Organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) contents in the sewage sludge derived from the residential and industrial areas were determined in order to characterize contemporary organic contamination levels as a part of the ongoing development of the environmentally sound sewage sludge management strategy in Korea. OPPs were extracted from freeze-dried sludges in a ultrasonic extractor. The extracts were cleaned-up by florisil column and subsequently fed into gas chromatograph/nitrogen phosphorus detector (GC/NPD) for determining OPP contents. Diazinon, dimethoate, disulfoton, EPN, malathion, methyl parathion, parathion, phorate and sulfotep were present in the appreciable amount in the domestic sewage sludges. The sum of the 9 OPPs in the sewage sludge varied from 534.8 to 15552.1 ㎍/kg, dry wt..

The 16 priority PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) designated by US Environmental Protection Agency were analyzed for some digested sludges from wastewater treatment plants in Korea. PAHs are an important group of organic contaminants present in sewage sludge due to their persistence and toxic potential. PAHs were extracted from freeze-dried sludges using a methylene chloride-methanol (2:1) mixture in a soxhlet extractor. The extracts were cleaned-up by silica gel/alumina combination column and subsequently fed into gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for determining PAH contents. The sum of the 16 PAHs in the sewage sludge varied from 534.8 to 5754.5 ㎍/kg, dry wt.. In the sewage sludge, phenanthrene appears as the most abundant PAHs, followed by naphthalene, pyrene, fluoranthene. Source of the investigated sewage sludges relatively predominated pyrogenic. PAHs levels of sewage sludges in Korea appeared to be lower than those in other countries.

The hydroxyapatite(HAp) for the present study was prepared with the wastewater sludge from semiconductor fabrication process and it was crystallized in an electric furnace for 30 min at 900℃. The adsorption characteristics of HAp for phosphate ion in aqueous solution has been investigated. The adsorbed ratio of phosphate ion for HAp were investigated according to the reaction time, amount of HAp, concentration of standard solution, pH of solution, and influence of concemitant ions. The amount of adsorbed phosphate ion decreased with the increase of pH due to the mutual electrostatic repulsion between adsorbed phosphate ions and competitive adsorption between phosphate ion and OH- ion in aqueous solution. The maxium amount of the adsorption equilibrium for phosphate ion was about 24 mg/g of HAp. The HAp would likely to be a possible adsorbent for the removal of phosphate ion in the waste water.

This research was performed to investigate the dynamics of microbial community by RBC (Rotating Biological Contactor) using Rhodococcus sp. EL-GT and activated sludge. Cell counts revealed by DAPI were compared with culturable bacterial counts from nutrient agar. Colony counts on nutrient agar gave values 20∼25% and 1∼15% of cell counts (DAPI). The cell counts for the dynamics of bacterial community were determined by combination of in situ hybridization with fluorescently-labelled oligonucleotide probes and epifluorescence microscopy. Around 90∼80% of total cells visualized by DAPI were also detected by the bacteria probe EUB 338. For both reactors proteobacteria belonging to the gamma subclass were dominant in the first stage (1 and 2 stage) and proteobacteria belonging to the gamma subclass were dominant in the last stage (3 and 4 stage).