• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.448-452
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• 2016

This study is for the effective pretreatment and saccharification of lignocellulosic biomass for a transport fuel receiving attention. The waste water during the pretreatment of biomass is major factor for determining the price of biofuel. Therefore, we conducted high concentration of organosolv pretreatment for decline waste water and reusing the solvent. We confirmed effect of organosolv pretreatment by components analysis and enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated biomass. The corn stover was used for and 99.5 wt% of ethanol as a organosolv pretreatment. The pretreatment condition was varied 130 to $190^{\circ}C$ during the designated reaction times and the effect of pretreatment was investigated by enzymatic hydrolysis. The highest glucose conversion was more than 68% the pretreatment condition of $190^{\circ}C$ for 70 min or more. The solid remaining was more than 70% and almost of cellulose and hemicellulose were survived.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1238-1249
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• 2023

In this study, we sought to investigate the production and optimization of biosurfactants by soil fungi isolated from petroleum oil-contaminated soil in Saudi Arabia. Forty-four fungal isolates were isolated from ten petroleum oil-contaminated soil samples. All isolates were identified using the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, and biosurfactant screening showed that thirty-nine of the isolates were positive. Aspergillus niger SA1 was the highest biosurfactant producer, demonstrating surface tension, drop collapsing, oil displacement, and an emulsification index (E₂₄) of 35.8 mN/m, 0.55 cm, 6.7 cm, and 70%, respectively. This isolate was therefore selected for biosurfactant optimization using the Fit Group model. The biosurfactant yield was increased 1.22 times higher than in the nonoptimized medium (8.02 g/l) under conditions of pH 6, temperature 35℃, waste frying oil (5.5 g), agitation rate of 200 rpm, and an incubation period of 7 days. Model significance and fitness analysis had an RMSE score of 0.852 and a p-value of 0.0016. The biosurfactant activities were surface tension (35.8 mN/m), drop collapsing (0.7 cm), oil displacement (4.5 cm), and E₂₄ (65.0%). The time course of biosurfactant production was a growth-associated phase. The main outputs of the mathematical model for biomass yield were Yx/s (1.18), and µ_max (0.0306) for biosurfactant yield was Y_p/s (1.87) and Y_p/x (2.51); for waste frying oil consumption the So was 55 g/l, and Ke was 2.56. To verify the model's accuracy, percentage errors between biomass and biosurfactant yields were determined by experimental work and calculated using model equations. The average error of biomass yield was 2.68%, and the average error percentage of biosurfactant yield was 3.39%.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.47-55
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• 2017

The technology for hydrothermal reaction of organic waste is one of the promising process to improve energy efficiency of biomass waste recycling system since moisture contents of treated biomass could be reduced at 40% or less than by dehydration processes. For these reasons, many parts of the world are interested in hydrothermal reaction of organic waste. In this paper, drying performances were evaluated with and without hydrothermal reaction of organic wastes which are sewage sludge and food wastes. For the hydrothermal reaction, organic wastes were treated at $200^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. Drying time of treated organic waste by hydrothermal reaction was reduced. In case of food waste drying at $100^{\circ}C$, drying time of treated wasted was reduced more 52.9% than non-treated. Hence, drying performances of sewage sludge and food wastes should be improved by hydrothermal reaction. Drying rates of treated wastes were considerably increased at preheat period of drying characteristic curve as followings; at $80^{\circ}C$ sludge as 148%, $100^{\circ}C$ sewage sludge as 151%, $80^{\circ}C$ food waste as 209%, $100^{\circ}C$ food waste as 366%. It means the surface area of treated wastes could be increased with destruction of cell membrane by hydrothermal reaction. However, the designer and operator of drying process should be careful, since enhanced drying rate cause the extension the decreasing drying period.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.185-195
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• 2014

Despite the enormous technical and economic efforts to improve environmental conditions, currently about 40% of the global population (or 2 billion people) are still lack access to safe water supply and adequate sanitation facilities. Pollution problems and transmission of water- related diseases will continue to proliferate. The rapid population growth and industrialization will lead to a reduction of arable land, thus exacerbating the food shortage problems and threatening environmental sustainability. Natural systems in this context are a transdisciplinary approach which employs the activities of microbes, soil and/or plants in waste stabilisation and resource recovery without the aid of mechanical or energy-intensive equipments. Examples of these natural systems are: waste stabilisation ponds, aquatic weed ponds, constructed wetlands and land treatment processes. Although they require relatively large land areas, the natural systems could achieve a high degree of waste stabilisation and at the same time, yield potentials for waste recycling through the production of algal protein, fish, crops, and plant biomass. Because of the complex interactions occurring in the natural systems, the existing design procedures are based mainly on empirical or field experience approaches. An integrated kinetic model encompassing the activities of both suspended and biofilm bacteria and some important engineering parameters has been developed which could predict the organic matter degradation in the natural systems satisfactorily.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.252-260
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Currently, national biomass inventory are being established for efficient management of the potential energy sources. Among the various types of biomass, agricultural wastes are considered to take the biggest portion of the total annual biomass generated in Korea, implying its importance. However, the currently estimated amount is not reliable because the old reference data are still used to estimate total annual amount of agricultural wastes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Therefore, to provide reliable estimation data, a correct conversion factor obtained by taking into account the current situation is required. For this, the current study was conducted to provide the conversion factors for each representative 8 crop through a field cultivation study. Also conversion factors for 18 crops were calculated using the average amount of each crop produced during 2004 and 2008, subsequently; total amount of agricultural wastes generated in 2009 was estimated using these conversion factors. The total biomass of rice straw and rice husk generated in 2009 were 6.5 and 1.1 million tons, respectively, which consist 75% of the total agricultural based wastes, while the total biomass of pepper shoots and apple pruning twigs were 1.0 and 0.6 million tons, respectively. Despite the high amount of rice-based biomass, their applicability for bio-energy production is low due to conventional utilization of these materials for animal feeds and beds for animal husbandry. In addition to exact estimation of the total biomass, temporal variations in both generated amount and the type of agricultural biomass materials are also important for efficient utilization; fruit pruning twigs (January to March); barley-, been-, and mustard-related waste materials (April to June); rice-related waste (September to October). CONCLUSION(s): Such information provided in this study can be used to establish a master plan for efficient utilization of the agricultural wastes on purpose of bio-energy production.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.55-61
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• 2018

This study evaluated if the selected samples meets the Solid Refuse Fuel quality criteria in Korea. Biomass and plastic wastes generated in D City were mixed in diverse ratio. When the biomass content was about 40%, the moisture content was close to the SRF criteria and was measured to be 9.8%. The ash contents were analyzed up to 4.19%, and the lower calorific values based on Steuer, Dulong Equation and Bomb Calorimeter were at least 4,851, 4,181 and 3,847 kcal/kg, respectively. As a result of the elemental analysis, sulfur and chloride content were measured up to 0.05%. Those values satisfied the SRF criteria. Also, heavy metals(Hg, Cd, Pb, As) were analyzed to be below the SRF criteria. This makes it possible to use efficiently the wood byproducts abandoned in the woods, and the physical properties of wood being weak to moisture can be supplemented with plastics. Consequently, if plastic and biomass were well mixed and made into SRF, it would overcome the problem of shortening the life span of incineration facilities due to the high temperature of plastic wastes in the incinerator.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.60 no.5
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• pp.125-134
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• 2018

Recently, interest in alternative energy has been increasing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC). Accordingly, there is a need to use waste heat that unused throughout industrial systems for lowering the concentration of energy on fossil fuels. In particular, government support projects for the energy recycling of agriculture and fisheries such as cultivation of tropical crops and aquaculture are being actively carried out by utilizing waste heat and thermal effluents caused from large-scale industrial complexes including power plants. The study was conducted on supplier (power plant), consumer (farmer) and stakeholders (constructor and local governments) of domestic demonstration areas using waste heat that is abandoned from the power plant in the form of thermal effluents. It investigated the overall improvement and feasibility of government funded projects through field interviews and questionnaire-type surveys. The results of this study are expected to provide basic directions for the operation of the project in terms of nationwide expansion and diffusion of the heat source supply project at horticultural greenhouse by utilizing the thermal effluents from power plant.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.87-90
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• 2011

Copyrolysis of biomass/plastic mixture was carried out from room temperature to $600^{\circ}C$ with varing the heating rates of 10, 20, and $30^{\circ}C/min$ using a thermogravimetric analyzer. Waste wood chip (WWC) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) were selected as a biomass and plastic, respectively. Individual pyrolysis temperature ranges were $430{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ and $230{\sim}600^{\circ}C$ for LLDPE and WWC, respectively. For the copyrolysis of WWC and LLDPE, the decomposition temperature range of WWC was not varied, while the decomposition temperature range of LLDEP was increased to a higher temperature. The results imply that the interaction might occur between LLDEP and WWC during copyolyis of LLDPE and WWC.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.412-418
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• 2023

The surge in the oil prices, increasing global population, climate change, and waste management problems are the major issues which have led to the development of biofuels from lignocellulosic wastes. Cellulosic or second generation (2G) bioethanol is produced from lignocellulosic biomass via pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation. Pretreatment of lignocellulose is of considerable interest due to its influence on the technical, economic and environmental sustainability of cellulosic ethanol production. In this study, furniture waste sawdust was subjected to alkaline peroxide (H₂O₂) for the production of reducing sugars. Sawdust was pretreated at different concentrations from 1-3% H₂O₂ (v/v) loadings at a pH of 11.5 for a residence time of 15-240 min at 50, 75 and 90 ℃. Optimum pretreatment conditions, such as time of reaction, operating temperature, and concentration of H₂O₂, were varied and evaluated on the basis of the amount of total reducing sugars produced. It was found that the changes in the amount of lignin directly affected the yield of reducing sugars. A maximum of 50% reduction in the lignin composition was obtained, which yielded a maximum of 75.3% total reducing sugars yield and 3.76 g/L of glucose. At optimum pretreatment conditions of 2% H₂O₂ loading at 75 ℃ for 150 min, 3.46 g/L glucose concentration with a 69.26% total reducing sugars yield was obtained after 48 hr. of the hydrolysis process. Pretreatment resulted in lowering of crystallinity and distortion of the sawdust after the pretreatment, which was further confirmed by XRD and SEM results.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.635-644
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• 1994

A mathematical model was developed to predict the concentrations of various nutrients in supernatants during aerobic digestion which is suitable to be employed in small wastewater treatment plants with such advantages as low capital cost and stable process. Significant reactions were determined with observing the behavior of nitrgen and phosphorus, and the model equations were built up in the form of simultaneous differential equations considering Mass Balance. Laboratory batch experiments were carried out at $20^{\circ}C$ and pH $7.5{\pm}0.5$ on the aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at different solid levels. Nonlinear regression analysis was performed to estimate various reaction rate constants. The developed model can predict the behavior of Biomass N, dissolved organic N, $NH_4{^-}$-N, $NO_x{^-}$-N, and Biomass P, dissolved organic P, $PO_4{^-}$-P in aerobic digestion process. In this study, the results of simulation showed that dissolved nutrients had more effects on supernatants than nutrients in biomass, and phosphorus was more effective on supernatants than nitrogen.