1,4-Dioxane is an EPA priority pollutant often found in contaminated ground waters and industrial effluents. Conventional water treatment techniques are limited to decompose this compound effectively. Therefore, an advanced oxidation process system (AOP) was used for the degradation of 1,4-dioxane. This research investigates the effect of adding oxidants, such as ozone, air, and H2O2 during the UV irradiation of 1,4-dioxane solution. In order to analyze 1,4-dioxane, a modified 8270 method, which is an improved method of U.S EPA 8720, was used. Degradation efficiencies of 1,4-dioxane by only UV irradiation at various temperatures were not significant. However, The addition of oxidants and air bubbling in the UV irradiation system for 1,4-dioxane decomposition showed the higher 1,4-dioxane degradation rate. And, during AOP treatment the tendency of TOC changes was similar to that of 1,4-dioxane decomposition rate.

Daphnia Magna Stratus has been widely accepted as useful species for estimating the toxicity of chemicals to aquatic invertebrate and recommended as species for the testing chemicals from the international guideline as well as Korean guideline. The study was performed for the acute toxicity test by using water flea(D. Magna) for effluents from several wastewater treatment plants and drainage canals in GyeongBuk area. Five heavy metals, 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were tested. Most Toxicity Units(TU) of Industrial wastewater effluents were less than 1 which means effluent was not toxic to D. Magna. However, effluents containing 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were significantly toxic to D. Magna. Therefore, facilities should reduce the 1,4-dioxane since new regulations will force them after the year of 2011.

Water samples from several wastewater treatment plants and two industry drains in Gyeongsangbukdo were investigated for concentration levels of micropollutants. Samples were taken totally four times from May to November of 2008 and tested for seven factors including pesticide, 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate which had been big issues for Nakdong river because of their contaminations. As results, 2,4-D, Alachlor, and BEHA were not detected while BEHP was detected at some sampling sites. 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were also detected in wide ranges from several sampling sites. Therefore, continuous supervising and monitoring systems needed to be invested for proper management for micropollutants since those micropollutants could affect human health and aquatic system with low concentration levels.

The fate of two cyclic ethers, THF(Tetrahydrofuran) and 1,4-Dioxane, in conventional biological wastewater treatment plants was investigated using sequential activated sludge process. Removal efficiency of THF were about 86% in average, which was greater than that of 1,4-Dioxane, 30%. However, it was not clear whether the removal of cyclic ethers in biological system was caused by microbial activity or not. Thus treatability tests were conducted by batch experiments. The effects of mixing, aeration and the addition of activated sludge on the removal of cyclic ethers were investigated in batch experiments. THF was totally removed by mixing and aeration in 24 hours while removal ratio of 1,4-Dioxane was at most 30% for the same period. This results could be ascribed to the differences in Henry's law constants between the two chemicals. In addition, biological degradation including biosorption was not obviously observed in these batch tests.

Advanced oxidation processes involving O3/H2O2 and O3/catalyst were used to compare the degradability and the effect of pH on the oxidation of 1,4-dioxane. Oxidation processes were carried out in a bubble column reactor under different pH. Initial hydrogen peroxide concentration was 3.52 mM in O3/H2O2 process and 115 g/L (0.65 wt.%) of activated carbon impregnated with palladium was packed in O3/catalyst column. 1,4-dioxane concentration was reduced steadily with reaction time in O3/H2O2 oxidation process, however, in case of O3/catalyst process, about 50～75% of 1,4-dioxane was degraded only in 5 minutes after reaction. Overall reaction efficiency of O3/catalyst was also higher than that of O3/H2O2 process. TOC and CODCr were analyzed in order to examine the oxidation characteristics with O3/H2O2 and O3/catalyst process. The results of CODCr removal efficiency and ΔTOC/ΔThOC ratio in O3/catalyst process gave that this process could more proceed the oxidation reaction than O3/H2O2 oxidation process. Therefore, it was considered that O3/catalyst advanced oxidation process could be used as a effective oxidation process for removing non-degradable toxic organic materials.