• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2009

This research was performed to figure out the optimal mixing ratio of food- to livestock wastewater for the best degradation of organic matter in the anaerobic digestion. The presence of various microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, was also investigated in both wastewater in this process. Enteric bacteria were only found in livestock wastewater, whereas pathogenic bacteria like S. aureus were detected in both wastewater. The optimal mixing ratio of food- to livestock wastewater for the best mineralization was found to fifty to fifty, with reduction ratios of $BOD_5$, CODcr SS as 23.2%, 24.7%, 19.7%, respectively. Hygiene of the digested sludge was also analyzed by counting the number of total colonies and various pathogens. Enterobacteriaceae including E. coli were barely detected in 10 days after reaction. Meanwhile, S. aureus was gradually reduced during reaction, even showing 1,000~5,000 CFU/mL in final days.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.635-644
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• 1994

A mathematical model was developed to predict the concentrations of various nutrients in supernatants during aerobic digestion which is suitable to be employed in small wastewater treatment plants with such advantages as low capital cost and stable process. Significant reactions were determined with observing the behavior of nitrgen and phosphorus, and the model equations were built up in the form of simultaneous differential equations considering Mass Balance. Laboratory batch experiments were carried out at $20^{\circ}C$ and pH $7.5{\pm}0.5$ on the aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at different solid levels. Nonlinear regression analysis was performed to estimate various reaction rate constants. The developed model can predict the behavior of Biomass N, dissolved organic N, $NH_4{^-}$-N, $NO_x{^-}$-N, and Biomass P, dissolved organic P, $PO_4{^-}$-P in aerobic digestion process. In this study, the results of simulation showed that dissolved nutrients had more effects on supernatants than nutrients in biomass, and phosphorus was more effective on supernatants than nitrogen.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.295-303
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Anaerobic digestion process is recently adapted technology for treatment of organic waste such as animal manure because the energy embedded in the waste can be recovered from the waste while the organic waste were digested. Ever increased demand for consumption of meat resulted in the excessive use of antimicrobials to the livestocks for more food production. Most antimicrobials administered to animals are excreted through urine and feces, which might highly affect the biological treatment processes of the animal manure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of antimicrobials on the efficiency of anaerobic digestion process and to clarify the interactions between antimicrobials and anaerobes. METHODS AND RESULTS: The experiment was consisted of two parts 1) batch test to investigate the effects of individual antibiotic compounds on production of methane and VFAs(volatile fatty acids), and removal efficiency of organic matter, and 2) the continuous reactor test to elucidate the effects of mixed antimicrobials on the whole anaerobic digestion process. The batch test showed no inhibitions in the rate of methane and VFAs production, and the rate of organic removal were observed with treatment at 1~10 mg/L of antimicrobials while temporary inhibition was observed at 50 mg/L treatment. In contrast, treatment of 100 mg/L antimicrobials resulted in continuous decreased in the rate of methane production and organic removal efficiency. The continuous reactor test conduced to see the influence of the mixed antimicrobials showed only small declines in the methane production and organic matter removal when 1~10 mg/L of combined antimicrobials were applied but this was not significant. In contrast, with the treatment of 50 mg/L of combined antimicrobials, the rate of organic removal efficiency in effluent decreased by 2~15% and the rate of biogas production decreased by 30%. CONCLUSION(s): The antimicrobials remained in the animal manure might not be removed during the anaerobic digestion process and hence, is likely to be released to the natural ecosystem. Therefore, the efforts to decline the usage of antimicrobials for animal farming would be highly recommended.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.628-636
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• 2008

Anaerobic denitrification in a two phase anaerobic digestion(TPAD) process combined with biological nutrients removal (BNR) system was studied for a piggery wastewater treatment. Denitrification efficiency and the effects of the nitrified effluent on acidification was investigated by recycling the nitrified effluent to the acidogenic reactor. Recycle of the nitrified effluent to the acidogenic reactor enhanced the conversion efficiency of the influent COD into volatile fatty acids(VFAs) in the TPAD-BNR system treating the piggery wastewater. Acidification rate of the acidogenic sludge acclimated with the nitrified effluent showed 6 times higher than that acclimated without it. VFA could be used for denitrification as carbon sources, however, nitrate could enhance acidification activity in the acidogenic reactor. VFA production rate was affected on the COD/Nitrate(COD/N) ratio, however, it depended much more whether the acidogenic sludge acclimated with nitrate or not. Denitrification with the acidogenic sludge acclimated without nitrified effluent followed zero-order reaction and the reaction rate constants were in the range of 1.31$\sim$1.90 mg/L$\cdot$h. Denitrification reaction rate constants of the acidogenic sludge acclimated with nitrified effluent were 3.30 mg/L$\cdot$h that showed almost twice of them evaluated from the previous tests. The stoichiometric ratios of utilized COD to removed nitrate showed similar in both tests which were in the range of 5.1$\sim$6.4 at COD/N ratio of 10.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.981-987
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• 2000

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket(UASB) reactor was operated for treating swine wastewater containing high ammonia nitrogen to assess their performance and toxicity of free ammonia concentration. In the reactor, chemical oxygen demand(COD) removed about 70% at $2.6kgCOD/m^3.day$ of organic loading rate(OLR) and 3 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT), while it was decreased when OLR and HRT was maintained $7kg\;COD/m^3.day$ and 2 days, respectively. Also UASB reactor was evaluated the activity of methane producing bacteria(MPB) according to change of free ammonia concentrations, MPB activity of applied sludge in the 500 and $1000mg-N/{\ell}$ of free ammonia concentration was inhibited by 4% and 40%, respectively. This clearly showed that free ammonia concentration less than $500mg-N/{\ell}$ showed no inhibition to MPB in anaerobic treatment of organics, UASB reactor was stabilized easily less than $1000mgVSS/{\ell}$ due to degradation of organic solids by the high activities of anaerobes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.8
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• pp.561-569
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• 2014

This study was carried out to get the characteristics of anaerobic digestion for chemical/biological sludge produced from municipal sewage treatment plant for phosphorus. Anaerobic mesophilic batch tests showed that the ultimate biodegradability of waste activated sludge showed 31%, PACl sludge 24%, Alum sludge 26%, respectively. At the S/I 1.0, 75% of total biodegradable volatile solids (TBVS) of waste activated sludge was degraded with an initial rapid decay coefficient, k1 of $0.1129day^{-1}$ and 74% of TBVS of PACl sludge with k1 of $0.0998day^{-1}$, and 76% of TBVS of Alum sludge with k1 of $0.1091day^{-1}$ for 20 days. During the operation of SCFMRs, the 3 reactor (Control, PACl, Alum) pH maintained 6.7~7.0 and the reactor alkalinity maintained 1,800~ 2,200 mg/L as $CaCO_3$. The average biogas production rates of SCFMRs fed with PACl sludge and Alum sludge were 0.089 v/v-d and 0.091 v/v-d, respectively, which was 27~28% lower than that of the control (0.124 v/v-d) at an HRT (hydraulic retention times) of 20 days. And the methane content during the operation ranged 70~76% in 3 reactor. The average TVS removal efficiency of SCFMRs fed with PACl sludge and Alum sludge were 19.6% and 19.9%, respectively, at an HRT of 20 days, which showed 4% lower than that of the control (23.8%). The average BVS removal efficiency of SCFMRs fed with PACl sludge and Alum sludge were 25.8% and 26.9%, respectively, at an HRT of 20 days, which was 8~9% lower than that of the control (34.5%).

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2020

The aims of this study were to compare the biomethanation of CO₂ through specific methanogenic activity (SMA) test which was inoculated with four different types of mixed microbial culture obtained from full-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) plants. The experimental results showed that CH₄ conversion was the highest in the samples inoculated by seed sludge taken from ADs of food waste and brewery; under this condition, the produced biomethane contains 89.3-91.9% of CH₄. Meanwhile, the lowest level was obtained in the sample from sewage sludge. The measured ratio of CH₄ production rate to CO₂ consumption rate in all reactors was higher than the theoretical value (1) in the middle of the period and soon dropped to 0.7-0.8. It might be due to changed metabolic pathways in the reactor by the degradation of residual organic matter and the increased activity of homoacetogenic bacteria.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.5-16
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• 2021

In this study, the applicability of the MBR(Membrane Bio Reactor) process of oxygen dissolve was evaluated through comparison and evaluation of the efficiency of oxygen dissolve device and conventional aeration device in the explosive tank within the MBR process. The organic matter and ammonia oxidation by oxygen dissolve device were evaluated, and the efficiency of persaturation was evaluated by applying real waste water (anaerobic digester effluent treatement from food waste). SCOD and ammonia removal rates for oxygen dissolve device and conventional aeration device methods were similar. However, it was determined that the excess sludge treatment cost could be reduced as the yield of microorganisms by oxygen dissolve device is about 0.03 g MLSS-produced/g SCOD-removed lower than that of microorganisms by conventional aeration device. The removal rates of high concentrations of organic matter (4,000 mg/L) and ammonia (1,400 mg/L) in anaerobic digester effluent treatment from food waste were compared to the conventional aeration device and the oxygen dissolve device organic matter removal rate was approximately 13% higher than that of the conventional aeration device. In addition, for MLSS, the conventional aeration device was 0.3 times higher than for oxygen dissolve device. This is believed to be due to the high progress of sludge autooxidation because the dissolved oxygen is sufficiently maintained and supplied in the explosive tank for oxygen dissolve device. Therefore, it was determined that the use of oxygen dissolve device will be more economical than conventional aeration device as a way to treat wastewater containing high concentrations of organic matter.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1051-1059
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• 2022

This study investigated microbial communities and their diversity in a full-scale mesophilic anaerobic digester treating sewage sludge. Influent sewage sludge and anaerobic digester samples collected from a wastewater treatment plant in Busan were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. It was found that the microbial community structure and diversity in the anaerobic digester could be affected by inoculation effect with influent sewage sludge. Nevertheless, distinct microbial communities were identified as the dominant microbial communities in the anaerobic digester. Twelve genera were identified as abundant bacterial communities, which included several groups of syntrophic bacteria communities, such as Candidatus Cloacimonas, Cloacimonadaceae W5, Smithella, which are (potential) syntrophic-propionate-oxidizing bacteria and Mesotoga and Thermovigra, which are (potential) syntrophic-acetate-oxidizing bacteria. Lentimicrobium, the most abundant genus in the anaerobic digester, may contribute to the decomposition of carbohydrates and the production of volatile fatty acids during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. Of the methanogens identified, Methanollinea, Candidatus Methanofastidiosum, Methanospirillum, and Methanoculleus were the dominant hydrogenotrophic methanogens, and Methanosaeta was the dominant aceticlastic methanogens. The findings may be used as a reference for developing microbial indicators to evaluate the process stability and process efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.2047-2058
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• 2000

The effects of operating parameters on performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket(UASB). anaerobic filter(AF), and two-stage anaerobic sludge bed filter (ASBF) bioreactors in treating swine wastewater were evaluated by operating the lab-scale bioreactors upto hydraulic retention time(HRT) of 1 day and organic loading rate (OLR) of $5.1kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ for 200 days. Swine wastewaters of which characteristics were affected by types of hog raising and seasons contained high concentrations of COD, SS, and ammonia. Inoculation of the bioreactors with waste sludge from anaerobic treatment facility of local municipal wastewater treatment plant was effective in developing biomass in the bioreactors. Acclimation period of the bioreactors with swine wastewaters required approximately 40 days, but that for AF and two-stage ASBF, which were filled with media, was faster than VASB. The bioreactors showed high and stable COD removal efficiency of 77~91% at influent T-N concentrations of 370~800mg/L but low and unstable COD removal efficiency of 24~94% at influent T-N concentrations of 760~1,310mg/L. It is essential to remove ammonia prior to anaerobic treatment since the concentrations of ammonia in swine wastewaters showed toxic effects to methanogenic bacteria. The bioreactors were effective in treating swine wastewaters with COD removal efficiency of 78.9~81.5% and biogas generation rate of $0.39{\sim}0.59m^3/kg-COD_r$ at OLR of $1.1{\sim}2.2kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$: however, an increase of OLR by reducing HRT and increasing influent COD caused decrease of COD removal efficiency. The extent of decrease in COD removal efficiency was higher in UASB than AF and two-stage ASBF. AF and two-stage ASBF anaerobic bioreactors were effective in treating varing characteristics of swine wastewaters since they showed high and stable COD removal efficiency at high OLR due to effective retention of biomass by media and staging.