• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.629-638
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• 2014

This study describes an alternative mixed culture fermentation technology to anaerobically convert lignocellulosic biomass into butyric acid, a valuable product with wide application, without supplementary cellulolytic enzymes. Rice straw was soaked in 1% NaOH solution to increase digestibility. Among the tested pretreatment conditions, soaking rice straw at $50^{\circ}C$ for 72 h removed ~66% of the lignin, but retained ~84% of the cellulose and ~71% of the hemicellulose. By using an undefined cellulose-degrading butyrate-producing microbial community as butyric acid producer in batch fermentation, about 6 g/l of butyric acid was produced from the pretreated rice straw, which accounted for ~76% of the total volatile fatty acids. In the repeated-batch operation, the butyric acid production declined batch by batch, which was most possibly caused by the shift of microbial community structure monitored by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. In this study, batch operation was observed to be more suitable for butyric acid production.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.315-318
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• 2013

Ethanol fermentations were performed using separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) processes with monosaccharides from pretreated seaweed, Eucheuma spinosum as the biomass. The pretreatment was carried out with 11% (w/v) seaweed slurry and 150 mM $H_2SO_4$ at $121^{\circ}C$ for 40 min. Enzyme hydrolysis after $H_2SO_4$ pretreatment was performed with Celluclast 1.5 L at $45^{\circ}C$ for 24 h. Five % active charcoal were added to hydrolysate to removed 5-hydroxy methylfurfural. Ethanol fermentation with 11% (w/v) seaweed hydrolysate was performed for 72~96 h using Kluyvermyces marxianus, Pichia stipits, Saccharomyces cervisiae and Candida tropicalis. Ethanol concentration was reached to 18 g/L by K. marxianus, 16 g/L by P. stipitis, 15 g/L by S. cerevisiae and 10 g/L by C. tropicalis, respectively. The ethanol yield from total monosugar was obtained 0.50 and ethanol productivity was obtained 0.38 g/L/h by K. marxianus.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.401-408
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• 2018

The waste seaweed from Gwangalli beach, Busan, Korea was utilized as biomass for ethanol production. Sagassum fulvellum (brown seaweed, Mojaban in Korean name) comprised 72% of the biomass. The optimal hyper thermal acid hydrolysis conditions were obtained as 8% slurry contents, 138 mM sulfuric acid, and $160^{\circ}C$ of treatment temperature for 10 min with a low content of inhibitory compounds. To obtain more monosaccharides, enzymatic saccharification was carried out with Viscozyme L for 48 h. After pretreatment, 34 g/l of monosaccharides were obtained. Pichia stipitis and Pichia angophorae were selected as optimal co-fermentation yeasts to convert all of the monosaccharides in the hydrolysate to ethanol. Co-fermentation was carried out with various inoculum ratios of P. stipitis and P. angophorae. The maximum ethanol concentration of 16.0 g/l was produced using P. stipitis and P. angophorae in a 3:1 inoculum ratio, with an ethanol yield of 0.47 in 72 h. Ethanol fermentation using yeast co-culture may offer an efficient disposal method for waste seaweed while enhancing the utilization of monosaccharides and production of ethanol.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.239-243
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• 2014

Recently, there is a growing interest in efficient biomass pretreatment and saccharification processes to produce biofuels and biochemicals from renewable non-food biomass resources. In this study, glucose was produced from cellulose by immobilizing cellulase enzyme on chitosan beads which was reported to have high pH and temperature stability. The immobilized amounts of cellulase on chitosan beads linearly increased with increasing the concentrations of cellulase solution. The glucose production increased to 7.2 g/L from 1% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) substrate when immobilized at 20% cellulase solution. The maximum specific activity was 0.37 unit/mg protein when immobilized at 8% cellulase solution. At pH 7 and $37^{\circ}C$, the optimum reaction composition was 0.5 g beads/L from 1% CMC substrate. At this condition, the conversion to glucose completed at ca. 20 min.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2016

The aim of this study was to recycle the waste livestock blood as one of the waste biomass by turning proteins, the main constituent of blood, into effective biological resources like amino acid. Ultrasonic technology was applied to solubilize the proteins in the waste livestock blood. And of the multiple ultrasonic frequencies tested, 20 kHz was confirmed to yield the highest solubilization rate. The optimum pretreatment conditions were determined to be 30-min treatment at an ultrasonic irradiation density of 0.5 W/mL, which resulted in a solubilization rate of 96.01%. Also, a gel permeation chromatography (GPC) confirmed that a large amount of proteins were solubilized, and in an experiment where ultrasonic treatment was applied to kill bacteria, death rates of general bacteria and total coliforms were found to be reduced by 99.93% and 100%, respectively. Based on these results, ultrasonic technology was confirmed to be a crucial part of treating and recycling the proteins in waste livestock blood.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1028-1034
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• 2021

The effect of medium composition on enzyme and β-glucan production by Aspergillus oryzae KCCM 12698 was investigated. Brown rice, rice bran, nitrogen, and ascorbic acid are key components of the synthetic medium used in liquid-state fermentation. To determine the optimal concentrations of these components for enzyme and β-glucan production, we conducted one factor at a time experiments, which showed that the optimal concentrations were 30 g/l brown rice, 30 g/l rice bran, 10 g/l soytone, and 3 g/l ascorbic acid. Pretreatment of brown rice for 60 min prior to inoculation enhanced fungal biomass, while increasing the production of enzymes and β-glucan using solid-state fermentation. Maximum fungal biomass of 0.76 mg/g, amylase (26,551.03 U/g), protease (1,340.50 U/g), and β-glucan at 9.34% (w/w) were obtained during fermentation. Therefore, solid-state fermentation of brown rice is a process that could enhance yield and overall production of enzymes and β-glucan for use in various applications.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.627-632
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• 2019

In this study, Laminaria japonica was used as a substrate for a mixed aerobic microbial consortium. Laminaria japonica is well-known as a representative brown algal biomass possessing advantages of cheap cost, and high productivity and carbohydrate content. A biological saccharification system was established by inoculating and enriching the mixed aerobic microbial consortium. Production of the soluble carbohydrate and reducing sugar at different hydraulic retention times (HRT) was observed. The efficiency of saccharification increased according to the decrease of HRT. The maximum saccharification yield in a continuous biological pretreatment process was 17.96 and 4.30 g/L/day for the soluble carbohydrate and reducing sugar, respectively at the HRT of 1 day. In contrast, the staccharification yield decreased drastically at the HRT of 0.5 day. Experimental results indicate that Laminaria japonica is a promising material for the production of useful products, in particular for the saccharification through a biorefinery process. It can thus be concluded that a continuous biological pretreatment process using a mixed cultivation system can be successfully employed for the biorefinery technology.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.267-272
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• 2009

During a dilute acid hydrolysis, degradation products are formed or liberated by pre-treatment of lignocelluloses depend on both the biomass and the pretreatment conditions such as temperature, time, pressure, pH, redox conditions, and addition of catalysts. In lignocellulosic biomass, sugars can be degraded to furfural which is formed from pentoses and 5-hydroxymethulfurfural (HMF) from hexoses. 5-HMF can be further degraded, forming levulinic acid and formic acid. Acetate is liberated from hemicellulose during hydrolysis. Some decomposed compounds hinder the subsequent bioconversion of the solubilized sugars into desired products, reducing conversion yields and rates during fermentation. In the present work, samples of rapeseed strawwere hydrolyzed to study the optimal pretreatment condition by assessing yields of sugars and decomposed products obtained under different reaction conditions ($H_2SO_4$ 0.5-1.25% (w/w), reaction time 0-20 min and temperature range 150-220 C). A careful analytical investigation of acid hydrolyzate of rapeseed straw has not yet been undertaken, and a well-closed mass balance for the hydrolyzate in general is necessary to verify the productivity and economic predictions for this process.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.18-28
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• 2014

Renewable Portfolio Standards(RPS) is a regulation that requires a renewable energy generated from eco-friendly energy sources such as biomass, wind, solar, and geothermal. The RPS mechanism generally is an obligatory policy that places on electricity supply companies to produce a designated fraction of their electricity from renewable energies. The domestic companies to supply electricity largely rely on wood pellets in order to implement the RPS in spite of undesirable situation of lack of wood resources in Korea. This means that the electricity supply companies in Korea must explore new biomass as an alternative to wood. Palm kernel shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) as oil palm wastes can be used as raw materials used for making pellets after their thermochemical treatment like torrefaction. Torrefaction is a pretreatment process which serves to improve the properties including heating value and energy densification of these oil palm wastes through a mild pyrolysis at temperature typically ranging between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$ in the absence of oxygen under atmospheric pressure. Torrefaction of oil palms wastes at above $200^{\circ}C$ contributed to the increase of fixed carbon with the decrease of volatile matters, leading to the improvement of their calorific values over 20.9 MJ/kg (=5,000 kcal/kg) up to 25.1 MJ/kg (=6,000 kcal/kg). In particular, EFB sensitively responded to torrefaction because of its physical properties like fiber bundles, compared to PKS and hardwood chips. In conclusion, torrefaction treatment of PKS and EFB can greatly contribute to the implement of RPS of the electricity supply companies in Korea through the increased co-firing biomass with coal.