• Journal of Wetlands Research
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.414-420
• /
• 2015

Nitrogen is one of main causes to induce eutrophication of water system and one of contaminants that must be treated for protection of water system. In this study, it was intended to identify a method to increase operation efficiency of municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWTP) by treating high concentration nitrogen. A laboratory scale reactor was operated by using sludge thickener supernatant in the MWTP. During operation of the laboratory scale reactor, it was intended to induce stable nitritation and analyze effects of related operation factors. As results, it was shown that the nitiritation could be induced artificially through control of retention time and sections where the stable nitiritation was induced were identified also. In particular, highly efficient nitrite conversion efficiency near 90% was identified in condition of 1 day retention time. Especially, it was shown that ammonium nitrogen load affected ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency and nitrite conversion efficiency. In the condition of high ammonium nitrogen load, the nitrite conversion efficiency and the ammonium nitrogen removal efficiency decreased. On the contrary in the condition of low ammonium nitrogen load, it was found that the nitrite conversion efficiency decreased. It means that control of ammonium nitrogen concentration and its retention time is needed for the nitritation. It is considered that for the sewage containing high load nitrogen in sludge treatment process as like the sludge thickener supernatant, the nitritation can be applied, which can be suggested as a modification method of MWTP.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.33-38
• /
• 2021

Demand for lithium-based secondary batteries is greatly increasing with the explosive growth of related industries, such as mobile devices and electric vehicles. In Korea, there are several top-rated global lithium-ion battery manufacturers accounting for 40% of the global secondary battery business. Most discarded lithium secondary batteries are recycled as scrap to recover valuable metals, such as Nickel and Cobalt, but residual wastes are disposed of according to the residual lithium-ion concentration. Furthermore, there has not been an attempt on the possibility of water discharge system contamination due to the concentration of lithium ions, and the effluent water quality standards of public sewage treatment facilities are becoming stricter year after year. In this study, the as-received waste water generated from the cathode electrode coating process in the manufacturing of high-nickel-based NCM cathode material used for high-performance and long-term purposes was analyzed. We suggested a facile recycling process chart for waste water treatment. We revealed a correlation between lithium-ion concentration and pH effect according to the proposed waste water of each recycling process through analyzing standard water quality tests and daphnia ecological toxicity. We proposed a realistic waste water treatment plan for lithium electrode manufacturing plants via comparison with other industries' ecotoxicology.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.95-103
• /
• 2012

To treat nitrate and non-biodegradable organics effectively in sewage, industrial wastewater and livestock wastewater, the activated sludge process integrated by a membrane separation and a porous electrode- electrolysis was proposed and its efficiency was investigated. The proposed system was consisted of 3 processes; activated sludge, membrane filtration and electrolysis. In the study, the membrane filtration played a role in reducing the load of the electrolysis to operate the proposed process stably. The electrolysis consisted of a porous electrode to increase the efficiency due to the extension of the specific surface area. Additionally, redox reaction in the electrolysis was induced by decomposing influent water as current was applied. As a result, hydrogen free radicals and oxygen radicals as intermediates were produced and they acted as oxidants to play a role in decomposing non-degradable organics. It was environmentally-friendly process because intermediates produced by porous electrode were used to treat waste matters without supplying external reagent. Experimental data showed that the proposed process was more excellent than activated sludge process. SS removal efficiencies of the proposed process, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 100%, about 100% and about 90%, respectively. COD removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 92%, about 84% and about 78%, respectively. T-N removal efficiencies of the proposed system, membrane filtration and activated sludge process were about 88%, about 67%, and about 58%, respectively. The SS data showed that SS was efficiently removed in the single of the membrane filtration. The COD/T-N data showed that COD/T-N of membrane hybrid process was treated by removing a little soluble organics and SS, and that COD/T-N of electrolysis hybrid process was treated by oxidize organics with high removal rate.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.56-66
• /
• 1984

Giardia lamblia is a pathogenic flagellate causing intestinal disorders such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and malabsorption of nutrients. Giardia is mainly infected by the ingestion of contaminated foods per os. Craun (1979) has recently reported that mass infection of this flagellate through the contaminated water supply systems is one of public health hazards. Also, so-called traveller's diarrhea is sometimes caused by Giardia infection (CDC, U.S.A., 1971). However, a few epidemiological studies figuring out the mode of infection or control measures of Giardia infection has been done so far in Korea. The present study was aimed to know the prevalence of Giardia infection in several Korean populations, detectability of this flagellate in water systems and the viability of the cysts against sewages and disinfectants applying to drinking water. In the present study, 388 stool specimens from orphanage children in Chun-joo, Chung-joo, On-yang and Chun-an areas and 538 stool specimens from inhabitants in Woo-do, In-chon, and Chun-joo were examined by formalin-ether concentration technique to detect out Giardia cysts. On the other hand, water samples from 14 sites of Han River and its tributaries were collected in May through July, 1984. Fifty liter of water sample in each sampling site was then filtered through water filtering system deviced by U.S. Environmental Proutection Agency and the sediments rinsed out from the thread rolls, a part of water filtering system, were examined to detect out the Giardia cysts. In order to observe the viability of Giardia cysts in the sewage samples, the cysts were treated in it at $4^{\circ}C$ or $25^{\circ}C$ for 7 through 28 days. For this purpose, the cysts were also exposed to various concentrations of disinfectants such as chlorine, iodine and ozone gas for proper time intervals. After treatment, the viability test of the Giardia cysts were carried out by method of Rice and Schaefer (1981) with minor modification. The results obtained in this study were as follows : 1) The detection rates of G lamblia cysts in the stool specimens were 18.3% in orphans and 4.3% in general examinees. 2) The prevalences of Giardia Infection were higher in the young age groups than in-adults. The highest positive rate was 18.4% in the age group less than 10. 3) Of 14 water specimens sampled from Han River system and its tributaries around the Seoul area, the Giardia cysts were detected from 4 samples, and no cyst was found in the water supply systems. 4) The cysts treated in the sewage survived for 28 days at $4^{\circ}C$ and for 13 days at $25^{\circ}C$. 5) The cysts were completely destroyed within 60 minutes by exposure to 8 mg/l of residual chlorine at 4g and within 30 minutes by exposure to the same concentration of chlorine at $25^{\circ}C$. 6) The cysts were all dead when exposed to 1 mg/1 of iodine for 60 minutes at $4^{\circ}C$ or $25^{\circ}C$. 7) The cysts were destroyed after 10 minute exposure in 0.15 mg to 0.25mg of residual ozone gas per liter. Summarizing the above results, it is considered that Giardia infection is regarded as water-borne disease and the cysts are able to be controlled by the application with the disinfectants in the water supply systems.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.100-114
• /
• 2005

Organic waste, which is defined as wastes derived from various biological organisms that contain more than 40% of organic materials, is generated about 100 million tons per year in Korea. These organic wastes are now controlled by several governmental entities, under different rules and regulations, leading to the improper management and inefficient treatment. Therefore, integrated management system is primarily needed for the efficient recycling of organic waste. In this study, six kinds of organic wastes, which are food waste, sludges(sewage, waste water, night soil), animal excreta, animals and plants residues, and three kinds of recycling by-products(compost, feed, anaerobic digestion by-products) made of organic wastes, were analyzed for their physical and chemical characteristics. On the basis of this result, a possibility for the efficient recycling of organic waste was investigated.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.41 no.2
• /
• pp.109-125
• /
• 2023

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as "bad conditions". Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.14-20
• /
• 2006

In this study, the feasibility of simultaneous removal of organic materials and nitrogen in the waste-water from fisheries processing plant was evaluated using entrapped mixed microbial cell technique(EMMC) process. The experiment was performed using activated sludge from municipal sewage treatment plant which was immobilized with gel matrix by cellulose triacetate. It was found that the stable operation at the treatment system which is composed of anoxic and oxic tank, was possible when the organic and nitrogen loading rates were increased stepwise. The organic and nitrogen loading rates were applied from 0.65 to $1.72kgCOD/m^3/d$ and from 0.119 to $0.317kgT-N/m^3$ with four steps, respectively. The maximum nitrogen loading rate which could satisfy the regulated effluent standard of nitrogen concentration, was $0.3kgT-N/m^3/d$. The removal efficiency of total nitrogen was decreased apparently as increasing nitrogen loading rates, whereas the removal efficiency of ammonium nitrogen was effective at the all tested nitrogen loading rates. Therefore, it was concluded that nitrification was efficient at the system. Nitrate removal efficiency ranged from 98.62% to 99.51%, whereas the nitrification efficiency at the oxic tank ranged 94.0% to 96.9% at the tested loading rates. The removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand(COD) and those of total nitrogen at the entire system ranged from 94.2% to 96.6% and 73.4% to 83.4%, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.565-573
• /
• 2000

Sewer pipe in Korea is generally constructed with concrete pipes. Moreover, the sewer system is susceptible to the corrosion problem due to the regulation employing anaerobic treatment processes, such as domestic sewage treatment facilities, nightsoil septic tanks and so on. The objective of this study is investigated to experimental test of $H_2S$ production rate affecting corrosion of sewer pipe in Korea. In this study, tube-type and sealed-type reactor were used to examine the reactions in the microorganism suspended growth and biofilm. Furthermore. concentration changes were investigated with COD and sulfate reduction in each reactor. Sulfide production rate was $50.4mg-H_2S/g-VSS{\cdot}d$ in the sealed-type reactor and in the tube-type biofilm reactor was $2.8{\sim}18.8g-H_2S/m^2{\cdot}d$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.120-131
• /
• 2011

A pilot-scale experiment of floodplain filtration with a filtration depth of 3.6m was performed employing flood/rest type raw-water supply system in an effort to find ways to improve river water quality by additional treatments of discharged effluent from sewage treatment plant. Soil samples were taken from 3 sites including Gumi, Daegu and Gimhae along the Nakdong river. Reductions of infiltration rates following increases in operating time was investigated in each soil sample, along with the analysis of removal efficiencies of various pollutants according to different depths and infiltration rates. The results show incremental development of clogging on the soil surface with increases in operation time, and illustrate exponential decrease in the infiltration rate. The time required for the removal of the clog from the soil surface was longer than 2 weeks for all soil samples analyzed. The stable infiltration rates for soils were 5 m/day for Gumi and for Daegu and Gimhae was 1 m/day. In unsaturated soils dissolved oxygen levels increased following the increase of filtration depth, suggesting that alternating application of flood and rest for raw-water supply effectively keeps the soil environment aerobic. For all soils, the nature of pollutant removal depending on the depth of filtration remained the same regardless of the infiltration rate. Most of the BOD and turbidity were removed within 1.2 m, about 30% of COD was removed within 3.6m and was expected to be removed further with increases in filtration depth. Nitrification occurred near the surface of all soils; however there was no significant removal of nitrogen in the filtration depths tested in this study. Although removal rate of phosphorus was low for Gumi's soil, it was high enough for other soils, suggesting that the method developed in this study could significantly improve river water quality.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.37-48
• /
• 2024

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are obligated to reduce carbon emissions as a part of public sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. However, Sewage Statistics(2022) shows that CO₂ emissions per wastewater treatment volumes have decreased by only 3.03 % compared to 2020, which is far from enough to meet the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets. This study aimed to find operational conditions of biological reactors that minimize total carbon footprint (CFP). Total CFP considers both direct emissions from biological processes and indirect emissions from energy consumption. A study was conducted using a computer simulation program which is called as EQPS for a 4-stage BNR WWTP. The results showed that total CFP was reduced by 10.97% compared to the design condition when the mixed liquor recirculation (MLR) was set to 100 % of the influent flow. The N₂O emission factor (EF) of the target WWTP was calculated to be 0.138-0.199 %, which is significantly lower than the IPCC default value of 1.6 %. This study proposes a method to minimize total CFP in WWTPs by optimizing biological reactor operation and emphasizes the need for further research on N₂O emission reduction.