• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.4019-4023
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• 2014

This study examined the effectiveness of ultrasound on enhancing the dewaterability and volume reduction of bio solids from a waste treatment plant. The test specimen was obtained from a storage tank immediately before the dewatering process at a local treatment plant. The test conditions included the energy levels of ultrasonic waves and treatment time. The tests were undertaken using three types of different treatment processors (7 liter, 1 ton, 7 ton container). The capillary suction time (CST) and the viscosity of sludge, which is one of the influencing factors for dewaterbility, were obtained under various test conditions. The results showed that ultrasound increases the CST of the raw specimens, whereas a significant reduction (20 % of the maximum value) of CST occurred in the sample with ultrasound and flocculent. The decrease in viscosity reached 40 % of the maximum value. A centrifugal test was performed to examine the characteristics of the sludge settlement. The settling rate and time required to reach the final values were both enhanced by the ultrasonic energy. An ultrasonic treatment is potentially useful tool for reducing the amount of released sludge. To examine the possible use of field application, the real scale sonic processor was designed and operated. The results were similar (50 % of the maximum value) to those of laboratory experiments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.161-170
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• 2014

It is essential to decrease energy consumption and excess sludge to economically operate sewage treatment plant. This becomes more important along with a ban on sea dumping and exhaustion of resource. Therefore, many researchers have been study on energy consumption reduction and strategies for minimization of excess sludge production from the activated sludge process. The aeration cost account for a high proportion of maintenance cost because sufficient air is necessary to keep nitrifying bacteria activity of which the oxygen affinity is inferior to that of heterotrophic bacteria. Also, additional costs are incurred to stabilize excess sludge and decrease the volume of sludge. There were anoxic, aerobic, membrane, deairation and concentration zone in this MBR process. Continuous aeration was provided to prevent membrane fouling in membrane zone and intermittent aeration was provided in aerobic zone through ammonia sensor. So, there was the minimum oxygen to remove $NH_4-N$ below limited quantity that could be eliminated in membrane zone. As the result of this control, energy consumption of aeration system declined by between 10.4 % and 19.1 %. Besides, we could maintain high MLSS concentration in concentration zone and this induced the microorganisms to be in starved condition. Consequentially, the amount of excess sludge decrease by about 15 %.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.165-170
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• 2013

Pilot scale study was carried out to produce Volatile Fatty Acids with primary sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant. An acid fermenter was operated at pH 9, $35^{\circ}C$, SRT of 3.5-4.25d, using a final effluent as elutriating water(Mode-I) and pH 9, SRT 5d, temperature of $35^{\circ}C$(Mode-II), $55^{\circ}C$(Mode-III), using a primarily treated water as elutriating water. Although solubilization rate was enhanced with the increase of temperature, the VFAs production rate was decreased. The VS reduction was shown approximately 56%, and the sludge volume reduction was 93%. The optimal conditions for solubilization was obtained at pH 9, $35^{\circ}C$ and SRT of 5d.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.1061-1064
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• 2008

A completion of settling process takes a lot of time for dredged materials of high moisture content, such as contaminated sludge, in landfill site. In general, additives (e.g. flocculants) are used for reducing settling time of such colloidal material, which results in the increase of sludge volume, and hence much space is required in landfill site. This study is to suggest alternative method in order to enhance the settling process of cohesive clayey soils. A number of gravitational sedimentation tests as well as electrokinetic experiments were conducted to investigate the variation of initial moisture content on the settling behaviour of clay slurry. Surface settlement, electric current and local voltage gradient were monitored during the experiment, and moisture content and soil pH were measured after the experiment. From the results, the application of electrokinetics was found to be effective in volume reduction (i.e. increase of settling velocity and decrease of final moisture content) by comparison with gravitational settling process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.886-889
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• 2018

This article presented two-staged chemical precipitation for radioactive wastewater decontamination by using chemical agents. The total amount of radioactive wastewater was $35m^3$, and main radionuclides were Cs-137, Cs-134, and Co-60. Initial radioactivity concentration of the liquid waste was 2264, 17, and 9 Bq/L for Cs-137, Cs-134 and Co-60, respectively. Potassium ferrocyanide, nickel nitrate, and ferrum nitrate were selected as chemical agents at high pH levels 8-10 according to the laboratory jar tests. After the process, radioactivity was precipitated as sludge at the bottom of the tank and decontaminated clean liquid was evaluated depending on discharge limits. By this precipitation method decontamination factors were determined as 66.5, 8.6, and 9 for Cs-137, Cs-134, and Co-60, respectively. By using the potassium ferrocyanide, about 98% of the Cs-137 was removed at pH 9. At the bottom of the tank, radioactive sludge amount from both stages was totally $0.98m^3$. It was transferred by sludge pumps to cementation unit for solidification. By chemical processing, 97.2% of volume reduction was achieved. The potassium ferrocyanide in two-staged precipitation method could be used successfully in large-scale applications for removal of Cs-137, Cs-134, and Co-60.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.636-643
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• 2011

Sludge solubilization using sonification has been increasingly used for sludge volume reduction along with enhancing digestion efficiency during anaerobic biogas production. In this study, either electric field or ultrasonification or in combination with were investigated using three types of sludge (return, excess and mixed at G sewage treatment facility) for the most efficient solubilization. As a the closed loop, 200 L of sludge was continuously passing through the solubilization system at an average flow rate of $0.7m^3/h$, which is equivalent to 3.5 times treated per hour for up to 84 times (24 h). Only implying electric field showed no variation for sCOD/tCOD before and after treatment on sludge solubilization regardless of types of sludge. However, employing the ultrasonic or combined system could both increasingly solubilize sludge with regard to the number of passing-through, which more enhanced by the combined. In addition, VSS/TSS was lowered to in the range of 2 and 6% while its particle size, diameter (0.9) and diameter (0.5) were more minimized than that of raw sludge. For return sludge, ultrasonification was more efficiently facilitated for solubilization, whereas electric field-ultrasonification was more preferably applied for excess and mixed sludge. It is concluded that depending on types of sludge, solubilization system must be selectively applied for the most efficient break-up of them.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.516-522
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• 2011

The largest problem of domestic anaerobic digestion is low digestion efficiency. Reasons of the problem would be low organic matters input, low mixing efficiency in digestion tank, refractory excess sludge etc.. In this study, screw attached disk-type concentration system and a mechanical mixing system, solubilization facility improvements were performed to solve problems. Through these improvements, the sludge conc. of the concentrator increased 2.6-fold and the volume reduction efficiency was increased 3.0-fold. In addition, the dead-space is reduced by mechanical agitation. Anaerobic digester gas production in the digestion tank is increased from $193.8m^3$ to $386.0m^3$ per day. Digestion efficiency is improved to 54.6% from 47.6%. Digestion gas production is increased from $0.30Nm^3/kg$ VS to $0.42Nm^3/kg$ VS.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.203-212
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• 2019

Disposal nonconformity of radioactive wastes refers to radioactive wastes that need to be treated, solidified and packaged during operation or decommissioning of NPPs, and are typically exemplified by particulate radioactive wastes with dispersion characteristics. These wastes include the dried powders of concentrated wastes generated in the process of operating NPPs, slurry and sludge, various powdered wastes generated in the decommissioning process (crushed concrete, decontamination sludge, etc.), and fine radioactive soil, which is not easy to decontaminate. As these particulate wastes must be packaged so that they become non-dispersive, they are solidified with solidification agents such as cement and polymer. If they are treated using existing solidification methods, however, the volume of the final wastes will increase. This drawback may increase the disposal cost and reduce the acceptability of disposal sites. Accordingly, to solve these problems, this study investigates the pelletization of particulate radioactive wastes in order to reduce final waste volume.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2005

The performance of elutriated acid fermentation with slurry-type piggery waste was investigated, especially to evaluate the effects of temperature and pre-treatment. In the first phase, the acid elutriation reactor with piggery waste after centrifugation operated at both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions to evaluate the effect of temperature. Solubilization yield($gVFAs/gSCOD_{prod.}$) and acidification rate($gVFAs/gSCOD_{prod.}$) in the thermophilic digestion were 0.45 and 0.55, which were higher than those of the mesophilic digestion, 0.25 and 0.45. In addition, the acid elutriation reactor at thermophilic temperature is more effective in removing e-coli. In the second phase, the acid elutriation reactor was fed with piggery waste before centrifugation. With piggery wastes before centrifugation, the solubilization yield and the acidificaton rate were 0.40 and 0.80, respectively, which were higher than the rates using piggery waste after centrifugation at both mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. The higher sludge volume reduction of 80% benefits sludge management. Furthermore, economical advantages can be achieved by removing the pre-treatment process, such as centrifugation. Consequently, the treatment with piggery waste before centrifugation proved to be effective. Also, the optimum temperature condition was estimated at mesophilic or thermophilic conditions, considering solubilization yields and acidification rates, though the system should be heated.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.215-221
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• 2006

This research presents results from laboratory and pilot-scale experiments to remove high-nitrate in pickling wastewater using the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as a biological method. During the experimental periods, the influent concentrations of NOx-N and $Ca^{+2}$ were analyzed to be 350-1,600 and 700-800 mg/L, respectively. In order to provide carbon source for denitrification, methanol has been added in proportion to the influent nitrate loading. The mean concentrations of MLSS and MLVSS, the fraction of volatile solids in sludge and the sludge volume index were measured to be 27 g/L, 5 g/L, 18.5% and 7.5, respectively. The solid retention time was kept in the range of 18 to 22 days, specific denitrification rate ($U_{dn}$) was $0.301g{NO_3}^--N/gVSS/day$. The oxidized nitrogen concentration of effluent ranged 2-34 mg/L with an average of 5.2 mg/L, the overall reduction in total nitrogen was more than 99.2%. In order to treat the pickling wastewater including the high concentration of nitrate and $Ca^{+2}$, the continuous flow process is not suitable because the specific gravity of the sludge is considerably increased by $Ca^{+2}$, thus the SBR process is shown to be very effective to treat the pickling wastewater.