• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.23-31
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• 1996

The heavy metal concentration in mixed and separately collected household food waste, and their compost during the composting period was analysed. The mixed and separately collected food waste had Cd content of 8 mg/kg in spring and its content of 13 mg/kg in winter respectively. Its content was higher than by-product compost limit value(5 mg Cd/kg). Cd concentration in separately collected food waste in a house was higher in January, February, April and May than by-product compost limit value (5 mg Cd/kg). When Cd concentration in the initial composting material was higher than 5 mg/kg, its concentration in the compost of household food waste during the composting period was higher than by-product compost limit value, but it was not accumulated in the compost during the composting period. Fly ash was added to separately collected household food waste to adjust its moisture content for composting. Its addition had moisture conditioning and Cd concentration reducing effect in the compost. The average one month composted fresh compost from the mixed collected household food waste was matured in a pile out of doors for 7 months with turning the pile once a month and its heavy metal concentration was examined. Accumulation of the heavy metals in the compost did not occur during the composting period, because they were washed out during the rainfall.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.31-44
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• 1998

Mixtures of hog manure slurry and sawdust were composted by an intermittent aeration method to verify the performance evaluation of pilot-scale reactor vessels during composting high rate (decomposition) process. Instrumentation was designed to measure temperatures in compost, oxygen and carbon dioxide concentration, air flow rates, and ammonia gas emitted. It was found that ammonia concentration during composting high rate decreased more quickly to the allowable range of 34-40 ppm after 14days at near the optimal levels (II) than in the case of lower levels (I). The influence of the optimal levels (II) such as moisture content (55-65%), C/N ratio (20-40), pH (7-8) and temperature in compost (<$60^{\circ}C$) on the reduction of ammonia gas was considerable for commercial composting.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 1995

Composting facilities are operated with air and moisture control. Composting effects on two operating factors was analysed changing aeration rate with and without water addition to maintain the optimun moisture level. Though the composting facilties are provided with appropriate surroundings for compositing, operating temperature is set for decomposition rate. Accordingly control of decomposition phases was analysed by modeling the process of high and low decomposition phases with various operating temperature. A composting model of "The Library of Compost Engineering Software" developed by Roger T. Haug Inc. in U.S.A. was applied in modeling. As result of this study, operation with optimum moisture has more sensitive temperature to aeration fluctuation and lead to higher reaction rate with lower aeration than operation with poor moisture. Decomposition rate in composting facilities depend on slow decomposition phase because high rate decomposing substances already have been decomposed before entire process is not completed. In order to enhance decomposition rate of organics, effective decomposition in slow decomposition phase needs to be focused.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.31-37
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• 1994

For a microbiological study of composting process, screening and assay method for biopolymer degrading enzymes and microorganisms were developed and for the study of the possibility of composting in anaerobic state, distribution of sulfate reducing bacteria which plays a final role in anaerobic degradation was investigated. Substrates used for the development of assay methods for biopolymer degradation are ${\beta}-glucan$, xylan, dextran, CMC(carboxy methly cellulose), casein, and collagen. These substrates were made insoluble by a cross-linking agent and linked with dye to make chromogenic substrates. ${\beta}-glucan$ and xylan substrates could substitute congo-red method for screening of polymer degrading microorganisms without damaging the colonies. Sulfate reducing bacteria contained in the sample sludge showed preference to lactic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and formic acid and could use acetic acid and valeric acid.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.61-71
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• 1995

This study is concerned with the assessment of the possibility of alum sludge composting, as well as changes of some chemical properties during composting. Alum sludge was mixed in different proportions, which are 0%, 25%, 35% and 45%, respectively, with a sewage sludge and sawdust mixture. The final mixtures to be composted are placed on static piles constructed with a perforated aeration pipe on the ground, and composted for more than 50 days. During the composting of some alum sludge treatments, there was not notable difference in changes of pH, C/N ratio, and content of several minerals among the alum sludge treatments, while changes of pile temperatures and CEC were significant and these remarkable differences in related to the pile temperatures and CEC seem suitable for the evaluation of alum sludge maturity. Also, the results suggested that the proper mixing ratio of alum sludge for composting was 25% level.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.53-61
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• 2016

The reaction of zero-valent iron (ZVI) with oxygen can produce reactive oxidants capable of oxidizing organic compounds. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-treatment on sludge solubilization by ZVI and aeration. The results demonstrated that the aeration pre-treatment with ZVI method was more effective than the only aeration for improving sludge solubilization, indicating that ZVI increased the extent of sludge solubilization. In addition, removal rate of $NH_3-N$ by ZVI and aeration was found to be 34%, while only aeration was 24%. Thus, ZVI and aeration can be employed as an efficient pre-treatment option to achieve higher sludge solubilization and decrease the toxic effect of $NH_3-N$ for sludge digestion.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.3-18
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• 1994

Municipal solid wastes in Korea have physical and chemical properties suitable for composting, but composting has had little practical use in solid waste disposal until now because of a lack of understanding of process control. For practical use of composting, process control must be capable of maintaining good product quality while large quantities are composted in a short period of time. Ventilation control to maintain optimum temperature(Temperature Feedback Aeration Method) is reported to be convenient to operate. The purpose of this study is to analyze process efficiency and optimum temperature in the temperature feedback aeration method for composting of municipal solid wastes. The results of this study show that degradation and drying of substrate in the temperature feedback aeration method are higher than those in the constant aeration method. And the optimum temperature range for composting of solid wastes appears to be $50{\sim}54^{\circ}C$.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.335-340
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• 2010

This study was conducted to select organic materials (OM) and nitrogen sources in composting of waste mushroom bed from Agaricus bisporus. We examined physio-chemical properties of the organic materials and the mixture ratio for preparing the wasted mushroom bed (M) compost. The carbon content of sawdust was higher than those of rice straw (R) as OM source and the nitrogen content was high in the order of fowl manure (F)>> pig manure (P)> cow manure (C). The compost was prepared to maintain the criteria of above 25% organic matter and then the change of their ingredients was estimated during the process of fermentation. The temperature of waste mushroom bed+pig manure+rice straw (MRP) treatment was varied fast throughout fermentation, on the other hand the temperature of waste mushroom bed+pig manure+sawdust (MSP) treatment was steadily elevated to the middle of composting. The pH of the compost was somewhat high to pH 8.5~9.0 at the early stage, but decreased to 7.5 at the end stage of composting. The content of OM after fermentation was decreased to the level of 19~21% in rice straw, but the sawdust treatment maintained 25~27% organic matter. The waste mushroom bed+fowl manure+rice straw (MRF) treatment, which contains 26.2% organic matter and 0.68% nitrogen, was the highest among them. The volume of compost was reduced to 50% by using rice straw as organic matter, but reduced to 30% by using the sawdust. The contents of heavy metal in the compost were suitable within the legal criteria. The number of microorganisms were higher in the rice straw than those in the sawdust. It was high in the order of fowl manure> pig manure> cow manure. The major groups consisted of aerobic bacteria, gram negative bacteria and Bacillus sp. and their populations after fermentation were increased to $1{\times}10^1{\sim}1{\times}10^2\;cfu\;g^{-1}$ rather than those before fermentation. Therefore we concluded that the waste mushroom bed+fowl manure+sawdust (MSF 3:9:1 v/v/v) treatment was suitable combination for high organic matter and nitrogen source, and the periods of composting were 50~60 days.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2005

Tidal flats have been regarded to carry out transformation and removal of land-derived organic matter, and this purifying capability of organic matter by tidal flats is one of very important reasons for their conservation. However, integral biogeochemical studies on production and decomposition of organic matter by benthic microbes in tidal flats have been absent in Korea, although the information is indispensable to quantification of the purifying capability. Our major goals in this multidisciplinary research were to understand major biogeochemical processes and rates mediated by diverse groups of microbes dominating material cycles in the tidal flats, and to assess the contribution of benthic microbes to removal of organic matter and nutrients in the tidal flats. Our study sites were Ganghwa and Incheon north-port tidal flats that had been regarded as naturally well reserved and organically polluted, respectively. Our research group measured over 3 years primary production, biomass and community structure of primary producers, abundance and production of bacteria, enzyme activities, distribution of protozoa and protozoan grazing rates, rates of denitrification and sulfate reduction, early sediment diagenesis, primary production and respiration based on oxygen microelectrode. We analyzed major features of each biogeochemical process and their interactions. The results are compiled in the following articles in this special issue: An (2005), Hwang and Cho (2005), Mok et at. (2005), Na and Lee (2005), Yang et at. (2005), and Yoo and Choi (2005).

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.97-107
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• 2015

Wetlands constitute a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and have unique characteristics such as frequent inundation, inflow of nutrients from terrestrial ecosystems, presence of plants adapted to grow in water, and soil that is occasionally oxygen deficient due to saturation. These characteristics and the presence of vegetation determine physical and chemical properties that affect decomposition rates of organic matter (OM). Decomposition of OM is associated with activities of various extracellular enzymes (EE) produced by bacteria and fungi. Extracellular enzymes convert macromolecules to simple compounds such as labile organic carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S) that can be easily taken up by microbes and plants. Therefore, the enzymatic approach is helpful to understand the decomposition rates of OM and nutrient cycling in wetland soils. This paper reviews the physical and biogeochemical factors that regulate extracellular enzyme activities (EEa) in wetland soils, including those of ${\beta}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-N-acetylglucosaminidase, phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and phenol oxidase that decompose organic matter and release C, N, P, and S nutrients for microbial and plant growths. Effects of pH, water table, and particle size of OM on EEa were not significantly different among sites, whereas the influence of temperature on EEa varied depending on microbial acclimation to extreme temperatures. Addition of C, N, or P affected EEa differently depending on the nutrient state, C:N ratio, limiting factors, and types of enzymes of wetland soils. Substrate quality influenced EEa more significantly than did other factors. Also, drainage of wetland and increased temperature due to global climate change can stimulate phenol oxidase activity, and anthropogenic N deposition can enhance the hydrolytic EEa; these effects increase OM decomposition rates and emissions of $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ from wetland systems. The researches on the relationship between microbial structures and EE functions, and environmental factors controlling EEa can be helpful to manipulate wetland ecosystems for treating pollutants and to monitor wetland ecosystem services.