• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.140-150
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• 2007

Thermochemical 2-step methane reforming, involving the reduction of metal oxide with methane to produce syngas and the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide with water to produce pure hydrogen, was investigated on ferrite-based metal oxide mediums. The mediums, CoFZ, CuFZ, or MnFZ, were composed of the mixture of M(M=Co, Cu or Mn)-substituted ferrite as an active component and $ZrO_2$ as a binder, respectively. The WZ medium, composed of the mixture of $WO_3$ and $ZrO_2$, was also prepared to compare. With an addition of $ZrO_2$, the surface area of the mediums was slightly increased and the sintering of active components was greatly suppressed during the reduction. The higher reactivity of the reduced mediums for water splitting was confirmed by the temperature programmed reaction. From the results of the thermochemical 2-step methane reforming, the reactivity of $CH_4$ reduction and water splitting with ferrite-based metal oxide mediums was relatively higher than that with WZ, and the order of reactivity of the mediums was MnFZ>CoFZ>CuFZ>WZ.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.84-90
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• 2000

5L laboratory-scale anaerobic digester was used to study the effects of food size and washing rate of food waste on the mixed digestion with sewage sludge. Food waste was crushed with particle diameters of 4mm and 2mm and washed two to three times, and seven to eight times before feeding the batch digester. The digester with crushed of washed food waste showed better performance than that with uncrushed of unwashed to produce methane gas of reduce volatile solids. The digester with 2mm food waste showed 17.4% higher VS/TS reduction rate and 18ml higher methane production rate per gram VS input than that with uncrushed food waste, where VS and TS are volatile solid and total solids in the liquid effluent, respectively. Also food waste crushed eight times gave 8% higher VS/TS reduction rate and 11ml higher methane production rate per gram VS input than unwashed food waste.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.293-305
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• 2009

Methane, as a greenhouse gas, is some 21~25 times more detrimental to the environmental than carbon dioxide. Landfills generally constitute the most important anthropogenic source, and methane emission from landfill was estimated as 35~73 Tg per year. Biological approaches using biocover (open system) and biofilter (closed system) can be a promising solution for older and/or smaller landfills where the methane production is too low for energy recovery or flaring and installation of a gas extraction system is inefficient. Methanotrophic bacteria, utilizing methane as a sole carbon and energy source, are responsible for the aerobic degradation (oxidation) of methane in the biological systems. Many bench-scale studies have demonstrated a high oxidation capacity in diverse filter bed materials such as soil, compost, earthworm cast and etc. Compost had been most often employed in the biological systems, and the methane oxidation rates in compost biocovers/boifilters ranged from 50 to $700\;g-CH_4\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$. Some preliminary field trials have showed the suitability of biocovers/biofilters for practical application and their satisfactory performance in mitigation methane emissions. Since the reduction of landfill methane emissions has been linked to carbon credits and trading schemes, the verified quantification of mitigated emissions through biocovers/biofilters is very important. Therefore, the assessment of in situ biocovers/biofilters performance should be standardized, and the reliable quantification methods of methane reduction is necessary.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.810-815
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• 2010

Ultrasonic sludge pre-treatment has been studied to enhance the performance of anaerobic digestion by increasing sludge hydrolysis which is regarded as the rate-limiting-step of anaerobic digestion. In this study, the effect of ultrasonic pre-treatment on sludge hydrolysis (solubilization) and methane production was investigated. Sludge solubilization efficiency increased with ultrasonic energy input. However, it is uneconomical to apply more than 720 kJ/L as the solubilization efficiency per energy input declines afterwards. Volatile fatty acids concentration increased after the ultrasonic sludge hydrolysis. Anaerobic batch digestion showed that methane volume reached 64.7 and 84.5 mL after 18 days of incubation with the control sludge and ultrasonically hydrolyzed sludge, respectively. Methane production potential, maximum methane production rate, and the lag time of modified Gompertz equation were changed from 70 mL, 6.4 mL/day, and 1.2 days to 89 mL, 9.6 mL/day, and 0.5 day, respectively, after the ultrasonic sludge treatment. The results proved that ultrasonic pre-treatment contributed significantly not only for the methane production but also for the reduction of anaerobic digestion time which is critical for the performance of anaerobic sludge digestion.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.344-352
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• 2007

Quantifying the methane emission from landfills is important to evaluate measures for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. To estimate methane emission for the entire landfills from 1990 through 2004 in Korea, Tier 1 and 2 methodologies were used. In addition, five different scenarios were adopted to identify the effect of important variables on methane emission. The trends of methane emission using Tier 1 were similar to the disposed waste amount. Methane emission using Tier 2 increased as the degradation of waste was gradually proceeded. This result indicates that disposed waste amount and methane generation rate are the important variables for the estimation of methane emission by Tier 1 and 2, respectively. As for the different scenarios, methane emission was highest with scenario I that the entire landfills in Korea were regarded as one landfill. Methane emissions by scenario III and IV considering different $DOC_F$ values with the waste type and different MCF values with the height of waste layer, respectively, were underestimated compared to scenario II. This result indicates that the method of scenario I employed to most previous studies may lead to the overestimation of methane emission. Therefore, more careful consideration of the variables should be needed to develop the methodologies of greenhouse gas emission in landfills along with the characteristics of disposed waste in Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.807-813
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• 2016

Two experiments were conducted assessing the effects of presence or absence of rumen protozoa and dietary nitrate addition on rumen fermentation characteristics and in vitro methane production in Brahman heifers. The first experiment assessed changes in rumen fermentation pattern and in vitro methane production post-refaunation and the second experiment investigated whether addition of nitrate to the incubation would give rise to methane mitigation additional to that contributed by defaunation. Ten Brahman heifers were progressively adapted to a diet containing 4.5% coconut oil distillate for 18 d and then all heifers were defaunated using sodium 1-(2-sulfonatooxyethoxy) dodecane (Empicol). After 15 d, the heifers were given a second dose of Empicol. Fifteen days after the second dosing, all heifers were allocated to defaunated or refaunated groups by stratified randomisation, and the experiment commenced (d 0). On d 0, an oral dose of rumen fluid collected from unrelated faunated cattle was used to inoculate 5 heifers and form a refaunated group so that the effects of re-establishment of protozoa on fermentation characteristics could be investigated. Samples of rumen fluid collected from each animal using oesophageal intubation before feeding on d 0, 7, 14, and 21 were incubated for in vitro methane production. On d 35, 2% nitrate (as $NaNO_3$) was included in in vitro incubations to test for additivity of nitrate and absence of protozoa effects on fermentation and methane production. It was concluded that increasing protozoal numbers were associated with increased methane production in refaunated heifers 7, 14, and 21 d after refaunation. Methane production rate was significantly higher from refaunated heifers than from defaunated heifers 35 d after refaunation. Concentration and proportions of major volatile fatty acids, however, were not affected by protozoal treatments. There is scope for further reducing methane output through combining defaunation and dietary nitrate as the addition of nitrate in the defaunated heifers resulted in 86% reduction in methane production in vitro.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.49 no.5
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• pp.564-571
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• 2016

As the amount of rice straw collected increases, green manure crops are used to provide the needed organic matter. However, as green manure crops generate methane in the process of decomposition, we tested with different tillage depths in order to reduce the emission. The atmosphere temperature of the chamber was $25{\sim}40^{\circ}C$ during the examination of methane and soil temperature was $2{\sim}10^{\circ}C$ lower than air temperature. The redox potential (Eh) of the soil drastically fell right before irrigated transplanting and showed -300~-400 mV during the cultivating period of rice (7~106 days after transplant). When hairy vetch was incorporated to soil and the field was not irrigated, the generation of methane did not occur from 12 to 4 days before transplanting rice and started after irrigation. Regarding the pattern of methane generation during the cultivation of rice, methane was generated 7 days after transplanting, reached the pinnacle at by 63~74 days after transplanting, rapidly decreased after 86~94 days past transplanting and stopped after 106 days past transplanting. When tested by different soil types, methane emission gradually increased in loam and clay loam during early transplant, whereas it sharply increased in sandy loam. The total amount of methane emitted was highest in sandy loam, followed by loam and clay loam. In all three soil types, methane emission significantly reduced when tillage depth was 20 cm compared to 10 cm. The rice growths and yield were not affected by tillage depth. Therefore, reduction of methane emission could be achieved when application hairy vetch to the soil with tillage depth of 20 cm in paddy soil.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.597-603
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• 1996

This study was carried out to examine degradation characteristics of microalgae Chlorella vulgaris in methane fermentation. We measured COD and VS reduction, gas and methane productivity, VFA (volatile fatty acid), respectively. Then we calculated material balance and hydrolysis rates in soluble and solid material. The substrate concentration was controlled from 14 gCOD$_{cr}$/l to 64 gCOD$_{cr}$/l in batch cultures, and HRT (hydraulic retention time) controlled from 2 days to 30 days in continuous experi- ments. The results were as follows. In batch culture, accumulated gas productivity increased with the increase of the substrate concentration. The SS and VSS was removed all about 30% increase of substrate concentration and the most of the degradable material removed during the first 10 days. The curve of gas and methane production rate straightly increased until substrate concentration is 26 gCOD$_{cr}$/l. In continuous culture experiments, the removal rates at HRT 10days were 20% for total COD and TOC, respectively. At longer HRT, there was no increase in the removal efficiency. At HRT 15 days, the removal rates were 30% for SS and VSS, respectively. Soluble organic materials were rapidly degraded, and so there was no accumulated. Soluble COD concentration was not increase regardless of HRT-increasing. That meaned the hydrolysis was one of the rate-limiting stage of methane fermentation. The first-order rate constants of hydrolysis were 0.23-0.28 day$^{-1}$ for VSS, and 0.07-0.08 day$^{-1}$ for COD.

• Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.474-481
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of inoculum and carbon sources on anaerobic digestion characteristics. The treatments were combinations of inoculum (digestate of cattle manure and rumen fluid) with carbon sources (starch, cellulose, and xylan). Anaerobic digestion was performed in triplicate at $37^{\circ}C$ for 18 days at 100 rpm. Sampling was performed at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, and 18 days to measure pH, ammonia-N, volatile solids reduction, the cumulative methane content, and the cumulative methane production. There was a significant difference in methane content depending on the carbon source and there was a significant difference in pH, ammonia-N, methane production, and methane content depending on the inoculum (P < 0.05). The results of methane production were higher in the digestate of cattle manure treatment than in the rumen fluid treatment (P < 0.05). In this study, different digestive patterns depending on the type of carbon source could be used as basic research data to set the hydraulic residence time of anaerobic digestion facilities. In addition, the use of ruminal fluid as an inoculum may help accelerate the hydrolysis and acid production steps.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.387-389
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• 2014

Laminar lifted methane jet flame diluted with nitrogen and helium in co-flow air has been investigated experimentally. This paper examines the role of chemistry, intermediate species responsible for stabilization of lifted flame. To elucidate the stabilization mechanism in lifted methane jet flames with Sc<1, the chemiluminescence intensities of $CH^*$ and $OH^*$ were measured using ICCD camera at various nozzle exit velocities and fuel mole fractions. It has been observed that the $OH^*$ species can play an important role in stabilization of lifted methane jet flame as they are good indicators of heat release rate which can affect on flame speed and increase stability through reduction in ignition delay time.