• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.140-148
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• 2017

The effectiveness of the first flush treatment system using settling process was evaluated to reduce urban nonpoint source pollutant loads to surface water during storm events. A pilot scale system was constructed and tested in the field and surface runoff samples were collected automatically according to pre-defined conditions. Nine rainfall events were tested and average removal efficiencies of TSS (Total Suspended Solid), TP (Total Phosphorus) and TN (Total Nitrogen) were evaluated as 87.4%, 75.3%, and 43.6%, respectively. Concentration and removal efficiency of pollutants were found to be affected by an amount of rainfall and rainfall intensities of the respective events. This seemed to be caused by the greater particulate fractions of first flushed samples than the samples collected in later time periods during the same rainfall events. The study showed that it is possible to remove a significant portion of the nonpoint source pollutant loads in initial rainfall runoff by using a simple settling process for TSS and TP without requiring additional power or chemicals.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.384-391
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• 2019

Nutrients in stormwater runoff have raised concerns regarding water quality degradation in the recent years. Low impact development (LID) technologies are types of nature-based solutions developed to address water quality problems and restore the predevelopment hydrology of a catchment area. Two LID facilities, infiltration trench (IT) and infiltration planter (IP), are known for their high removal rate of nutrients through sedimentation and vegetation. Long-term monitoring was conducted to assess the performance and cite the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing the facilities in nutrient removal. Since a strong ionic bond exists between phosphorus compounds and sediments, reduction of total phosphorus (TP) (more than 76%), in both facilities was associated to the removal of total suspended solids (TSS) (more than 84%). The efficiency of nitrogen in IP is 28% higher than IT. Effective nitrification occurred in IT and particulate forms of nitrogen were removed through sedimentation and media filters. Decrease in ammonium- nitrogen (NH₄-N) and nitrite-nitrogen (NO₂-N), and increase in nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃-N) fraction forms indicated that effective nitrification and denitrification occurred in IP. Hydrologic factors such as rainfall depth and rainfall intensity affected nutrient treatment capabilities of urban stormwater LID facilities The greatest monitored rainfall intensity of 11 mm/hr for IT yielded to 34% and 55% removal efficiencies for TN and TP, respectively, whereas, low rainfall intensities below 5 mm resulted to 100 % removal efficiency. The greatest monitored rainfall intensity for IP was 27 mm/hr, which still resulted to high removal efficiencies of 98% and 97% for TN and TP, respectively. Water quality assessment showed that both facilities were effective in reducing the amount of nutrients; however, IP was found to be more efficient than IT due to its additional provisions for plant uptake and larger storage volume.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.145-158
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• 2023

Constructed wetlands (CWs) are effective technologies for urban wastewater management, utilizing natural physico-chemical and biological processes to remove pollutants. This study employed a bibliometric analysis approach to investigate the progress and future research trends in the field of CWs. A comprehensive review of 100 most-recently published and open-access articles was performed to analyze the performance of CWs in treating wastewater. Spain, China, Italy, and the United States were among the most productive countries in terms of the number of published papers. The most frequently used keywords in publications include water quality (n=19), phytoremediation (n=13), stormwater (n=11), and phosphorus (n=11), suggesting that the efficiency of CWs in improving water quality and removal of nutrients were widely investigated. Among the different types of CWs reviewed, hybrid CWs exhibited the highest removal efficiencies for BOD (88.67%) and TSS (95.67%), whereas VSSF, and HSSF systems also showed high TSS removal efficiencies (83.25%, and 78.83% respectively). VSSF wetland displayed the highest COD removal efficiency (71.82%). Generally, physical processes (e.g., sedimentation, filtration, adsorption) and biological mechanisms (i.e., biodegradation) contributed to the high removal efficiency of TSS, BOD, and COD in CW systems. The hybrid CW system demonstrated highest TN removal efficiency (60.78%) by integrating multiple treatment processes, including aerobic and anaerobic conditions, various vegetation types, and different media configurations, which enhanced microbial activity and allowed for comprehensive nitrogen compound removal. The FWS system showed the highest TP removal efficiency (54.50%) due to combined process of settling sediment-bound phosphorus and plant uptake. Phragmites, Cyperus, Iris, and Typha were commonly used in CWs due to their superior phytoremediation capabilities. The study emphasized the potential of CWs as sustainable alternatives for wastewater management, particularly in urban areas.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.475-481
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• 2010

Lots of pollutants typically originating from urban transportation are accumulating on the paved surfaces during dry periods and are washed-off directly to the river during a storm. Also, paved surfaces are contributing to increase in peak flows and volume of stormwater flows. These are the main reasons why the water quality of rivers and lakes remain polluted and still below standards. Currently, several management practices are being applied in developed countries but the design standards are still lacking. This research was conducted to develop a treatment technology that can be useful to address the problems concerning runoff quality and quantity. A lab scale infiltration device consisting of a pretreatment tank and media zone was designed and tested for various flow regimes characterizing the low, average and high intensity rainfall. Based on the experiments, the high intensity flow resulted to increase in outflow event mean concentration (EMC) of pollutants, about twice as much as the average outflow EMC. However, 78 to 88% of the total suspended solids were captured and retained in the pretreatment tank because of sedimentation. The removal of heavy metals such as zinc and lead was greatly affected by the vertical placement of woodchip layer prior to the media zone. It was observed that the high carbon content (almost 50%) in the woodchip provided opportunity for enhancing its uptake of metal by adsorption. The findings implied that the reduction of pollutants can be greatly achieved by means of proper pretreatment to allow for settling of particles with a combination of using high carbon source media like woodchip and a geotextile mat to reduce the flow before filtering into the media zone and finally discharging to the drainage system.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.54-62
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• 2018

Nutrients generated from various land uses lead to eutrophication during the influx of water, and it is necessary to apply the LID techniques to reduce nutrients from nonpoint sources in order to mitigate the occurrence of the algal bloom. This study was carried out to derive the design factors of hybrid artificial wetland (HCW) to increase the removal efficiency of nutrients. HCW system was constructed in the year 2010 for the treatment of rainfall runoffs from parking lots and roads composed of 100% impervious floors in the Cheonan campus of Kongju University. The average nutrients removal efficiency of TN and TP was 74% and 72%, respectively. Both TN and TP removal efficiencies were higher than those of free surface wetlands and subsurface flow wetlands due to activated physical and ecological mechanisms. The critical design parameters for the efficient nutrients removal in the artificial wetlands were the ratio of the surface area to the catchment area (SA/CA), land use, the rainfall runoff, and the rainfall intensity. The optimal carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio was estimated at 5: 1 to 10.3: 1. The results of this study can be applied to the efficient design of hybrid artificial wetlands to treat nutrients in urban runoff with high efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.1007-1018
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• 2009

Hydrocyclone is widely used in industry, because of its simplicity in design, high capacity, low maintenance and operational cost. The separation action of a hydrocyclone treating particulate slurry is a consequence of the swirling flow that produces a centrifugal force on the fluid and suspended particles. In spite of hydrocyclone have many advantage, the application for treatment of urban stormwater case study were rare. We conducted a laboratory scale study on treatable potential of micro particles using hydrocyclone filter (HCF) that was a combined modified hydrocyclone with perlite filter cartridge. Since it was not easy to use actual storm water in the scaled-down hydraulic model investigations, it was necessary to reproduce ranges of particles sizes with synthetic materials. The synthesized storm runoff was made with water and addition of particles; ion exchange resin, road sediment, commercial area manhole sediment, and silica gel particles. Experimental studies have been carried out about the particle separation performance of HCF-open system and HCF-closed system. The principal structural differences of these HCFs are underflow zone structure and vortex finder. HCF was made of acryl resin with 120 mm of diameter hydrocyclone and 250 mm of diameter filter chamber and overall height of 800 mm. To determine the removal efficiency for various influent concentrations of suspended solids (SS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), tests were performed with different operational conditions. The operated maximum of surface loading rate was about 700 $m^3/m^2$/day for HCF-open system, and 1,200 $m^3/m^2$/day for HCF-closed system. It was found that particle removal efficiency for the HCF-closed system is better than the HCF-open system under same surface loading rate. Results showed that SS removal efficiency with the HCF-closed system improved by about 8~20% compared with HCF-open system. The average removal efficiency difference for HCF-closed system between measurement and CFD particle tracking simulation was about 4%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2011

We study the characteristic and total flux of non-point pollutants such as total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved nutrients, total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) in the storm water runoff from urban streams and sewer outlets of Banweol Industrial Complex around Shihwa Lake. The concentrations of non-point pollutants were generally increased with increasing of the duration and intensity of rainfall. Mean TSS concentration of Ansan stream was higher than that of sewer outlets but mean concentrations of COD, TP and TN were approximately 2~5 times higher of sewer outlet than of urban stream. TSS showed statistically positive relationships with COD and TP but it had negative correlation with dissolved nutrients. There was a significant correlation between total flux of non-point pollutants in the storm water runoff and total basin area of each sewer outlet, showing that the highest runoff flux was observed at 3rd sewer outlet which represents the largest basin area from Banweol industrial complex. Total runoff fluxes for TSS, COD, TP and TN in this study were 187,536 kg, 17,118 kg, 922 kg, 13,519 kg, respectively. Given the basin area of sewer outlet in Banweol industrial complex which corresponds only 3% from total catchment area around Shihwa Lake, enormous amount of non-point pollutants will be entered into Shihwa Lake without any treatment. It is necessary to manage and reduce of various non-point sources and pollutants because the runoff of nonpoint pollutants during storm events should be deteriorating the water quality of Shihwa Lake. Our results provides useful informations on the development of best managements practices (BMPs) for effective implementation of total pollution loads management system of Shihwa Lake.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.168-181
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• 2024

Constructed wetlands (CWs) deliver a range of ecosystem services, including the removal of contaminants, sequestration and storage of carbon, and enhancement of biodiversity. These services are facilitated through hydrological and ecological processes such as infiltration, adsorption, water retention, and evapotranspiration by plants and microorganisms. This study investigated the correlations between microbial populations, soil physicochemical properties, and treatment efficiency in a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF CW) treating runoff from roads and parking lots. The methods employed included storm event monitoring, water quality analysis, soil sampling, soil quality parameter analysis, and microbial analysis. The facility achieved its highest pollutant removal efficiencies during the warm season (>15℃), with rates ranging from 33% to 74% for TSS, COD, TN, TP, and specific heavy metals including Fe, Zn, and Cd. Meanwhile, the highest removal efficiency was 35% for TOC during the cold season (≤15℃). These high removal rates can be attributed to sedimentation, adsorption, precipitation, plant uptake, and microbial transformations within the CW. Soil analysis revealed that the soil from HSSF CW had a soil organic carbon content 3.3 times higher than that of soil collected from a nearby landscape. Stoichiometric ratios of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the inflow and outflow were recorded as C:N:P of 120:1.5:1 and 135.2:0.4:1, respectively, indicating an extremely low proportion of N and P compared to C, which may challenge microbial remediation efficiency. Additionally, microbial analyses indicated that the warm season was more conducive to microorganism growth, with higher abundance, richness, diversity, homogeneity, and evenness of the microbial community, as manifested in the biodiversity indices, compared to the cold season. Pollutants in stormwater runoff entering the HSSF CW fostered microbial growth, particularly for dominant phyla such as Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes, which have shown moderate to strong correlations with specific soil properties and changes in influent-effluent concentrations of water quality parameters.