• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.1234-1241
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• 2016

Methanol is a versatile compound that can be biologically synthesized from methane (CH₄) by methanotrophs using a low energy-consuming and environment-friendly process. Methylocella tundrae is a type II methanotroph that can utilize CH₄ as a carbon and energy source. Methanol is produced in the first step of the metabolic pathway of methanotrophs and is further oxidized into formaldehyde. Several parameters must be optimized to achieve high methanol production. In this study, we optimized the production conditions and process parameters for methanol production. The optimum incubation time, substrate, pH, agitation rate, temperature, phosphate buffer and sodium formate concentration, and cell concentration were determined to be 24 h, 50% CH₄, pH 7, 150 rpm, 30℃, 100 mM and 50 mM, and 18 mg/ml, respectively. The optimization of these parameters significantly improved methanol production from 0.66 to 5.18 mM. The use of alginate-encapsulated cells resulted in enhanced methanol production stability and reusability of cells after five cycles of reuse under batch culture conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics T
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• v.36T no.3
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• pp.13-18
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• 1999

Diamond film was deposited on Si wafer using $\textrm{H}_2$ and $\textrm{CH}_4$ mixed gas by RF PACVD. Prior to deposition, mechanical scratching was done to improve density of nucleation sites with diamond paste of $1\mu\textrm{m}$ The microstructure of deposited film was studied at various methane concentrations. The deposited film was characterized by XRD(X-tay diffraction), SEM(Scanning Electron Microscopy) and Raman Spectroscopy The deposited diamond film showed that the crystallite was increased at the lower methane concentration.

• Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.381-390
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• 2018

Percentage of aerenchyma area has been closely linked with amounts of methane emitted by rice. A diversity panel of 39 global rice varieties were examined to determine genetic variation for root transverse section (RTS), aerenchyma area, and % aerenchyma. RTS and aerenchyma area showed a strong positive correlation while there existed no significant correlation between RTS area and % aerenchyma. Five varieties previously shown to differ in methane emissions under field conditions were found to encompass the variation found in the diversity panel for RTS and aerenchyma area. These five varieties were evaluated in a greenhouse study to determine the relationship of RTS, aerenchyma area, and % aerenchyma with methane emissions. Methane emissions at physiological maturity were the highest for 'Rondo', followed by 'Jupiter', while 'Sabine', 'Francis' and 'CLXL745' emitted the least. The same varietal rank, 'Rondo' being the largest and 'CLXL745' the smallest, was observed with RTS and aerenchyma areas. RTS and aerenchyma area were significantly correlated with methane emissions, r = 0.61 and r = 0.57, respectively (P < 0.001); however, there was no relationship with % aerenchyma. Our results demonstrated that varieties with a larger root area also developed a larger aerenchyma area, which serves as a gas conduit, and as a result, methane emissions were increased. This study suggests that root transverse section area could be used as a means of selecting germplasm with reduced $CH_4$ emissions.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.327-334
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• 2014

Emission reduction of $CH_4$ (methane gas) from rice paddy soil is a very important measure for climate change mitigation in agricultural sector. In this study, we investigated the changes in crop yield and $CH_4$ emissions in response to application of biochar and fertilizers. The experimental site is located in Hwasung, Kyunggido and experimental design is the split-plot method with three replicates. Treatments included rice straw (RS) and biochar (BC) amendments nested with the conventional NPK fertilizer (NPK) and slow release fertilizer (SRF). Control was also prepared with the soil with the conventional NPK fertilization with no amendment. Measurement of $CH_4$ emission was conducted during the growing season of 2014 using a dynamic chamber method. The results showed that application of rice straw increased daily $CH_4$ emission rate by 15%, while application of biochar reduced daily $CH_4$ emission rate by 38%. When we combined biochar application with slow release fertilizer, $CH_4$ emission was reduced by 45%. Further, the crop yield was also increased in all treatments compared with the control except for the treatment of rice straw application with slow release fertilizer. Overall results imply that biochar amendment to agricultural soil can be an effective strategy to decrease annual $CH_4$ emission with no reduction in crop yield.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2010

This paper is studying the selective separation of methane and carbon dioxide which are the main ingredients of biogas. Adsorption performance of molecular sieve 13x for carbon dioxide seems to be reasonable. In this experiments carbon dioxide contains about 3~5 ppm of methane and it is impossible to obtain high purity carbon dioxide. Applying the low temperature technique, it is possible to separate methane and carbon dioxide from bio gas. PRO II simulation shows results a small change of liquefaction temperatures and no difference with the used thermodynamic models. Applying low temperature technique, It is possible to separate carbon dioxide and methane from biogas.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.927-933
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• 2007

Waste activated sludge (WAS) was thermally pretreated to enhance hydrolysis and ultimately methane yield. Batch and semi-continuous anaerobic digestion were conducted to evaluate the performance of methane fermentation of the hydrolyzed sludge and to investigate the kinetics of sludge fermentation. Thermal pretreatment remarkably enhanced digestion performances particularly the methane fermentation with three times more methane production than before the pretreatment. Gas production and kinetic parameters in the semi-continuous anaerobic digestion were estimated using Chen Hashimoto model. The model simulation fitted well the experimental results and the model was shown to be suitable for evaluating the effects of disintegration of WAS in anaerobic digestion. Three parameters ($B_o$, K, and ${\mu}_m$) determined by model simulation were $0.0807L-CH_4/g-VS$, 0.453 and $0.154d^{-1}$ for control sludge, and $0.253L-CH_4/g-VS$, 0.835 and $0.218d^{-1}$ for thermally pretreated sludge, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2007

Fly ash, a by-product of the coal-burning industry, and a potential source of ferro-alumino-silicate minerals, which contains high amount of ferric oxide and manganese oxide (electron acceptors), was selected as soil amendment for reducing methane $(CH_4)$ emission during rice cultivation. The fly ash was applied into potted soils at the rate of 0, 2, 10, and 20 Mg $ha^{-1}$ before rice transplanting. $CH_4$ flux from the potted soil with rice plants was measured along with soil Eh and floodwater pH during the cropping season. $CH_4$ emission rates measured by closed chamber method decreased gradually with the increasing levels of fly ash applied but rice yield significantly increased up to 10 Mg $ha^{-1}$ application level of the amendment. At this amendment level, total seasonal $CH_4$ emission was decreased by 20% along with 17% rice grain yield increment over the control. The decrease in total $CH_4$ emission may be attributed due to suppression of $CH_4$ production by the high content of active and free iron, and manganese oxides, which acted as oxidizing agents as well as electron acceptors. In conclusion fly ash could be considered as a feasible soil amendment for reducing total seasonal $CH_4$ emissions as well as maintaining higher grain yield potential under optimum soil nutrients balance condition.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1768-1774
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• 2012

This study was conducted to evaluate methane ($CH_4$) and nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) emissions from livestock agriculture in 16 local administrative districts of Korea from 1990 to 2030. National Inventory Report used 3 yr averaged livestock population but this study used 1 yr livestock population to find yearly emission fluctuations. Extrapolation of the livestock population from 1990 to 2009 was used to forecast future livestock population from 2010 to 2030. Past (yr 1990 to 2009) and forecasted (yr 2010 to 2030) averaged enteric $CH_4$ emissions and $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ emissions from manure treatment were estimated. In the section of enteric fermentation, forecasted average $CH_4$ emissions from 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 4%-114% compared to that of the past except for Daejeon (-63%), Seoul (-36%) and Gyeonggi (-7%). As for manure treatment, forecasted average $CH_4$ emissions from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 3%-124% compared to past average except for Daejeon (-77%), Busan (-60%), Gwangju (-48%) and Seoul (-8%). For manure treatment, forecasted average $N_2O$ emissions from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 10%-153% compared to past average $CH_4$ emissions except for Daejeon (-60%), Seoul (-4.0%), and Gwangju (-0.2%). With the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions ($CO_2$-Eq), forecasted average $CO_2$-Eq from the 16 local administrative districts were estimated to increase by 31%-120% compared to past average $CH_4$ emissions except Daejeon (-65%), Seoul (-24%), Busan (-18%), Gwangju (-8%) and Gyeonggi (-1%). The decreased $CO_2$-Eq from 5 local administrative districts was only 34 kt, which was insignificantly small compared to increase of 2,809 kt from other 11 local administrative districts. Annual growth rates of enteric $CH_4$ emissions, $CH_4$ and $N_2O$ emissions from manure management in Korea from 1990 to 2009 were 1.7%, 2.6%, and 3.2%, respectively. The annual growth rate of total $CO_2$-Eq was 2.2%. Efforts by the local administrative offices to improve the accuracy of activity data are essential to improve GHG inventories. Direct measurements of GHG emissions from enteric fermentation and manure treatment systems will further enhance the accuracy of the GHG data.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.282-289
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Methane($CH_4$) is considered as the secondmost potent greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide ($CO_2$). Methanogenesis is an enzyme-mediated multi-step process by methanogens. In the penultimate step, methylated Co-M is reduced by methyl Co-M reductase (MCR) to $CH_4$ involving a nickel-containing cofactor F430. The activity of MCR enzyme is dependent on the F430 and therefore, the bioavailability of Ni to methanogens is expected to influence MCR activity and $CH_4$ production in soil. In this study, different doses of EDTA(Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid) were applied in flooded soils to evaluate their suppression effect on methane production by chelating Ni of methanogenesis cofactor. METHODS AND RESULTS: EDTA was selected as chelating agents and added into wetland and rice paddy soil at the rates of 0, 25, 50, 75, and $100mmol\;kg^{-1}$ before 4-weeks incubation test. During the incubation, cumulative $CH_4$ production patterns were characterized. At the end of the experiment, soil samples were removed from their jars to analyze total soil Ni and water-soluble Ni content and methanogen abundance. Methane production from 100 mmol application decreased by 55 and 78% in both soils compared to that from 0 mmol. With increasing application rate of EDTA in both soils, water-soluble Ni concentration significantly increased, but total soil Ni and methanogen activities showed negative relationship during incubation test. CONCLUSION: The decrease in methane production with EDTA application was caused by chelating Ni of coenzyme F430 and inhibiting methanogenesis by methyl coenzyme M reductase. Consequently, EDTA application decreased uptake of Ni into methanogen, subsequently inhibited methanogen activities and reduced methane production in flooded soils.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.967-972
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• 2017

Objective: Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of forage-to-concentrate (F:C) ratio on the nutrient digestibility and enteric methane ($CH_4$) emission in growing goats and Sika deer. Methods: Three male growing goats (body weight $[BW]=19.0{\pm}0.7kg$) and three male growing deer ($BW=19.3{\pm}1.2kg$) were respectively allotted to a $3{\times}3$ Latin square design with an adaptation period of 7 d and a data collection period of 3 d. Respiration-metabolism chambers were used for measuring the enteric $CH_4$ emission. Treatments of low (25:75), moderate (50:50), and high (73:27) F:C ratios were given to both goats and Sika deer. Results: Dry matter (DM) and organic matter (OM) digestibility decreased linearly with increasing F:C ratio in both goats and Sika deer. In both goats and Sika deer, the $CH_4$ emissions expressed as g/d, g/kg $BW^{0.75}$, % of gross energy intake, g/kg DM intake (DMI), and g/kg OM intake (OMI) decreased linearly as the F:C ratio increased, however, the $CH_4$ emissions expressed as g/kg digested DMI and OMI were not affected by the F:C ratio. Eight equations were derived for predicting the enteric $CH_4$ emission from goats and Sika deer. For goat, equation 1 was found to be of the highest accuracy: $CH_4(g/d)=3.36+4.71{\times}DMI(kg/d)-0.0036{\times}neutral$ detergent fiber concentrate (NDFC,g/kg)+$0.01563{\times}dry$ matter digestibility (DMD,g/kg)-$0.0108{\times}neutral$ detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD, g/kg). For Sika deer, equation 5 was found to be of the highest accuracy: $CH_4(g/d)=66.3+27.7{\times}DMI(kg/d)-5.91{\times}NDFC(g/kg)-7.11{\times}DMD(g/kg)+0.0809{\times}NDFD(g/kg)$. Conclusion: Digested nutrient intake could be considered when determining the $CH_4$ generation factor in goats and Sika deer. Finally, the enteric $CH_4$ prediction model for goats and Sika deer were estimated.