• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.329-336
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• 2008

The pilot study was conducted to evaluate the applicability of air flotation(AF) processes combined with biological nutrient removal(BNR) for the retrofitting of conventional wastewater treatment facilities. The BNR system was operated in pre-denitrification and intermittent aeration; developed ceramic membrane diffusers were installed to separate the solid-liquid of activated sludge at the bottom of a flotation tank. Before performing a pilot scale study, the size distribution of microbubbles generated by silica or alumina-based ceramic membrane diffusers was tested to identify the ability of solid-liquid separation. According to the experimental results, the separation and thickening efficiency of the alumina-based ceramic membrane diffuser was higher than the silica-based ceramic membrane diffuser. In a $100m^3/d$ pilot plant, thickened and return sludge concentration was measured to be higher than 15,000mg SS/L, therefore, the MLSS in the bioreactor was maintained at over 3,000mg SS/L. The effluent quality of the AF-BNR process was 4.2mg/L, 3.7mg/L, 10.6mg/L and 1.6mg/L for $BOD_5$, SS, T-N and T-P, respectively. Lastly, it was revealed that the unit treatment cost by flotation process is lower than about $1won/m^3$ compared to a gravity sedimentation process.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.534-539
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• 2006

The supply of oxygen for aeration is the largest energy consumer at activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Replacement of less efficient aeration systems with fine pore aeration devices can save up to 50 percent of aeration energy costs. The purpose of this study was the diagnosis and evaluation of a domestic wastewater aeration system by the off-gas method which had been studied by US EPA and ASCE. For this study, an off-gas analyzer and its hood were made to collect off-gas. Also, a vacuum pump was connected to the analyzer to make suction of off-gas. Experiments were conducted at a domestic activated sludge wastewater treatment plant which had a single spiral roll aeration system installed with P.E tube diffuser. Data on OTE(f), SOTE(pw), OUR, and air flow rate were obtained from these experiments. In case of replacing an aeration system, it is recommended that it should be replaced with perforated membrane disc or ceramic disc fine bubble diffusers installed in a full floor coverage or grid pattern.