• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.283-288
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• 2007

In order to elucidate the relationship between the sludge retention time(SRT) and the toxicity of heavy metals, such as copper (Cu), cadmium(Cd), and zinc(Zn), in sequencing batch reactor(SBR) process, IC50 was estimated with measuring of INT-dehydrogenase activity in variable SRTs. When the concentrations of heavy metals were increased, the activity of INT-dehydrogenase was gradually decreased indicating the heavy metals inhibit bacterial activity. Cu showed higher toxicity than Zn and Cd. $IC_{50}$ of Cu, Cd, and Zn ranged from $0.37\sim1.96$ mg/L, $15.4\sim16.9$ mg/L, and $9.70\sim23.4$ mg/L, respectively. The toxicity of Cu and Zn was reversely proportional to the length of SRT. It is probably caused by the increased concentration of extracellular polymeric substances in longer SRT which absorb heavy metals. Therefore, the operation of SBR with increased SRT is desirable in treatment of industrial wastewater containing heavy metals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.175-180
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• 2008

The objective of this study was to investigate biosorption of organic matter on EPS(Extracellular Polymeric Substances) at different SRT(Sludge Retention Time) in a SBR(Sequencing Batch Reactor) process, which was operated with the following operation steps : Fill-React-Settle-Decant-Idle. The hydraulic retention time was set to be 24 hours. The results obtained from this study showed that the organic removal efficiency per unit microbial biomass decreased with increasing SRT, and the corresponding EPS amount also did. The percent removal of organic by biosorption increased with SRT, and it reached to 53.2% at SRT of 30 days. However, the highest biosorption per microbial biomass(48.6 mgCOD/gVSS) was found at SRT of 2 days. The EPS analysis was performed by measuring TSS, TCOD$_{Cr}$, and TKN. The EPS production per unit microbial biomass was observed to be high at a low SRT. Due to the above result, the floc formation was hindered and therefore poor settlement of sludge resulted in decreasing the COD removal efficiency. It was therefore concluded that the consideration of the system design should include the characteristic of EPS as well as other factors such as SRT, MLSS, and organic loading.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.237-243
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• 2002

The effect of a salinity on the performance of a biological nutrient removal system was investigated using a model SBR(Sequencing Bach Reactor) system. The system was operated at a 12hr, 18hr, 24hr, and 36hr HRT with a salinity level of 20,000mg/L and compared with a system similarly operated with fresh water. The influent salinity level of 8,000 mg/L does not have a significant effect on BOD removal efficiency, there is a noticeable decrease in BOD removal rate from 10,000 mg Cl-/L. The Nitrogen could be removed from the saline wastewater with the same efficiency as for the fresh water because of low C/N ratio in anoxic period. The excess biological phosphorous removal is highly affected by the increase in the influent salinity. The efficiency is decreased from 96.6% to 43.4% when the influent salinity is increased from 0 to 20,000mg/L.