties, and treatment efficiency in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF CW) treating runoff from roads and parking lots. The methods employed included storm event monitoring, water quality analysis, soil sampling, soil quality parameter analysis, and microbial analysis. The facility achieved its highest pollutant removal efficiencies during the warm season (>15℃), with rates ranging from 33% to 74% for TSS, COD, TN, TP, and specific heavy metals including Fe, Zn, and Cd. Meanwhile, the highest removal efficiency was 35% for TOC during the cold season (≤15℃). These high removal rates can be attributed to sedimentation, adsorption, precipitation, plant uptake, and microbial transformations within the CW. Soil analysis revealed that the soil from HSSF CW had a soil organic carbon content 3.3 times higher than that of soil collected from a nearby landscape. Stoichiometric ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the inflow and outflow were recorded as C:N:P of 120:1.5:1 and 135.2:0.4:1, respectively, indicating an extremely low proportion of N and P compared to C, which may challenge microbial remediation efficiency. Additionally, microbial analyses indicated that the warm season was more conducive to microorganism growth, with higher abundance, richness, diversity, homogeneity, and evenness of the microbial community, as manifested in the biodiversity indices, compared to the cold season. Pollutants in stormwater runoff entering the HSSF CW fostered microbial growth, particularly for dominant phyla such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which have shown moderate to strong correlations with specific soil properties and changes in influent-effluent concentrations of water quality parameters.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.278-283
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• 2003

This study was carried out to examine the nitrogen removal rate of a subsurface-flow treatment wetland system which was constructed on floodplain of the Kwangju River from May to June 2001. Its dimensions were 29m in length, 9m in width and 0.65m in depth. A bottom layer of 45cm in depth was filled with crushed granite with about $15{\sim}30\;mm$ in diameter and a middle layer of 10cm in depth had pea pebbles with about 10 mm in diameter. An upper layer of 5 cm in depth contained course sand. Reeds (Phragmites australis) were transplanted on the surface of the system. They were dug out of natural wetlands and stems were cut at about 40 cm height from their bottom ends. Water of the Kwangju River flowed into it via a pipe by gravity flow and its effluent was funneled back into the river. The height of reed stems was 44.2 cm in July 2001 and 75.3cm in September 2001. The number of stems was increased from $80\;stems/m^2$ in July 2001 to $136\;stems/m^2$ in September 2001. Volume and water quality of inflow and outflow were analyzed from July 2001 through December 2001. Inflow and outflow averaged 40.0 and $39.2\;m^3/day$, respectively. Hydraulic detention time was about 1.5 days. Average nitrogen uptake by reeds was $69.31\;N\;mg/m^2/day$. Removal rate of $NO_3-N$, $NH_3-N$, T-N averaged 195.58, 53.65, and $628.44\;mg/m^2/day$, respectively. Changes of $NO_3-N$ and $NH_3-N$ abatement rates were closely related to those of wetland temperatures. The lower removal rate of nitrogen species compared with that of subsurface-flow wetlands operating in North America could be attributed to the initial stage of the system and inclusion of two cold months into the six-month monitoring period. Increase of standing density of reeds within a few years will develop both root zones suitable for the nitrification of ammonia and surface layer substrates beneficial to the denitrification of nitrates into nitrogen gases, which may lead to increment in the nitrogen retention rate.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.3-30
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• 1979

Larch ($\underline{Larix}$ $\underline{leptolepis}$ GORDON), one of the major afforestation species in Korea in view of its growing stock and rate of growth, is not favored as a raw material for pulp due to its low yield of pulp and difficulties with bleaching arising from the high content of extractives in wood, and the high heartwood ratio and the active phenolics, respectively. The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of firstly pulping with various additives of cellulose protector for the yield of pulp, and secondly bleaching with oxygen for chlotination-alkali extraction of five stage-sequence to reduce chlorine compounds in bleaching effluents. The kraft cooking liquor for five age groups of larchwood was 18 percent active alkali with 25 percent sulfidity and 5 : 1 liquor-to-wood ratio, and each soda liquor for sap-and heart-wood of the 15-year-old larchwood was 18 percent alkali having one of the following cellulose protectors as the additive; magnesium sulfate ($MgSO_4$, 2.5%), zinc sulfate ($ZnSO_4$, 2.5%), aluminium sulfate ($Al_2(SO_4)_3$, 2.5%), potasium iodide (KI, 2.5%), hydroquinone (HQ, 2.5%), anthraquinone (AQ, 0.1%) and ethylene diamine (EDA, 2.5%). Then each anthraquinone-soda liquor for the determination of suitable cooking condition was the active alkali level of 15, 17 and 19 percent with 1.0, 0.5 and 0.1 percent anthraquinone, respectively. The cooking procedure for the pulps was scheduled to heat to 170$^{\circ}C$ in 90 minutes and to cook 90 minutes at the maximum temperature. The anthraquinone-soda pulps from both heartwood and sapwood of 15-year-old larchwood prepared with 0.5 percent anthraquinone and 18 percent active alkali were bleached in a four-stage sequency of OCED. (O: oxygen bleaching, D: chlorine dioxide bleaching and E: alkali extraction). In the first stage oxygen in atmospheric pressure was applied to a 30 percent consistency of pulp with 0.1 percent magnesium oxide (MgO) and 3, 6, and 9 percent sodium hydroxide on oven dry base, and the bleached results were compared pulps bleached under the conventional CEDED (C: chlorination). The results in the study were summarized as follows: 1. The screened yield of larch kraft pulp did not differ from particular ages to age group, but heartwood ratio, basic density, fiber length and water-extractives contents of wood and the tear factor of the pulp increased with increasing the tree age. The total yield of the pulp decreased. 2. The yield of soda pulp with various chemicals for cellulose protection of the 15-year-old larchwood increased slightly more than that of pure soda pulp and was slightly lower than that of kraft pulp. The influence of cellulose protectors was similar to the yield of pulps from both sapwood and heartwood. The effective protectors among seven additives were KI, $MgSO_4$ and AQ, for which the yields of screened pulp was as high as that of kraft pulp. Considering the additive level of protector, the AQ was the most effective in improving the yield and the quality of pulp. 3. When the amount of AQ increased in soda cooking, the yield and the quality of the pulp increased but rejects in total yield increased with decreasing the amount of active alkali from 19 to 15 percent. The best proportion of the AQ seemed to be 0.5 percent at 17 percent active alkali in anthraquinone-soda pulping. 4. On the bleaching of the AQ-soda pulp at 30 percent consistency with oxygen of atomospheric pressure in the first stage of the ODED sequence, the more caustic soda added, the brighter bleached pulp was obtained, but more lignin-selective bleaching reagent in proportion to the oxygen was necessary to maintain the increased yield with the addition of anthraquinone. 5. In conclusion, the suitable pulping condition for larchwood to improve the yield and quality of the chemical pulp to the level for kraft pulp from conventional process seemed to be. A) the selection of young larchwood to prevent decreasing in yield and quality due to the accumulation extractives in old wood, B) the application of 0.5 percent anthraquinone to the conventional soda cooking of 18 percent active alkali, and followed, C) the bleaching of oxygen in atmospheric pressure on high consistency (30%) with 0.1 percent magnesium oxide in the first stage of the ODED sequence to reduce the content of chlorine compounds in effluent.