• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2002

Laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor added alum into the anaerobic basin as a flocculant and adsorbent was carried out to find removal efficient of nitrogen and phosphorus components in the mixed liquid and weather or not maintaining the stability for the permeate flux and pressure at various internal recycle conditions. It was found that denitrification efficient of maximum 65% was obtained when the ratio of internal recycle was 3Q. Additionally when the ratio of internal recycle was fixed at 3Q, $BOD_5$ and T-P concentration of permeate was much more reduced compared to not added alum in anaerobic basin but T-N concentration of permeate was relatively increased. In case of added alum as the flocculant and adsorbent in anaerobic basin, the permeate flux was maintained above $10{\ell}/m^2/hr$ but the permeate pressure was relatively higher than alum was not added in anaerobic basin.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.269-276
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• 2012

The surface characteristics and performance of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) hollow fiber membranes have been systematically investigated at lab- and pilot-scale to assess their application to membrane-bioreactor, particularly for integrating wastewater reclamation and rainwater harvesting. The PTFE membrane expressed some surface features, such as hydrophobicity, which might enhance membrane fouling. However, lab-scale performance and cleaning experiments under various conditions demonstrated that the PTFE membrane could produce the desirable water flux with good cleaning efficiency, implying easy operation and maintenance due to superior chemical resistance of PTFE membranes. Most of effluent water qualities were met with Korean standard for discharge and reuse, except color. Color level was further reduced by blending with rainwater at 75:25 ratio. Based on the lab-scale experimental results, the pilot plant was designed and operated. Pilot operation clearly showed sTable performance with satisfactory water quality, suggesting that PTFE membrane could be applied for decentralized MBR integrated with rainwater use.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.389-395
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• 2017

In this paper, we investigate the characteristics of membrane fouling caused by water temperature in the Membrane bioreactor(MBR) process and try to derive the membrane fouling control by chemical enhanced backwashing(CEB). The extracellular polymeric substances(EPS) concentration was analyzed according to the water temperature in the MBR, and the membrane fouling characteristics were investigated according to the conditions, with sludge & without sludge, through a lab-scale reactor. As shown in the existing literature the fouling resistance rate was increased within sludge with the water temperature was lowered. However, in the lab-scale test using the synthetic wastewater, the fouling resistance increased with the water temperature. This is because that the protein of the EPS was more easily adsorbed on the membrane surface due to the increase of entropy due to the structural rearrangement of the protein inside the protein as the water temperature increases. In order to control membrane fouling, we tried to derive the cleaning characteristics of CEB by using sodium hypochlorite(NaOCl). We selected the condition with the chemicals and the retention time, and the higher the water temperature and the chemical concentration are the higher the efficiencies. It is considered that the increasing temperature accelerated the chemical reaction such as protein peptide binding and hydrolysis, so that the attached proteinaceous structure was dissolved and the frequency of the reaction collision with the protein with the chemical agent becomes higher. These results suggest that the MBRs operation focus on the fouling control of cake layer on membrane surface in low temperatures. On the other hand, the higher the water temperature is the more the operation strategies of fouling control by soluble EPS adsorption are needed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-49
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• 2024

Wastewater treatment using membrane bioreactors has been extensively used to alleviate water shortage and pollution by improving the quality of the treated water discharged into the environment. However, membrane biofouling persistently holds back an MBR process by reducing the process efficiency. Herein, we synthesized carbon nanospheres (CNSs) with many hydrophilic oxygen groups and utilized them as an additive to prepare high-performance ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with hydrophilicity and porous pore structure. CNSs were found to form crescent-shaped pores on the membrane surface, increasing the mean surface pore size by about 40% without causing significant defects larger than bubble points, as the CNS content increased by 4.6 wt%. In addition, the porous pore structure of CNS composite membranes was also attributable to the CNS's isotropic morphologies and relatively low particle number density because the aforementioned properties contributed to preventing the polymer solution viscosity from soaring with the loading of CNS. However, too porous structure compromised the mechanical properties, such that CNS2.3 was the best from a comprehensive consideration including the pore structure and mechanical properties. As a result, CNS2.3 showed not only 2 times higher water permeability than CNS0 but also 5 times longer operation duration until membrane cleaning was required.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.365-369
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• 2004

Submerged membrane bio-reactor equipped with a hollow fiber microfiltration was applied to reuse weaving wastewater of water jet loom, where two parameters such as the concentration of MLSS and the flux were controlled. While the flux at the concentration of MLSS around 900mg/L was constantly kept over 0.4m/d and 0.8m/d in a short time, the stable flux at around 300mg/L of MLSS was shown at the 8 days later. Regardless of MLSS and flux, BOD, CODcr and Turbidity of the permeate were 1~2mg/L, 7~10mg/L and below 1 NTU, which were 85~90%, 87~90% and 98% of removal efficiency, respectively. The stable operation without fouling was achieved because the contents of ECP were smaller than those of common MBR processes and the composition(saccharide/protein) was kept constantly. In this study, 0.5~1.0m/d of flux and 400~900mg/L of MLSS were considered as the most recommendable operating condition for the reuse of weaving wastewater.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1908-1919
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• 2015

This work investigated the potential of curcumin (CCM) and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to inhibit N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated biofilm formation in gram-negative bacteria from membrane bioreactor (MBR) activated sludge. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of CCM alone against all the tested bacteria were 200-350 μg/ml, whereas those for EGCG were 300-600 μg/ml. Biofilm formation at one-half MICs indicated that CCM and EGCG alone respectively inhibited 52-68% and 59-78% of biofilm formation among all the tested bacteria. However, their combination resulted in 95-99% of biofilm reduction. Quorum sensing inhibition (QSI) assay with known biosensor strains demonstrated that CCM inhibited the expression of C4 and C6 homoserine lactones (HSLs)-mediated phenotypes, whereas EGCG inhibited C4, C6, and C10 HSLs-based phenotypes. The Center for Disease Control biofilm reactor containing a multispecies culture of nine bacteria with one-half MIC of CCM (150 μg/ml) and EGCG (275 μg/ml) showed 17 and 14 μg/cm² of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on polyvinylidene fluoride membrane surface, whereas their combination (100 μg/ml of each) exhibited much lower EPS content (3 μg/cm²). Confocal laser scanning microscopy observations also illustrated that the combination of compounds tremendously reduced the biofilm thickness. The combined effect of CCM with EGCG clearly reveals for the first time the enhanced inhibition of AHL-mediated biofilm formation in bacteria from activated sludge. Thus, such combined natural QSI approach could be used for the inhibition of membrane biofouling in MBRs treating wastewaters.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1168-1173
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• 2005

Pilot scale vertical-type membrane bioreactor was operated to examine the effect of $FeCl_3$ injection on the removal of organics, nitrogen and phosphorous, and additionally trans-membrane pressure (TMP) was observed. The membrane type was hollow fiber membrane with pore size of $0.25\;{\mu}m$, and the material was polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The membrane permeate was continuously removed by a pump under a constant flux ($25\;L/m^2/h$). Air back-flushing technique were adopted to reduce fouling. As a result, TMP was increased more slowly than that of the operation without air back-flushing, During long-term operation, approximately 310 days, the injection of $FeCl_3$ was effective not only in removing phosphorous chemically but also in reducing TMP increase. Furthermore, while the average COD and T-N concentration of the effluent without $FeCl_3$ injection was 14.3 mg/L and 6.0 mg/L respectively, that of effluent with $FeCl_3$ was 11.3 mg/L and 6.0 mg/L respectively, which confirmed the effects of $FeCl_3$.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1656-1664
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• 2009

Bioaugmentation of bioreactors focuses on the removal of numerous organics, with little attention typically paid to the maintenance of high and stable nitrite accumulation in partial nitrification. In this study, a bioaugmented membrane bioreactor (MBR) inoculated with enriched ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was developed, and the effects of dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature on the stability of partial nitrification and microbial community structure, in particular on the nitrifying community, were evaluated. The results showed that DO and temperature played the most important roles in the stability of partial nitrification in the bioaugmented MBR. The optimal operation conditions were found at 2-3 mgDO/l and $30^{\circ}C$, achieving 95% ammonia oxidization efficiency and nitrite ratio ($NO_2^-/{NO_x}^-$) of 0.95. High DO (5-6 mg/l) and low temperature ($20^{\circ}C$) had negative impacts on nitrite accumulation, leading to nitrite ratio drop to 0.6. However, the nitrite ratio achieved in the bioaugmented MBR was higher than that in most previous literatures. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used to provide an insight into the microbial community. It showed that Nitrosomonas-like species as the only detected AOB remained predominant in the bioaugmented MBR all the time, and coexisted with numerous heterotrophic bacteria. The heterotrophic bacteria responsible for mineralizing soluble microbial products (SMP) produced by nitrifiers belonged to the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides (CFB) group, and $\alpha$-, $\beta$-, and $\gamma$- Proteobacteria. The fraction of AOB ranging from 77% to 54% was much higher than that of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (0.4-0.9%), which might be the primary cause for the high and stable nitrite accumulation in the bioaugmented MBR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1298-1304
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• 2005

This study was performed to evaluate the characteristics of the competition between two electron acceptors, perchlorate and nitrate, with Citrobacter Amalonaticus strain JB101. In addition, the applicability of membrane bioreactor(MBR) for perchlorate removal was evaluated. The maximum growth rate of strain JB101 on perchlorate and nitrate are 0.27 and 0.58 $hr^{-1}$, and maximum substrate utilization rates were 35.1 mg $ClO_4^-/g$ protein-day and 45.6 mg $NO_3^-/g$ protein-day, respectively. Nitrate was a competitive inhibitor for perchlorate, and strain JB101 prefer nitrate to perchlorate as electron acceptor. Complete removal of perchlorate could be achieved up to the surface leading rate of 4.6 g $ClO_4^-/m^2-day$ with the MBR fed with 20 mg $ClO_4^-/L$(HCMBR). When 5 mg/L of nitrate was added to the same influent, perchlorate removal efficiency decreased to 96.5%, while nitrate was completely removed. For the MBR fed with 0.7 mg/L of perchlorate (LCMBR), the maximum perchlorate removal efficiency was 100% up to the loading rate of 0.23 g $ClO_4^-/m^2-day$. Membrane fouling was found to be a problem at high leading rate for both MBRs. The acetate consumption ratio per perchlorate was $13.7{\sim}51.7\;e^-eq./e^-eq.$ in LCMBR, while the value was $2.5{\sim}3.6\;e^-eq./e^-eq.$ in HCMBR. This difference could be related to the acetate consumption with oxygen as electron acceptor. Therefore, the amount of acetate addition must be determined considering the concentrations of other electron acceptors in the influent.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2010.04a
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• pp.395-396
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• 2010

Lab scale experiment study was carried out for biological process development on cruise. SBR(Sequence Bath Reactor), MBR(Membrane Bioreactor), and MSBR(Membrane Sequence Bath Reactor) system were investigated for practical application on shipboard sewage treatment. From the results it was suggested that MSBR system might be suitable process for cruise in terms of pollutant removal efficiency, maintenance and special environmental conditions of cruise. Based on Res. MEPC.159(55) the MSBR system was qualified for the required regulations.