• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.482-493
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• 2005

Biomass is originally photosynthesized from inorgainic compounds such as $CO_2$, minerals, water and solar energy. Recent studies have shown that anaerobic bacteria have the ability to convert recalcitrant biomass such as cellullosic or chitinoic materials to useful compounds. The biomass containing agricultural waste, unutilized wood and other garbage is expected to utilize as feed, food and fuel by microbial degradation and other metabolic functions. In this study we isolated several anaerobic, cellulolytic and chitinolytic bacteria from rumen fluid, compost and soil to study their related enzymes and genes. The anaerobic and cellulolytic bacteria, Clostridium thermocellum, Clostridium stercorarium, and Clostridium josui, were isolated from compost and the chitinolytic Clostridium paraputrificum from beach soil and Ruminococcus albus was isolated from cow rumen. After isolation, novel cellulase and xylanase genes from these anaerobes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. The properties of the cloned enzymes showed that some of them were the components of the enzyme (cellulase) complex, i.e., cellulosome, which is known to form complexes by binding cohesin domains on the cellulase integrating protein (Cip: or core protein) and dockerin domains on the enzymes. Several dockerin and cohesin polypeptides were independently produced by E. coli and their binding properties were specified with BIAcore by measuring surface plasmon resonance. Three pairs of cohesin-dockerin with differing binding specificities were selected. Two of their genes encoding their respective cohesin polypeptides were combined to one gene and expressed in E. coli as a chimeric core protein, on which two dockerin-dehydrogenase chimeras, the dockerin-formaldehyde dehydrogenase and the dockerin-NADH dehydrogenase are planning to bind for catalyzing $CO_2$ reduction to formic acid by feeding NADH. This reaction may represent a novel strategy for the reduction of the green house gases. Enzymes from the anaerobes were also expressed in tobacco and rice plants. The activity of a xylanase from C. stercorarium was detected in leaves, stems, and rice grain under the control of CaMV35S promoter. The digestibility of transgenic rice leaves in goat rumen was slightly accelerated. C. paraputrificum was found to solubilize shrimp shells and chitin to generate hydrogen gas. Hydrogen productivity (1.7 mol $H_2/mol$ glucos) of the organism was improved up to 1.8 times by additional expression of the own hydrogenase gene in C. paraputrficum using a modified vector of Clostridiu, perfringens. The hydrygen producing microflora from soil, garbage and dried pelletted garbage, known as refuse derived fuel(RDF), were also found to be effective in converting biomass waste to hydrogen gas.

• Plant Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.38-47
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• 2014

Renewable Portfolio Standards was introduced into the system in Korea in 2012. Interest in the unutilized and renewable energy sources is increasing. and these being actively investigated. An organic rankine cycle has emerged as an alternative in order to take advantage of bio-gas engine heat of sewage treatment plants whose capacity is 1500 kW. The organic rankine cycle power system was simulated by a simulator which is a commercial program of power plant design and performance analysis. The biogas engine is operated by $460^{\circ}C$ and 2.7 kg/s flow rate in the sewage treatment plant. Working fluids(R-601a, R-123, R-245fa) are selected to use in ORC power system in this temperature range. It was the isopentane that is the best performance among three working fluids. It could be obtained net power of 163.1 kW and efficiency of 13.66% from isopentane in the simulation.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

To confirm the applicability of the water gas shift reaction for the production of high purity hydrogen for petroleum cokes, an unutilized low grade resource, Cu/ZnO/MgO/Al₂O₃ (CZMA), catalyst was prepared using the co-precipitation method. The prepared catalyst was analyzed using BET and H₂-TPR. Catalyst reactivity tests were compared and analyzed in two cases: a single LTS reaction from syngas containing a high concentration of CO, and an LTS reaction immediately after the syngas passed through a HTS reaction without condensation of steam. Reaction characteristics in accordance with steam/CO ratio, flow rate, and temperature were confirmed under both conditions. When the converted low concentration of CO and steam were immediately injected into the LTS, the CO conversion was rather low in most conditions despite the presence of large amounts of steam. In addition, because the influence of the steam/CO ratio, temperature, and flow rate was significant, additional analysis was required to determine the optimal operating conditions. Meanwhile, carbon deposition or activity degradation of the catalyst did not appear under high CO concentration, and high CO conversion was exhibited in most cases. In conclusion, it was confirmed that when the Cu/ZnO/MgO/Al₂O₃ catalyst and the appropriate operating conditions were applied to the syngas composition containing a high concentration of CO, the high concentration of CO could be converted in sufficient amounts into CO₂ by applying a single LTS reaction.