• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.181-190
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• 2005

Severe loss or hydrogen occurred in most anaerobic hydrogen fermentation reactors. Several selected methods were applied to suppress the consumption of hydrogen and increase the potential of production. As the first trial, pH shock was applied. The pH of reactor was dropped nearly to 3.0 by stopping alkalinity supply and on]y feeding glucose (5 g/L-d). As the pH was increase to $4.8{\pm}0.2,$ the degradation pathway was derived to solventogenesis resulting in disappearance of hydrogen in the headspace. In the aspect of bacterial community, methanogens weren't detected after 22 and 35 day, respectively. Even though, however, there was no methanogenic bacterium detected with fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) method, hydrogen loss still occurred in the reactor showing a continuous increase of acetate when the pH was increased to $5.5{\pm}0.2$. This result was suggesting the possibility of the survival of spore fanning acetogenic bacteria enduring the severely acidic pH. As an alternative and additive method, nitrate was added in a batch experiment. It resulted in the increase of maximum hydrogen fraction from 29 (blank) to 61 % $(500\;mg\;NO_3/L)$. However, unfortunately, the loss of hydrogen occurred right after the depletion of nitrate by denitrification. In order to prevent the loss entangled with acetate formation, $CO_2$ scavenging in the headspace was applied to the hydrogen fermentation with heat-treated sludge since it was the primer of acetogenesis. As the $CO_2$ scavenging was applied, the maximum fraction of hydrogen was enhanced from 68 % to 87 %. And the loss of hydrogen could be protected effectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.66-73
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• 2009

Temperature phase anaerobic co-digestion process was conducted with the one to one mixture of food wastewater with livestock wastewater, and the presence and the dynamics of various pathogenic microorganisms was analyzed. The mixture contained various enteric and pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli. Enterobacteriaceae, Coliform bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, and Yeast. Anaerobic digestion has become stabilized around 21 days after the reaction started, showing about 80% to 90% of remarkable reduction rates of microorganisms until this period in acidogenic reactor (AR) and methanogenic reactor (MR), respect ively. After stabilization, the average reduction rate of organic matter was recorded as around 60% in MR. Most microorganisms in the effluent were not detected at around the last period of the reaction, except Listeria and S. aureus, which showed the growth even at the last day of the reaction.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.260-265
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• 2002

Microbiologically influenced Corrosion (MIC) is one of the most deleterious effects of metal microbe interactions. When a fresh metal surface comes in contact with a non-sterile fluid, biofilm formation is ensued. This might result in the initiation of corrosion. The sites and materials where MIC is implicated are versatile. Industries such as shipping, power generation, chemical etc are reported to be affected. The rapid and unexpected failure of AISI type 304 stainless steel was investigated in the laboratory by simulation studies for a period of 4 months. Slime and water samples from the failure site were screened for corrosion causing bacteria. Both aerobic and anaerobic nora were enumerated and identified using PCR techniques. Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. were the most common aerobic bacteria isolated from the water and slime samples, whilst sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) were the major anaerobic bacteria. The aerobic bacteria were used for the corrosion experiments in the laboratory. Coupon exposure studies were conducted using a very dilute (0.1%V/V) nutrient broth medium. The coupons after retrieval were observed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) for the presence of MIC pits. Compared to sterile controls, metal coupons exposed to Pseudomonas sp and Bacillus sp. showed the initiation of severe pitting corrosion. However, amongst these two strains, Psudomonas sp. caused pits in a very short span of 14 days. Towards the end of the experiment, severe pitting was observed in both the cases. The detailed observation of pits showed they vary both in number and shapes. Whilst the coupons exposed to Bacillus sp. showed widely spread scales like pits, those exposed to Pseudomonas sp. showed smaller and circular pits, which had grown in number and size by the end of the experiment. From these results it is inferred that the rapid and unexpected failure of 304 SS might be due to MIC. Pseudonwnas sp. could be considered as the major responsible bacteria that could initiate pits in the metallic structures. As the appearance of pits was different in both the tested strains, it was thought that the mechanisms of pit formation are different. Experiments on these lines are being continued.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.1 no.1 s.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 1992

Micromorphological changes in waterlogged archaeological woods excavated from Sweden and Germany were investigated. Especially bacterial attacks on those wood samples under near anaerobic conditions were examined by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The major feature of micromorphological alterations in those wood samples was the preferential destruction of secondary wood cell wall. In contrast, the middle lamella was not extensively degraded. Three distinct degradation patterns by bacteria were observed : erosion, cavitation and tunnelling bacteria. Erosion and cavitation bacteria attacked primarily $S_2$ layer, whereas tunnelling bacteria made the tunnel-like degradation along the $S_1$ layer. Tunnelling bacteria, in some samples, were able to degrade tunnel in the lignin-rich areas, such as middle lamella, suggesting that these bacteria had the capacity to degrade the lignin. IR spectra indicate that hemicellulose and cellulose in the waterlogged woods were preferentially decomposed. Breakdown of the lignin, on the other hand, was much slower.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.365-373
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• 2011

Effective Microorganisms (EM), a fermented medium developed by Professor Higa at the University of the Ryukyus, is a mixed culture containing dozens of microorganisms which are beneficial to nature including people, animals, plants and many microbial species in environment. EM is known to contain more than 80 kinds of anaerobic or aerobic microbes including photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, yeast, actinomycetes, fungi and so on, with yeast, lactic acid bacteria and photosynthetic bacteria as the main species of EM. Antioxidant effect generated by the concert of complex coexistence and coprosperity among these microbes is considered to be the main source of EM benefits. Currently, EM is earning an increasing attention with applications in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, environment and medicine among others. At the same time, however, a quantitative interpretation of EM system based on a mixed culture model needs efforts from biochemical engineers for efficient production and further promotion of EM. In this paper, we describe the functions of major microbes in EM and current researches and applications of EM in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, environment and medicine.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 1999

Three different types of lab-scale anaerobic bioreactors, AF and two-stage ASBF-PR and ASBF-SP, were evaluated in treating swine wastewater by operating at $1{\sim}2$ days of hydraulic retention time with increasing organic loading rate upto 6.3 $kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ at $35^{\circ}C$. Seeding the anaerobic bioreactors with waste anaerobic digester sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was effective and a 40-day acclimation period was required for steady-state operation. Three anaerobic bioreactors were effective in treating swine wastewater with COD removal efficiency of $66.4{\sim}84.9$% and biogas production rate of $0.333{\sim}0.796m^3/kg-COD_{removed}{\cdot}d$. Increases of organic loading rate by increasing influent COD concentration and/or decreasing hydraulic retention time caused decreases in COD removal efficiency and increases in biogas production rate. At relatively high organic loading rate employed in this study, the treatment efficiency of AF and ASBF-PR were similar but superior than that of ASBF-SP, indicating that porosity and pore size of the media packed in the bioreactors are more important factors contributing the performance of to bioreactors than specific surface area of the media. TKN in swine wastewater must be removed prior to the anaerobic processes when anaerobic process is considered as a major treatment process since influent TKN concentration of $1,540{\sim}1,870mg/L$ to the bioreactors adversely affect the activity of methanogenic bacteria, resulting in decreases of treatment efficiency and biogas production rate by 50%.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.125-133
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• 2012

Anaerobic digestion is an alternative method to digest food wastes and to produce methane that can be used as a renewable energy source. We investigated bacterial and archaeal community structures in a three-stage methane production process using food wastes with concomitant wastewater treatment. The three-stage methane process is composed of semianaerobic hydrolysis/acidogenic, anaerobic acidogenic, and strictly anaerobic methane production steps in which food wastes are converted methane and carbon dioxide. The microbial diversity was determined by the nucleotide sequences of 16S rRNA gene library and quantitative real-time PCR. The major eubacterial population of the three-stage methane process was belonging to VFA-oxidizing bacteria. The archaeal community consisted mainly of two species of hydrogenotrophic methanogen (Methanoculleus). Family Picrophilaceae (Order Thermoplasmatales) was also observed as a minor population. The predominance of hydrogenotrophic methanogen suggests that the main degradation pathway of this process is different from the classical methane production systems that have the pathway based on acetogenesis. The domination of hydrogenotrophic methanogen (Methanoculleus) may be caused by mesophilic digestion, neutral pH, high concentration of ammonia, short HRT, and interaction with VFA-oxidizing bacteria (Tepidanaerobacter etc.).

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1426-1434
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of supplementation of synbiotics manufactured with anaerobic bacteria, yeast and mold on preservation of total mixed ration (TMR) by exposing days. Eight treatments were composed of untreated synbiotics(US), bacterial synbiotics (BS), yeasty synbiotics (YS), moldy synbiotics (MS), bacterial and mouldy synbiotics (BMS), yeasty and moldy synbiotics (YMS), bacterial and yeasty synbiotics (BYS), and bacterial, yeasty and moldy synbiotics (BYMS). After 7 days of anaerobic fermentation, fermented-TMRs were exposed to the air during 1, 3, 5, 7, 14 and 21 days. One hundred forty four (8 treatments${\times}$6 days${\times}$3 replications) fermented-TMRs were manufactured by vinyl bag ($43\;cm{\times}58\;cm$). Although no significant differences in the activities of carboxymethylcellulase, xylanase and amylase were observed among treatments, theirs acivities were seemed to increase by treatment of BYS or YMS containing yeast. Total bacterial and mold counts also decreased in the treatments containing yeast. Potential pathogenic bacteria were less detected in BYS and BMYS for E. coli, BMYS and YS for Salmonella, and BMS and BMYS for Shigella than those of the other treatments, MS was, however, contaminated easier than US by pathogenic bacteria. From above results, synbiotics containing facultative anaerobic yeast have effects for preservation of TMR fermented anaerobically. Particularly, BMYS treatment having good results in nutrient contents, dry matter loss and pathogenic bacteria amounts was a resonable synbiotics for preservation of the fermented-TMR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.11
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• pp.1186-1192
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• 2005

The relationship between bacteria and anaerobic archaea, sludge yield coefficient and nitrogen removal rate were investigated in intermittent aeration systems(I/A) with added archaea, I/A and conventional activated sludge system. As the archaea solution was added to the I/A reactor, organic removal rate as well as nitrogen removal rate increased. Also, sludge production rate in I/A system added the archaea was maintained lower than other systems because sludge yield coefficient was decreased due to the role of anaerobic archaea such as anaerobic degradation of organics. The experimental data supported the possibility of symbiotic activated sludge system with anaerobic archaea under intermittent aeration, leading to the enhanced nitrogen removal. Crucial results to be presented are: 1) specific oxygen utilization rate(SOUR) of the I/A-arch system was $2.9\;mg-O_2/(g-VSS{\cdot}min)$. SOUR and nitrification rate of the sludge from the I/A-arch system was higher than those from the I/A and A/S reactors. 2) Removal efficiencies of $TCOD_{Cr}$ in the I/A-arch, I/A and A/S reactors were 93, 90 and 87%, respectively. 3) Nitrification occurred successfully in each reactor, while denitrification rate was much higher in the I/A-arch reactor. Efficiencies of TN removal in the I/A-arch, I/A and A/S reactors were 75, 63 and 33%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2009

This research examined the effect of ammonia nitrogen loading rate(NVLR) on the anaerobic digestion of slurry-typed swine wastewater. The anaerobic reactor was used an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) process. This UASB reactor was operated at a NVLR of $0.02{\sim}0.96kg{NH_4}^+-N/m^3/day$. The methane content showed the range of 73.3~77.9% during the steady state period. Free ammonia(FA) concentration increased over inhibition level as pH increase from 7.3 to 8.2. However, in consideration of methane content, methane producing bacteria (MPB) inhibition by FA and total ammonia(TA) was not observed. A stepwise increase of the NVLR resulted in a deterioration in the COD removal rate in UASB reactor. The COD removal rate were 60% for NVLR up to $0.55kg{NH_4}^+-N/m^3/day$. As the NVLR increased from 0.09 to $0.96kg{NH_4}^+-N/m^3/day$, the biogas production rate varied from 3.71 to 9.14L/d and the methane conversion rate of the COD varied from 0.32 to $0.20m^3CH_4/kg$ COD removed. Consequently, in considerations of FA concentration, COD removal rate, and $CH_4$ production rate, the UASB reactor must be operated to lower than $0.40kg{NH_4}^+-N/m^3/day$ of NVLR.