역삼투막은 해수의 담수화, 하수 및 폐수 재이용, 산업용수등의 다양한 용도로 널리 사용되고 있다. 하지만 미생물, 콜로이드물질, 스케일, 유기물 등 막의 오염으로 인해 전력비 및 교체비등 운영비가 증가되는 문제를 야기시킨다. 산업 용수 플랜트에서는 역삼투막의 주요 오염 중 하나인 바이오파울링을 저감시키기 위하여 일반적으로 사용하는 염소, 오존 등의 산화성살균제외 CMIT, DBNPA 등 비산화성 살균제도 사용하게 되는데 높은 약품비용로 운영비 증가의 원인이 되기도 한다. 본 연구는 파일럿플랜트를 이용하여 BWRO공정의 자외선 소독 전 처리의 효과검증을 약 1년간 실시하였다. 테스트결과 시기별로 차이가 발생하였 지만 역삼투막의 차압 증가속도를 감소시켜 향후 플랜트 적용 시 운영비 절감에 기여할 것으로 판단된다.

Pollutants generated by the biodegradation of livestock carcasses have the potential for contamination of the environment. Hence, livestock mortalities burial has been banned in the EU. In spite of the hazard, research on the biodegradation of livestock carcasses is lacking. In this study, five lysimeters were used to evaluate the enhanced biodegradation of organic materials in livestock mortalities burial. Lysimeter 1(control), lysimeter 2(grinding of livestock carcass), lysimeter 3(anaerobic microorganisms), lysimeter 4(Corynebacterium glutamicum in anaerobic condition) and lysimeter 5(Corynebacterium glutamicum in aerobic condition) were operated with temperature control. The degradation efficiencies of livestock carcass in the lysimeters were evaluated based on total organic carbon balance. The degradation efficiencies of ground livestock carcass were 1.9 times more than those of livestock carcass without grinding. In anaerobic condition, anaerobic microorganisms were more effective compared with Corynebacterium glutamicum on the biodegradation of livestock carcasses. However, the degradation efficiencies with Corynebacterium glutamicum in aerobic condition were significantly influenced on the biodegradation of livestock carcasses. Even if it would be helpful to degrade the livestock carcass in aerobic condition in terms of stabilization, potential risks on the environment by odor and bioaerosol must be solved.

In this study, HA removal by electrocoagulation (EC) using Aluminum (Al) electrodes was evaluated based on Al species and HA was characterized to investigate the HA removal mechanisms. Results showed that Al electrodes were better than Fe electrodes, wherein Al flocs were found to be positively charged by which the negatively charged HA can be attracted. HA removal was 88.9% at 10 min and 91.3% at 20 min, at the initial pH of 4.5 and 6.5, respectively. The Ferron analysis showed that the formation of monomeric Al species (Ala), medium polymer Al species (Alb), and colloidal or solid Al species (Alc) was dependent on initial pH and current density (CD). At higher pH, higher concentration of colloidal or solid Al species (Alc)wasobserved. At higher CD, the HA removal was faster than at low CD, and Alcspecie in the floc was dominant. The spectroscopic analysis of the residual soluble HA showed the preferential removal of highly condensed structures of HA, regardless of CD. The results in this study showed that Alb and Alc, especially Alc, contribute much to the HA removal and that the highly conjugated moieties of HA are readily removed by EC. Specific UV absorbance (SUVA) analysis reveals that aromatic compounds were decreased by the oxidation at the anode. Size exclusion chromatography reveals that high molecular weight (MW) fractions were preferentially removed by EC than the low MW component.

The environmental behaviors of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are mainly governed by their solubility and partitioning properties on soil media in a subsurface system. In surfactant-enhanced remediation (SER) systems, surfactant plays a critical role in remediation. In this study, sorptive behaviors and partitioning of naphthalene in soils in the presence of surfactants were investigated. Silica and kaolin with low organic carbon contents and a natural soil with relatively higher organic carbon content were used as model sorbents. A nonionic surfactant, Triton X-100, was used to enhance dissolution of naphthalene. Sorption kinetics of naphthalene onto silica, kaolin and natural soil were investigated and analyzed using several kinetic models. The two compartment first-order kinetic model (TCFOKM) was fitted better than the other models. From the results of TCFOKM, the fast sorption coefficient of naphthalene (k1) was in the order of silica > kaolin > natural soil, whereas the slow sorbing fraction (k2) was in the reverse order. Sorption isotherms of naphthalene were linear with organic carbon content (foc) in soils, while those of Triton X-100 were nonlinear and correlated with CEC and BET surface area. Sorption of Triton X-100 was higher than that of naphthalene in all soils. The effectiveness of a SER system depends on the distribution coefficient (KD) of naphthalene between mobile and immobile phases. In surfactant-sorbed soils, naphthalene was adsorbed onto the soil surface and also partitioned onto the sorbed surfactant. The partition coefficient (KD) of naphthalene increased with surfactant concentration. However, the KD decreased as the surfactant concentration increased above CMC in all soils. This indicates that naphthalene was partitioned competitively onto both sorbed surfactants (immobile phase) and micelles (mobile phase). For the mineral soils such as silica and kaolin, naphthalene removal by mobile phase would be better than that by immobile phase because the distribution of naphthalene onto the micelles (Kmic) increased with the nonionic surfactant concentration (Triton X-100). For the natural soil with relatively higher organic carbon content, however, the naphthalene removal by immobile phase would be better than that by mobile phase, because a high amount of Triton X-100 could be sorbed onto the natural soil and the sorbed surfactant also could sorb the relatively higher amount of naphthalene.