• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.59-71
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• 2018

Purpose: Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are natural polymers that have been promoted as a next generation of new, sustainable materials. CNCs are invaluable as reinforcing materials for composites because they can impart improved mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties and they are biodegradable. The purpose of this review is to provide researchers with information that can assist in the application of CNCs extracted from waste agricultural byproducts (e.g. rice husks, corncobs, pineapple leaves). Methods & Results: This paper presents the unique characteristics of CNCs based on agricultural byproducts, and lists processing methods for manufacturing CNCs from agricultural byproducts. Various mechanical treatments (microfluidization and homogenization) and chemical treatments (alkali treatment, bleaching and hydrolysis) can be performed in order to generate nanocellulose. CNC-based composite properties and various applications are also discussed. Conclusions: CNC-based composites from agricultural byproducts can be combined to meet end-use applications such as sensors, batteries, films, food packaging, and 3D printing by utilizing their properties. The review discusses applications in food engineering, biological engineering, and cellulose-based hydrogels.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.50-57
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the physical properties of kraft pulps made from rice husk, peanut husk and garlic stems. These agricultural byproducts were collected individually, and then various pulps were manufactured from them by controlling active alkali, sulfidity, reaction time and the liquor ratio in the kraft pulping process in order to analyze the applicability of these agricultural byproducts as raw materials for kraft pulps. After kraft pulping, we measured yield, flake content, fiber length, fiber width and freeness of pulps, and the fiber shapes of the pulps were observed by using an optical microscope. When the higher active alkali, longer reaction time and lower liquor ratio were applied in kraft pulping process, reject content decreased and fiber yield increased. The pulp from garlic stems had the longest fiber length and that from rice husk showed the highest intial freeness. All of the pulps from agricultural byproducts showed higher initial freeness, shorter fiber length and the similar fiber width compared to OCC, BCTMP and hardwood BKP. The fibers of the pulps made from agricultural byproducts showed a similar shape to those of commercial pulps. It was concluded that these agricultural byproducts had a potential as raw materials to produce an alternative pulp to the commercial pulps.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.34-41
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• 2013

In this study, we investigated the physical properties of powders made from agricultural byproducts, including rice straw, peanut husks, and garlic stems, to manufacture a new organic filler used for making paperboard. These materials were collected individually, and then we measured their chemical compositions. The byproducts were ground with a laboratory grinder and fractionated with 60-, 100-, and 200-mesh sieves to make many grades of organic fillers. After the grinding and fractionation, the yield, mean particle size, and particle size distribution of each grade were measured. Particle shapes were also investigated using a scanning electron microscope. The organic filler made from rice straw had the highest yield of the largest particle size group and higher contents of cellulose and hemicellulose than those made from peanut husks and garlic stems. The rice straw also showed more regular particle shapes and a lower aspect ratio than the other agricultural byproducts.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.82-94
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• 2021

Facilities for low impact development (LID) or groundwater recharge have the high potential spreading groundwater nitrate contamination because of the rapid infiltration. This study was initiated to remove nitrate from the waters using agricultural byproducts as organic sources for denitrification during infiltration. As the first step of this purpose, we experimentally tested the denitrifying efficiency of 4 organic materials (pine tree woodchips, cherry leaves, rice straws, and rice hulls) and tried to identify the key factors controlling the efficiency. For this study, we precisely investigated the change of chemical reactions during the experiment by analyzing various geochemical parameters. The result shows that the denitrification efficiency is not simply linked to the availability of the easily decomposable contents in the organic matter. It is found that avoiding the severe pH decrease due to the CO₂ generation is the essence to derive the efficient denitrifying conditions when organic matters were used.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.542-548
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• 2015

This study investigated methane productions and a degradation rate of organic matters by German standard method, VDI4630 test. In this study, 4 livestock byproducts from livestock farm were selected for the investigation. The objective of this study was to estimate a distribution of organic matters by using the double first-order kinetics model in order to calculate the rate of biodegradable organic matters which degrade rapidly in the initial stage and the persistently biodegradable organic matters which degrade slowly later. As a result, all the byproducts applied in this study showed rapid decomposition in the initial stage. Then the decomposition rate began to slow down for a certain period and the rate became 5 times slower than the initial decomposition rate. This trend of decomposition rate changes is typical conditions of organic matter decompositions. The easily degradable factors ($k_1$) ranged between $0.145{\sim}0.257day^{-1}$ and persistent degradable factors ($k_2$) were $0.027{\sim}0.080day^{-1}$. Among these results, greater organic matter decomposition rates from VDI4630 had greater $k_1$ values (0.257, $0.211day^{-1}$) and smaller $k_2$ values (0.027, $0.030day^{-1}$) for dairy wastewater and forage byproduct, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.86-96
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• 2003

This study was conducted to investigate use possibility of pharmaceutical byproducts(process sludge) and waste water sludges as raw materials of organic compost at Fertilizer Official Regulation of Fertilizer Management Law in 2002. All pharmaceutical byproducts were satisfied the standard levels of raw material regulated in organic compost, some waste water sludges were deficient in the level. The content of n-hexane extractable material(HEM) was in byproduct higher than in waste water sludge. This was presumed that the sludge with containing a lot of organic matter was high in HEM content. Of the whole microorganism flora, bacteria was mainly detected, and yeast and filamentous fungi took up less population which was fluctuated depending on the source of sludges. Most dominated bacteria were identified into Genus of Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas syringae and Rathayibacter bathayi was classified as plant pathogenic bacteria.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.325-329
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• 2006

Leuconostoc mesenteroides B-742 fermentations with maltose as an acceptor were tested for glucooligosaccharides and mannitol co-production. Leuconostoc oligosaccharides were produced that were oligomers with a size range of DP 2 to 7 and were primarily DP 3, 4, 5, and 6, containing mainly ${\alpha}-1,4$ and ${\alpha}-1,6$ linkages. Maltose was linked to the reducing end of the isomaltosyl residues. The $Ca^{2+}$ form of cation-exchange column could separate glucooligosaccharides from byproducts.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.248-252
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• 2008

An experiment was conducted in order to investigate gasification characteristics of rice husks in a fixed bed, which was a pre-step to design a continuous gasification system. Two air supply levels for gasification were chosen and their effects on the producer gas amount and producer gas composition were discussed. The main components of the producer gas were CO, $CO_2$, $O_2$, $H_2$ and THC (Total HydroCarbon). As airflow rate decreased, more producer gas was produced. The peak amount of CO, $H_2$ and THC were 28%, 7.5% and 0.68% in volume when constant airflow rate of $3.36\;m^3/s$ was used in the batch operation. About 4.5 kg of ash (9%) and condensed water including tars of 6 kg (11%) were produced from 50 kg rice husks in the gasification. Excluding the byproducts, all rice husks seemed to be transformed into producer gas. This gasification study was conducted prior to developing a continuous gasification system for biomass including agricultural byproducts.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.36-40
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• 2018

Climate change is one of the major issues in both the developed and developing world. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is one of the implications for climate change. It is increasing rapidly. Although the emission is much less when compared to the rest of the world, Ethiopia has also faced this global issue. The major source for GHG emission in Ethiopia is agriculture. Therefore, the agriculture sector has to be given more attention in Ethiopia. To overcome the problem, Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy has been initiated. One way of executing this target is to create a sustainable and environmentally friendly pathway to use agricultural byproducts. Sugarcane is one of the major plants in Ethiopia. Its byproducts are bagasse, molasses, and press mud. Since it is a waste product, it is economical and creates a sustainable and green environment by reducing GHG emissions. Sugarcane byproducts have versatile applications like as fuel, as cement replacing material, as a mitigation for expansive soils, as biosorbent for the treatment of water and wastewater and also as a wood material. However, Ethiopia has not used this byproduct massively as it is readily available. This paper reviews the possible applications of sugarcane byproducts to mitigate climate change.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.695-703
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• 2018

This study was conducted to suggest a sustainable farming practice forresource recycling in vegetable gardens of North Korea. In North Korea, farmers are allowed to own private vegetable gardens less than $100m^2$. However, usage of fertilizers in private vegetable gardens is very limited due to economic sanctions by UN security council. If North and South Korea initiated the cooperative action in the near future, agricultural sector would be the highest priority cooperation area. Considering the current North Korean situation in agriculture, we would like to suggest a method for producing organic fertilizer manure. For raw materials for producing manure, we selected corn byproduct, which is the most abundant material, and rabbits' feces, which are easily obtained from individual private farms in North Korea. As we cannot get corn byproducts and rabbits' feces from North Korea, we prepared samples of corn byproducts and rabbits; feces from many places in South Korea. After statistical analysis of variance, there was no significant difference in the T-N contents of corn byproducts from Gyeonggi, Gangwon, Chungnam, Chungbuk, Jeollabuk and Gyeongsangnam-dos, which indicates that the fertilizing quality of corn byproducts does not vary significantly in the spatial scale of South. Korea. In this sense, if we use corn samples from Gyeonggi province, they would not be very different from those of North Korean regions. Physicochemical properties of rabbits' feces were different between those eating feed grains and those eating plants only. Hence, we used rabbits' feces of the rabbits from Yeonchun area, which were fed by plants only. Using three different mixing ratios of corn byproducts and rabbits' feces, composting was conducted for 60 days. The mixing ratio of 1:1 produced the manure with % T-N of 1.98% and OM/N ratio of 31.7 after 30 days of composting, which is comparable to the quality of commercial manure.