• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.53-59
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• 2014

In this study, the sewage sludge dryer is installed before and after dehydration of the sludge and aqueous phase composition, the heavy metal content, and measurement and analysis were investigated. The removal efficiency of water content of sewage sludge was about 95.7% in the sewage sludge dryer. The removal efficiency of water content for primary dryer was designed for 35% of primary drying, secondary drying to remove the water content to 10%, but as the measurement revealed that 20.8% of primary drying, the second dryer 3.3% a better effect to the actual operation respectively. Before the installation of the sewage sludge dryer, the content of heavy metal was as follows, Cu:352~614 ppm, Hg: 1.3~1.44ppm, Cd : 1.1~1.86ppm, Pb : 17.25~ 28.93 ppm, As : 1ppm. And after the installation of the sewage sludge dryer, the content of heavy metal changed to as follows, Cu : 340~350 ppm, Hg : 0 ppm, Cd : 0~0.021 ppm, Pb : 0 ppm, As : 0~0.043 ppm which is Also below the legal limits. Also, the sewage sludge dryer produce 1/4 of the sewage sludge into dried sludge.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.47-56
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• 2007

Utilization of sewage sludge for industrial fuel should be considered in appropriate calory with low emission of environmental pollutants and the amount of sewage sludge for continuously long-time operation. For the low grade fuel(<4,000kcal/kg), one of proper processes is that coal and oil are added into sewage sludge to remove impurities and increase calory(>7,000kcal/kg) and the amount of fuel having sewage sludge. Recently, 2-step agglomeration has been attempted by secondarily agglomerate sewage sludge onto the primary nuclei formed by agglomeration of coal and oil. Furthermore, sawdust and waste oil can substitute about 1/3 each for coal and mineral oil consumed in this process, which will lead to securing alternative energy resources from environmental pollutants as well as cost reduction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.73-80
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• 2018

In this study, the solids removal characteristics using T-P sludge generated from PACl coagulation were analyzed by laboratory scale and full scale experiment. As the amounts of T-P sludge injection into the raw sewage influent increased at the rate of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 %, the suspended solids concentrations after 20 minutes setting test decreased to 210, 137, 91, 64, 43 mg/L, respectively. The filtration time required for dewatering test of the raw sewage influent decreased to 982, 728, 658, 581, 492 sec for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4% of T-P sludge injection, respectively. As the amounts of PACl coagulant into the effluent from final setting tank increased at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 mg/L, the required filtration times for T-P sludge increased into 12.3, 41.7, 53.7, 67.2, 79.5 sec and the dewaterability of T-P sludge decreased. After T-P sludge returned into the primary settling tank on J-si sewage treatment plants, the effluent concentrations of COD, SS, T-N and T-P from primary settling tank into bioreactor decreased by 35.9, 27.9, 22.2, and 52.6% due to the coagulation effects of the T-P sludge. Finally, it was found that the return of T-P sludge into the primary settling tank could result into the sludge reduction having a lower water content of 3.03% p than in case of the only T-P sludge dehydration.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.322-331
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• 2020

By introducing chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) in the first stage of sewage treatment, organic matter in sewage can be effectively recovered. Because CEPT sludge contains a high biodegradable organic matter in volatile solids (VS), it is feasible to convert the collected CEPT sludge into energy through anaerobic digestion. This study examined the properties and biochemical methane potential (BMP) of the CEPT sludge obtained from a sewage treatment plant located in an ocean area. The CEPT sludge contains a VS content of 37,597 mg/L, which is higher than that of excessive sludge (ES), i.e., 33,352 mg-VS/L. In the methane generation reaction, the lag period was as short as 1 to 2 days. The BMP for the CEPT sludge was 0.57 ㎥-CH₄/kg-VS_removed which is better than that of ES, i.e., 0.36 ㎥-CH₄/kg-VS_removed. Unfortunately, the CEPT sludge showed a high salinity as 0.56~0.75% probably due to the saline sewage. Due to the salinity, repeated BMP testing in a sequencing batch reactor showed significantly low methane production rates and BMPs. Also, the ES showed a strongly reduced BMP when the salinity was adjusted from 0.20 to 0.70% by NaCl. The ES mixture with higher CEPT content showed a better BMP, which is suitable for co-digestion. Besides, anaerobic digestion for 100% CEPT sludge can be a considerable option instead of co-digestion.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2020

Because of the intensified environmental problems such as climate change and resource depletion, sewage treatment technology focused on energy management has recently attracted attention. The conversion of primary sludge from the primary sedimentation tank and excessive sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank into biogas is the key to energy-positive sewage treatment. In particular, the primary sedimentation tanks recover enriched biodegradable organic matter and anaerobic digestion process produces methane from the organic wastes for energy production. Such technologies for minimizing oxygen demand are leading the innovation regarding sewage treatment plants. However, sewage treatment facilities in Korea lack core technology and operational know-how. Actually, the energy potential of sewage is higher than sewage treatment energy consumption in the sewage treatment, but current processes are not adequately efficient in energy recovery. To improve this, it is possible to apply chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), high-rate activated sludge (HRAS), and anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to the primary sedimentation tank. To maximize the methane production of sewage treatment plants, organic wastes such as food waste and livestock manure can be digested. Additionally, mechanical pretreatment, thermal hydrolysis, and chemical pretreatment would enhance the methane conversion of organic waste. Power generation systems based on internal combustion engines are susceptible to heat source losses, requiring breakthrough energy conversion systems such as fuel cells. To realize the energy positive sewage treatment plant, primary organic matter recovery from sewage, biogas pretreatment, and co-digestion should be optimized in the energy management system based on the knowledge-based operation.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1130-1136
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• 2006

This work elucidates the effects of pretreatment of the sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant by microwave irradiation on elutriated acid fermentation. These experiments typically fell into two process; pretreatment as microwave irradiation and elutriated acid fermentation for hydrolysis and acidification as main process of primary sludge. The results of maximum solubilization rate of B, D primary and secondary sludge were 0.042, 0.086 and 0.15 gSCODprod./gICODin and the optimum irradiation time of microwave on 2,450 MHz and 900 W were 5 min. for primary sludge and 7 min. for secondary sludge. From batch tests on elutriated acid fermentation that was used the pretreated primary sludge as microwave, the optimum pH and HRT (hydraulic retention time) were 7 and 5 days at $35^{\circ}C$ condition.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.70-73
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• 2003

Nitrate contamination in the aquatic systems is the primary indicator of poor agricultural management. The influence of sewage sludge application rates (0, 10, 25, 50 and 100 dry Mg/ha) on distribution of nitrate originating from the sewage sludge in soil profiles was investigated. Soil profile monitoring of nitrate was carried out with a Lakeland clay soil in 1997. Irrespectively of the sewage sludge application rates up to 50 dry Mg/ha, the concentration of $NO_3$-N at the 120 cm depth was below 10 mg/kg and the difference due to the amount of sewage sludge application was negligible at this depth. There was virtually no $NO_3$-N below 120 cm depth and this was confirmed by a deep sampling up to 300 cm depth. Most of the nitrate remained in the surface 60 cm of the soil. Below 120 cm depth nitrate concentration was very low because of the denitrification even at high sewage sludge rate of 100 dry Mg/ha. The $NO_3$-N concentrations in the soil fluctuated over the growing season due to plant uptake and denitrification. The risk of groundwater contamination by nitrate from sewage sludge application up to high rate of 100 dry Mg/ha was very low in a wheat grown clay soil with high water table ( < 3 m).

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2014

The practical route for disposal of sewage sludge becomes energy recovery by combustion after its ocean dumping is banned in 2012 in Korea. Due to the high moisture content, however, sewage sludge is required to be dried before transport and combustion. In this study, pyrolysis and combustion characteristics of dried sewage sludge was investigated in a small-scale fixed bed reactor in order to provide fundamental data for energy recovery of the fuel. As the first step of combustion, the primary products of pyrolysis were analyzed in a fixed bed reactor for the condensable volatiles (tar), non-condensable gases, and char. For the combustion characteristics, another fixed bed reactor was constructed to monitor the weight and temperature of the fuel particles during ignition and combustion under different air flow rates. The test results were used to derive the ignition and burning rates.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.424-429
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• 2012

The intention of this research was to investigate the solubilization of primary sewage sludge using lactic acid bacteria cultured in a glucose and yeast extract medium. Glucose as the carbon source and yeast extract as the source of nitrogen were chosen as an economic medium with the potential for the mass production of lactic acid bacteria. The optimal concentrations of the medium were 3% (w/v) glucose and 2% (w/v) yeast extract. In this study, in order to improve field applications for the solubilization of sludge at sewage treatment plants, a powdered form of lactic acid bacteria was produced. The optimal inoculum of the powder for the maximum efficiency of solubilization was 1% (w/v). In that condition, the SCOD value increased from 8600 (mg/L) at the beginning of experiment to 10290 (mg/L) at 96 h, with the highest solubilization rate (20.6% DDCOD) and 11.2% (SCOD). Also, the TVFAs of the lactic acid bacteria inoculation group were produced more than that of the control group. In particular, acetic acid was produced 5 times more in the experimental group than in the control group. In this research, the potential of lactic acid bacteria in the pretreatment of primary sewage sludge as a solubilizer, and as an energy source producer for microbial fuel cells was revealed.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2018

Domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) consume about 0.5 % of total electric energy produced annually, which is equivalent to 207.7 billion Korean won per year. To minimize the energy consumption and as a way of mitigating the depletion of energy sources, the sewage treatment strategy should be improved to the level of "energy positive". The core processes for the energy positive sewage treatment include A-stage for energy recovery and B-stage for energy-efficient nitrogen removal. The integrated process is known as the A/B-process. In A-stage, chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) or high rate activated sludge (HRAS) processes can be utilized by modifying the primary settling in the first stage of sewage treatment. CEPT utilizes chemical coagulation and flocculation, while HRAS applies returned activated sludge for the efficient recovery of organic contents. The two processes showed organic recovery efficiencies ranging from 60 to 70 %. At a given recovery efficiency of 80 %, 17.3 % of energy potential ($1,398kJ/m^3$) is recovered through the anaerobic digestion and combustion of methane. Besides, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can recover 85% of organic contents and generate $1,580kJ/m^3$ from the sewage. The recovered energy is equal to the amount of energy consumption by sewage treatment equipped with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX)-based B-stage, $810{\sim}1,620kJ/m^3$. Therefore, it is possible to upgrade STPs as efficient as energy neutral. However, additional novel technologies, such as, fuel cell and co-digestion, should be applied to achieve "energy positive" sewage treatment.