• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.97-105
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• 2007

This study was conducted to compare the performances of acidogenic fermentation and hydrogen fermentation using bench-scale leaching-bed reactors for organic solid waste. Acidogenic fermenters were operated with dilution rates (D) of 2.0, 3.0 and $4.0d^{-1}$ after employing anaerobic sludge and hydrogen fermenters were operated with D of 2.0, 4.0 and $6.0d^{-1}$ after employing heat-treated anaerobic sludge. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) conversion efficiency (56.2%) was obtained in acidogenic fermentation with D of $3.0d^{-1}$. Only volatile fatty acid (VFA) was produced as a metabolite. On the other hand, hydrogen fermentation did not show higher COD conversion efficiency (49.3%) than acidogenic fermentation, but it produced hydrogen gas (5.1% of total COD) which was a clean and environmentally friendly fuel with a high energy yield. Therefore, either acidogenic fermentation or hydrogen fermentation could be applied to organic solid waste depending on the purpose of treatment, which could maximize the economics of anaerobic treatment.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.151-160
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• 2006

Anaerobic treatment of landfill leachate was studied to investigate the behaviors of pollutant and the characteristics of microorganism for 10 months. The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor achieved about 90% chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal at organic loading rates(OLR) up to $20kgCOD/m^3.d$. At higher OLR ($8-20kgCOD/m^3.d$), the propionate concentration increased, indicating that converting propionate to acetate was the rate-limiting step. Nevertheless, increase in the precipitate inside and on the surface of granules as well as on the wall of the reactor resulted in operational problems. The main inorganic precipitate in the granule was calcium compound. Although specific methanogenic activity (SMA) was not affected seriously in this study, metals had to be removed prior to anaerobic treatment so as to be free from the excessive inorganic accumulation that resulted in operational problems.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.136-147
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• 2005

Leachate from landfill sites contains high organics, chloride and ammonium nitrogen in concentration which might be potentially major pollutants to surface and groundwater environment. Most of landfill leachate treatment plants in Korea consist of biological processes to remove BOD and nitrogen. However, the efficiencies of refractory organics removal, nitrification and denitrification have not met frequently the national effluent regulation of wastewater treatment facility, especially in winter season. Simultaneous removal of organics and nitrogen from leachate is strongly necessitated to meet the national regulation on effluents from leachate treatment facilities. The intermittently aerated biological activated carbon fluidized bed(IABACFB) process was applied to treat real landfill leachates containing refractory organics and high concentration of ammonium nitrogen. The IABACFB reactor consisted of a single bed in which BAC fluidizing and an aerating column. The fluidized bed is intermittently aerated through the blower located at the aerating column. Experiments were performed to evaluate the applicability of Intermittently Aerated BACFB for simultaneous removal of refractory organic carbon and ammonium nitrogen of leachate. Organics and ammonia nitrogen($NH{_4}{^+}-N$)are oxidized during the aerobic stage, and nitrite-nitrate nitrogen($NO{_x}{^-}-N$) are removed to nitrogen gas through denitrification reaction during anoxic state. The IABACFB reactor condition reached a steady state within 40 days since the reactors had been operated. The blowing mode of 60 min.-On/60 min.-OFF is more compatible to remove TOC and ($NH{_4}{^+}-N$) operated. The blowing mode of 60 min.-On/60 min.-OFF is more compatible to remove TOC and ($NH{_4}{^+}-N$) simultaneously than the mode of 30 min.-On/90 min.-OFF. The average removal efficiencies of TOC, the refractory organic carbon, and the average efficiencies of nitrification and denitrification were 90%, 75%, 80%, 95%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2005

In order to reduce salt(as NaCl) contents in food waste and to improve the quality of discharged wastewater produced during the recycling process of food waste for the purpose of compost and feed stuff, a salt reduction process by added water into food waste was developed. The pilot plant with a rotary type salt reduction equipment to manage continuously 0.5 ton food waste per hour was constructed and the efficiency was tested. The amount of added water was calculated by the water content and the efficiency of dewatering process of food waste. Approximately 0.8 liter water per a kilogram of food waste was injected into the reactor in which food waste was pouring simultaneously, then diluted/mixed in a rotary reactor. About 1.1 liter of leachate including added water was generated, but the leachate contained a very high content of organic particles, so most particles were recovered by two step solid-liquid separation process. The first step was a gravitational filtering process using screens with a pore diameter of 1mm, and the second separation process was centrifugal process. Organic quality of food waste which had been desalted was maintained by inputting the entirely recovered organic particles. The efficiency of salt reduction of food waste was estimated by measuring a chloride anion by titration and salinity by a probe. The results by the two different measuring methods were always over 50%, and the quality of final wastewater was improved up to $200mg/{\ell}$ as TS(total solid) by an additional settling process after the two step solid-liquid separation process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.583-590
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• 2011

The effect of the physical parameters in the reactor (aeration depth, bubble size, and surface area) and the alkalinity of the solution on the ammonia stripping by bubbling were evaluated. When an airflow of 30 L/min was bubbled below the solution surface in the range 6-53 cm, the ammonia removal rate were observed to be the same regardless of the bubbling depths. At pH 10.0 and a temperature of $30^{\circ}C$, the average rate constant and the standard deviation were $0.178h^{-1}$ and 0.004. No appreciable changes in the ammonia removal rate were also observed with varying the bubble size and the air-contacting surface area. Alkalinity of the solution was found to affect the ammonia removal rate indirectly. This is expected because the pH of the solution would vary with dissolution of gaseous $CO_2$ by air bubbling. The real wastewaters from landfill site and domestic wastewater treatment plant were tested. In the case of domestic wastewater (pH = 7.1, alkalinity = 75 mg/L), the ammonia removal rate was poor even with the control of pH to 9.3. The raw landfill leachate (pH = 8.0, alkalinity = 6,525 mg/L), however, showed the appreciable removal rate with increasing pH during aeration. When the initial pH of the leachate was adjusted 9.4, the removal rate was significantly increased without changing the pH during aeration.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1995-2005
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• 2000

The use of heterotrophic denitrification as an alternative method for supplying alkalinity during sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification was evaluated by examining the effects of external carbon source (both type and concentration) and HRT on denitrification efficiency. Concentrations of $NO_3{^-}-N$ and $COD_{Cr}$ of nitrified landfill leachate used for experiment were 700-900mg/L and 900-2500mg/L. respectively, All experiment was conducted with sulfur packed bed reactors (SPBRs) which were operated at $35^{\circ}C$. The fraction of $NO_3{^-}-N$ removed by heterotrophic denitrification ($HDNR_{fraction}$) to balance the alkalinity consumption by autotrophic denitrification varied with the type of external carbon source. When methanol and sodium acetate was added at theoretical HDNRfraction value. 100% denitrification was achieved without alkalinity addition. However, glucose and molasses require $HDNR_{fraction}$ value greater than theoretical value for complete denitrification. The EBCT and volumetric loading rate at which 100% denitrification efficiency could be achieved were 6.76 h and $2.84kg-NO_3{^-}-N/m^3{\cdot}d$, respectively, based on the fact that 100% denitrification occurred within the bottom 11.5 cm layer of the SPBR. The maximum nitrogen removal rate occurred with 89% removal efficiency at loading rate of $5.05kg-NO_3{^-}-N/m^3{\cdot}d$. However, at short EBCT, clogging of SPBR was observed with excess growth of heterotrophic denitrifiers. This problem may be eliminated by back washing or by separating of heterotrophic denitrification from sulfur-utilizing denitrification.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.105-113
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• 2003

Successful operation of a reactor can be accomplished when it is operated at proper D depending on the state of degradation. Operation at high D leads to the washout of biomass in the reactor while operation at low D leads to product inhibition due to the accumulation of excess VFA. These appear to limit the production of hydrogen to reach a higher level. Operation by D control was performed to improve the efficiency of hydrogen fermentation of food waste. Although simple organic matters were rapidly degraded in the early stage (day 1-2), proper VFA concentration and pH values were kept in the reactor at D of $4.5d^{-1}$, which was previously reported to be optimum initial D. High butyrate/acetate (B/A) ratios over 3.2 were obtained. Without D control, the reduction of simple organic matters after day 2 caused the decrease of VFA production and the increase of pH. Hydrogen production also decreased, as microbial proliferation was less than microbial loss by washout. However, the reactor performance was dramatically improved at D control from 4.5 to $2.3d^{-1}$. It showed the highest B/A ratios over 2.0 among the reactors on day 4-7. The second hydrogen peak appeared on day 4, resulting in the highest fermentation efficiency (70.8%) among the reactors. It was caused by the enhanced degradation of slowly degradable matters. The COD removed was converted to hydrogen (19.3%), VFA (36.5%), and ethanol (15.0%). Therefore, the strategy using D control, depending on the state of degradation, was effective in improving the efficiency of hydrogen fermentation.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.87-95
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• 2003

Although extensive studies were conduced on hydrogen fermentation of organic wastewaters, little is known about biohydrogen production from organic solid wastes. The leaching-bed reactor treating food waste by heat-shocked anaerobic sludge was, therefore, operated at D of 2.1, 3.6, 4.5 and $5.5d^{-1}$ to find optimal D for hydrogen production. Successful operation of a reactor can be accomplished when it is operated at proper dilution rate (D). Operation at high D leads to the washout of biomass in the reactor while operation at low D leads to product inhibition due to the accumulation of excess VFA. These appear to limit the production of hydrogen to reach a higher level. All the reactors showed that, on day 1-3, hydrogen production was dominant and VFA concentration was higher than ethanol. Butyrate and acetate were major components of VFAs over the whole operation, though lactate was very high on day 1-2. Compared with other D values, D of $4.5d^{-1}$, resulted in higher butyrate/acetae (B/A) ratios during the fermentation. The trend of B/A ratios was similar to the hydrogen production, suggesting that butyrate formation favored hydrogen production. Ethanol increased significantly from day 4 when hydrogen Production stopped. It indicated that heat-shocked sludge was able to induce a metabolic flow from hydrogen-and acid-producing pathway to solvent-producing pathway. Operation at D of $4.5d^{-1}$ led to higher fermentation efficiency (58%) than those (51.5, 55.3 and 53.7%) at 2.1, 3.6 and $5.5d^{-1}$. The COD removed was convened to hydrogen (10.1%), VFA (30.9%), and ethanol (17.0%).