• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.387-393
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to evaluate integrated anaerobic hydrogen fermentation and membrane bioreactor (MBR) for on-site domestic wastewater treatment and resource recovery. A synthetic wastewater (COD 17,000 mg/L) was used as artificial brown water which will be discharged from urine diversion toilet and fed into a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) type anaerobic reactor with inclined plate. The effluent of anaerobic reactor mixed with real household grey water (COD 700 mg/L) was further treated by MBR for reuse. An optimum condition maintained in anaerobic reactor was HRT of 8 hrs, pH 5.5, SRT of 5 days and temperature of $37^{\circ}C$. COD removal of 98% was achieved from the overall system. Total gas production rate and hydrogen content was 4.6 L/day and 52.4% respectively. COD mass balance described the COD distribution in the system via reactor byproducts and effluent COD concentration. The results of this study asserts that, anaerobic hydrogen fermentation combined with MBR is a potent system in stabilizing waste strength and clean hydrogen recovery which could be implemented for onsite domestic wastewater treatment and reuse.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.469-474
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• 2019

Fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) produces biohydrogen in a mixture at a specific set condition. This research was conducted to purify the produced mixed biohydrogen via absorption and membrane techniques. Three different solvents, methyl ethanolamine (MEA), ammonia ($NH_3$) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) solutions, were used in absorption technique. The highest $H_2$ purity was found using 1M MEA solution with 5.0 ml/s feed mixed gas flow rate at 60 minutes absorption time. Meanwhile, the purified biohydrogen using a polysulfone membrane had the highest $H_2$ purity at 2~3 bar operating pressure. Upon testing with proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the highest current and power produced at 100% $H_2$ were 1.66 A and 8.1 W, while the lowest were produced at 50/50 vol% $H_2/CO_2$ (0.32 A and 0.49 W). These results proved that both purification techniques have significant potential for $H_2$ purification efficiency.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.137-145
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• 2004

Intensive animal industries create large volumes of nutrient rich effluent which, if untreated, has the potential for substantial environmental degradationand to recover valuable nutrients that would otherwise be lost. Members of the family Lemnaceae are widely used in lagoon systems, to achieve inexpensive and efficient remediation of effluent. Only limited research has been conducted into their growth in highly eutrophic media and there has been little done to systematically distinguish between different types of media. This study examined the growth characteristics of duckweed in abattoir effluent and explored possible ways of ameliorating the inhibitory factors to growth on this medium. A series of pot trials was conducted to test the tolerance of duckweed to abattoir effluent partially remediated by a sojourn in anaerobic fermentation ponds, both in its unmodified form and after the addition of acid to manipulate pH, and the addition of bentonite. Unmodified abattoir effluent was highly toxic to duckweed, even at dilutions of 3:1. Duckweed remained viable and grew sub-optimally in simplified media with total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations of up to 100 mg/L. Duckweed grew vigorously in effluent diluted 1:4 v/v, containing 56 mg TAN/L when modified by addition of acid (to decrease pH to 7) and bentonite at 0.5%. The results of this study suggest that bentonite plays an important role in modifying the toxicity of abattoir effluent to duckweed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.1168-1176
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• 2004

Intensive animal industries create large volumes of nutrient rich effluent, which, if untreated, has the potential for substantial environmental degradation. Aquatic plants in aerobic lagoon systems have the potential to achieve inexpensive and efficient remediation of effluent, and to recover valuable nutrients that would otherwise be lost. Members of the family Lemnaceae (duckweeds) are widely used in lagoon systems, but despite their widespread use in the cleansing of sewage, only limited research has been conducted into their growth in highly eutrophic media, and little has been done to systematically distinguish between different types of media. This study examined the growth characteristics of duckweed in abattoir effluent, and explored possible ways of ameliorating the inhibitory factors to growth on this medium. A series of pot trials was conducted to test the tolerance of duckweed to abattoir effluent partially remediated by a sojourn in anaerobic fermentation ponds, both in its unmodified form, and after the addition of acid to manipulate pH, and the addition of bentonite. Unmodified abattoir effluent was highly toxic to duckweed, although duckweed remained viable and grew sub optimally in media with total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations of up to 100 mg/l. Duckweed also grew vigorously in effluent diluted 1:4 v/v, containing 56 mg TAN/L and also modified by addition of acid to decrease pH to 7 and by adding bentonite (0.5%).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.1063-1067
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• 2000

The effects of acremonium cellulase (AC) additive and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) inoculant on effluent production and aerobic stability of silage were investigated. Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum) was treated with AC at the rates of 0.05 ($AC_1$) and 0.1 g/kg $(AC_2)$ and/or with LAB at the rate of $1.0{\times}10^8cfu/kg$ fresh grass at ensiling. The treatments of LAB, $AC_1$, $AC_2$, $LAB+AC_1$ and $LAB+AC_2$ significantly (p<0.01) decreased pH and contents of volatile basic nitrogen and butyric acid, and significantly (p<0.01) increased lactic acid content compared with the control. All treated silages were well preserved with pH of lower than 4.2. There were no significant differences in fermentation quality between the application rates of AC ($AC_1$ and $AC_2$) and between the mixtures ($AC_1+LAB$ and $AC_2+LAB$). AC ($AC_1$ and $AC_2$) and AC plus LAB ($AC_1+LAB$ and $AC_2+LAB$) resulted in more silage effluent than the control and LAB inoculant alone. When the experimental silos were opened, the silages treated with AC and/or LAB were not as stable as the control silage, as shown by pH increase and lactic acid decomposition.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.278-286
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• 2023

The present work evaluated the production of biohydrogen under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions through dark fermentation of palm oil mill effluent (POME) in batch mode using the design of experiment methodology. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to investigate the influence of the two significant parameters, POME concentration as substrate (5, 12.5, and 20 g/l), and volumetric substrate to inoculum ratio (1:1, 1:1.5, and 1:2, v/v.%), with inoculum concentration of 14.3 g VSS/l. All the experiments were analyzed at 37 ℃ and 55 ℃ at an incubation time of 24 h. The highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, hydrogen content (H₂%), and hydrogen yield (HY) at a substrate concentration of 12.5 g COD/l and S:I ratio of 1:1.5 in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions were obtained (27.3, 24.2%), (57.92, 66.24%), and (6.43, 12.27 ml H₂/g COD_rem), respectively. The results show that thermophilic temperature in terms of COD removal was more effective for higher COD concentrations than for lower concentrations. Optimum parameters projected by RSM with S:I ratio of 1:1.6 and POME concentration of 14.3 g COD/l showed higher results in both temperatures. It is recognized how RSM and optimization processes can predict and affect the process performance under different operational conditions.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.346-351
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• 1995

To produce ethanol from Jerusalem artichoke powder efficiently, Kluyveromyces marxianus F043 cells were encapsulated in 2% sodium alginate and were cultured in a countinuous reactor to investigate the fermentation properties. Immobilized K. marxianus F043 cells were activated for 48 hours in a fermentor for continuous ethanol production. The culture in a CSTR using a Jerusalem artichoke substrate treated with 2% cellulase showed a decrease in ethanol concentration and an increase in residual saccharide concentration with a increasing dilution rate. Optimum conditions for high ethanol productivity and low residual saccharide output were clarified to be given at a dilution rate of 0.2 h$^{-1}$ and a Jerusalem artichoke medium concentration of 75 g/l. Ethanol productivity of 3.1 g/l-h and saccharide utilization of 62.6% were obtained under the optimum condition. When the fermentation was performed for 3 weeks under these conditions, the effluent medium showed stable ethanol concentrations of 16.3 - 17.9 g/l and viable cells of 6.60-7.16 log cells/ml without contamination. Trace amounts of methyl, n-propyl, iso-butyl, isoamyl alcohols besides ethanol were detected.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.333-339
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• 2011

In the present work, it was attempted to produce $H_2$ from food waste by the two-stage fermentation system. Food waste was acidified to lactate by using indigenous lactic acid bacteria under mesophilic condition, and the lactate fermentation effluent (LFE) was subsequently converted to $H_2$ by photo-fermentation. $Rhodobacter$ $sphaeroides$ KD131 was used as the photo-fermenting bacteria. The optimal conditions for lactate fermentation were found to be pH of 5.5 and substrate concentration of 30 g Carbo. COD/L, under which yielded 1.6 mol lactate/mol glucose. By filtering the LFE and adding trace metal, $H_2$ production increased by more than three times compared to using raw LFE, and finally reached the $H_2$ yield of 3.6 mol $H_2$/mol lactate. Via the developed two-stage fermentation system $H_2$ yield of 5.8 mol $H_2$/mol glucose was achieved from food waste, whose value was the highest that ever recorded.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.866-871
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• 2006

The nutrient recovery in phosphate crystallization process was investigated by using laboratory scale uptlow reactors, adopting sequencing batch type configuration. The industrial waste lime was used as potential cation source with magnesium salt($MgCl_2$) as control. The research was focused on its successful application in a novel integrated sludge treatment process, which is comprised of a high performance fermenter followed by a crystallization reactor. In the struvite precipitation test using synthetic wastewater first, which has the similar characteristics with the real fermentation effluent, the considerable nutrient removal(about 60%) in both ammonia and phosphate was observed within $0.5{\sim}1$ hr of retention time. The results also revealed that a minor amount(<5%) of ammonia stripping naturally occurred due to the alkaline(pH 9) characteristic in feed substrate. Stripping of $CO_2$ by air did not increase the struvite precipitation rate but it led to increased ammonia removal. In the second experiment using the fermentation effluent, the optimal dosage of magnesium salt for struvite precipitation was 0.86 g Mg $g^{-1}$ P, similar to the mass ratio of the struvite. The optimal dosage of waste lime was 0.3 g $L^{-1}$, resulting in 80% of $NH_4-N$ and 41% of $PO_4-P$ removal, at about 3 hrs of retention time. In the microscopic analysis, amorphous crystals were mainly observed in the settled solids with waste lime but prism-like crystals were observed with magnesium salt. Based on mass balance analysis for an integrated sludge treatment process(fermenter followed by crystallization reactor) for full-scale application(treatment capacity Q=158,880 $m^3\;d^{-1}$), nutrient recycle loading from the crystallization reactor effluent to the main liquid stream would be significantly reduced(0.13 g N and 0.19 g P per $m^3$ of wastewater, respectively). The results of the experiment reveal therefore that the reuse of waste lime, already an industrial waste, in a nutrient recovery system has various advantages such as higher economical benefits and sustainable treatment of the industrial waste.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.93-109
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• 1972

Three lots of Chung-Kook-Jang were prepared by the use of 2 strains of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus natto. For four samples taken from each lot in 12 hrs interval changes of nitrogenous compounds, insoluble protein, water soluble protein, peptides, free amino acids, amino and ammonia nitrogens during Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation, were studied together with the changes of moisture, pH, proteolytic enzyme activity. In addition the average peptide length of the peptides of a Bacillus subtilis lot was determined by the method of molecular sieving using ion exchange resin. The results were as follows: 1. The contents of moisture and total-nitrogen changed little in all samples throughout the fermentation as it would be expected. 2. In all three experimental lots the pH became higher gradually from the initial value of 6.65 to the final $7.5{\sim}7.85$ during the fermentation. Proteolytic enzyme activities, in accordance with this pH change, steadily increased up to $48{\sim}60$ hrs. of fermentation and then slightly decreased, probably affected by the high pH. The most strong proteolytic activity was observed in the experimental Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation lot using the Bacillus subtilis K-27 isolated by the author. 3. The contents of insoluble protein nitrogen in soybeans increased markedly (5%) by the cooking, after steeping 12 hrs in water. During the Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation, however, it decreased from 1/2 to 1/10 of that of the cooked soybeans. 4. The contents of water soluble protein nitrogen (5%) whereas, greatly decreased to the value of 1.0% by the cooking; but little changed further during the fermentation, 5. The total contents (0.25%) of peptides, amino, and ammonia-nitrogens, PAA-N., increased almost double by the cooking and steadily became higher as the fermentation proceeded, reaching finally up to$4{\sim}7%$ in 72 hrs fermentation. 6. The amounts of free amino acids of soybean generally decreased during the processing of cooking, even some of them like glutamic acid were destroyed completely, However in the subsequent Chung-Kook-Jang fermentation for 72 hrs., they showed from several to a few hundreds folds increases depending upon the kinds of amino acids. Valine which was contained in HCl-hydrolyzed steeped or cooked soybeans in amounts $220{\sim}267mg%$ was not detected at all as the free amino acid in all fermented samples. 7. Average peptide length (APL) of all fractions, eluted and fractionated by using the Dowex-50 ion exchange resin column, and fraction collector showed the highest value for the cooked soybean and then decreased as the fermentation proceeded. The APL value of effluent showed the highest in 12 hrs fermented sample, The value decreased thereafter by fermentation.