• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.305-313
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• 2015

Objectives: The objective of this study is to identify toxicants causing acute toxicity in effluents from the aluminum rolling industry that violate the discharge limits in Korea. Methods: Whole effluent toxicity tests (WET) were conducted on effluent discharged from the aluminum rolling industry following the US EPA WET test methods. We collected effluent samples three times and evaluated acute toxicity by using Daphnia magna. We employed toxicity identification evaluation (TIE) procedures to identify toxicants causing toxicity in the effluent. Results: No specific chemical groups were identified in the seven different manipulations applied to the of wastewater effluent samples showing 1.3 toxic units (TU) according to the TIE phase I procedures. Water quality parameters for water hardness, electric conductivity and heavy metals (Mn) were 4,322 mg/l as $CaCO_3$, 11.39 mS/cm, and $5,551{\mu}g/l$, respectively. Considering water hardness and reference toxicity, high concentrations of Mn can be disqualified from the causative toxicants. Consequently, high ionic concentrations of $Na^+$(1,648 mg/l), $Ca^{2+}$(1,048 mg/l), $Mg^{2+}$(1,428 mg/l) and $SO_4{^{2-}}$(7,472 mg/l) were identified to be causative toxicants. Water hardness and electric conductivity exceed the $EC_{50}$ value obtained by biological toxicity tests using Daphnia magna. Conclusion: According to TIE procedures, high salt concentration is determined to be a major toxicant in the effluent of agro-industrial wastewater treatment plants receiving wastewater from the aluminum rolling industry.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2002

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.33-39
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• 2015

Mercury is a toxic pollutants present in different types of industrial effluents and is responsible for environmental pollution. Removal of Hg(II) ions from synthetic wastewater was studied using the activated biocarbon produced from the leaves of Tridax procumbens (Asteraceae). The particle size of the biocarbon (BC) is in the range of $100-120{\mu}m$. The effects of initial metal ion concentration, pH, contact time, and amount of biocarbon on the biosorption process were studied at temperature of $28{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. Batch experimental studies showed that an equilibrium time of 160 min was required for the maximum removal of Hg(II) at the optimized biocarbon dose of 2.5 g per 100 mL of synthetic wastewater. The optimum pH required for maximum removal (96.5%) of Hg(II) ions was found to be 5.5. The biosorption of metal ions onto activated biocarbon surface is probably via an ion exchange mechanism. The biocarbon can be regenerated with minimum loss. Further, it can be reused without any chemical activation. The findings of the research suggested that, the biocarbon produced from cost effective renewable resources can be utilized for the treatment of industrial wastewater.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.240-244
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• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of steel mill slag and sludge in removing heavy metals and cyanide in metal plating wastewater. Laboratory experiments were peformed with jar tester, The tests were peformed at ambient temperature. The results of tests showed that overall rates metals removed were greater than 90 %. Metals were removed from solution as the combined effects of adsorption and precipitation in alkaline condition. The removal efficiency of cyanide by steel mill wastes was above 90 % at optimum conditions. In view of the test results and other engineering characteristics of steel mill slag and sludge, these industrial by-products from steel industry have a high potential to be used in metal plating wastewater treament and were particularly beneficial.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.93-101
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• 1997

A modified procedure for electroplating wastewater treatment using formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide can destroy free cyanide. The representative diagram which is quite sensitive on reaction temperature is showed for this kinds of treatment. Principally free cyanide and some kinds of cyanide complex should be treated first, and then toxic heavy metals can be removed because cyanide component will be inhibited to remove other pollutants, if it is not destroyed perfectly. Formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide are added in controlled amounts to cyanide treatment tank. Reasonable amounts of these chemicals are (HCHO/CN)=0.9 and ($H_2O_2/CN$)=1.1 in molar ratios, it is also variable on reaction temperature. Of course, actual treatment processes depending on plating material and chemical are good applicable, also to systematize operation manual for treating electroplating wastewater process, further works are desirable.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2016

The toxic responses of flagellate Euglena agilis Carter to 8 heavy metals (Ag, Cd, Cr (VI), Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) were measured using E. agilis system (E-Tox), an automated biomonitoring system. The E-Tox measures cell movement parameters, such as velocity, motility, and forms of the cells, as biological endpoints. $EC_{50}$ values from the E. agilis biomonitoring test were compared with the literature data from the tests with Daphnia magna, Vibrio fischeri and Euglena gracilis. Measurement of the E. agilis movement behavior and D. magna acute toxicity test were also conducted for the wastewater samples. E. agilis is less sensitive than D. magna but is comparable to or more sensitive than V. fischeri and E. gracilis for the heavy metals tested in this study. E. agilis shows prompt changes of these parameters for the toxic metal plating wastewater. Major advantages of the E-tox are automatic, easy to handle and fast ecotoxicity monitoring system compared to other biological test systems. These results imply that E. agilis biomonitoring test using E-Tox can be a putative ecotoxicity test as a good early warning tool for the monitoring of toxic wastewater.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.318-327
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• 2017

Background: A typical sewage treatment plant is designed for organic and nutrient removal from municipal sewage water and not targeted to eliminate micropollutants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and nano-sized metals which become a big concern for sustainable human and ecological system and are mainly discharged from sewage treatment plant. Therefore, despite contaminant removal by wastewater treatment processes, there are still remaining environmental risks by untreated pollutants in STP (sewage treatment plant) effluents. This study performed aquatic toxicity tests of raw wastewater and treated effluents in two sewage treatment plants to evaluate toxicity reduction by wastewater treatment process and analyze concentration of contaminants to reveal potential toxic factors in STP effluents. Methods: Water samples were collected from each treatment steps of two STPs, and acute and chronic toxicity tests were conducted following USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines. Endpoints were immobility for mortality and reproduction effect for estrogenicity. Results: Acute $EC_{50}s$ (median effective concentration) of influents for Seungki (SK) and Jungnang (JN) STPs are $54.13{\pm}32.64%$ and $30.38{\pm}24.96%$, respectively, and reduced to $96.49{\pm}7.84%$ and 100%. Acute toxicity reduction was clearly correlated with SS (suspended solids) concentration because of filter feeding characteristics of test organisms. Chronic toxicity tests revealed that lethal effect was reduced and low concentration of influents showed higher number of neonates. However, toxicity reduction was not related to nutrient removal. Fecundity effect positively increased in treated wastewater compared to that in raw wastewater, and no significant differences were observed compared to the control group in JN final effluent implying potential effects of estrogenic compounds in the STP effluents. Conclusions: Conventional wastewater treatment process reduced some organics and nutritional compounds from wastewater, and it results in toxicity reduction in lethal effect and positive reproductive effect but not showing correlation. Unknown estrogenic compounds could be a reason causing the increase of brood size. This study suggests that pharmaceutical residues and nanoparticles in STP effluents are one of the major micropollutants and underline as one of estrogenic effect factors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.737-743
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• 1999

A conventional thermophilic anaerobic digester was converted into a thermophilic high-rate hybrid anaerobic reactor (THAR) for treating distillery wastewater. The THAR has been operating successfully since May 1995 at a loading rate of 5.45 to $11.52{\;}kg/\textrm{m}^3/d$ (maximum of 15.02). The THAR has demonstrated a soluble Chemical Oxygen Demand (sCOD) removal efficiency of 85 to 91% and a total COD (tCOD) removal efficiency of as much as 72 to 84%. Product gas had a methane content of 59 to 68%. The tCOD removal rates were 4.31 to 5.43, 6.26 to 6.89, and 9.03 to $9.78kg{\;}tCOD/\textrm{m}^3/d$ for tapioca, com, and naked-barley wastewater, respectively. The sCOD removal rates ranged from 3.75 to 4.79,3.28 to 4.89, and 5.57 to 6.21kg $sCOD/\textrm{m}^3/d$ for tapioca, com, and naked-barley wastewater, respectively. There were unknown substances in a naked-barley distillery wastewater that were identified as being toxic for microorganisms. However, the THAR treated naked-barley wastewater continuously for 26 days, operating at an average tCOD loading of $11.08{\;}kg/\textrm{m}^3/d$without any signs of deterioration in either COD removal efficiency or gas production rate. During this period, the average removal efficiencies of tCOD and sCOD were 84% and 91%, respectively, and the gas production rate averaged 6.61 to $7.57{\;}\textrm{m}^3/\textrm{m}^3$ reactor/d which produced 0.57 to $0.69{\;}\textrm{m}^3{\;}biogas/kg{\;}tCOD_{rem}$. From tapioca and com wastewater, the reactor showed an average gas production rate of 3.18 to 3.46 and 4.91 to $5.22{\;}\textrm{m}^3/\textrm{m}^3$ reactor/d which produced 0.53 to 0.69 and 0.62 to $0.71{\;}\textrm{m}^3/kg{\;}tCOD_{rem}$, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.766-775
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• 2007

The use of toxic chemicals was extended as the industry in Korea has grown dramatically during the last three decades. However, list of toxic substances and limit concentrations in the water environment are not consistent within management of ambient water, drinking water and industrial effluent. This article suggests the systematic framework to classify toxic substances in the water environment and deriving their effluent limits. The most important factor for decision-making to classify toxic substances is whether their concentrations in the water environment are higher than the reference concentrations, estimated by considering human health risk and ecological risk. Using a risk-based reference concentration, the ambient water quality criterion, it is possible to derive the regulatory limit concentrations of toxic substances in drinking water and in industrial effluent. The goal concentrations in the effluent, which guarantee the human and ecological safety, should be determined with scientific investigation, balancing environmental benefit and economical effect, considering availability of treatment technology and identifying characteristics of wastewater from different industries.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.191-199
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• 2010

Introduction of Technology-Based Effluent Limitations (TBELs) concepts into Korea requires extensive and through analyses on the expected pollutants reduction effects and the cost factor for the industry side. In addition, the TEBLs should be optimized for the regulatory environments of Korea and be applied in a progressive manner to minimize the undesirable effects. It is also necessary to assess the contribution of each industrial categories's to the pollution of natural water bodies to find the priority of TEBLs application. For these purposes, the pollution loads of various industrial categories were analyzed using risk assessment indicator based on Toxic Weighting Factors (TWFs). First, the TWFs were calculated for the pollutants regulated using the method adopted by USEPA. And the effluent characteristics of the eighty two categories of industry in Korea were investigated. Although the analytical data on the wastewater from different industrial categories are relatively limited, the results from two previous studies were used. The first study, conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Research in 2001~2004, investigated the wastewater characteristics from 255 industrial sources covering the major 20 industrial categories. The second study includes more recent analytical data for the wastewater from 500 industrial sources, covering all the 82 industrial categories. In the result of the pollution loads analyses, the category of 'Synthetic and Chemical manufacture' was found to show the highest raw pollution load. On the other hand the category of 'Ion & Steel manufacture' was found to show the highest effluent pollution loads, which can be considered as the real impacts on natural water streams. The top five categories occupied 62.2% of the total effluent pollution loads. Through the analyses, the relative importances of each industrial categories and the priorities of TEBL-based pollution reduction were determined.