• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.961-965
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• 2007

In this study, degradation of carbohydrates and composition of fermentative products were investigated in semi-continuous acid fermenter varying hydraulic retention time (HRT). Rice soup was used as a sole substrate for the acid fermentation. Solubilization efficiency of the substrate was higher than 70% for all HRT, however the gas conversion was ignorable implying that most of organic contents in the influent remained in the form of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and ethanol after acid fermentation. The VFAs were the predominant product and the VFAs conversion increased as the HRT decreased. The VFAs conversion reached the maximum value at 12 hr HRT accounting for 70% of the influent COD. Similar to VFAs, ethanol conversion was increased with the decrease of HRT and the maximum ethanol conversion efficiency was 8% at the HRT of 12 hr. Composition of VFAs was markedly dependent on HRT. As HRT increased, the composition of acetic acid was increased as a product of acetogenesis from butyrate, valerate and ethanol. This study demonstrated that HRT affected acid fermentation of a carbohydrate containing organic wastes producing VFAs and ethanol which could be effectively used to compensate the lack of carbon in wastewater for biological nutrient removal.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.438-445
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• 1993

Raw cow manure was treated by a 4-step integrated system with phase separation anaerobic digestion and algal culture. When the first methane fermentation was performed by the effluent from the acid fermenter with retention time of 4 days, the elrerage blogas production rate was 977m1/1 culture/day Gas productivity compared to conventional single-stage anaerobic digestion increased up to 31.4%. As the 2nd methane fermenter was fed by the effluent from the first methane fermenter with 4 days of retention time, average amount of 428m1/1 culture/day of biogas was produced. The reduction rate of COD in the effluent from the acid fermenter, the 1st and the 2nd methane fermenter were 71.8%, 42.6% and 24.0% respectively. Finally, we examined algal treatment process for the effluent from the 2nd methane fermenter. A semi-continuous culture of Chlorella sp. PSH3 was conducted by feeding the effluent with retention time of 10days. In this process, the production rate of algal biomass and COD reduction rate were averaged 1.8g/1 culture/day(2.8$\times$106 cells/ml) and 73%, respectively. Through the 4-setp treatments, the total chemical oxygen demand was reduced from 51,300ppm to 85ppm. Therefore, the reduction rate of total chemical oxygen demand reached about 99.8%. The results indicate that the integrated system could be applicable for treatment of organic wastes, concurrently producing biogas and algal biomass.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.376-380
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• 2006

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of temperature and pH on in vitro nutrient degradability, volatile fatty acid profile and methane production. The fermenter used was the semi-continuous system, known as the rumen simulation technique (RUSITEC). Sixteen cylinders were used at one time with a volume of 800 ml, the dilution rate was set at 3.5%/hour, the infused buffer being McDougall's artificial saliva. Basal diet (9.6 g DM) used in RUSITEC consisted of (DM) 6.40 g Timothy hay, 1.86 g crushed corn and 1.34 g soybean meal. The food for the fermentation vessel was provided in nylon bags, which were gently agitated in the liquid phase. The experiment lasted for 17 d with all the samples taken during the last 5 d. Treatments were allocated at random to four vessels each and were (1) two temperature levels of $39^{\circ}C$ and $41^{\circ}C$ (2) two pH levels of 6.0 and 7.0. The total diet contained ($g\;kg^{-1}$ DM) 957 OM, 115 CP and $167MJ\;kg^{-1}$ (DM) GE. Although increase in temperature from $39^{\circ}C$ to $41^{\circ}C$ reduced degradation of major nutrients in vitro, it was non-significant. Interaction effect of temperature with pH also reflected a similar trend. However, pH showed a significant (p<0.05) negative effect on the degradability of all the nutrients in vitro. Altering the in vitro pH from 7 to 6 caused marked reduction in DMD from 60.2 to 41.8, CPD from 76.3 to 55.3 and GED from 55.3 to 35.1, respectively. Low pH (6) depressed total VFA production (61.9 vs. 34.9 mM) as well as acetate to propionate ratio in vitro (from 2.0 to 1.5) when compared to pH 7. Compared to pH 7, total gas production decreased from 1,841 ml to 1,148 ml at pH 6, $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ production also reduced from 639 to 260 ml and 138 to 45 ml, respectively. This study supported the premise that pH is one of the principal factors affecting the microbial production of volatile fatty acids and gas. Regulating the ruminal pH to increase bacterial activity may be one of the methods to optimize VFA production, reduce methane and, possibly, improve animal performance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2005

The performance of a novel fermentation process, adopting a sludge blanket type configuration for higher hydrolysis/acidogenesis of the municipal primary sludge, was investigated under batch and semi-continuous conditions with various pH and temperature conditions. This acid elutriation slurry reactor provided higher system performance with a short HRT (5 days) and higher acidogenic effluent quality under pH 9 and thermophilic ($55^{\circ}C$) conditions. The hydrolysis of the sludge was revealed to be significantly dependent on seasonal effects for sludge characteristics but with little impact on acidogenesis. Based on the rainy season at the optimum conditions, VFA production and recovery fraction ($VFA_{COD}/COD$) were $0.18\;g\;VFA_{COD}\;g^{-1}\;VSS_{COD}$ and 63%. As byproducts, nitrogen and phosphorus releasing were $0.006\;g\;N\;g^{-1}\;VSS_{COD}$ and $0.003\;g\;P\;g^{-1}\;VSS_{COD}$, respectively. For the mass balance in a full-scale plant($Q=158,880\;m^3\;day^{-1}$) based on the rainy season, the VFA and non-VFA(as COD) production were $3,110\;kg\;VFA_{COD}\;day^{-1}$ and $1,800\;kg\;COD\;day^{-1}$, resulting in an increase of organics of $31\;mg\;COD\;L^{-1}$ and $20\;mg\;VFA_{COD}\;L^{-1}$ and nutrients of $0.7\;mg\;N\;L^{-1}$ and $0.3\;mg\;P\;L^{-1}$ in the influent sewage. The economical benefit from this process application was estimated to be about $67 per $1,000m^3$ of sewage except for energy requirements and also, better benefits can be expected during the dry season. Also, the results revealed that the process has various additional advantages such as pathogen-free stabilized solids production, excellent solids control and economical benefits.