• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.220-227
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• 2004

This study showed that thermophilic anaerobic acid fermentation of food wastes had an enhanced hydrolysis capability and improvement of acidification efficiency. Influence of pH on the anaerobic hydrolysis and acidogenesis was investigated to determine the proper alkalinity in the thermophilic fermentation of food wastes. The results of putting NaOH as alkali to evaluate hydrolysis and acid fermentation efficiency In acid fermentation process of food wastes showed that the food wastes pretreated with 0.05 g NaOH/g TS had the maximum 12,600 mg/L of VFAs concentration during HRT 3 days in $55^{\circ}C$ thermophilic condition and the maximum 9,700 mg/L of VFAs concentration during HRT 5 days in $35^{\circ}C$ mesophilic condition. The accomplishment of high VFAs concentration resulted from that the main component of food wastes such as cellulose, lignin and etc. is performed active chemical decomposition by alkali in thermophilic condition. The major components of VFAs produced from the thermophilic acid fermentation process of food wastes were the short chain fatty acids such as acetic acid, butyric acid, and propionic acid.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.321-334
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• 2017

Process surveillance within agricultural biogas plants (BGPs) was concurrently studied by high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and an optimized quantitative microscopic fingerprinting (QMF) technique. In contrast to 16S rRNA gene amplicons, digitalized microscopy is a rapid and cost-effective method that facilitates enumeration and morphological differentiation of the most significant groups of methanogens regarding their shape and characteristic autofluorescent factor 420. Moreover, the fluorescence signal mirrors cell vitality. In this study, four different BGPs were investigated. The results indicated stable process performance in the mesophilic BGPs and in the thermophilic reactor. Bacterial subcommunity characterization revealed significant differences between the four BGPs. Most remarkably, the genera Defluviitoga and Halocella dominated the thermophilic bacterial subcommunity, whereas members of another taxon, Syntrophaceticus, were found to be abundant in the mesophilic BGP. The domain Archaea was dominated by the genus Methanoculleus in all four BGPs, followed by Methanosaeta in BGP1 and BGP3. In contrast, Methanothermobacter members were highly abundant in the thermophilic BGP4. Furthermore, a high consistency between the sequencing approach and the QMF method was shown, especially for the thermophilic BGP. The differences elucidated that using this biphasic approach for mesophilic BGPs provided novel insights regarding disaggregated single cells of Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta species. Both dominated the archaeal subcommunity and replaced coccoid Methanoculleus members belonging to the same group of Methanomicrobiales that have been frequently observed in similar BGPs. This work demonstrates that combining QMF and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing is a complementary strategy to describe archaeal community structures within biogas processes.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.345-350
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• 1995

Another two different small composters with the double layer walls(Type 3 and Type 4) were made for dwelling house. One was insulated(Type 4) but the other uninsulated(Type 3). The change in microbial flora has been investigated through laboratory composting using these composters. The results were summarized as follows. 1. While the number of mesophilic bacteria decreased, that of thermophilic bacteria increased in winter. But thermophillic bacteria and mesophillic bacteria showed a tendency to increased in winter. But thermophilic bacteria and mesophillic bacteria showed a tendency to increase and decreas simultaneously in spring and summer at the early stage of composting. 2. The number of mesophilic actinomycetes ans thermophilic actinomycetes were decreased after I week in winter, while thermophilic actinomycetes rapidly increased in spring and mildly increased in summer. 3. The number of mesophilic fungi and thermophilic fungi had a tendency to increase and decrease simultaneously at an early stage of composting except after I week in winter. 4. Mesophilic bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi showed no difference in the number of microbes, but the number of fungi in spring was smaller than in other sensons. 5. At the late stage of composting process, the number of mesophilic fungi was decreased in winter and summer but increased in spring.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.33-39
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• 2009

This study was conducted to evaluate production of complex odor and 12 specific odorous compounds in a pilot-scale (capacity : $100m^3$) ultra thermophilic aerobic composting. There were three types input: municipal wasted sludge, livestock manure and slurry, and food waste produced in Jung-Eb city. Each raw material was mixed with seed material and operated for two periods (1st : 50 days, 2nd : 60days). During composting, the temperature hit $90{\sim}95^{\circ}C$ after every mixing in both periods. Therefore, it was concluded that increasing temperature also saves the time which required for composting and high reduction of organics and water contents. The primary odorous compounds were ammonia, methyl mercaltan, dimethyl disulfide and trimethylamine. The concentration of the primary compounds and complex odor during the operation were higher than those on final day and most compounds did not exceed the allowable exhaust standard for odor. Also, it was found that optimal mixing time and control of high temperature are the most important parameters for odor control in ultra thermophilic aerobic composting.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.28-34
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• 2012

In this study, we operated a UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) reactor by using foodwaste leachate as a raw material with the method of Mesophilic Digestion ($35{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$) and Thermophilic Digestion ($55{\pm}0.5^{\circ}C$). During 20 days of operating time with the Mesophilic Digestion, the recirculation ratio of effluent was stepwisely changed in every five days. Thermophilic Digestion was carried out at the same condition for Mesophilic Digestion. Results showed that the organic removal efficiency of Mesophilic Digestion was over 90% and the yield of methane production was from 66 up to 70%. The organic removal efficiency of Thermophilic Digestion was over 80% and the yield of methane production was between 62 to 68%. Also, when UASB reactor was operating to over the 3Q effluent recirculation, the experiment could be carried out economically and stably.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.33-41
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• 1997

An attempt was made to enhance anaerobic treatment efficiency by adopting the anaerobic sequencing batch reactor(ASBR) process at a thermophilic temperature. Operational characteristics of the ASBR process were studied using laboratory scale reactors and concentrated organic wastewater composed of soluble starch and essential nutrients. Effects of fill to react ratio (F/R) were examined in the Phase I experiment, where the equivalent hydraulic retention time(HRT) was maintained at 5 days with the influent COD of 10g/L. A continuous stirred tank reactor(CSTR) was operated in parallel as a reference. Treatment efficiency was higher for the ASBRs because of continuous accumulation of volatile suspended solids(VSS) compared to the CSTR. However, the rate of gas production and organic removal per unit VSS in the ASBRs was much lower than the CSTR. This was caused by reduced methane fermentation due to accumulation of volatile acids(VA), especially for the case of low F/R, during the fill period. When the F/R was high, maximum VA was low and the VA decreased in short period. Consequently, more stable operation was possible with higher F/R. Effects of hydraulic loading rate on the efficiency was studied in the Phase II experiment, where the organic loading rate was elevated to 3333mg/L-d with the F/R of 0.12. Reduction of organic removal along with rapid increase of VA was observed and the stability of reaction was seriously impaired, when the influent COD was doubled. However, operation of the ASBR was quite stable, when the hydraulic loading rate was doubled and a cycle time was adjusted to 12 hour. It is essential to avoid rapid accumulation of VA during the fill period in order to maintain operational stability of the ASBR.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.113-118
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• 2009

We investigated the structure of bacterial communities present in livestock manure-based composting processes and evaluated the bacterial succession during the composting processes. Compost samples were derived separately from swine manure, dairy manure and sewage sludge. The structure of the bacterial community was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) using universal eubacterial primers. The genus Bacillus and related genera were mainly detected following the thermophilic composting phase of swine and dairy manure composts, and the members of the phylum Bacteroidetes were mainly detected in the cattle manure waste-based and sewage sludge compost. We recovered and sequenced limited number of the bands; however, the PCR-DGGE analysis showed that predominant diversities during the composting processes were markedly changed. Although PCR-DGGE analysis revealed the presence of different phyla in the early stages of composting, the members of the phylum Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were observed to be one of the predominant phyla after the thermophilic phase.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.36-47
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• 2009

Microbial and related biochemical mass of composts are important for optimization of its process and end-products. This study was carried out to assess the specific microbial and related biochemical mass which could be used as an indicator for compost maturity during composting stages. The samples from five compost plants were collected at three stages (Initial, Thermophilic and Mature) and analyzed for total aerobic bacteria (TAB), Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Actinomycetes and fungi. Significantly, the coliforms and E.coli counts decreased during the thermophilic stage and were completely eliminated during mature stage. However, the other microbial mass were completely eliminated during mature stage. Which disclosed that Coliforms and E.coli communities can be used as compost maturity indicator. Interestingly, the microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen ratio (MBC/MBN) were decreased a little during the thermophilic stage due to the decreasing number of coliforms, Ecoli and fungi, while the ratio increased during the mature stage due to increasing fungal and aerobic bacterial counts. In addition the heavy metals were shown strong negative correlation with Actenomycetes. This study provides insight to the evaluation of compost maturity as well as the quality by the metal-microbial interactions.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 1997

The current processer of the textile wastewater treatment are mostly consisted of a combination of a physico-chemical and a biological treatment. The overall efficiency of these processes is, however, assessed to be fairly low. It is even worse during the summer season when temperature of the wastewater rises above 40$\circ $C. Therefore, a feasible process of the textile wastewater treatment which can work efficiently at higher temperatures was investigated in this work. We used a bench scale reactor consisted of one 4 liter anaerobic and one 8 liter aerobic tank, and the thermophilic symbiotic PVA degraders, Pasteruella hemolytica KMG1 and Pseudomonas sp. KMG6 that had been isolated in our laboratory. In the preliminary flask experiments, we observed that the thermophilic symbiotic PVA degraders could not grow in the wastewater substrate. Then, we isolated the mutant strains by acclimating the KMG1and KMG6 strains to the wastewater medium. The mutant symbionts (KMG1-1 and KMG6-1) were isolated through 6 times successive transfers into the fresh wastewater medium after 5 days culture for each. The mutant strains obtained grew well in the mixed medium composed of 75% wastewater and 25% synthetic medium, and supplemented with 0.5% PVA as a sole carbon source. During the culture for 14 days at pH 7.0 and 40$\CIRC $C, the bacteria assimilated about 89% of the added PVA. The symbionts degraded equally well all the PVA substrates of different molecular weight (nd=500~30000). In contrast to the flask experiments, in the reactor system the mutant strains showed very low levels of the PVA and COD removal rates. However, the new reactor system with an additional aerobic tank attained 82% removal rate of COD, 94% of PVA degradation and 71% of color index under the conditions of 5% inoculm on the tank 2, incubation temperature of 40$\circ $C, dissolved oxygen level of 2~3 mg/l and retention time of 30 hours. This result ensures that the process described above could be an efficient and feasible treatment for the PVA contained textile wastewater at higher temperatures.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.129-135
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• 2007

This study evaluated microbial risk that could develop within soil microbial communities after amended with organic fertilizers from stabilized swine manure waste. For this purpose, we assessed the occurrences and competitiveness of antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity in soil microbial communities that were amended with swine manure wastes stabilized by a traditional lagoon fermentation process and an autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion process, respectively. According to laboratory cultivation detection analysis, soil applications of the stabilized organic fertilizers resulted in increases in absolute abundances of antibiotic resistant bacteria and of two tested pathogenic bacteria indicators. The increase in occurrences might be due to the overall growth of microbial communities by the supplement of nutrients from the fertilizers. Meanwhile, the soil applications were found to reduce competitiveness for various types of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the soil microbial communities, as indicated by the decrease in relative abundances (of total viable heterotrophic bacteria). However, competitiveness of pathogens in response to the fertilization was pathogens-specific, since the relative abundance of Staphylococcus was decreased by the soil applications, while the relative abundance of Salmonella was increased. Further testes revealed that no MAR (multiple antibiotic resistance) occurrence was detected among cultivated pathogen colonies. These findings suggest that microbial risk in the soil amended with the fertilizers may not be critical to public health. However, because of the increased occurrences of antibiotic resistance and pathogenicity resulted from the overall microbial growth by the nutrient supply from the fertilizers, potential microbial risk could not be completely ruled out in the organic-fertilized soil samples.