• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1993-2005
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• 2019

Thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD) is characterized by higher biogas production rates as a result of assumedly faster microbial metabolic conversion rates compared to mesophilic AD. It was hypothesized that the thermophilic microbiome with its lower diversity than the mesophilic one is more susceptible to disturbances introduced by alterations in the operating factors, as an example, the supply of nitrogen-rich feedstock such as poultry manure (PM). Laboratory scaled TAD experiments using cattle slurry and increasing amounts of PM were carried out to investigate the (in-) stability of the process performance caused by the accumulation of ammonium and ammonia with special emphasis on the microbial community structure and its dynamic variation. The results revealed that the moderate PM addition, i.e., 25% (vol/vol based on volatile substances) PM, resulted in a reorganization of the microbial community structure which was still working sufficiently. With 50% PM application, the microbial community was further stepwise re-organized and was able to compensate for the high cytotoxic ammonia contents only for a short time resulting in consequent process disturbance and final process failure. This study demonstrated the ability of the acclimated thermophilic microbial community to tolerate a certain amount of nitrogen-rich substrate.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.213-221
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• 2019

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been widely used to valorize food waste (FW) because of its ability to convert organic carbon into $CH_4$ and $CO_2$. Korean FW has a high content of fruits and vegetables, and efficient hydrolysis of less biodegradable fibers is critical for its complete stabilization by AD. This study examined the digestates from different anaerobic digesters, namely Rs, Rr, and Rm, as the inocula for the AD of vegetable waste (VW) and cellulose (CL): Rs inoculated with anaerobic sludge from an AD plant, Rr inoculated with rumen fluid, and Rm inoculated with anaerobic sludge and augmented with rumen fluid. A total of six conditions ($3\;inocula{\times}2\;substrates$) were tested in serial subcultures. Biogas yield was higher in the runs inoculated with Rm than in the other runs for both VW (up to 1.10 L/g VS added) and CL (up to 1.05 L/g VS added), and so was biogas production rate. The inocula had different microbial community structures, and both substrate type and inoculum source had a significant effect on the formation and development of microbial community structures in the subcultures. The overall results suggest that the bioaugmentation with rumen microbial consortium has good potential to enhance the anaerobic biodegradability of VW, and thereby can help more efficiently digest high fiber-content Korean FW.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.68-76
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• 2021

Climate change problems occur during the use of fossil fuel and the process of biogas production. Research continues to convert carbon dioxide and methane, the major causes of climate change, into high-quality energy sources. in order to present the performance potential for the novel plasma-recuperative burner reformer, the reforming characteristics for each variable were indentified. The optimal operating condition of was an O2/C ratio of 1.0 and a total gas supply of 20 L/min. At this time, CH4 conversion was 64%, H2 selectivity was 39%, and H2/CO ratio was 1.13, which were the results applicable to the solid oxide fuel cell fuel stack for RPG, or Residential Power Generator. Recirculation of reformed gas increases the amount of H2 and CO, which are combustible gases, especially the amount of H2. As a result, the H2 selectivity is improved, and high-quality gas can be produced.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.818-828
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• 2023

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the hydrothermal pretreatment of anaerobic digestion sludge cake (ADSC) of cattle manure on the solubilization of organic matter and the methane yield to improve the anaerobic digestion efficiency of cattle manure collected from the sawdust pens of cattle. Methods: Anaerobic digestion sludge cake of cattle manure was thermally pretreated at 160℃, 180℃, 200℃, and 220℃ by a hydrothermal pressure reactor, and the biochemical methane potential of ADSC hydrolysate was analyzed. Methane yield recovered by the hydrothermal pretreatment of ADCS was estimated based on mass balance. Results: The chemical oxygen demand solubilization degree (COD_s) of the hydrothermal hydrolysate increased to 63.56%, 67.13%, 70.07%, and 66.14% at the hydrothermal reaction temperatures of 160℃, 180℃, 200℃, and 220℃, respectively. Considering the volatile solids content obtained after the hydrothermal pretreatment, the methane of 10.2 Nm³/ton-ADSC was recovered from ADSC of 1.0 ton, and methane yields of ADSC hydrolysate increased to 15.6, 18.0, 17.4, and 17.2 Nm³/ton-ADSC. Conclusion: Therefore, the optimal hydrothermal reaction temperature that yielded the maximum methane yield was 180℃ based on mass balance, and the methane yield from cattle manure containing sawdust was improved by the hydrothermal pretreatment of ADSC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.717-724
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• 2016

Methane (CH₄) is the most abundant component in natural gas. To reduce its harmful environmental effect as a greenhouse gas, CH₄ can be utilized as a low-cost feed for the synthesis of methanol by methanotrophs. In this study, several methanotrophs were examined for their ability to produce methanol from CH₄; including Methylocella silvestris, Methylocystis bryophila, Methyloferula stellata, and Methylomonas methanica. Among these methanotrophs, M. bryophila exhibited the highest methanol production. The optimum process parameters aided in significant enhancement of methanol production up to 4.63 mM. Maximum methanol production was observed at pH 6.8, 30℃, 175 rpm, 100 mM phosphate buffer, 50 mM MgCl₂ as a methanol dehydrogenase inhibitor, 50% CH₄ concentration, 24 h of incubation, and 9 mg of dry cell mass ml^-1 inoculum load, respectively. Optimization of the process parameters, screening of methanol dehydrogenase inhibitors, and supplementation with formate resulted in significant improvements in methanol production using M. bryophila. This report suggests, for the first time, the potential of using M. bryophila for industrial methanol production from CH₄.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.75-82
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• 2016

Objective of this experiment was to predict the potential methane production with crop residues at different loading rates. Anaerobic digestion of barley and rapeseed straw substrates for biogas production was performed in Duran bottles at various biomass loading rates with crop residues. Through kinetic model of surface methodology, the methane production was fitted to a Gompertz equation. For the biogas production at mesophilic digestion with crop residues, it was observed that maximum yield was 37.2 and 28.0 mL/g at 6.8 and 7.5 days after digestion with 1% biomass loading rates of barley and rapeseed straws, respectively. For the methane content of mesophilic digestion, there were highest at 61.7% after 5.5 days and 75.0% after 3.4 days of digestion with barley and rapeseed straw on both 5% biomass loading rates, respectively. The maximum methane production potentials were 159.59 mL/g for 1% barley straw and 156.62 mL/g for 3% rapeseed straw at mesophilic digestion. Overall, it would be strongly recommended that biomass loading rate was an optimum rate at mesophilic digestion for using 1% barley and 3% rapeseed straws for feed stocks.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.122-131
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• 2001

Pakistan being the 6$^{th}$ largest sugar producer has over 75 sugar mills with annual production capacity of about 2.4 million tons during 1996-97. The contribution of Sindh with 27 sugar mills is recorded over 50% of the total sugar production. The majority of the mills in Pakistan use the Defecation-Remelt-Phosphitation (DRP; 24 mills), Defecation-Remelt-Carbonation (DRC; 21 mills) and Defecation-Remelt Carbonation and Sulphitation (DRCS; 11 mills) process. Seven of the 75 sugar mills in Pakistan also produce industrial alcohol from molasses, a by- product of sugar manufacturing process. These sugar industries also produce fly ash, which have been found to contain unburned carbon and reach as far as four-kilo meter area with the wind direction, threatening the community health of people living around, besides posing other aesthetic problems. The untreated wastewater, in many cases, finds its way to open surface drains causing serious threat to livestock, flora and fauna. One study showed that fly ash emitted from the chimneys contain particle size ranging from 38 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ to 1000 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. About 50 per cent of each fly ash samples were above 300 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in size and were mostly unburned Carbon particles, which produced 85% weight loss on burning in air atmosphere at 1000${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. This fly ash (mostly carbon) was the main cause of many health and aesthetic problems in the sugar mill vicinity. The environmental challenge for the local sugar mills is associated with liquid waste gaseous emission and solid waste. This paper discusses various waste recycling technologies and practices in sugar industries of Pakistan. The application of EM technology and Biogas technology has proved very successful in reusing the sugar industry wastewater and mud, which otherwise were going waste.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-68
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• 2020

Because of the intensified environmental problems such as climate change and resource depletion, sewage treatment technology focused on energy management has recently attracted attention. The conversion of primary sludge from the primary sedimentation tank and excessive sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank into biogas is the key to energy-positive sewage treatment. In particular, the primary sedimentation tanks recover enriched biodegradable organic matter and anaerobic digestion process produces methane from the organic wastes for energy production. Such technologies for minimizing oxygen demand are leading the innovation regarding sewage treatment plants. However, sewage treatment facilities in Korea lack core technology and operational know-how. Actually, the energy potential of sewage is higher than sewage treatment energy consumption in the sewage treatment, but current processes are not adequately efficient in energy recovery. To improve this, it is possible to apply chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), high-rate activated sludge (HRAS), and anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to the primary sedimentation tank. To maximize the methane production of sewage treatment plants, organic wastes such as food waste and livestock manure can be digested. Additionally, mechanical pretreatment, thermal hydrolysis, and chemical pretreatment would enhance the methane conversion of organic waste. Power generation systems based on internal combustion engines are susceptible to heat source losses, requiring breakthrough energy conversion systems such as fuel cells. To realize the energy positive sewage treatment plant, primary organic matter recovery from sewage, biogas pretreatment, and co-digestion should be optimized in the energy management system based on the knowledge-based operation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2013

Present study was conducted to evaluate the performance of Anaerobic Hybrid Reactor (AHR) combined with two types of anaerobic attached growth reactors at mesophilic temperature ($37^{\circ}C$). The reactor was operated at the influent substrate condition of 19,400 mg/L soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD). The organic loading rate (OLR) and flow rate were varied in the range of $9.5{\sim}22.5kg/m^3$. day and 10.6 ~ 26.0 L/day respectively since start-up was done. The COD removal efficiency of 93 % was measured at the OLR of $14kg/m^3$. day in AHR. However a reduction in removal efficiency to as low as 85 % could have been related to a combined effect of high concentration suspended solids (SS) concentration over 3,800 mg/L. On the other hand the total COD removal efficiencies were measured to be 96.3 % and 96.2 % for AHR+APF and AHR+ADF respectively. The pH of the POME was adjusted to neutral range by using sodium bicarbonate at the initial stages of the reactor feed, later stages pH adjustment was not required as the pH was maintained in the desired neutral range due to self-buffering capacity of the reactor. The reactor proved to be economically acceptable and operationally stable. The biogas was measured to have $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ with a ratio of 35:65, and methane gas production rate was estimated to be $0.17{\sim}10.269L\;CH_4/g\;COD_{removed}$.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.134-142
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• 2006

The treatment of high-strength swine wastewater by anaerobic digestion combined with an aquatic plant system was investigated. Anaerobic digestion of swine wastewater gave volatile solids (VS) removal efficiencies of 43.3%, 52.1% and 54.5% for hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 20, 30, 40 days, respectively. The removal efficiencies of VS, total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) decreased with increasing VS volumetric loading rate (VLR). Higher organic removal efficiency was observed at longer HRTs for the same VS volumetric loading rate. As VS volumetric loading rate increased, biogas production increased and the methane content of the biogas decreased. Experiments using duckweed (Lemna species) as an aquatic macrophyte gave the following results. In the case of nitrogen, removal efficiency was above 60% and effluent concentration was below 10.0 mg/L when the influent ammonia-N loading was about $1.0\;g/m^2/day$. In the case of phosphorus, removal efficiency was above 55% and effluent concentration was below 2.0 mg/L when the influent $PO_4$-P loading was about $0.15\;g/m^2/day$. In addition, crude protein and phosphorus content of duckweed biomass increased from 15.6% to 41.6% and from 0.8% to 1.6%, respectively, as the influent nutrient concentration increased. The treatment of high-strength swine wastewater by anaerobic digestion combined with an aquatic plant system offers good performance in terms of organics and nutrient removal for relatively low operation and maintenance costs. The results indicate that under appropriate operational conditions, the effluent quality is within the limits set by Korean discharge criteria.