• Journal of Urban Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1-5
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• 2019

China is the great powers of use and production of antibiotics.The current process of sewage treatment plants can not effectively remove antibiotics in water. Chinese scholars have detected different kinds of antibiotics in major waters of the country, which have potential harm to human body. Among all kinds of antibiotic treatment technologies, adsorption removal technology has the advantages of simple operation, low cost and high removal efficiency. It is a widely concerned antibiotic removal technology. However, at present, few materials have been put into practical application, and more materials with low cost and high efficiency need to be found. Different adsorptive materials have different adsorptivity to different antibiotics. For different antibiotics, different adsorptive materials can be integrated in the future, and the theory can be extended to application.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.379-385
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• 2010

We developed a high-efficiency, wide-operating-range centrifugal blower stage to meet the demand for reduced total energy-consumption in sewage treatment plants. We improved the efficiency of the two-dimensional impeller using a shape optimization tool and one-dimensional performance prediction tool. A limit of the throat deceleration ratio was set to maintain the stall-margin of the impeller. The low solidity vaned diffuser and return channel were designed using a sensitivity analysis with orthogonal arrays and three-dimensional steady flow simulations. The low solidity diffuser was designed in order to improve the performance in the low-flow-rate region. The return channel was designed so that the total pressure loss in the return channel was minimized. Model tests of both the conventional and optimized blower stages were carried out, and the efficiency and operating range of both stages were compared. The optimized blower stage improved in stage efficiency by 3% and in operating range by 5% compared with the conventional blower stage.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.25-35
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• 2007

Excess runoff contaminated with N and P can impact the quality of downstream water. It has been known that aquatic plants improve the water quality through their intake of organic or inorganic nutrients. This study was conducted to select aquatic plants having high purification ability for nutrient N and P, and mineral nutrients related to EC such as K, Ca, Na, Cl, and $SO_4$ in raw sewage water in greenhouse. We assessed nutrient phytoremediation potential of alien hydrophyte and hydro-crop as well as native landscape hydrophyte to select suitable aquatic plant applied to artificial wetland and buffering site of stream-side. The amount of irrigation water during whole growing period of aquatic plane ranged from 225 L $m^{-2}$ to 444 L $m^{-2}$. Oryza sativa, Typha orientalis, Zizania latifolia, Aster subulatus, Coix lachryma-jobi var. mayuen, Paspalum disdichum var. indutum which had high biomass consumed the large amount of irrigation water over 350 L $m^{-2}$. As a result of analysis of water purification effect N and P content of shoot biomass, and media soil after experiment, Oryza sativa, Zizania latifolia, Aster subulatus, Coix lachryma-jobi var. mayuen, Paspalum distichum var. indutum showed high purification ability about eutrophication elements such as T-N and T-P. It is presented that Pistia stratiotes, Eichhornia crassipes, and Paspalum distichum var. indutum had excellent purification ability about K, Ca, Na, and Cl. Moreover, Paspalum distichum var. indutum greatly removed $SO_4$ in row sewage water.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

The current environmental problem is that environmental pollution is accelerating due to the generation of large amounts of waste and indiscriminate consumption of energy. Fossil fuels, a representative energy production fuel, are burned in the process of producing energy, generating a large amount of greenhouse gases and eventually causing climate change. In addition, the amount of waste generated worldwide is continuously increasing, and environmental pollution is occurring in the process of waste treatment. One of the methods for simultaneously solving these problems is the energy recovery from and reduction of organic wastes. Sewage sludge generated in sewage treatment plants has been treated in various ways since ocean disposal was completely prohibited, but the amount generated has been continuously increasing. Since the sewage sludge contains a large amount of organic materials, it is desirable to recover energy from the sewage sludge and reduce the final discharged waste through anaerobic digestion. However, most of the excess sludge is a mass of microorganisms used in sewage treatment, and in order for the excess sludge to be anaerobically digested, the cell walls of the microorganisms must be destroyed first, but it takes a lot of time to destroy the cell walls, so high rates of biogas production and waste reduction cannot be achieved only by anaerobic digestion. Therefore, the pre-treatment process of solubilizing excess sludge is required, and the thermal solubilization process is verified to be the most efficient among various solubilization methods, and high rates of biogas production and waste reduction can be achieved by anaerobic digestion after destroying cell walls the thermal solubilization process. In this study, when pretreating TS 10% thickened excess sludge through a thermal solubilization system, a study was conducted on solubilization characteristics according to retention time and operating temperature variables. The experimental variables for the retention time of the thermal solubilization system were 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, and 120 minutes, respectively, while the operating temperature was fixed at 160℃. The soulbilization rates calculated through TCOD and SCOD derived from the experimental results increased in the order of 12.11%, 20.52%, 28.62%, and 31.40%, respectively. And the variables according to operating temperature were 120℃, 140℃, 160℃, 180℃, and 200℃, respectively, while the operating retention time was fixed at 60 minutes. And the solubilization rates increased in the order of 7.14%, 14.52%, 20.52%, 40.72%, and 57.85%, respectively. In addition, TS, VS, T-N, T-P, NH₄⁺-N, and VFAs were analyzed to evaluate thermal solubilization characteristics of thickened excess sludge. As a result, in order to obtain 30% or more solubilization rate through thermal solubilization of TS 10% thickened excess sludge, 120 minutes of retention time is required when the operating temperature is fixed to 160℃, and 170℃ or more of operating temperature is needed when the operating time is fixed to 60 minutes.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.391-407
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• 2013

Micropollutants emerge in surface water through untreated discharge from sewage and wastewater treatment plants (STPs and WWTPs). Most micropollutants resist the conventional systems in place at water treatment plants (WTPs) and survive the production of tap water. In particular, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors (ECDs) are micropollutants frequently detected in drinking water. In this review, we summarized the distribution of micropollutants at WTPs and also scrutinized the effectiveness and mechanisms for their removal at each stage of drinking water production. Micropollutants demonstrated clear concentrations in the final effluents of WTPs. Although chronic exposure to micropollutants in drinking water has unclear adverse effects on humans, peer reviews have argued that continuous accumulation in water environments and inappropriate removal at WTPs has the potential to eventually affect human health. Among the available removal mechanisms for micropollutants at WTPs, coagulation alone is unlikely to eliminate the pollutants, but ionized compounds can be adsorbed to natural particles (e.g. clay and colloidal particles) and metal salts in coagulants. Hydrophobicities of micropollutants are a critical factor in adsorption removal using activated carbon. Disinfection can reduce contaminants through oxidation by disinfectants (e.g. ozone, chlorine and ultraviolet light), but unidentified toxic byproducts may result from such treatments. Overall, the persistence of micropollutants in a treatment system is based on the physico-chemical properties of chemicals and the operating conditions of the processes involved. Therefore, monitoring of WTPs and effective elimination process studies for pharmaceuticals and ECDs are required to control micropollutant contamination of drinking water.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.187-196
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• 2016

In this study, a newly developed agitator with hydrofoil impeller applied to actual biological process in advanced wastewater treatment plant was evaluated. Several series of experiments were conducted in two different wastewater treatment plants where actual problems have been occurred such as the production of scums and sludge settling. For more effective evaluation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and measurements of MLSS (Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids) and DO (Dissolved Oxygen) were used with other measuring equipments. After the installation of one unit of vertical hydrofoil agitator in plant A, scum and sludge settling problems were solved and more than seventy percent of operational energy was saved. In case of plant B, there were three cells of each anoxic and anaerobic tanks, and each cell had one unit of submersible horizontal agitator. After the integration of three cells to one cell in each tank, and installation of one vertical hydrofoil agitator per tank, all the problems caused by improper mixing were solved and more than eighty percent of operational energy was found to be saved. Simple change of agitator applied to biological process in wastewater treatment plant was proved to be essential to eliminate scum and sludge settling problems and to save input energy.

• Plant Resources
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.53-59
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• 1998

Laboratory experiments for the removal efficiency of heavy metals in land application of sludge, the accumulation and translocation of heavy metals in x plants after transplanting, and the responses of Minari growth with different ratio of land application of sludge were conducted to determine the potential ability of bioremediation with Minari plants. The removal rate and translocation of copper. zinc. lead. and cadmium in soil and plants were compared after transplanting the Minari plants to soil treated with different ratio of sludge. The removal efficiency of heavy metals in soil incorporated with sludge was different with application ratio, but increased with growing periods of Minari plants. The removal efficiency of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd ranged from 67 to 74% from 51% to 63%, from 37% to 71%. and from 15% to 25% after 45 days of transplanting. respectively. The amount removed the copper value. 65.9 mg/kg, observed to be highest in soil incorporated 3% sludge after 45 days. The translocation of Cu. Zn. Pb. and Cd from shoots to roots ranged from 18 to 53%, from 17 to 32%, from 14 to 49%, and from 23 to 38% over growing periods. respectively. In plant responses it appeared to be inhibited the plant growth in the treatment compared with the control at early stage of growth. However, the fresh weights of Minari plant increased from 12.5 to 62.5% in the sludge application after 45 days relative to the control. Therefore the Minari might play a useful role in bioremediation of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in the land application of sludge.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.60-70
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• 2012

Zn, Cu, Fe, Al contents of sludges produced from sewage treatment plants and night soil treatment plant in Pocheon City, Gyeong-gi Province were investigated. And the accumulated contents of those metals in the earthworm Eisenia fetida were also investigated while 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 grams(dw) of sludges were cumulatively supplied to the earthworms. Zn contents of sludges were 75.1~196.1 mg/kg, Cu contents 3.74~76.1 mg/kg, Fe contents 219.9~857.8 mg/kg, Al contents 198.4~991.7 mg/kg, all of which would not cause acute toxicity to the earthworm, but could cause sublethal effects on earthworm and reduce the density of next generation's population. However, cumulative supplies of sludges didn't increase the bioaccumulation rates of metals in the earthworm body, and BAFs of those metals after 60g of sludge supply were 0.0~0.43, which meant that the accumulated Zn, Cu, Fe, Al contents in the earthworm were lower than those of sludges.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.186-194
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• 2009

Understanding the environmental fate of human and animal pharmaceuticals and their risk assessment are of great importance due to their growing environmental concerns. Although there are many potential pathways for them to reach the environment, effluents from sewage treatment plants (STPs) are recognized as major point sources. In this study, the removal efficiencies of the 43 selected priority pharmaceuticals in a conventional STP were evaluated using two simple models: an equilibrium partitioning model (EPM) and STPWIN$^{TM}$ program developed by US EPA. It was expected that many pharmaceuticals are not likely to be removed by conventional activated sludge processes because of their relatively low sorption potential to suspended sludge and low biodegradability. Only a few pharmaceuticals were predicted to be easily removed by sorption or biodegradation, and hence a conventional STP may not protect the environment from the release of unwanted pharmaceuticals. However, the prediction made in this study strongly relies on sorption coefficient to suspended sludge and biodegradation half-lives, which may vary significantly depending on models. Removal efficiencies predicted using the EPM were typically higher than those predicted by STPWIN for many hydrophilic pharmaceuticals due to the difference in prediction method for sorption coefficients. Comparison with experimental organic carbon-water partition coefficients ($K_{ocs}) revealed that log KOW-based estimation used in STPWIN is likely to underestimate sorption coefficients, thus resulting low removal efficiency by sorption. Predicted values by the EPM were consistent with limited experimental data although this model does not include biodegradation processes, implying that this simple model can be very useful with reliable Koc values. Because there are not many experimental data available for priority pharmaceuticals to evaluate the model performance, it should be important to obtain reliable experimental data including sorption coefficients and biodegradation rate constants for the prediction of the fate of the selected pharmaceuticals.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.57-65
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• 2007

The objective of this study was to evaluate chemical water quality by hourly monitoring(25hr) of Saemangeum esturary. For this study, we selected 2 sites like a Mangyong Bridge(St. 6) and Dongjin Bridge(St. 7). Inflow of salt water was not detected during low tide(maximum 553, 508cm) of all stations, while the salinity rises were detected in spring tide(750cm). When 602m of maximum tide was reached, salinity concentration was increased at St. 7, while there was no change in St. 6. Therefore, We know that salinity variation is greatly influenced by tide height at survey site. Also, significant variance of salinity(p<0.05) was found between St. 6 and St. 7 because dike construction made the flood tide move into the Dongjin river. Total suspened solids(TSS) concentration was increased because of the river runoff at St. 6, and also the turbulance and resuspension according to salt intrusion at St. 7. During the high tide, the water discharge from the sea seemed to dilute the nutrient but to elevate TSS concentration in St. 7. Silicate and nitrate concentrations in the studied site were decreased by the mixing of sea water, whereas the evident trend of phosphate concentration was not found. This result can be explained by the phosphorus condition. Phosphorus exists inactive when it is affected by hydrated iron and adsorbed onto suspended matters. Compared to the environmental conditions of the St. 6 and St. 7, physical factors such as temperature, dissolved oxygen and TSS have statistically no significant difference(p<0.001), but nutrient concentrations were higher at St. 6 than St. 7. It could be suggested from these results that it is important to control the discharge of fresh water by sewage treatment plants located in St. 6 for water quality management.