The behavior of copper throughout the whole process of wastewater treatment plant that uses the activated sludge process to treat the wastewater of petrochemical industry that contains low concentration of copper was investigated. Total inflow rate of wastewater that flows into the aeration tank was 697 m3/day with 0.369 mg/L of copper concentration, that is, total copper influx was 257.2 g/day. The ranges of copper concentrations of the influent to the aeration tank and effluent from the one were 0.315 ~ 0.398 mg/L and 0.159 ~ 0.192 mg/L, respectively. The average removal rate of copper in the aeration tank was 50.8 %.
The bioconcentration factor (BCF) of copper by microbes in the aeration tank was 3,320. The accumulated removal rate of copper throughout the activated sludge process was 71.3%, showing a high removal ratio by physical and chemical reactions in addition to biosorption by microbes. The concentration of copper in the solid dehydrated by filter press ranged from 74.8 mg/kg to 77.2 mg/kg and the concentration of copper by elution test of waste was 2.690 ~ 2.920 mg/L. It was judged that the copper concentration in dehydrated solid by bioconcentration could be managed with the control of that in the influent.

Abstract
 1. 서 론
 2. 재료 및 방법
  2.1. 대상공정 및 시료 채취
  2.2. 분석방법
 3. 결과 및 고찰
  3.1. 시료채취 지점별 구리의 농도
  3.2. 폭기조 내 구리의 생물농축계수
  3.3. 공정별 구리 제거 효율
  3.4. 탈수 고형물 (Cake) 내 구리
 4. 결 론
 참 고 문 헌

• 박진도(울산과학대학 환경화학공업과) | Jin Do Park (Department of Environmental & Chemical Industry, Ulsan College)
• 이학성(울산대학교 생명화학공학부) | Hak Sung Lee (School of chemical Engineering and BioEngineering, University of Ulsan) Corresponding Author