• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.323-336
• /
• 2010

We evaluated the properties of a fixed-bed column reactor for high-concentration tetrachloroethylene (PCE) removal. The anaerobic bacterium Clostridium bifermentans DPH-1 was able to dechlorinate PCE to cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cDCE) via trichloroethylene (TCE) at high rates in the monoculture biofilm of an upflow fixed-bed column reactor. The first-order reaction rate of C. bifermentans DPH-1 was relatively high at $0.006\;mg\;protein^{-1}{\cdot}l{\cdot}h^{-1}$, and comparable to rates obtained by others. When we gradually raised the influent PCE concentration from $30\;{\mu}M$ to $905\;{\mu}M$, the degree of PCE dechlorination rose to over 99% during the operation period of 2,000 h. In order to maintain efficiency of transformation of PCE in this reactor system, more than 6 h hydraulic retention time (HRT) is required. The maximum volumetric dechlorination rate of PCE was determined to be $1,100\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}d^{-1}l$ of reactor $volume^{-1}$, which is relatively high compared to rates reported previously. The results of this study indicate that the PCE removal performance of this fixed-bed reactor immobilized mono-culture is comparable to that of a fixed-bed reactor mixture culture system. Furthermore, our system has the major advantage of a rapid (5 days) start-up time for the reactor. The flow characteristics of this reactor are intermediate between those of the plug-flow and complete-mix systems. Biotransformation of PCE into innocuous compounds is desirable; however, unfortunately cDCE, which is itself toxic, was the main product of PCE dechlorination in this reactor system. In order to establish a system for complete detoxification of PCE, co-immobilization of C. bifermentans DPH-1 with other bacteria that degrade cDCE aerobically or anaerobically to ethene or ethane may be effective.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
• /
• v.67
• /
• pp.301-311
• /
• 2018

In this study, the ion-gelation method was applied to fabricate novel Fe-carbon-bentonite-alginate beads ($Fe^0$/C-BABs). $Fe^0$/C-BABs could effectively control Fe release during persulfate (PS) activation in N-acetyl-p-aminophenol (APAP) oxidation. A novel two-stage approach that combined $Fe^0$/C-BABs and an oyster-shell-filled bed (OSFB) column was developed to address the low pH and high Fe concentration of the effluent of the traditional PS process. The application of the $Fe^0$/C-BABs and OSFB column regulated pH levels and Fe release during the advanced oxidation of APAP. The characteristics of $Fe^0$/C-BABs were also investigated through scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The long-term operation performance of $Fe^0$/C-BABs in a continuous fixed-bed reactor under simultaneous PS and APAP feeding was also evaluated. The effects of initial PS concentration, pH, fixed-bed weight, in-flow rate, and dissolved oxygen (DO) were investigated. Under selected conditions, 86.3% efficiency was achieved during the first stage of APAP degradation (effluent pH of 3.05, Fe contents: $106.25mgL^{-1}$). Water quality improved after the effluent was passed through the OSFB column (effluent pH of 6.32, Fe contents: $21.43mgL^{-1}$). Moreover, this study analyzed the free radicals and intermediates produced during APAP degradation to identify the possible routes of APAP degradation.

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

• Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.203-210
• /
• 2016

Hybrid materials were obtained modifying the bentonite (BC) and local clay (LC) using hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA) or the clay were pillared with aluminum followed by modification with HDTMA. The materials were characterized by the SEM, FT-IR and XRD analytical tools. The batch reactor data implied that the uptake of $17{\beta}$-estradiol (E2) by the hybrid materials showed very high uptake at the neutral pH region. However, at higher and lower pH conditions, slightly less uptake of E2 was occurred. The uptake of E2 was insignificantly affected changing the sorptive concentration from 1.0 to 10.0 mg/L and the background electrolyte (NaCl) concentrations from 0.0001 to 0.1 mol/L. Moreover, the sorption of E2 by these hybrid materials was fairly efficient since within 30 mins of contact time, an apparent equilibrium between solid and solution was achieved, and the data was best fitted to the PSO (pseudo-second order) and FL-PSO (Fractal-like-pseudo second order) kinetic models compared to the PFO (pseudo-first order) model. The fixed-bed column results showed that relatively high breakthrough volume was obtained for the attenuation of E2 using these hybrid materials, and the loading capacity of E2 was estimated to be 75.984, 63.757, 58.965 and 49.746 mg/g for the solids BCH, BCAH, LCH and LCAH, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.53 no.6
• /
• pp.682-689
• /
• 2015

A two-step process was investigated for pretreatment and fractionation of rice straw. The two-step fractionation process involves first, soaking rice straw in aqueous ammonia (SAA) in a batch reactor to recover lignin-rich hydrolysate. This is followed by a second-step treatment in a fixed-bed flow-through column reactor to recover xylo-oligomer-rich hydrolysate. The remaining glucan-rich solid cake is then subjected to an enzymatic process. In the first variant, SAA treatment in the first step dissolves lignin at moderate temperature (60 and $80^{\circ}C$), while in the second step, hot-water treatment is used for xylan removal at higher temperatures ($150{\sim}210^{\circ}C$). Under optimal conditions ($190^{\circ}C$ reaction temperature, 30 min reaction time, 5.0 ml/min flow rate, and 2.3 MPa reaction pressure), the SAA-hot-water fractionation removed 79.2% of the lignin and 63.4% of the xylan. In the second variant, SAA was followed by treatment with dilute sulfuric acid. With this process, optimal treatment conditions for effective fractionation of xylo-oligomer were found to be $80^{\circ}C$, 12 h reaction time, solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:12 in the first step; and 5.0 ml $H_2SO_4/min$, $170^{\circ}C$, and 2.3 MPa in the second step. After this two-step fractionation process, 85.4% lignin removal and 78.9% xylan removal (26.8% xylan recovery) were achieved. Use of the optimized second variant of the two-step fractionation process (SAA and $H_2SO_4$) resulted in enhanced enzymatic digestibility of the treated solid (99% glucan digestibility) with 15 FPU (filter paper unit) of CTec2 (cellulase)/g-glucan of enzyme loading, which was higher than 92% in the two-step fractionation process (SAA and hot-water).

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.733-742
• /
• 2000

Fundamental materialistic characterization and adsorption/neutralization behavior of waste egg shell for heavy metal ion have been studied for its application to wastewater treatment. To investigate the structural change and thermal decomposition characteristics of egg shell. X-ray diffraction and FT-IR analysis were conducted for egg shell treated at $105^{\circ}C$ and $700^{\circ}C$, respectively. For the result of FT-IR analysis, the sample treated at $700^{\circ}C$ showed a reduced C-O absorption band compared with that of egg shell treated at $105^{\circ}C$, which may be due to the $CO_2$ release. Unlike to the result of FT-IR analysis, the XRD patterns of egg shell were almost similar for the cases of $105^{\circ}C$ and $700^{\circ}C$ treatment. however, characteristic diffraction pattern of CaO was observed for $850^{\circ}C$ treatment, at which $CaCO_3$ is known to be completely converted to CaO. TGA/DTA analysis showed a slow decline in weight loss up to $600^{\circ}C$ and, for $600{\sim}800^{\circ}C$ range, the weight loss became drastic by reason of $CO_2$ discharge, which was accompanied by an appearance of major endothermic peak. The ratio of practical breakthrough time to ideal one, total transfer unit, and mass transfer coefficient were observed to be increased as the adsorption was progressed in a multiple-column fixed-bed reactor using egg shell as an adsorbent, which signified the distribution effect of mass transfer for continuous adsorption reaction. The neutralization effect of egg shell for several types of acidic wastewater made of different mineral acids was not much different from each other except for the case of $H_2SO_4$, for which the neutralization reaction was thought to be retarded by the formation of gypsum.