The ballasted flocculation effects of the mill scale and magnetite on activated sludge were investigated. Both ballasted flocculants (BF) could remarkably improve the sludge settleability in terms of zone settling velocity (ZSV) and sludge volume index (SVI). With the BF dosage of 0.2 to 2.0 g-BF/g-SS, the magnetite particles showed better efficiency on improving settling behavior of activated sludge than the mill scale due to higher surface area and hydrophobic property. The efficiency of SVI30 with magnetite injection was 2.5 to 11.3% higher than mill scale injection and that of the ZSV appreciated from 23.7% to 44.4% for magnetite injection. Averaged floc size of the BF sludge with magnetite dosage (0.5 g-BF/g-SS) was 2.3 times higher than that of the control sludge. Dewaterability of the sludge was also greatly improved by addition of the BF. The specific resistance to filtration (SRF) was reduced exponentially with increasing the dosage of BF. However, the BF’s particle size effect on the SRF looks to be marginal. Consequently, for improving the dewaterability, the BF played a physical role to remove the pore water of the biological flocs by intrusive attachment and a chemical role to induce aggregation of the flocs by charge neutralization.

The effects of activated carbon originated Ballasted Flocculant (BF) on the settleability of activated sludge and the recovery of BF by Hydro-cyclone (HC) were analyzed experimentally. Two kinds of BF (M-I: 125-250 μm, M-II: 250-425 μm in dia.) and three kinds of activated sludges with different SS concentration (2,300-7,100 mg/L) were applied for this study. With the dosage variation of BF from 0.14 to 1.3 g-BF/g-SS, we could obtain 24-31% improvement in SV30 (Sludge Volume after 30min sedimentation) for the lowest SS concentration sludge (2,300 mg/L). Whereas the SV30 improvement was much higher as 44-48% for the highest SS concentration sludge (7,100 mg/L). The settling characteristics of the sludge with BF followed Vesilind model the best among three models (Vesilind, Takacs and Cho model). HC could effectively separate BF with the separation efficiency of 70-90% and over 95% separation efficiency could be obtained when the HC was applied twice.

To remove phosphorus from the effluent of public wastewater treatment facilities, hundreds of enhanced phosphorus treatment processes have been introduced nationwide. However, these processes have a few problems including excessive maintenance cost and sludge production caused by inappropriate coagulant injection. Therefore, the optimal decision of coagulant dosage and automatic control of coagulant injection are essential. To overcome the drawbacks of conventional phosphorus removal processes, the integrated sedimentation and dissolved air flotation(SeDAF) process has been developed and a demonstration plant(capacity: 100 m3/d) has also been installed. In this study, various jar-tests(sedimentation and / or sedimentation·flotation) and multiple regression analyses have been performed. Particularly, we have highlighted the decision–making algorithms of optimal coagulant dosage to improve the applicability of the SeDAF process. As a result, the sedimentation jar-test could be a simple and reliable method for the decision of appropriate coagulant dosage in field condition of the SeDAF process. And, we have found that the SeDAF process can save 30 – 40% of coagulant dosage compared with conventional sedimentation processes to achieve total phosphorus (T-P) concentration below 0.2 mg/L of treated water, and it can also reduce same portion of sludge production.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the prechlorination on algal removal by application of a varying amount of different coagulants, such as LAC, PAC, PACS following the process of coagulation and sedimentation of algae in the Nakdong River. The samples used as a source for the raw water of the Nakdong River were collected from the D Water Purification Plant in Taegu city. With the application of the process of prechlorination, the removal rate of the algae was increased from 10∼25% for Synedra spp., 20∼35% for diatoms and 4∼17% for turbidity. Generally, the removal rate of the algae was increased with the increase of the concentration of the coagulants. The PAC and PACS showed 5% higher removal rate for turbidity as compared to the LAS. On the hand, LAS showed 12% higher removal rate for Synedra spp. as compared to the PAC and PACS. The variations in the removal rate of diatoms with the change of coagulant were not significant. In conclusion, the application of LAS, polymeric coagulant and chlorination for at least 20 minutes could be considered as a reliable treatment process for the removal of source water containing a variety of algae.

The Dongbok lake water before and after alum coagulation and activated carbon adsorption were analyzed in terms of organic contents, molecular weight distributuin (MWD), and UV-absorbance. Dissolved organic compounds in the Dongbok lake were fractionated into three molecular size classes by gel permeation chromatography. The fractionation was reasonably successful in isolating compounds with MW>10,000 (Fraction Ⅰ) and those with 3,000MW (Fraction Ⅲ. The bulk of the dissolved carbon was present in compounds of molecular weight in the range of 3,000∼10,000. Alum coagulation preferentially treated molecules of high molecular weight, which has molecules larger than 10,000. The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal after activated carbon adsorption was high in the Fraction Ⅱ, Ⅲ. The A_260/DOC ratio after alum and activated carbon treatment was high in the Fraction Ⅰ, Ⅱ. This results suggest that the organics remaining after each treatment has a trihalomethane formation potential