• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.234-240
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• 2010

The effectiveness of adding powdered zeolite and granular activated carbon (GAC) before starvation into biological reactor for recovering its performances was investigated. Two types of carrier addition in Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) system for non-saline and saline wastewater were evaluated after starvation periods. During the experiment, settleablity (SVI), floc size, fractal dimension, $COD_{Mn}$, T-N, T-P removal efficiencies and recovery time were monitored. When the wastewater feeding was resumed after starvation period for 5days, the SVI increased at the beginning of resumption and then decreased with time in both types. And the larger the floc size and fractal dimension of floc, the more increased removal efficiency for $COD_{Mn}$, T-N and T-P was also. Its performance recovery was strongly correlated with floc size and fractal dimension of activated sludge. After resuming the wastewater feeding, the SVI, floc size, fractal dimension, $COD_{Mn}$, T-N, T-P removal efficiency of SBR with carrier improved and reached its initial value faster compared to those of SBR without carrier.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.459-468
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• 2000

This study is to investigate the floc structure and removal of turbidity and organic matter by PACI coagulation. The turbidity removal by PACI coagulation was obtained at larger pH range than alum coagulation. And the removal of organic matter was obtained at smaller pH range than that of turbidity. The organic matter was removed by the adsorption of $Al(OH)_3$ precipitates. Floc structure was characterized by measuring fractal dimension and volume diameter using AIA and SALLS. Fractal dimension measured by AIA did not show the different characteristics of floc produced in sweep floe and charge neutralization region. Using SALLS, floes in sweep floc region were found to be larger size and fractal dimension than flocs in charge neutralization region. As pollutant removal increased. larger fractal dimension and size of floc were measured. SALLS method was found to be more useful method to characterize flocs in coagulation than AIA method.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.468-474
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• 2006

In the secondary settling tanks, three different types of settling phenomena occurs; i.e., zone settling for sludge thickening in the bottom part of settling tank, and discrete and flocculent settling for clarification in the upper part. In this paper, morphological parameters of the floc in sludge blanket layers along the length of a long rectangular tank were investigated. The plant used for this study had a serious bulking problem caused by Microthrix parvicella. Floc size decreased as the surface area of settling tank increases, which indicates that in the secondary settling tank where zone settling believed to be predominant, free or flocculent type of settling contributes to floc size distributions. Large floc particles deposit in the front zone of settling tank, but small and loose flocs mostly in the zone near its outlet. On the other hand, filament length contained in one gram of sludge blanket solid increases along the flow direction. Large flocs with less filaments settle faster, but small flocs having more filaments result in poor settling. These results support function of microorganism selection occurring in secondary settling tank. In addition, designing a long rectangluar settling tank with double hoppers might be one of the ways of bulking control, but this idea has to be verified with a further study.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.343-348
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• 2010

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of starvation periods with aerobic or non-aerobic conditions on the organic removal efficiencies and physical characteristics of activated sludge for treating saline and non-saline wastewater. During the experiment, MLSS, MLVSS, sludge volume index (SVI), floc size and fractal dimension, $COD_{Mn}$ removal efficiencies were monitored. The reductions of MLSS, MLVSS and SVI with maintaining the sludge under a non-aerobic condition during starvation periods were smaller than those under a aerobic condition. Floc size, fractal dimension and $COD_{Mn}$ removal efficiencies were less decreased under non-aerobic condition than under aerobic condition. And SVI were strongly correlated with floc size and fractal dimension. Consequently, the result showed that maintaining the activated sludge under non-aerobic starvation conditions was better strategy than that under aerobic starvation conditions as it adapted and resisted to starvation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.275-285
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• 2008

The floc formation, breakage and reformation of humic acid by inorganic (alum and PAC) and organic coagulants (cationic polyelectrolytes) at several conditions (pH, ionic strength and floc breakage time) were examined and compared among the coagulants at different conditions using a continuous optical monitoring method, with controlled mixing and stirring conditions. For alum, the shapes of formation, breakage and reformation curves at different pH (5 and 7) were different, but the shapes and the sizes of initial floc and reformed floc were nearly the same in the absence and presence of electrolytes at pH 7. For PAC, similar shapes of the curves were obtained at different pH and ionic strength, but the sizes were different, except for those of reformed flocs at different pH. However, for these coagulants, reformed flocs after floc breakage, occurred irreversibly for all the conditions used in this study. For organic coagulants, the time to attain the initial plateau floc size, the extent of floc strength at high shear rate and reversibility of reformed floes were different, depending floc formation mechanism. Especially, for the cationic polyelectrolyte forming humic flocs by charge neutralization or electrostatic patch effect mechanism, reformed flocs occurred reversibly, regardless of pH and floc breakage time, but occurred irreversibly in the presence of electrolytes.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.139-144
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• 2012

In this study, the effects of starvation on floc characteristics when treating saline wastewater using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) were investigated. The effectiveness over 5 days of starvation for aerobic and non-aerobic strategies for maintaining the physical characteristics of floc-forming sludge and the recovery period needed to regain the initial pollutant removal efficiency were investigated. Experiment results revealed that the sludge volume index (SVI) increased and the floc size and fractal dimension decreased after starvation under both aerobic and non-aerobic conditions. Sludge settleability deteriorated faster under aerobic conditions compared to non-aerobic conditions. Under non-aerobic conditions, the SBR required less time to return to its initial pollutant removal efficiency and settleability. Floc size, fractal dimension, and SVI were observed to be fairly correlated with each other. The results demonstrated that it was better to maintain the sludge under non-aerobic rather than aerobic starvation, because it adapted to, resisted starvation and had a quicker re-start afterward.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.531-540
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• 2008

The main advantage of dissolved air flotation (DAF) in water treatment process is the small dimension compared with conventional gravity sedimentation and it can be basically reduced by the separation zone performed with the short solid-liquid separation time. Fine bubbles make such a short time possible to carry out solid from liquid separation as a collector on the course of water treatment. Therefore, the dimension of separation zone in DAF process is practically determined by the rise velocity of the bubble-floc agglomerates, which is a floc attached with several bubbles. To improve flotation velocity and particle removal efficiency in DAF process, many researchers have tried to attach bubbles as much as possible to flocs. Therefore, the maximum number of attached bubble on a floc and the rise velocity of bubble-floc agglomerates considered as the most important factor to design the separation zone of flotation tank in DAF process was simulated based on the population balance theory. According to the simulation results of this study, the size and volume concentration of bubble influenced on the possible number of attached bubble on a floc. The agglomerates attached with smaller bubble was more sensitive to hydraulic loading rate in the separation zone of DAF process. For the design of a high rate DAF process applied over surface loading 40 m/hr. it is required a precise further study on the variation of bubble property and behavior including in terms of bubble size distribution.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.33 no.A
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• pp.89-92
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• 2013

The characteristics of floc formation of the iron(Fe) ions was studied for developing the process treating the acid mine drainage. The metal ions in aqueous solution oxidized with oxygen in air, which generated hydrogen ion and lowered the pH of the aqueous solution. The iron(Fe) ions were formed into flocs by the acid-base reaction with the added $Ca(OH)_2$ for the neutralizing the solution. There were several variables affecting the formation, size and color of floc; whether air was present or not, air feeding rate, oxidizing time, concentration of $Ca(OH)_2$, the acid-base reaction time of the $iron(Fe)-Ca(OH)_2$. For proper formation of the $iron(Fe)-Ca(OH)_2$ flocs and developing the floc treating system, the control variables mentioned above should be considered.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.53 no.10
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• pp.917-928
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• 2020

The purpose of this study is to find the appropriate probability distribution representing the size distribution of suspended cohesive sediment. Based on goodness-of-fit test for a significance level of 5% using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, it is found that the floc size distributions measured in laboratory experiment and field study show different results. In the case of sample data collected from field experiments, the Gamma distribution is the best fitting form. In the case of laboratory experiment results, the sample data shows the positively-skewed distribution and the GEV distribution is the best fitted. The lognormal distribution, which is generally assumed to be a floc size distribution, is not suitable for both field and laboratory results. By using 3-parameter lognormal distribution, it is shown that similar size distribution with floc size distribution can be simulated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.323-329
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• 2000

The coupling of an activated sludge reactor with a membrane unit, i.e., Membrane Coupled Activated Sludge (MCAS) system offers several advantages over conventional process. But the major hurdle in the extensive use of this process is the continuous reduction of permeation flux caused by membrane fouling. The aim of this study is to investigate membrane fouling characteristics in the MCAS process. During crossflow ultrafiltration(CFUF) of activated sludge, floc size decreased abruptly at the beginning of operation and thereafter decreased continuously and gradually. The floc size changed from 100~200 to $6{\sim}8{\mu}m$ depending on recirculation velocity. This floc breakage played a key role in rapid increase of $R_c$(cake layer resistance), which led to flux decline. The floc breakage stimulated biomass to release EPS(Extracellular Polymeric Substance) which has been known to be one of the major membrane foul-ants. The amounts of EPS before and after CFUF were 266 and 405(VS mg/MLSS g), respectively. The rise up of EPS concentration was another factor affecting flux decline in MCAS system.