• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performances of organic removal and methane recovery by using a full scale two-phase anaerobic system. The full scale two-phase anaerobic process was consists of an acidogenic anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) and a methanognic upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The volumes of acidogenic and methanogenic reactors were designed to $28.3m^3$ and $75.3m^3$. The two-phase anaerobic system represented 60-82% of COD removal efficiency when the influent COD concentration was in the range of 7,150 to 16,270 mg/L after screening (average concentration is 10,280 mg/L). After steady-state, the effluent COD concentration in the methanogenic reactor showed $2,740{\pm}330 mg/L$ by representing average COD removal efficiency was $71.4{\pm}8.1%$ when the operating temperature was in the range of $19-32^{\circ}C$. The effluent SCOD concentration was in the range of 2,000-3,000 mg/L at the steady state while the volatile fatty acid concentration was not detected in the effluent. Meanwhile, the COD removal efficiency in the acidogenic reactor showed less than 5%. The acidogenic reactor played key roles to reduce a shock-loading when periodic shock loading was applied and to acidify influent organics. Due to the high concentration of alkalinity and high pH in the effluent of the methanogenic reactor, over 80% of methane in the biogas was produced consistently. More than 70% of methane was recovered from theoretical methane production of TCOD removed in this research. The produced gas can be directly used as a heat source to increase the reactor temperature.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.574-582
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• 2012

This study presents the concentrations of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) listed as priority pollutants by United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), in 98 sludges from 54 industrial wastewater treatment facilities of South Korea. The mean concentrations of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ were ranged from 32.5 ${\mu}g/kg-dw$ to 1189.3 ${\mu}g/kg-dw$ by industries, and the highest content was found in the petrochemical industry, followed by chemical, clothing manufacturing and dying, pulp and papermaking, secondary wastewater treatment, and food/beverage producing industries. Comparisons to the EU and Danish standards of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ in sewage sludge for land application showed only two samples (one from petrochemical, and the other from chemical industry) exceeded the limits. ANOVA test with PAH concentrations as variables revealed no statistically significant influences by industrial types and sampling time (i.e., seasonal variations). Pearson correlations between individual PAHs showed strong relationships (r>0.7) among 4-ring PAHs. Concentrations of acenaphthylene, anthracene, fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(f)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene presented strong correlations to ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$. Principal component analysis discriminated entire samples into three groups by two principal components (PC1 and PC2) with 70% of data variations, in which industrial types were not of importance, but a dominance of certain PAHs. Samples in group-I, which is high PC1 and low PC2, were characterized by a dominance of 2-ring PAHs, and in group-II, PC1 and PC2 showed a linear relation, was dominant 4-ring PAHs. Group-III with low PC1 and high PC2 includes 17 samples showing a noticeably high contribution of 3-ring PAHs to ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$. This study provides concentrations of PAHs in industrial sludges collected from a wide variety of sources (six industrial types) and two seasons of sampling events, and the comparison of ${\Sigma}_{16}PAHs$ with other studies are also discussed.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2006

This study was conducted to find a system for screening organic resources with 16 species, 62 samples which were selected to randomizing point from city, province and industrial areas in the whole country. Content of organic matters were $65.3%{\sim}98.0%$ in all samples so that they were largely over than 60%, raw material regulation of compost. Concentrations of total nitrogen and total phosphorus were $0.7{\sim}4.8%\;and\;0.8{\sim}5.0$, they could look for effect of the nitrogen and phosphorus supply as a raw material of compost. In case of 8 elements concentrations of heavy metal, they were too high to use as raw materials of compost which were over to regulation limit in Cu, Cr, Ni, and As from fiber industry, Ni from food company and leather industry, and the others are adapt to limit levels. HEM contents fro the highest to $113mg\;kg^{-1}$ from liber industry and PAHs content were the highest to $3,462ug\;kg^{-1}$ from paper-mill manufacture. Distribution of PAHs concentiations were naphthalene>phenanthrene>pyrene>fluoroanthene>acenaphthene. $Microtox{(R)}\;EC_{50}$ values for bioassay were pharmaceutical company>paper-mill manufacture>industrial area sewage sludge>fiber industry>urban sewage sludge>metropolitan sewage sludge. HEM between Zn, Cu, and Ni was significant at the 99% and between Cd was significant at the 95%, Microtox between Hg and BEM significant at the 95%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.12-18
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• 2022

Korea depends on the import of raw materials such as iron ore and coal for the steel industry. These raw materials have a major impact on the cost, productivity, and quality competitiveness in the global steel industry. To secure the competitiveness of steel companies, it is necessary to reduce the country's dependence on raw materials. This can be achieved using byproducts with a high Fe content, which are primarily generated by the steel industry. These byproducts are available in the form of a very fine powder, which can disperse as dust when used directly in plant processes. Dust dispersion has a negative impact on the environment and can lead to the loss of raw materials. To enable the use of a wide range of Fe-containing byproducts, it is necessary to pretreat them in the form of larger aggregates such as pellets and briquettes. There are several methods to achieve such aggregates. There are two ways to produce briquettes: using a hot briquette, which supplies additional heat to produce briquettes, or using a cold briquette, which does not use heat. A method for producing cold briquettes using Fe-containing byproducts was investigated in this study. The yield ratio and briquette strength were examined under various manufacturing conditions.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

Two phase UASB reactors for treating wastewater with sulfate were operated to assess the performance and competition of organics between sulfate reducing bacteria(SRB) and methane producing bacteria(MPB), and the change of characteristics of microorganisms. The reactors were fed in parallel with a synthetic wastewater of 4,000-5,000 mgCOD/L and sulfate concentration of $800-1,000\;mgSO_4/L$. In the MPR(methane producing reactor) and CR(control reactor), COD removal efficiencies were 90% and 60%, respectively, at the OLR(organic loading rate) of 6 gCOD/L, while the amount of biogas and methane content were 6.5 L/day and 80%, and 3 L/day and 50%, respectively. However, the portion of electron flow used by SRB at the OLR of 6 gCOD/L day in MPR and CR was 3% and 26%, respectively. This indicated that the increase of OLR of wastewater containing high sulfate like CR resulted in activity decrease and cell decay of MPB, while SRB was adapted immediately to new environment. The MPB activities in MPR and CR were 2 and $0.38\;kgCH_4-COD$/gVSS day at the OLR of 6 gCOD/L. This indicated hat SRB dominated gradually over MPB during long-term operation with wastewater containing sulfate as a consequence of outcompeting of SRB over MPB. In addition, the solution within AFR was maintained around pH 5.0, the MPB such as Methanothrix spp. which was very important to formation of granules was detached from the surface of granules due to the decrease of activity by limitation of substrate transportation into MPB. Therefore, a significant amount of sludge was washed out from the reactor.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.332-337
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• 2019

BACKGROUND: From year 2005, landfill for food waste has been prohibited. Also, according to London agreement in year 2013, ocean discharge for livestock manure, sewage sludge, and food waste has been regulated. Alternative way for food waste disposal is incineration. However, due to high moisture content, additional input for energy is needed. Therefore, effective way for food waste disposal such as application of food waste compost is needed. METHODS AND RESULTS: Seven different treatments (livestock compost, food waste compost, food waste + livestock compost, livestock compost + chemical fertilizer, food waste compost + chemical fertilizer, food waste + livestock compost + chemical fertilizer and control) were applied to tomato crop. All treatments were replicated with completely randomized design. Tomato growth treated with LC+NPK showed the highest values at 6 weeks for all parameters such as leaf length (11.80 cm), leaf width (6.88 cm), and chlorophyll (61.12 O.D.), compared to other treatments. Subsequently the FWC+LC+NPK treatment was followed (11.51 cm, 6.40 cm, 59.50 O.D. for leaf length, leaf width, and chlorophyll, respectably). EC, OM contents, and CEC in the soil treated with the composts significantly increased. CONCLUSION: To evaluate the effect of food waste compost application on tomato growth and soil chemical properties, we carried out field experiment treated with 7 treatments with 3 replicates. The LC+NPK treatment showed highest values for all parameters. Some parameters such as shoot length and total length for tomato were not significantly different between the LC+NPK and the FWC+LC+NPK treatments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.363-370
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• 2015

The production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) was investigated. The experiments were performed in two fabricated SBRs (4 L) of different oxidation state. Synthetic wastewater was used as substrate, using C/N/P ratio of 42:10:1. SBR 1 and SBR 2 were operated in aerobic dynamic feeding (ADF) and anaerobic/oxic dynamic feeding (AODF) condition, respectively. ADF provide feast and famine in aerobic condition, while AODF in anaerobic/oxic condition. PHAs production was found high in AODF than AOF. Maximum PHAs content of 40.0% (w/w)of biomass were produced in AODF mode. Produced PHAs structural and thermal property were good.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2015

Organic wastes such as food waste (FW), livestock wastewater (LW), and sewage sludge (SWS) can produce hydrogen ($H_2$) by anaerobic acid fermentation. Expecially, FW which has high carbohydrate content produces $H_2$ and short chain fatty acids by indigenous $H_2$ producing microorganisms without adding inoculum, however $H_2$ production rate (HPR) and yield have to be improved to use a commercially available technology. In this study, LW was mixed to FW in different ratios (on chemical oxygen demand (COD) basis) as an auxiliary substrate. The mixture of FW and LW was pretreated at pH 2 using 6 N HCl for 12 h and then fermented at $37^{\circ}C$ for 28 h. HPR of FW, 254 mL $H_2/L/h$, was increased with the addition of LW, however, mixing ratio of LW to FW was reversely related to HPR, exhibiting HPR of 737, 733, 599, and 389 mL $H_2/L/h$ at the ratio of FW:LW=10:1, 10:2, 10:3, and 10:4 on COD basis, respectively. Maximum HPR and $H_2$ production yield of 737 $H_2/L/h$ and 1.74 mol $H_2/mol$ hexoseadded were obtained respectively at the ratio of FW:LW=10:1. Butyrate was the main organic acid produced and propionate was not detected throughout the experiment.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.819-827
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• 2002

Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of a biofilter for eliminating dimethyl sulfide(DMS). A commercial compost/pine bark nugget mixture served as the biofilter material for the experiments. The gas flow rate and DMS concentration entering the filter were varied to study their effect on the biofilter efficiency. The operating parameters, such as the residence time, inlet concentration, pH, water content, and temperature, were all monitored throughout the filter operation. The kinetic dependence of the DMS removal along the column length was also studied to obtain a quantitative description of the DMS elimination. High DMS removal efficiencies(>95％) were obtained using the compost filter material seeded with activated sludge. DMS pollutant loading rates of up to 5.2 and 5.5 g-DMS/m$^3$/hr were effectively handled by the upflow and downflow biofilter columns, respectively. The macrokinetics of the DMS removal were found to be fractional-order diffusion-limited over the 9 to 25 ppm range of inlet concentrations tested. The upflow column had an average macrokinetic coefficient(K$\_$f/) of 0.0789 $\pm$ 0.0178 ppm$\^$$\sfrac{1}{2}$//sec, while the downflow column had an average coefficient of 0.0935 $\pm$ 0.0200 ppm$\^$$\sfrac{1}{2}$//sec. Shorter residence times resulted in a lower mass transfer of the pollutant from the gas phase to the aqueous liquid phase, thereby decreasing the efficiency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.137-143
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• 2013

The diversity and distribution of methanogenic archaea in a four-compartment anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) treating sugar refinery wastewater were investigated by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). At an organic loading rate of 5.33 kg $COD/m^3{\cdot}day$, the ABR could perform steadily with the mean chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of 94.8% and the specific $CH_4$ yield of 0.21 l/g $COD_{removed}$. The $CH_4$ content in the biogas was increased along the compartments, whereas the percentage of $H_2$ was decreased, indicating the distribution characteristics of the methanogens occurred longitudinally down the ABR. A high phylogenetic and ecological diversity of methanogens was found in the ABR, and all the detected methanogens were classified into six groups, including Methanomicrobiales, Methanosarcinales, Methanobacteriales, Crenarchaeota, Arc I, and Unidentified. Among the methanogenic population, the acid-tolerant hydrogenotrophic methanogens including Methanoregula and Methanosphaerula dominated the first two compartments. In the last two compartments, the dominant methanogenic population was Methanosaeta, which was the major acetate oxidizer under methanogenic conditions and could promote the formation of granular sludge. The distribution of the hydrogenotrophic (acid-tolerant) and acetotrophic methanogens in sequence along the compartments allowed the ABR to perform more efficiently and steadily.