• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2018

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the high-efficiency anaerobic digestion of organic wastes with high fat content. Specifically, the analysis focused on biogas production performance with a focus on carbon number and the double bond count of the long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs), which are hydrolysis products of triglycerides. Methods: Experiments were performed under mesophilic anaerobic conditions with a feed-to-microorganism ratio (F/M) of 1.0. Biogas production performance was analyzed through biogas production patterns, lag-phase, and the time required for 90% biogas production (T90). Results: Biogas production increased when the content of unsaturated LCFAs (containing relatively large numbers of carbon atoms) increased. In substrate containing LCFAs with four or more double bonds, although the initial lag-phase in biogas production was shortened, development of a three-step lag-phase resulted in decreased biogas production. These results suggest that high rates of anaerobic digestion are possible when the LCFAs have high unsaturated fatty acid content with three or fewer double bonds. Conclusions: When various types of LCFAs are digested anaerobically, biogas production performance can be improved if the unsaturated fatty acid content and number of double bonds are optimized for maximum production.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.42-47
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• 2018

Recently, as the demand for limited resources continues to rise and problems of resource depletion rise worldwide, the importance of renewable energy is gradually increasing. In order to solve these problems, various methods such as energy conservation and alternative energy development have been suggested, and biogas, which can utilize the gas produced from biomass as fuel, is also receiving attention as the next generation of innovative renewable energy. New and renewable energy using biogas is an energy production method that is expected to be possible in large scale because it can supply energy with high efficiency in compliance with energy supply method of recycling conventional resources. In order to more efficiently produce and manage these biogas, a biogas plant has emerged. In recent years, a large number of biogas plants have been installed and operated in various locations. Organic wastes corresponding to biogas production resources in a biogas plant exist in a wide variety of types, and each of the incoming raw materials is processed in different processes. Because such a process is required, the case where the biogas plant process is inefficiently operated is continuously occurring, and the economic cost consumed for the operation of the biogas production relative to the generated biogas production is further increased. In order to solve such problems, various attempts such as process analysis and feedback based on the feedstock have been continued but it is a passive method and very limited to operate a medium/large scale biogas plant. In this paper, we propose "CNN-based production yield prediction algorithm for increasing process efficiency of biogas plant" for efficient operation of biogas plant process. Based on CNN-based production yield forecasting, which is one of the deep-leaning technologies, it enables mechanical analysis of the process operation process and provides a solution for optimal process operation due to process-related accumulated data analyzed by the automated process.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.110-118
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• 2018

Purpose: In this study, the potential for biogas production, degradation rates, and lag-phase of diauxic growth of carbohydrate-based material, which is one of the proximate compositions, were investigated. Methods: This study was conducted using starch as a carbohydrate-based material. In experimental condition 1, the biogas potential of carbohydrate-based material was measured. In experimental condition 2, the effect of feed to microorganism ratio (F/M ratio) on lag-phase of diauxic growth from carbohydrate-based material was tested. Biochemical methane potential tests were performed at five different feed to microorganism ratios (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, and 1.0) under mesophilic conditions. The biogas production patterns, lag-phase, total volatile fatty acids to total alkalinity ratio (TVFA/TA ratio), and time required for 90 percent biogas production were used to evaluate biogas production based on the biochemical methane potential tests. Results: In experimental condition 1, unlike previous studies, biogas was produced in the TVFA/TA ratio ranging from 1.131 to 2.029 (approximately 13-19 days). The methane content in the biogas produced from the digesters was 7% on day 9 and increased rapidly until approximately day 27 (approximately 72%). In experimental condition 2, biogas yield was improved when the feed to microorganism ratio exceeded 0.6, with an initial lag-phase. Conclusions: Even if the TVFA/TA ratio was greater than 1.0, the biogas production was processed continuously, and the $CO_2$ content of the biogas production was as high as 60%. The biogas yield was improved when the F/M ratio was increased more than 0.6, but the lag-phase of carbohydrate-based material digestion became longer starting with high organic loading rate. To clarify the problem of the initial lag-phase, our future study will examine the microbial mechanisms during anaerobic digestion.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.739-747
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• 2016

The rational utilization of crop straw as a raw material for natural gas production is of economic significance. In order to increase the efficiency of biogas production from agricultural straw, seasonal restrictions must be overcome. Therefore, the potential for biogas production via anaerobic straw digestion was assessed by exposing fresh, silage, and dry yellow corn straw to cow dung liquid extract as a nitrogen source. The characteristics of anaerobic corn straw digestion were comprehensively evaluated by measuring the pH, gas production, chemical oxygen demand, methane production, and volatile fatty acid content, as well as applying a modified Gompertz model and high-throughput sequencing technology to the resident microbial community. The efficiency of biogas production from fresh straw (433.8 ml/g) was higher than that of production from straw silage and dry yellow straw (46.55 ml/g and 68.75 ml/g, respectively). The cumulative biogas production from fresh straw, silage straw, and dry yellow straw was 365 l^-1 g^-1 VS, 322 l^-1 g^-1 VS, and 304 l^-1 g^-1 VS, respectively, whereas cumulative methane production was 1,426.33%, 1,351.35%, and 1,286.14%, respectively, and potential biogas production was 470.06 ml^-1 g^-1 VS, 461.73 ml^-1 g^-1 VS, and 451.76 ml^-1 g^-1 VS, respectively. Microbial community analysis showed that the corn straw was mainly metabolized by acetate-utilizing methanogens, with Methanosaeta as the dominant archaeal community. These findings provide important guidance to the biogas industry and farmers with respect to rational and efficient utilization of crop straw resources as material for biogas production.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.38-49
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• 2010

The technology of anaerobic digestion of organic wastes has been researched for the production of biogas in various purposes. Biogas comes from anaerobic digestion and landfill in which that of main components are methane and carbon dioxide containing small amount of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. Biogas can either be used directly on the site where it is generated after proper upgrading or distributed to external customer via separate pipelines like natural gas. There are four basic ways biogas can be utilized such as production of heat and steam, electricity production, vehicle fuel and production of chemicals. There is no international technical standard for biogas use but some countries have developed national standards and procedures for biogas use. In this paper, technical standards of biogas depending on purpose have reviewed for the several countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.139-145
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• 1993

Biogas created from animal waste is a precious energy source. A practical and successful utilization of the biogas is not easy, because there lie some difficulties in biogas production and facilities investment. In this study, the requisites for a successful biogas utilization were discussed. The production results obtained in the previous operation of anaerobic digestion plant were used for the simulation. When the slurry heating was designed for constant biogas generation, depreciation costs of the facilities amounted 1,175,000 yen per year, and biogas productions at $24.5^{\circ}C$, $30.0^{\circ}C$ and $35.5^{\circ}C$ were $16.8m^3$, $17.6m^3$ and $25.1m^3$, respectively. Removal ratios of organic matters were not so high. At $35.5^{\circ}C$, energy value of the biogas produced was estimated 125.5 Mcal per day, and the following heat loss (y Mcal/day) was brought about by the temperature difference ($X^{\circ}C$) between the digester and atmosphere; y = 0.769X - 5.375. The costs of biogas production per cow were assumed to decrease according to enlargement of feeding scale, especially on scales of more than 30 cows. On recent levels of costs and prices of energy in Japan, they were nearly equal to 2 to 3 fold of the price of municipal mixed gas when a anaerobic digester was compulsorily heated and kept at $30.0^{\circ}C$ or $35.5^{\circ}C$.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.27
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• pp.3-17
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• 1984

Anaerobic digestion has recently attracted all over the world and Korea also shows no exception. The major benefits of anaerobic digestion are energy production, water pollution control, pathogen reduction and effective manure production. In Korea it was recognized in late sixties that there was a positive need to find alternative energy for farmers household. The main traditional energy sources in rural area were crop residues and forestry products. Therefore Office of Rural Development through its Rural Guidance Bureau disseminated about 29,000 household biogas units from 1969 to 1975 to provide cooking fuel for farmers household and to improve the mode of farmers living standards. The units were welcomed by farmers at that time. Now, however, most of them are not using due to a number of reasons associated with cold winter and some techno-economical problems (in those day, fossil fuel was quite expensive to compare with other prices and since then farmers income was quickly increased). The author studied on bag type household biogas plant to solve some technical problems of existing household biogas plants, but this also has little appeal for the farmers. From 1977 author studied on village scale biogas plant with two pilot plants. From the viewpoint of energy production, COD removal, kill rate of pathogen and fertilizer value, the results obtained from the experiments were quite promising, but the construction cost of the village scale biogas plant was too high for the farmers in Korea. To find most suitable biogas plant for farmers in Korea through the simplifying the biogas digester, the author developed batch-load biogas plant. By feeding coarse crop residues and manures, total solids concentrations of the batch-load biogas plant are about 28 percent which is much higher than continous digester of 5-8 percent. The batch-load biogas plant was welcomed by many farmers in Korea when it was reported on TV and newspapers. The plant was disseminated 154 units in 1982, 766 units in 1983 and 812 units in 1984 as a promissing project. Besides these biogas plant experiments, studies were also conducted 1) to determine gas production rate with agricultural wastes, 2) to evaluate the effect of loading rate, dilution, retention time on biogas production, 3) to project the amount of potencial energy from agricultural wastes.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.179-183
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• 2018

Recently, several studies have been conducted on biogas and organic compost production using food waste in an anaerobic digester. In this study, basic experiments were conducted to produce biogas and compost by fermenting food wastes with microbial agents. First, a microbial agent was developed by combining various microorganisms. Then, the amount of generated biogas was identified through a food waste batch experiment. Further, we could maximize and demonstrate biogas production in an anaerobic digester by examining biogas production and composting in a pilot plant.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.288-293
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• 2018

The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on biogas production during leachate treatment using an anaerobic reactor type Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket. For this purpose, four HRTs ranging from 12 to 48 h were experienced. The obtained results showed that higher amount of biogas could be produced during longer HRTs. However, HRTs longer than 48 h could not affect clearly the biogas generation and considered as unnecessary given the small additional amount of biogas produced during the degradation process. A volume of $0.434L/L_{leachate}/d$ was achieved during the treatment with a HRT of 48 h. The higher biogas production, the smaller chemical oxygen demand (COD) values achieved. Besides, COD removal and biogas production positively correlate, showing that the active biomass has degraded effectively the organic load to produce biogas. Moreover, all the analyzed physicochemical parameters have experienced a decrease after 48 h except for the pH, which increased to approximately neutral value. More precisely, a decrease of 93.8%, 89.7%, 95%, 70%, 77%, and 84.4% was recorded for COD, electrical conductivity, total suspended solid, turbidity, $NH_4{^+}-N$, and $NO_3{^-}-N$, respectively.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1050-1056
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• 2014

This study investigated the main factors influencing digester temperature and methods to reduce heat losses during the cold season in the subtropics. Four composite digesters (two insulated and two uninsulated) were buried underground to measure their internal temperature ($^{\circ}C$) at a depth of 140 cm and 180 cm, biogas production and methane ($CH_4$) concentration in biogas from August to February. In parallel the temperature of the air (100 cm above ground), in the slurry mixing tank and in the soil (10, 100, 140, and 180 cm depth) was measured by thermocouple. The influent amount was measured daily and the influent chemical composition was measured monthly during the whole experimental period. Seasonal variations in air temperature significantly affected the temperature in the soil, mixing tank and digester. Consequently, biogas production, which is temperature dependent, was influenced by the season. The main factors determining the internal temperature in the digesters were insulation with Styrofoam, air temperature and temperature of slurry in the mixing tank. Biogas production is low due to the cold climate conditions in winter in Northern Vietnam, but the study proved that storing slurry in the mixing tank until its temperature peak at around 14:00 h will increase the temperature in the digester and thus increase potential biogas production. Algorithms are provided linking digester temperature to the temperature of slurry in the mixing tank.