• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.126-137
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• 2006

Behaviors of simple organic compound and granular sludge in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating propionate at high ammonia nitrogen levels were investigated for 12 months. The UASB reactor achieved about 80% removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) at ammonia nitrogen concentration up to 6000 mg-N/L. At higher concentration of ammonia nitrogen, the propionate in the effluent increased whereas the acetate was very low. At ammonia nitrogen concentration of 8000 mg-N/L, the volatile suspended solids (VSS) increased sharply due probably to the decrease of the content of extracellular polymer (ECP) although methane production was very low. The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) using formate, acetate, and propionate as substrate to granules decreased as ammonia nitrogen concentration increased. The ammonia nitrogen concentration $I^{50}$, causing 50% inhibition of SMA were 2666, 4778 and 5572 mg-N/L, respectively. The kinetic coefficients of ammonia inhibition using formate, acetate, and propionate as substrate were 3.279, 0.999 and 0.609, respectively. The SMA using formate was severely affected by ammonia nitrogen than those using acetate and propionate. This result indicated that the hydrogenotrophic methanogens was most affected by ammonia nitrogen. Granules were mainly composed of microcolonies of methanothrix-like bacteria resembling bamboo-shape, and several other microcolonies including propionate degrader with juxtapositioned syntrophic associations between the hydrogen-producing acetogens and hydrogen-consuming methanogens.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.391-397
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• 2016

Clostridium is a genus of Gram-positive, rod shape, spore-forming obligate anaerobe. Recently, Clostridium has been attracted as a host for bio-based chemical production, due to its diversity of substrate utilization and the production ability for metabolites which can be used as a building block for chemical production. Especially, butanol produced from Clostridium has been considered as an alternative fuel. As a transportation fuel, butanol has a higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity compared to ethanol, the first generation biofuel. Recently, metabolic engineering of Clostridium has been massively conducted for butanol production. In this study, the metabolic engineering strategy of Clostridium for butanol production has been reviewed with a brief perspective.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2016

Under flooded rice fields, methanogens produce methane which comes out through rice stalks, thus rice fields are known as one of the anthropogenic sources of atmospheric methane. Studies have shown that use of manure increases amount of methane emission from rice. To investigate mechanisms by which manure boosts methane emission, comparative soil metagenomics between inorganically (NPK) and pig manure fertilized paddy soils (PIG) were conducted. Results from taxonomy analysis showed that more abundant methanogens, methanotrophs, methylotrophs, and acetogens were found in PIG than in NPK. In addition, BLAST results indicated more abundant carbohydrate mabolisetm functional genes in PIG. Among the methane metabolism related genes, PIG sample showed higher abundance of methyl-coenzyme M reductase (mcrB/mcrD/mcrG) and trimethylamine-corrinoid protein Co-methyltransferase (mttB) genes. In contrast, genes that down regulate methane emission, such as trimethylamine monooxygenase (tmm) and phosphoserine/homoserine phosphotransferase (thrH), were observed more in NPK sample. In addition, more methanotrophic genes (pmoB/amoB/mxaJ), were found more abundant in PIG sample. Identifying key genes related to methane emission and methane oxidation may provide fundamental information regarding to mechanisms by which use of manure boosts methane emission from rice. The study presented here characterized molecular variation in rice paddy, introduced by the use of pig manure.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2004

The effect of gas sparging on continuous fermentative $H_2$ production was investigated using external gases ($N_2$, $CO_2$) with various flow rates (100, 200, 300, 400 ml/min). Gas sparging showed a higher $H_2$ yield than no sparging, indicating that the decrease of $H_2$ partial pressure by gas sparging had a good effect on $H_2$ fermentation. Especially, $CO_2$ sparging was more effective in the reactor performance than $N_2$ sparging. The composition of butyrate, the main metabolic product of $H_2$ fermentation by Clostridium sp., was much higher in $CO_2$ sparging. $H_2$ production increased with increasing flow rate only in $CO_2$ sparging. The best performance was obtained by $CO_2$ sparging at 300 ml/min, resulting in the highest $H_2$ yield of 1.65 mol $H_2/mol$ hexoseconsumed and the maximum $H_2$ production of 6.77 L $H_2/g$ VSS/day. Compared to $N_2$ sparging, there could be another beneficial effect in $CO_2$ sparging apart from lowering down the $H_2$ partial pressure. High partial pressure of $CO_2$ had little effect on $H_2$ producing bacteria but inhibitory effect on other microorganisms like lactic acid bacteria and acetogens which were competitive with $H_2$ producing bacteria.