• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.1221-1228
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• 2005

Carbon electrode was applied to a wastewater treatment system as biofilm media. The spatial distribution of heterotrophic bacteria in aerobic wastewater biofilm grown on carbon electrode was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and biomass measurement. Five volts of electric oxidation and reduction potential were charged to the carbon anode and cathode of the bioelectrochemical system, respectively, but were not charged to electrodes of a conventional system. To correlate the biofilm architecture of bacterial populations with their activity, the bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons was measured in the bioelectrochemical system and compared with that in the conventional system. In the SEM image, the biofilm on the anodic medium of the bioelectrochemical system looked intact and active; however, that on the carbon medium of the conventional system appeared to be shrinking or damaging. In the AFM image, the thickness of biofilm formed on the carbon medium was about two times of those on the anodic medium. The bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons in the bioelectrochemical system was about 1.5 times higher than that in the conventional system. Some denitrifying bacteria can metabolically oxidize $H_{2}$, coupled to reduction of $NO_{3}^{-}\;to\;N_{2}$. $H_{2}$ was produced from the cathode in the bioelectrochemical system by electrolysis of water but was not so in the conventional system. The denitrification efficiency was less than $22\%$ in the conventional system and more than $77\%$ in the bioelectrochemical system. From these results, we found that the electrochemical coupling reactions between aerobic and anaerobic reactors may be a useful tool for improvement of wastewater treatment and denitrification efficiency, without special manipulations such as bacterial growth condition control, C/N ratio (the ratio of carbon to nitrogen) control, MLSS returning, or biofilm refreshing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.69-69
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• 2017

For several decades, industrial processes consume a huge amount of raw water for various objects that consequently results in the generation of large amounts of wastewater. There effluents are mainly treated by conventional technologies such are aerobic, anaerobic treatment and chemical coagulation. But, there processes are not suitable for eliminating all hazardous chemical compounds form wastewater and generate a large amount of toxic sludge. Therefore, other processes have been studied and applied together with these techniques to enhance purification results. These techniques include photocatalysis, absorption, advanced oxidation processes, and ozonation, but also have their own drawbacks. In recent years, electrochemical techniques have received attention as wastewater treatment process that show higher purification results and low toxic sludge. There are many kinds of electrode materials for electrochemical process, among them, boron doped diamond (BDD) attracts attention due to good chemical and electrochemical stability, long lifetime and wide potential window that necessary properties for anode electrode. So, there are many researches about high quality BDD, among them, researches are focused BDD on Si substrate. But, Si substrate is hard to apply electrode application due to the brittleness and low life time. And other substrates are also not suitable for wastewater treatment electrode due to high cost. To solve these problems, Ti has been candidate as substrate in consideration of cost and properties. But there are critical issues about adhesion that must be overcome to apply Ti as substrate. In this study, to overcome this problem, TiN interlayer is introduced between BDD and Ti substrate. TiN has higher electrical and thermal conductivity, melting point, and similar crystalline structure with diamond. The TiN interlayer was deposited by reactive DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS) with thickness of 50 nm, $1{\mu}m$. The microstructure of BDD films with TiN interlayer were estimated by FE-SEM and XRD. There are no significant differences in surface grain size despite of various interlayer. In wastewater treatment results, the BDD electrode with TiN (50nm) showed the highest electrolysis speed at livestock wastewater treatment experiments. It is thought to be that TiN with thickness of 50 nm successfully suppressed formation of TiC that harmful to adhesion. And TiN with thickness of $1{\mu}m$ cannot suppress TiC formation.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.33-41
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• 2015

An alternative was investigated to maximize the treatment efficiency of wastewater treatment plant without large scale expansion. 79% of detention time was required for enough nitrogen control. As aeration time was extended, nitrification was processed, but opposite trend was seen in phosphorus. High concentration of $NO_3-N$ interrupted PAOs activity not to absorb phosphorus. An alternative was devised for selective use of anaerobic or anoxic zone. Trisection was suggested for alternative use of center room. The result was relatively successful. The concentration of phosphorus was reduced with reduction of nitrogen. Extended anaerobic condition seemed to stimulate denitrification. Valve connection of internal return from aeration tank will make it possible to use middle room alternatively. This method will be a good alternative for seasonal variation of water temperature.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-97
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• 2007

In this study, thermalpretreatment was used to solubilize organic matter contained in sewage sludge before acid fermentation. By thermal pretreatment, solubilization of particulate CODcr, carbohydrate and protein increased. By thermal treatment at $120^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes, CODcr solubilization efficiency of the primary sludge reached 8.3%. Meanwhile, for the secondary sludge, CODcr solubilization efficiency reached 16.5% because of high solubilization ratio of protein under the same pretreatment conditon. The results of anaerobic biodegradability test showed that both VFAs conversion ratio and hydrolysis rate of organic compounds in sewage sludge were improved by thermal pretreatment. Meanwhile, the optimum thermal pretreatment condition was varied with composition of organic compounds in sludge. In this study, the optimun thermal pretreatment condition of the primary sludge, containing high concentration of carbohydrate, was $80^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, for the secondary sludge, mainly composed of protein, the sludge treated at $120^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes showed the effective organic removal and VFAs production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.362-367
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• 2006

Waste activated sludge(WAS) collected from domestic wastewater treatment plant is biomass that contains large quantities of organic matter. However, relevant literature show that the bio-hydrogen yield using WAS was too low. In this study, the effect of pretreatment of WAS on hydrogen yield was investigated. Pretreatment includes acid and alkali treatments, grinding, heating, ozone and ultrasound methods. After pretreatment organic matters of WAS were solubilized and soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD) was increased by 14.6 times. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of pre-treatment methods and buffer solution, hydrogen partial pressure, and sodium ion on hydrogen production from WAS by using heated anaerobic mixed cultures. Experimental results showed that addition of buffer solution, efficient pre-treatment method with alkali solution, and gas sparging condition markedly increased the hydrogen yield to 0.52 mmol $H_2/g$-DS.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.329-334
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• 1998

This study was conducted in order to investigate removal rate of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus to reduce environmental polluation with treatment to attach combined septic tank to 3 stage soil filter after mixing anaerobic treated water of livestock wastewater and low concentrated wastewater generated in farm house. Because anaerobic filter bed was packed in combined septic tank and a microorganism was accumulated in combined septic tank with increasing hydraulic retention time(HRT), if HRT $4{\sim}12day$, CODcr was removed $63.4{\sim}84.0%$. Also, $NH_4\;^+-N$ and $PO_4\;^{3-}-P$ were removed $3.9{\sim}5.4%$ and $18.3{\sim}29.0%$, respectively. In being re-treated by 3 stage soil filter, although hydraulic loading rate was gradually increased, CODcr, $NH_4\;^+-N$ and $PO_4\;^{3-}-P$ were removed above 90% due to filtration, adsorption, ion exchange, and action of soil microorganism. Generally, the attached treatment of combined septic tank and 3 stage soil filter did suitably treat livestock wastewater to water standard of discharge applied from '96 year, in view of decreasing pollution loading amount and recycling of agricultural water.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.20 no.2 s.56
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• pp.12-20
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• 2005

Most of sewage treatment plants in Korea is operated for the removal of organic material. Because of low C/N ratio of domestic wastewater it is very difficult to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. Therefore C/N ratio is key factor for the removed of nitrogen and phosphorus. PSB(photosynthetic bacteria) can remove the nutrient materials, so this study is focused on PSB characterization of nutrient removal. PSB is possible to remove nitrogen, phosphorus in anaerobic and aerobic condition. This study try to find out condition of the PSB in SBR reactor, Batch reactor. It consists of three Mode. Mode 1, 2 is to apply activated sludge process and Mode 3 is that seeded PSB in the activated sludge process. As a result of SBR process, Mode 1, 2 which was activated sludge Process showed $79\~90\%,\;66\~90\%$ of SCODcr, $94.67\~95.89\%,\;95.76\~98.56\%$ of TKN, and Mode 3 has $84\~92\%$ of SCODcr, $95.39\~99.52\%$ of TKN removal efficiency, respectively. When comparison with Mode 1, 2 and 3, most of nitrogen and phosphorus is removed at the anaerobic condition in Mode 3. but Mode 1, 2 has just revealed activated sludge process characterization. It would because of characterization of PSB.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.264-270
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• 2003

A quantitative survey of the protozoa microfauna at bioreactor of advanced sewage treatment plant was carried out during a period of 11 months. In this study, 32 genera were identified, including 17 ciliates. The abundance of the important protozoa were compared with the operating parameters and water quality of the effluent of the plant using statistical procedure. Statistical analysis revealed a relationship between the abundance of some genera and removal rate. In particular, correlation analysis on the quality of effluent and protozoa indicated that Lepadella may be used as the bioindicator of TP removal and Trochilia, Entosiphon, Colepus may be used as the bioindicator of TN removal when water temperature was below $20^{\circ}C$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.162-167
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• 2007

Hydrogen production and its dynamics were investigated in the continuous anaerobic digestion process using Clostridium beijerinckii Donker 1926. In this work, glucose was used as a substrate and hydraulic retention times (HRT) were 0.5, 0.25 or 0.125 day. The removal efficiency of carbohydrate was over 99% under all of HRT conditions. As HRT was shorter, COD removal efficiency became lower while hydrogen content in the total gas and hydrogen production rate became higher. The cell growth yield and hydrogen production yield were 0.27 g-VSS/g-glucose and 0.26 L/g-glucose, respectively, at the steady state. It is expected that the microorganism is able to produce hydrogen when used in the wastewater treatment containing carbohydrate such as glucose. Also, the results in this study could be applied to the actual hydrogen gas production, a promising alternative energy.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2011

Objectives: Organic matter and nitrogen were removed using the EGSB process, a high-rate anaerobic process, in combination with a nitritation-denitritation process, in order to ensure the stable treatment of seafood processing wastewater. Methods: The upflow velocity of an EGGS reactor was operated at 10 m/hr for maximal organics removal efficiency. For removal of nitrogen from seafood processing wastewater a nitritation-denitriation process was applied Results: The efficiency of the EGSB process showed that it has an 80% or more organic matter (CODcr) removal efficiency with an HRT of six hours or more at influent loadings of 17.34 kgCOD/$m^3$/day or less. The methane product for TCODcr removal was 0.23-0.38 $m^3CH_4$/kgCODrem., which was similar to the theoretical generation of STP-state methane, 0.35 $m^3CH_4$/kgTCODrem. In the nitritation-denitritation process, the nitritation conversion rate to $NH_4^+$-N concentration was 82% to 87%, 72% to 81% and 64% to 69% when HRT was 24 hr, 21 hr and 18 hr, respectively. In the denitritation process, the ratio of SCOD consumption to NOx-N removal ranged from 2.347 to 2.587. It was 2.472 on average. Conclusions: The optimal HRT for stable processing of seafood processing wastewater is six hours or more. The ratio of nitrite to total NOx-N was 82% to 96%, which indicates that nitrite accounts for the largest portion of the product.