• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2009

Composting is a biological process converting solid organic waste into valuable materials such as fertilizer. The change of bacterial populations in a composting reactor of food waste was investigated for 2 months. Based on shifts in temperature profile, the composting process could be divided into the first phase ($2^{\circ}C\sim55^{\circ}C$), the second phase ($55^{\circ}C\sim97^{\circ}C$), and the third phase ($50^{\circ}C\sim89^{\circ}C$). The number of total bacteria was $1.66\times10^{11}$ cell/g, $0.29\times10^{11}$ cell/g, and $0.28\times10^{11}$ cell/g in the first, second, and third stages, respectively. The proportions of thermophiles increased from 33% to 89% in the second stage. T-RFLP analysis and nucleotide sequencing of 16S rRNA gene demonstrated that the change of bacterial community structure was coupled with shifts in composting stages. The structure of bacterial community in the ultra-thermophilic second stage reflected that of seeding starter. The major decomposers driving the ultra-thermophilic composting were identified as phylotypes related to Bacillus and Pseudomonas.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

EMMC(Entrapped Mixed Microbial Cell) process which is a kind of active cell immobilizing method was applied to treat fisheries processing wastewater biologically. Kinetic constants were calculated for organic and nitrogen removal and effect of effluent recycling on system performance was evaluated also. Yield coefficient, Y showed relatively low value compared with Y value obtained from conventional activated sludge process. It means that EMMC process can reduce amount of excess sludge significantly compared with conventional activated sludge process. Endogenous respiration coefficient $k_e$ of EMMC process also showed relatively low value compared with that of conventional activated sludge process. Yield coefficient Y, endogenous respiration coefficient $k_e$ and half saturation constant $k_s$ obtained from EMMC process in terms of nitrification were compared with reported value from literature based on suspended growth nitrification system. The value of Y obtained from this study has no difference compared with values obtained from literature review and $k_e$ of this study was low but $k_s$ of this study was high compared than values obtained from suspended growth nitrification system. To evaluate the effect of internal recycling on system performance, system was operated with internal recycling ratio of 1.5Q, 2.0Q, 2.5Q and 3.0Q. increase of internal recycling ratio effect more greatly on improvement of denitrification efficiency than that of nitrification efficiency. Accordingly, optimization of internal recycling ratio has to be based on improvement of anoxic reactor performance.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.215-220
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• 2010

Hydrogen is a clean and efficient energy source and is expected to take an important role in future energy demand. A possibly good route to produce hydrogen is by using biomass and organic wastes as a source through thermo-chemical conversion technology. In this study, pyrolysis of wood Pellet(Oregon pine) has been carried out in batch type fixed-bed reactor in $N_2$ atmosphere during 20 minutes to determine the optimum hydrogen generating conditions. At the influence of temperature, hydrogen yield was increased with increasing temperature. For the influence of Steam/Biomass Ratio(SBR), hydrogen yield was increased by steam addition at low temperature condition. However, effect of steam addition was insignificant over at SBR = 1. The hydrogen yield was increased with increasing SBR at high temperature condition. From result of $H_2$/CO and $H_2/CH_4$ ratio, dominant reaction was steam reforming in this experimental condition. The optimum condition for hydrogen production was determined as follows: $H_2$ yield = 38.3 vol.% (56.01 L/min kg) at $900^{\circ}C$, SBR=3.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2020

BACKGROUND: Recently, biomass conversion from agricultural wastes to carbon-rich materials such as biochar has been recognized as a promising option to maintain or increase soil productivity, reduce nutrient losses, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the agro-ecosystem. This experiment was conducted to select an optimum conditions for enhancing the NH₄-N adsorption capacity of rice hull activated biochar. METHODS AND RESULTS: For deciding the proper molarity of KOH for enhancing its porosity, biochars treated with different molarity of KOH (0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8) were carbonized at 600℃ in the reactor. The maximum adsorption capacity was 1.464 mg g^-1, and an optimum molarity was selected to be 6 M KOH. For the effect of adsorption capacity to different carbonized temperatures, 6 M KOH-treated biochar was carbonized at 600℃ and 800℃ under the pyrolysis system. The result has shown that the maximum adsorption capacity was 1.76 mg g^-1 in the rice hull activated biochar treated with 6 M KOH at 600℃ of pyrolysis temperature, while its non-treated biochar was 1.17 mg g^-1. The adsorption rate in the rice hull activated biochar treated with 6 M KOH at 600℃ was increased at 62.18% compared to that of the control. Adsorption of NH₄-N in the rice hull activated biochar was well suited for the Langmuir model because it was observed that dimensionless constant (R_L) was 0.97 and 0.66 at 600℃ and 800℃ of pyrolysis temperatures, respectively. The maximum adsorption amount (q_m) and the bond strength constants (b) were 0.092 mg g^-1 and 0.001 mg L^-1, respectively, for the rice hull activated biochar treated with 6 M KOH at 600℃ of pyrolysis. CONCLUSION: Optimum condition of rice hull activated biochar was 6M KOH at 600℃ of pyrolysis temperature.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.75-84
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• 1992

The paper manufactories in Sangpyeong Industrial Estates, Chinju, produce more than 80 tons of paper-mill sludge cakes every day, which costs about 840 million won for dump per year. Since the paper-mill sludge is biodegradable, the sludge can he utilized as an organic fertilizer if it is properly decomposed. This may lead to not only dramatic cut of the treatment cost but prevention from secondary environmental contamination due to dump. The primary objective of the study was to explore the quantitative range of major enviromental parameters influencing early composting of paper-mill cakes, naturally pretreated in warn and cold weather. The automatically-controlled reactor was designed, manufactured, and operated for nine days to decompose about 2201 of raw sludge cakes. Four tests(Test 1-Test 4) were implemented for the study of Phase I. Treatments of two levels of initial temperature (40˚C and 28˚C) and two levels of water content + C/N ratio (35% + 40 and 63% + 80) were made to test the significance of their parameters for decomposition of raw sludge cakes pretreated in warm weather. Another four tests (Test 5- Test 8) were implemented for the study of Phase II. Treatments of initial temperature and water content(W/C) + C/N ratio of raw sludge pretreated in cold weather were made to 16˚C and 13% +58 for Test 5, 6˚C and 53% +55 for Test 6, 7˚C and 36% +81 for Test 7, 31˚C and 30% +81 for Test 8. Natural weater condition(pretreatment condition) revealed the importance m composting of the paper-mill sludge cakes. Combination of water content adjustment to about 30% with C/N ratio amendment of about 20 and initial temperature of 30~40˚C was concluded to be the best for early composting of paper-mill sludge cakes with aeration rate and pH fixed. Temperature and C/N ratio were adapted as judging variables for composting degree. In addition, tests for microbial activity were performed to validate the experimental results. Since the temperature and C/N ratio did not coincide in some tests as judging variables for the maturity of the composting sludges, taking one of these parameters could mislead the concept of the maturity (composting conceptually new criterion to provide more reliable information for early composting of paper-mill sludge cakes.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.235-244
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• 2020

Copper (Cu), one of the main contaminants in the mine drainage from the closed mine area, needs to be removed before exposed to environment because of its toxicity even in the low concentration. In this study, passive treatment based field pilot experiments using limestone and compost media were conducted during 9 months for enhancing Cu removal efficiency of the mine water treatment facility of S mine located in Goseong, Gyeongsangnam-do in South Korea. The pH increase and Cu removal efficiency showed high value at Successive Alkalinity Producing System ( SAPS) > Reducing and Alkalinity Producing System (RAPS) > limestone reactor in a sequence. The compost media using in SAPS and RAPS contributed to raise pH by organic material decomposition with generating alkalinity, thus, Cu removal efficiency increased. Also, experimental results showed that Cu removal efficiency was proportional to pH increase, meaning that pH increase is the main mechanism for Cu removal. Moreover, Sulfate Reduction Bacteria (SRB) was identified to be most activated in SAPS. It is inferred that the sulfate reduction reaction also contributed to Cu removal. This study has the site significance in that the experiments were conducted at the place where the mine water generates. In the future, the results will be useful to select the more effective reactive media used in the treatment facility, which is most appropriate to remediate mine water from the S mine.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2020

In this paper, the commercial feasibility of trigeneration, producing heat, power, and hydrogen (CHHP) and using biogas derived from macroalgae (i.e., seaweed biomass feedstock), are investigated. For this purpose, a commercial scale trigeneration process, consisting of three MW solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), gas turbine, and organic Rankine cycle, is designed conceptually and simulated using Aspen plus, a commercial process simulator. To produce hydrogen, a solid oxide fuel cell system is re-designed by the removal of after-burner and the addition of a water-gas shift reactor. The cost of each unit operation equipment in the process is estimated through the calculated heat and mass balances from simulation, with the techno-economic analysis following through. The designed CHHP process produces 2.3 MW of net power and 50 kg hr^-1 of hydrogen with an efficiency of 37% using 2 ton hr^-1 of biogas from 3.47 ton hr^-1 (dry basis) of brown algae as feedstock. Based on these results, a realistic scenario is evaluated economically and the breakeven electricity selling price (BESP) is calculated. The calculated BESP is ¢10.45 kWh^-1, which is comparable to or better than the conventional power generation. This means that the CHHP process based on SOFC can be a viable alternative when the technical targets on SOFC are reached.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.519-524
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• 2005

Due to the low C/N ratio of domestic wastewater characteristic, addition of external carbon source for the effective N and P removal is necessary. High organic content of food waste can be used for the external carbon source in biological nutrient removal processes, The applicability of condensate of food waste (CFW), which is produced during the high-rate fermentation process, was examined in membrane bioreactor for the nutrient removal. Under the various operating conditions, nutrient removal efficiencies and membrane fouling characteristics were evaluated using synthetic wastewater. From nitrate utilization rate (NUR) test, denitrification rate was 0.19 g $NO_3-N/g$ VSS/day. With the addition of CFW increased, average removal efficiencies of T-N and T-P could be increased up to 64% and 41%, respectively. Also the optimal retention time was 3 hr/5 hr for anoxic/aerobic reactor. When applied to real sewage, membrane fouling resistance was increased up to 60%, which could be reduced from $10.4{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$ to $5.9{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$ with the control of influent suspended solid concentration. In summary, it was suggested that CFW could be used as an economical and effective carbon source for membrane assisted biological N and P removal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.555-561
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• 2005

A new graphical method was developed to separate two distinctive decay rate coefficients($k_1$ and $k_2$) at their respective degradable substrate fractions($S_1 and $S_2$). The mesophilic batch reactor showed $k_1$ of $0.151\;day^{-1}$ for wasted activated sludge(WAS), $0.123\;day^{-1}$ for thickened sludge(T-S), $0.248{\sim}0.358\;day^{-1}$ at S/I ratio of $1{\sim}3$ for sorghum and $0.155{\sim}0.209\;day^{-1}$ at S/I ratio $0.2{\sim}1.0$ for swine waste, whereas their long term batch decay rate coefficients($k_2$) were $0.021\;day^{-1}$, $0.001\;day^{-1}$, $0.03\;day^{-1}$ and $0.04\;day^{-1}$ respectively. At least an order of magnitude difference between $k_1$ and $k_2$ was routinely observed in the batch tests. The portion of $S_1$, which degrades with each $k_1$ appeared 71% for WAS, 39% for T-S, 90% for sorghum, and $84{\sim}91%$ at S/I ratio of $0.2{\sim}1.0$ for swine waste. Ultimate biodegradabilities of 50% for WAS, 40% of T-S, $82{\sim}92%$ for sorghum, and $81{\sim}89%$ for swine waste were observed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.583-589
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• 2015

This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of anaerobic pretreatment for the leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge cake. Overall process for the treatment of sludge cake consists of thermal hydrolysis, crystallization of magnesium, ammonium, and phosphate (MAP) for the leachate and anaerobic digestion of supernatant from MAP crystallization. The experimental evidence showed that the optimum ratio of Mg : P for the struvite crystallization of leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sludge cake was 1.5 to 1.0 as weight basis at the pH of 9.5. With this operational condition, the removal efficiencies of ammonia nitrogen and phosphorous achieved 50% and 97%, respectively. The mesophilic batch test showed that the ultimate biodegradability of the supernatant from MAP crystallization reached 63% at S/I ratio of 0.5. The readily biodegradable fraction of 90% ($S_1$) of the MAP supernatant BVS (Biodegradable Volatile Solids, $S_0$) degraded with $k_1$ of $0.207day^{-1}$ for the initial 17 days where as the rest slowly biodegradable fraction ($S_2$) of 10% of BVS degraded with $k_2$ of $0.02day^{-1}$ for the rest of the operational period. Semi-Continuously Fed and Mixed Reactor (SCFMR) was chosen as one of the best candidates to treat the MAP supernatant because of its total solids content over 6%. Maximum average biogas production rates reached 0.45 v/v-d and TVS removal efficiency of 37~41% was achieved at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days and its corresponding organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.43 g VS/L-d.