• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.609-616
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• 2022

In this study, the effect of different reaction times for thermal-alkaline pretreatment on the solubilization and biogasification of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) were evaluated. Thermal-alkaline pretreatment tests were performed at 73 ℃ and pH 13 at 0-120 h reaction times. The mesophilic anaerobic batch tests were performed with untreated and pretreated PHB samples. The increase in the pretreatment reaction time results in a 52.8-98.8% increase of the abiotic solubilization efficiency of the PHB samples. The reaction time required to achieve solubilization efficiencies of 50%, 90%, and 95% were 10.5, 52.0, and 89.6 h, respectively. The biogasification of the untreated PHB samples achieved a specific methane production rate of 3.6 mL CH₄/g VSS/d and require 101.3 d for complete biogasification. The thermal-alkaline pretreatment significantly improved specific methane production rate (10.2-16.0 time increase), lag time (shortened by 76-81%), and time for complete biogasification (shortened by 21-83%) for the biogasification of the PHB samples when compared to those of the untreated PHB samples. The improvement was higher as the reaction time of the thermal-alkaline pretreatment increased. The findings of this study could be used as a valuable reference for the optimization of the biogasification process in the treatment of PHB wastes.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.299-307
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of low temperature thermal pre-treatment on biodegradation of waste activated sludge for anaerobic digestion as a countermeasure for increasing sludge generation. The experimental condition was accomplished in 2 %, 4 %, and 6 % TS concentration, and $70^{\circ}C$, $80^{\circ}C$, $90^{\circ}C$ of temperature for a maximum of 120 minutes retention time. Then, it was followed by analysis of physical/chemical properties, BMP test and composition of biogas. The biogas characteristic was evaluated by applying the modified Gomperz model. As a result, solubility of dissolved substrate, such as $SCOD_{Cr}$, soluble carbohydrate, and soluble protein, and biogas production increased as temperature increased. Solubilization efficiency at $90^{\circ}C$ was 18.4 %, 17.03 % and 16.88% in 2 %, 4 %, and 6 % TS concentration respectively. Also, solubilization rates of carbohydrate and protein similarly increased. BMP test results also showed that methane production in excess sludge increased to 0.194, 0.187 and $0.182m^3/kg$ VS. respectively, and lag phase decreased to 0.145, 0.220, 0.351 day due to acceleration of the hydrolysis step. Consequently, low-temperature thermal pre-treatment could increase biodegradability of sludge, positively affecting biogas production and sludge reduction.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.27-39
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• 2019

In this study, thermal-alkali pre-treatment (THAP) optimal condition and co-digestion efficiency with THAP of the mixture food waste and sewage sludge were evaluated for improving the performances of co-digestion for mixed food waste and sewage sludge. The optimal condition of THAP was evaluated for solubilization COD, CST(Capillary Suction Time), TTF(Time to Filter), and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) with THAP temperature and NaOH concentration. In addition, the co-digestion of mixed food waste and sewage sludge were evaluated using biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. The optimal THAP reaction temperature and NaOH concentration of food waste and sewage sludge were $140^{\circ}C$ and 60 meq/L to solubilization COD over 20%, CST and TTF under 60sec and VFAs concentration over 12,000 mg-COD/L, respectively. The optimal condition of co-digestion of mixed food waste and sewage sludge equal to THAP condition. Therefore, it was determined that the optimal condition of THAP reaction temperature and NaOH concentration for co-digestion of mixed food waste and sewage sludge were $140^{\circ}C$ and 60 meq/L, respectively.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.185-189
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• 2005

The effect of NaCl solution concentration (from 0 to 3 M) on the extraction of pectinesterase (PE) from jalapeno chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) was studied by determining its solubilization degree from the chili tissue. All concentrations of the salt favored the solubilization of PE in jalapeno chili pepper, compared to that in water. Maximum enzyme activity was obtained with NaCl 2.0 M. The effect of temperature on the PE activity of jalapeno chili pepper in the extracts was also studied. The PE residual activity of jalapeno pepper was 75% after 60 min of incubation at $55^{\circ}C$ and 10% at $75^{\circ}C$. At $85-95^{\circ}C$, PE residual activity was 5% after 5 min of incubation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.449-454
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• 2008

Some pretreatment methods have been proposed to enhance the biodegradability and to shorten the hydrolysis reaction time. By means of efficient pretreatment the suspended solids (SS) can be made of better accessible for the anaerobic bacteria. There are several ways how this can be accomplished, which include biological, mechanical, thermal, and chemical methods. For the sludge solubilization using the cavitation phenomenon, we have tried to develop a pretreatment process consisted of a reactor and pumps. The objectives of this study were to develop a advanced wastewater treatment consisted of IABR and the cavitation with PGA. The most effective removal for organic matter and nutrients were occured when both cavitation pretreatment and ${\gamma}$-PGA were applied at the IABR process. Only small portion of ${\gamma}$-PGA at a rate of 1.38mg/L, was enough to improve sedimentation ability, SS removal efficiencies, and sludge volume reduction. After the sludge solubilization by the cavitation, SCOD increased to 193% and SS decreased to 36%. The removal ratio of BOD was 94.5%, T-N removal ratio was 85.5% and T-P removal ratio was 84.9%. The combination process of the IABR with the cavitation and PGA addition seems to be very effective alternative wastewater treatment process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 2015

The study of waste activated sludge (WAS) solubilization has been increased for sludge volume reduction and enhancing the efficiency of anaerobic digestion. Microwave (MW)-assisted solubilization is an effective method for the solubilization of WAS because this method can lead to thermal, nonthermal effect and ionic conduction by dielectric heating. In this study, the solubilization of WAS by MW heating and conductive heating (CH) was compared and to enhance the MW-assisted solubilization of WAS at low MW output power, chemical agents were applied such as $H_2SO_4$ as the strong acid and $CaCl_2$, NaCl as the ionic materials. Compared to the COD solubilization of WAS by CH, that by MW heating was approximately 1.4, 6.2 times higher at $50^{\circ}C$, $100^{\circ}C$, respectively and the highest COD solubilization of WAS was 10.0% in this study of low MW output power condition. At the same MW output power and reaction time in chemically agents assisted experiments, the COD solubilization of WAS were increased up to 18.1% and 12.7% with the addition of $H_2SO_4$ and NaCl, however, that with the addition of $CaCl_2$ was 10.7%. This result might be due to the fact that the precipitation reaction occurred by calcium ion ($Ca^{2+}$) and phosphate ion (${PO_4}^{3-}$) produced in WAS after MW-assisted solubilization. In this study, $H_2SO_4$ turned out to be the optimal agent for the enhancement of MW efficiency, the addition of 0.2 M $H_2SO_4$ was the most effective condition for MW-assisted WAS solubilization.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2022

Studies for improving the efficiency of the traditional anaerobic digestion process are being actively conducted. To improve anaerobic digestion efficiency, this study tried to derive the optimal pretreatment conditions and mixing conditions by integrating the heat solubilization pretreatment of sewage sludge, livestock manure, and food waste. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) increase rate of sewage sludge before and after heat solubilization pretreatment showed an increased rate of 224.7% compared to the control group at 170℃ and 25 min and showed the most stable increase rate. As a result of the biomethane potential test of sewage sludge before and after heat solubilization pretreatment, the total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) and SCOD removal rates increased as the heat solubilization temperature increased, but did not increase further at temperatures above 170℃. In the case of methane generation, there was no significant change in the cumulative methane generation from 0.134 to 0.203 Sm³-CH₄/kg-COD at 170℃ for 15 min. As a result of the integrated digestion of organic waste, the experimental condition in which 25% of the sewage sludge, 50% of the food waste, and 25% of the livestock manure were mixed showed the highest methane production of 0.3015 m³-CH₄/kg-COD, confirming that it was the optimal mixing ratio condition. In addition, under experimental conditions mixed with all three substrates, M4 conditions mixed with 25% sewage sludge, 50% food waste, and 25% livestock manure showed the highest methane generation at 0.2692 Sm³-CH₄/kg-COD.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.110-116
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• 2016

Biogas yields point of view, the possibility of reusing excess sludge treated by thermal pretreatment for the purpose of improving the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion process has been investigated in recent year. Thermal pretreatment technology was considered as a pretreatment technique to improve excess sludge properties because of the solubilization of particulate organics. As a view point of sludge reduction and recycle, however, many researchers focused on the ability of particulate hydrolysis and COD solubilization under a high temperature, and few reports have addressed on the physical/chemical characteristics changing. This research was performed to evaluate the effects of a various temperature and chemical additives on carbon formation and fractionation in treated slurry from thermal pretreatment. Based on the results, it was revealed that oxidants injection and temperature changing have significantly caused the change of carbon fractions in slurry from thermal pretreament. Especially, it was considered that the efficiencies of particle hydrolysis increased with the increase of the reaction temperature. Low molecular weight(Mw < 350 g/mol) organic carbon formation increased with the increase of oxidants injection. It was expected that results of this research will provide an overview of the characteristics of thermal pretreatement for excess sludge reduction and recycle.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.781-785
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• 2012

This study was carried out to treat the thermal elutriated acids of piggery wastewater using UASB process. The UASB reactor was operated at an organic loading rate (OLR) of $7.4\;kgCOD/m^3-day$ (6.5 ~ 9.0). During the start-up period, the low COD removal efficiency (20%) was caused by shock loading and instability in the reactor. It was mainly due to the high concentration amounts of ammonia nitrogen, which caused inhibitory and toxic effects to toward the anaerobic bacteria. In steady state, the UASB reactor showed a SCOD removal efficiency of 71% and a VS removal efficiency of 39%. The gas production and methane content were 1.3 L/day $(0.21\;m^3\;CH^4/kg$ COD removed) and 77%, respectively.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.46-54
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• 2015

In this study, an applicability of thermal pretreatment for primary and secondary sludge, which are generated in a sewage treatment plant, was evaluated. The efficiency and charateristics was investigated with each sludge after pretreatment under the condition of $100{\sim}220^{\circ}C$ for 30 minutes. As the result, it was found that $SCOD_{Cr}$, $NH_4{^+}$, VFAs concentrations increased as the pre-treatment temperature increased. For COD solubilization, it was also highly dependent on an increase of temperature resulting in acceleration on hydrolysis and acid fermentation. In the BMP (Biochemical Methane Potential) experiment, for the primary sludge, it showed the higher biogas production rate at a temperature of $220^{\circ}C$, however, the effect was insignificant (5.6%). Whereas, for the secondary sludge, the increase on biogass production rate was 38.8% ($180^{\circ}C$) and this means that the secondary sludge is more suitable for an applicability of thermal pretreatment.