The research was performed to compare to the biofilm characteristics and phenol removal efficiency in RBCs(Rotating Biological Contactor) using Rhodococcus sp. EL-GT(single population) and activated sludge(mixed population) as inoculum. Both reactors showed similar tendency on variations of dry weight, thickness and dry density of biofilm. However, the growth of biofilm thickness in 3 and 4 stage of single population reactor has sustained longer than that of the mixed population reactor. Unlike the mixed population reactor, the dry density of biofilm in the single population reactor had a difference between 1, 2 stage and 3, 4 stage. The single population reactor was stably operated without the decrease of phenol removal efficiency in the range of pH 6～9 and 15mM phenol was completely degraded in these pH ranges. But in case of the mixed population reactor, the phenol degradability was dramatically decreased at over 5mM phenol concentration because of the overgrowth and detachment of its biofilm.

The lab-scale anaerobic continuous reactor which was filled with the sludge of anaerobic digestion from Suyoung wastewater treatment plant was operated by feeding of various concentrations and flow rates. This experiment indicated that more than 6,870 mgCOD/L of substrate concentration was required to promote good metabolism and growth of anaerobic biomass. And increasing loading rate slowly was also required in order to treat substrate of higher concentration and higher loading rate. The substrate concentration of about 10,000 mgCOD/L was adequate to generate biogas efficiently. The pH was sharply decreased at the onset of higher loading rate, but the pH was restabilized soon at 8. During the experiment, the amount of the attached biomass was kept constant.

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).

Air-lift biofilm reactor should be an admirable process substituting conventional activated sludge process, because of its small area requirement as well as high volumetric loading capacity and stability against loading and chemical shocks. However most of the past research on the performance of ABR was focused on the sewage treatment. This research studied the applicability of ABR to treat high strength wastewater. A bench-scale ABR was operated to treat high strength synthetic wastewater, tannery wastewater and petrochemical wastewater, and its applicability was conclusive. In case of synthetic wastewater, ABR showed good performance in which the substrate removal efficiency was higher than 80 % even under short HRT(1.4 hr) and high volumetric loading rate(9.3 ㎏CODcr/㎥ day). When ABR was applied to treat tannery wastewater, it was suggested that the maximum volumetric loading rate and F/M ratio should be 7.7 ㎏CODcr/㎥ day, 0.76 day-1, respectively. And high substrate removal efficiency over than 90 % was observed with 4,000 ㎎CODcr/L of petrochemical wastewater. Even though effluent concentration was quite high, ABR should be applicable to treat the high strength wastewater, because of its high loading capacity.

The objective of this study was to examine the transient response to hydraulic shocks in an inverse fluidized bed biofilm reactor(IFBBR) for the treatment of apartment sewage. The hydraulic shock experiments, when the system were reached at steady state with each HRT 12, 7, and 4hr, were conducted by changing twice HRT per day during 3days. The SCOD, SS, DO, and pH of the effluent stream were increased with hydraulic shock, but easily recovered to the steady state of pre-hydraulic shock condition. In spite of hydraulic shock, there were not much variation of biomass concentration, biofilm thickness, and biofilm dry density.

An inverse fluidized-bed biofilm reactor (IFBBR) was used for the treatment of highly-emulsified oily wastewater. When the concentration of biomass which was cultivated in the synthetic wastewater reached to 6000㎎/L, the oily wastewater was employed to the reactor with a input COD concentration range of 50㎎/L to 1900㎎/L. Virtually the IFBBR showed a high stability during the long operation period although some fluctuation was observed. The COD removal efficiency was maintained over 90% under the condition that organic loading rate should be controlled under the value of 1.5 ㎏COD/㎥/day, and F/M ratio is 1.0㎏COD/㎏VSS/day at 22℃ and HRT of 12 hrs. As increasing organic loading rates, the biomass concentration was decreased steadily with decreasing of biofilm dry density rather than biofilm thickness. Based on the experimental results, It was suggested that the decrease in biofilm dry density was caused by a loss of biomass inside the biofilm.

Stability of reactor and effect on biofilm characteristics were investigated by varying the hydraulic residence time in an inverse fluidized bed biofilm reactor(IFBBR). The SCOD removal efficiency was maintained above 90 % in the HRT range of 12hr to 2hr, but the TCOD removal efficiency was dropped down to 50 % because of biomass detachment from overgrown bioparticles. The reactor was stably operated up to the conditions of HRT of 2hr and F/M ratio of 4.5㎏COD/㎥/day, but above the range there was an abrupt increase of filamentous microorganisms. The optimum biofilm thickness and the biofilm dry density in this experiment were shown as 200 ㎛ and 0.08 g/㎤, respectively. The substrate removal rate of this system was found as 1st order because the biofilm was maintained slightly thin by the increased hydraulic loading rate.

A mathematical model for organic removal efficiency was investigated in a fluidized bed biofilm reactor by changing the feed flow rate, the residence time and the recycle flow rate. In batch experiment, organic removal could be assumed as first order and an intrinsic first order rate constant(kl) was found 6.4 x 10 exp (-6) ㎤/㎎ sec at influent COD range of 3040 - 6620 ㎎/L. In continuous experiment, at the condition of the influent COD, 3040 ㎎/L, the superficial upflow velocity, 0.47 ㎝/sec, the biofilm thickness 336 ㎛ and the biofilm dry density 0.091 g/mL, the calculated COD removal efficiency from the mathematical model gave 60 % which was very close to the observed value of 66 %. As the feed flow rate was increased, the COD removal efficiency was sharply decreased and at constant feed flow rate, the COD removal efficiency was decreased also as the residence time being decreased.

A number of experiments were conducted in order to investigate the organic removal efficiency and biomass characteristics according to the organic shock loading rate in a fluidized bed biofilm reactor. At the operation conditions of HRT, 8.44 hour, superficial upflow velocity, 0.9 ㎝/sec and temperature, 22±1 ℃, the removal efficiency of SCOD was founded to be 96.5, 92 and 90 % with the organic shock loading rate of 3.5, 10.8 and 33 kgCOD/㎥·day, respectively. Within the F/M ratio ranged 0.4 to 2.0 ㎏COD/㎏VSS·day, the SCOD removal efficiency was shown as 90% at F/M ratio of 2.0 ㎏COD/㎏VSS·day, but the TCOD removal efficiency was 72 % at F/M ratio of 1.8 kgCOD/kgVSS·day. The average biomass concentrations were 7800, 14950 and 27532 ㎎/l on the organic shock loading rate of 3.5, 10.8 and 33 ㎏COD/㎥·day, respectively. This result was agreed with the fact that more biomass could be produced at high concentration of substrate, but some biomass was detached at the onset of shock and easily acclimated at the shock condition.