• Mycobiology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.147-149
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• 2005

The investigation was undertaken to enhance the decomposition process by pre-treatment of rice stubble, having higher concentration of lignin. Air-dried rice stubble was treated with 1.8 liter of 1% NaOH and autoclaved. Six cellulolytic fungi, Trichoderma harzianum, Penicillium citrinum, Curvularia lunata, Aspergillus flavus and Alternaria alternata were grown in basal synthetic medium along with delignified rice-residue as carbon source for production of soluble crude protein. Though the loss of cellulose has been observed by all of them but having a considerable status in the presence of T. harzianum and T. harzianum yielded highest percentage of crude protein (27.99%) with biomass of 375 mg, whereas the lowest protein value (17.91%) was recorded in case of A. niger with biomass of 422 mg. Among the imperfect fungi, T. harzianum was the most potent. Effects of incubation period and nitrogen sources on soluble crude protein production by T. harzianum were also undertaken in this study. Fifth day of incubation period and potassium nitrate as nitrogen source among other nitrogen sources was found most appropriate for soluble crude protein production by the mentioned organism.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.201-211
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• 2013

Biochar is charred materials generated during pyrolysis processes in the absence of oxygen using biomass, resulting in high carbon contents. In recent years, biochar has attracted more increasingly due to its potential role in carbon sequestration, renewable energy, waste management, soil amendment for agricultural use, and environmental remediation. Since biochar has a long-term stability in soil for thousands of years, biochar can be carbon negative compared to carbon-neutral biomass energy that decomposes eventually. Moreover, when biochar is applied to soil, crop production can be largely improved due to its high pH and its superior ability to retain water and nutrients. This paper review the research trends of biochar including the principles of carbon sequestration by biochar, its physico-chemical properties, and its applications on agricultural and environmental area.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.538-544
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• 2014

A traditional fireplace has been used, but not much, for heating and cooking in rural area, Korea. Traditional fireplace as one type of biomass burnings is also emitting various air pollutants. Air pollutants emission from traditional fireplace was estimated in this study. There are two types of traditional fireplace, one for combined heating and cooking, the other one for cooking only. Types of fuels mostly used in traditional fireplace were wood, agricultural residue, solid waste. Activity levels such as fuel types, amount of fuel loading, and temporal variation were investigated by field survey over Korea. Estimated annual emissions from traditional fireplace were CO 6,335.0, NOx 555.0, SOx 9.6, VOC 1,771.7, TSP 181.4, $PM_{10}$ 119.9, $PM_{2.5}$ 96.2, $NH_3$ 1.4 ton/yr respectively. When emissions compared with the national emission inventory (CAPSS: Clean Air Policy Support System) of 2010 year, CO and $PM_{10}$ occupy 0.8% and 0.1% of total national emission, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.52-64
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• 2002

유기성 폐기물을 이용하여 생물학적 수소생산 통합화 시스템 연구를 수행하였다. 통합화 시스템은 유기성폐기물의 전처리, 2단계 혐기발효 및 광합성 배양으로 구성된 생물학적 수소생산 공정, 초임계수 가스화 공정, 생산된 가스의 저장, 분리 및 연료전지를 이용한 전력 생산으로 구성되었다. 실험에 사용된 유기성 폐자원은 식품공장 폐수, 과일폐기물, 하수슬러지이며, 전처리는 폐기물에 따라 열처리 및 물리적 처리를 하였으며, 전처리된 시료는 생물학적 수소생산 공정에 직접 적용되었다. Clostridium butyricum 및 메탄 생성조에서 발생하는 하수슬러지중의 미생물 복합체는 수소생산 혐기 발효공정에 사용되었으며, 광합성 수소생산 미생물인 홍색 비유황 세균은 광합성 배양에 사용되었다. 생물학적 공정에서 발생하는 미생물 슬러지는 초임계수 가스화 공정으로 수소를 발생하였으며, 슬러지 중의 COD를 저하시켰다. 생물학적 공정 및 초임계수 가스화 공정에서 발생하는 수소는 가스탱크에 가입상태로 저장한 후, 95%순도로 분리하였으며, 정제된 수소는 연료전지에 연결하여 전력 생산을 하였다.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.23 no.4 s.75
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• pp.354-358
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• 1995

A yeast loading biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) sensor was designed and constructed to quickly measure the concentration of biologically assimilable organic substances dissolved in water as BOD values to feed back to the waste water treating processes. The sensitivity of the BOD sensor reached maximum at around pH 7.0 and $30^{\circ}C$ where yeast showed the highest assimilation activity. Biomass also affected the sensor output, and biomass of $ 0.14\;mg/cm^2$ on the dialysis membrane appeared to be the optimum cell mass level. The sensitivity of the sensor depended on the kinds of pollutants and increased considerably when the yeast was preincubated in the solution of respective pollutants before loading on the sensor.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1114-1119
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• 2004

The biofilms on pipe walls in water distribution systems are of interest since they can lead to chlorine demand, coliform growth, pipe corrosion, and water taste and odor problems. As such, the study described in this paper is part of an AWWARF and Tampa Bay Water tailored collaboration project to determine the effect of blending different source waters on the water quality in various distribution systems. The project was based on 18 independent pilot distribution systems (PDS), each being fed by a different water blend (7 finished waters blended in different proportions). The source waters compared were groundwater, surface water, and brackish water, which were treated in a variety of pilot distribution systems, including reverse osmosis (RO) (desalination), both membrane and chemical softening, and ozonation-biological activated carbon (BAC), resulting in a total of 7 different finished waters. The observations from this study consistently demonstrated that unlined ductile iron was more heavily colonized by a biomass than galvanized steel, lined ductile iron, and PVC (in that order) and that the fixed biomass accumulation was more influenced by the nature of the supporting material than by the water quality (including the secondary residual levels). However, although the bulk liquid water cultivable bacterial counts (i.e. heterotrophic plate counts or HPCs) did not increase with a greater biofilm accumulation, the results also suggested that high HPCs corresponded to a low disinfectant residual more than a high biofilm inventory. Furthermore, temperature was found to affect the biofilms, plus the AOC was important when the residual was between 0.6 and 2.0 mg $Cl_2/l$. An additional aspect of the current study was that the potential of the exoproteolytic activity (PEPA) technique was used along with a traditional so-called destructive technique in which the biofilm was scrapped off the coupon surface, resuspended, and cultivated on an R2A agar. Both techniques indicated similar trends and relative comparisons among the PDSs, yet the culturable biofilm values for the traditional method were several orders of magnitude lower than the PEPA values.

• Carbon letters
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• v.22
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• pp.81-88
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• 2017

In the present study, biomass-based lignin was extracted from industrial waste black liquor and the extracted lignin was characterized by means of attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and $^1H-nuclear$ magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The extracted lignin was carbonized at different temperatures and then activated with steam at $850^{\circ}C$. The extracted lignin in powder state was transformed into a bulky carbonized lignin due to possible fusion between the lignin particles occurring upon carbonization. The carbonized and then pulverized lignin exhibits brittle surfaces, the increased thermal stability, and the carbon assay with increasing the carbonization temperature. The scanning electron microscopic images and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller result indicate that the steam-activated carbon has the specific surface area of $1718m^2/g$, which is markedly greater than the carbonized lignin. This study reveals that biomass-based activated carbon with highly porous structure can be produced from costless black liquor via steam-activation process.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1479-1490
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• 2021

Objective: Our recent findings confirmed the effectiveness of sodium metabisulfite (SMB) in controlling the growth of undesirable microorganisms in fruit and vegetable discards (FVD); however, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are susceptible to its antibacterial effects. Two series of experiments were conducted to enable the survivability of LAB during silage fermentation of a total mixed ration (TMR) containing SMB-treated FVD. Methods: In Exp. 1, the objective was to isolate a strain of LAB tolerable to the toxic effect of SMB. In Exp. 2, the SMB load was minimized through its partial replacement with a chemical mixture (CM) based on sodium benzoate (57%), potassium sorbate (29%), and sodium nitrite (14%). FVD was treated with SMB + CM (2 g each/kg biomass) and added to the TMR at varying levels (0%, 10%, or 20%), with or without KU18 inoculation. Results: The KU18 was screened as a presumptive LAB strain showing superior tolerance to SMB in broth medium, and was identified at the molecular level using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis as Lactobacillus plantarum. Inoculation of KU18 in TMR containing SMB was not successful for the LAB development, biomass acidification, and organoleptic properties of the resultant silage. In Exp. 2, based on the effectiveness and economic considerations, an equal proportion of SMB and CM (2 g each/kg FVD) was selected as the optimal loads for the subsequent silage fermentation experiment. Slight differences were determined in LAB development, biomass acidification, and sensorial characteristics among the experimental silages, suggesting the low toxicity of the preservatives on LAB growth. Conclusion: Although KU18 strain was not able to efficiently develop in silage mass containing SMB-treated FVD, the partial substitution of SMB load with the CM effectively alleviated the toxic effect of SMB and allowed LAB development during the fermentation of SMB + CM-treated FVD in TMR.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.893-902
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• 2015

Various Lactobacillus reuteri strains were screened for the ability to convert glycerol to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) in a glycerol-glucose co-fermentation. Only L. reuteri DSM 20016, a well-known probiotic, was able to efficiently carry out this bioconversion. Several process strategies were employed to improve this process. Co²⁺ addition to the fermentation medium, led to a high product titer (46 g/l) of 1,3-PDO and to improved biomass synthesis. L. reuteri DSM 20016 produced also ca. 3 µg/g of cell dry weight of vitamin B₁₂, conferring an economic value to the biomass produced in the process. Incidentally, we found that L. reuteri displays the highest resistance to Co²⁺ ions ever reported for a microorganism. Two waste materials (crude glycerol from biodiesel industry and spruce hydrolysate from paper industry) alone or in combination were used as feedstocks for the production of 1,3-PDO by L. reuteri DSM 20016. Crude glycerol was efficiently converted into 1,3-PDO although with a lower titer than pure glycerol (33.3 vs. 40.7 g/l). Compared with the fermentation carried out with pure substrates, the 1,3-PDO produced was significantly lower (40.7 vs. 24.2 g/l) using cellulosic hydrolysate and crude glycerol, but strong increases of the maximal biomass produced (2.9 vs 4.3 g/l CDW) and of the glucose consumption rate were found. The results of this study lay the foundation for further investigations to exploit the biotechnological potential of L. reuteri DSM 20016 to produce 1,3-PDO and vitamin B₁₂ using industry byproducts.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.19-35
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• 2016

The phytoextraction of some toxic heavy metals from municipal waste dump soil by castor plant (Ricinus communis) was tested under natural and single or mixed chelant-assisted scenarios in pot microcosms. A sandy loam with total metal contents (mg/kg): Cd (84.5), Cu (114.5), Ni (70.3), Pb (57.8), and Zn (117.5), was sampled from an active dumpsite in Calabar, Nigeria and used for the study. Castor (small seed variety) was grown under natural phytoextraction or single/binary chelant (citric acid, oxalic acid, and EDTA) applications (5-20 mmol/kg soil) for 63 days. Castor exhibited no visual phytotoxic symptoms with typically sigmoid growth profiles at the applied chelant doses. Growth rates, however, decelerated with increase in chelant dose. Post-harvest biomass yields were higher under chelant application than for natural phytoextraction. Both root and shoot metal concentrations (mg/kg) increased quasilinearly and significantly ($p{\leq}0.05$) with increase in chelant dose, furnishing maximum levels as: Cd (55.6 and 20.9), Cu (89.5 and 58.4), Ni (49.8 and 19.6), Pb (32.1 and 12.1), and Zn (99.5 and 46.6). Ranges of translocation factors, root and shoot bioaccumulation factors were 0.21-3.49, 0.01-0.89 and 0.01-0.51, respectively. Overall, the binary chelant treatments were less toxic for R. communis growth and enhanced metal accumulation in shoots to a greater extent than the single chelant scenarios, but more so when EDTA was present in the binary combination. This suggests that the mixed chelants could be considered as alternative treatments for enhanced phytoextraction and revegetation of degraded waste dump soils.