• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 2005

Salt accumulation in the plastic film house soils under continuous cultivation condition causes problems such as salt damages to plants, nitrate accumulation in vegetables, groundwater contamination, etc. due to excess application of fertilizers. Objective of this research was to find an optimum adsorbent to reduce salt concentration in the soil solution of plastic film house soils, where crop injuries have been observed due to the salt accumulation. The soils were significantly high in available P $(1,431{\sim}6,516mg\;kg^{-1}),\;NO_3-N\;(117.60{\sim}395.73mg\;kg^{-1})$, exchangeable Ca $(4.06{\sim}11.07\;cmol_c\;kg^{-1})$ and Mg $(2.59{\sim}18.76\;cmol_c\;kg^{-1})$, as compared to those of the average upland soils in Korea. Soils were treated with each of adsorbent such as ion-exchange resin, zeolite, rice bran, etc. at 2% level and prepared into saturated-paste samples. After equilibrium, soil solution was vacuum-extracted from the soil and measured for changes of the pH, EC, and concentrations of $Ca^{2+},\;Mg^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+,\;{NH_4}^+,\;{PO_4}^{3-}\;and\;{NO_3}^-$. Rice bran effectively removed ${PO_4}^{3-}\;and\;{NO_3}^-$ in the soil solution up to 100%. Efficiency was decreased in the orders of rice bran > ion-exchange resin > zeolite. Removal efficiencies of zeolite and ion-exchange resin for $Ca^{2+}$ were ranged from 1 to 65% and from 7 to 61%, respectively. Ion-exchange resin was also effective for removing $Mg^{2+},\;K^+,\;Na^+,\;and\;{NH_4}^+$. Overall results demonstrated that rice bran and ion-exchange resin could be applicable for salt accumulated soil to remove the respective anion and cation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.461-466
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• 2010

In this study the feasibility of simultaneous electricity generation and treatment of swine farm wastewater using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) was examined. Two single-chamber MFCs containing an anode filled with different ratio of graphite felt and stainless-steel cross strip was used in all tests. The proportion of stainless-steel cross strip to graphite felt in the anode of control microbial fuel cell (CMFC) was higher than that of swine microbial fuel cell (SMFC) to reduce construction costs. SMFCs produced a stable current of 18 mA by swine wastewater with chemical oxygen demand (COD) of $3.167{\pm}80\;mg/L$ after enriched. The maximum power density and current density of SMFCs were $680\;mW/m^3$ and $3,770\;mA/m^3$, respectively. In the CMFC, power density and current density was lower than that of SMFC. CODs decreased by the SMFC and CMFC from $3.167{\pm}80$ to $865{\pm}21$ and $930{\pm}14\;mg/L$, achieving 72.7% and 70.6% COD removal, respectively. The suspended solid (SS) of both fuel cells was also reduced over 99% ($4,533{\pm}67$ to $24.0{\pm}6.0\;mg/L$). The concentration of nutritive salts, ${NH_4}^+$, ${NO_3}^-$, and ${PO_4}^{3-}$, dropped by 65.4%, 57.5%, and 73.7% by the SMFC, respectively. These results were similar with those of CMFC. These results show that the microbial fuel cells using electrode with mix stainless-steel cross strip and graphite felt can treat the swine wastewater simultaneously with an electricity generation from swine wastewater.