• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 2018

To examine the feasibility of reuse of raw fishmeal wastewater, it was biodegraded by a microbial consortium in a $1-m^3$ reactor, and the final culture broth including mixed microbes was applied as biofertilizer to field cultivation of lettuce and Chinese cabbage. Moreover, economic analysis of the entire process was performed. A stable metabolism of organic matter degradation for 80 h with sufficient dissolved oxygen produced an amino acid content of 14.66 g per 100 g sample, along with increased cation and anion concentrations. The concentrations of N, P and K in the final culture broth were 2.26, 0.87 and 0.65%, respectively, while those of heavy metals were very low. In field cultivation of the two leafy vegetables, the biodegraded fishmeal wastewater showed better fertilizing ability than commercial fertilizers because of its high amino acid content. In addition, no external damage to leaves by the fertilization was observed. In economic analysis, the expected profitability from the practical reuse of raw fishmeal wastewater was estimated to be $491.68 per a single biodegradation, which corresponds to $25,567.36 per year. As a result, the complete reuse of fishmeal wastewater could be feasible and provide essential benefits.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.3-8
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• 2012

A scaled-up bioconversion of fishmeal wastewater (FMW) into liquid fertilizer was performed five times in a $1m^3$ reactor in order to examine the feasibility of commercialization. The importance of aeration was marked. Analyses indicated that dissolved oxygen (DO) level was closely related to the value of oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and it was crucial to achieve high-quality liquid fertilizer. When pure oxygen was supplied through four diffusers into the reactor, DO levels and ORP values were maintained over 1.2 mg/L and 0.2 mV, respectively all the time during 52 hr of bioconversion. The pH changed from 6.8 to 5.9. The average removal percentages of chemical oxygen demand ($COD_{Cr}$) and total nitrogen (TN) were 75.0% and 71.6%, respectively. Compared to the result acquired in a 5-L reactor, bioconversion of FMW into liquid fertilizer was achieved in a shorter time under the same removal percentages of $COD_{Cr}$ and TN. The 52-hr culture of inoculated FMW was phytotoxic-free and it possessed comparable fertilizing ability to a liquid fertilizer made from the fish waste in hydroponic culture with amino acid contents of 5.93 g/ 100 g sample. From all the above results, transferring lab-scale data to large-scale production appeared to be successful. As a result, the commercialization of a liquid fertilizer made from FMW was feasible.