The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of simultaneous removal of ammonium, nitrate and phosphorus in water using the zeocarbon. In this study, the surface of zeocarbon was modified by acid because of difficulty in application of water treatment. After surface modification, the strength was enhanced about 62% higher than that of original one. The removal efficiency of ammonium and nitrate using the modified zeocarbon was about 47% and 32%, respectively and were higher than that of zeocarbon. In batch type experiment on the simultaneous removal of ammonium, nitrate and phosphorus, the presence of phosphorus did not have influence on nitrogen removal efficiency. Concomitantly, removal efficiency of phosphorus was obtained was about 35%. This indicates that the surface modified zeocarbon can be applied for simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus. Consequently, our results could be used as basic data to design of one-stage nitrogen/phosphorus simultaneous removal system.

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of application for water treatment using the zeocarbon. The zeocarbon was mixture of zeolite and activated carbon. In general, the application of commercial zeocarbon to water treatment is difficult because of weak strength in water and the high pH value of effluents after water treatment. Therefore, we have modified the surface of zeocarbon. For the surface modification, we used the acid treatment to make surface functional group. As a result of modification, was created functional group on zeocarbon surface and was formed mesopore in zeocarbon. The surface modified zeocarbon was applied to removal of nitrogen. In removal experiments of nitrogen, removal efficiency was very high. And, strength of zeocarbon after water treatment and pH of effluents were stabilized. This indicates that the surface modified zeocarbon was easy to recover and reuse. Consequently, our results were shown the possibility of application for water treatment using the surface modified zeocarbon.

Simultaneous removal of NH3, H2S and toluene in a contaminated air stream was investigated over 185 days in a biofilter packed with Zeocarbon granule as microbial support. In this study, multi-microorganisms including Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter for nitrogen removal, Thiobacillus thioparus (ATCC 23645) for H2S removal, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15692), Pseudomonas putida (ATCC 17484) and Pseudomonas putida (ATCC 23973) for toluene removal were used simultaneously. The empty bed residence time (EBRT) was 40-120 seconds and the feed (inlet) concentrations of NH3, H2S and toluene were 0.02-0.11, 0.05-0.23 and 0.15-0.21 ppmv, respectively. The observed removal efficiency was 85%-99% for NH3, 100% for H2S, and 20-90% for toluene, respectively. The maximum elimination capacities were 9.3, 20.6 and 17 g/m3/hr for NH3, H2S and toluene, respectively. The results of kinetic model analysis showed that there were no particular evidences of interactions or inhibitions among the microorganisms, and that the three biodegradation reactions took place independently within a finite area of biofilm developed on the surface of the Zeocarbon carrier.