• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.10
• /
• pp.1028-1033
• /
• 2008

Sequential quick crushing and alkali hydrolysis(SeCAH), as a pretreatment for foodwaste, incorporating mechanical crushing and alkali hydrolysis was proposed and investigated in this study. Focuses were placed on the improvement of biodegradability of foodwaste and the estimation of potential inhibitors for anaerobic digestion. The solubility of the pretreated foodwaste by SeCAH was increased 2.5 times rather than mechanical crushing. Considering solubility improvement and energy consumption, 2,000 rpm of crushing strength and 5$\sim$10 sec of crushing time are recommended. After SeCAH, the fraction of large organic particles(>2.36 mm) of foodwaste was sharply decreased from 88.0% to 29.0%, otherwise the fraction of small particles(<75 $\mu$m) was greatly increased from 10.5% to 40.7%. Ammouinum, potassium and sulfate were estimated as potential inhibitors for anaerobic digestion and their concentrations in pig slurry were 3331.3 mg/L, 4256.5 mg/L and 1017.5 mg/L, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.112-121
• /
• 2009

To obtain basic design criteria for underground anaerobic digestion and enhance biogas production from swine slurry, a $20m^3$ underground anaerobic digester (UGAD) was constructed and operated at mesophilic ($31{\sim}37^{\circ}C$) temperature with an organic loading rate (OLR) at $23.6kgVS/m^3/day$. The average biogas and $CH_4$ production rate were observed at 8.62 and $5.78m^3/day$, respectively. The mean percentile of $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ were also observed at 67.5% and 19.6%. The relative biogas yield was explored at $733L/kg\;VS_{added}$ and $CH_4$ yield was at $495L/kg\;VS_{added}$ respectively. The removal rate of biochemical constituents and pathogens were noticed considerably at 68%, 74%, 79%, 86%, 89%, 81%, 55%, 79%, 98% and 100% on TS, VS, TSS, $BOD_5$, $TCOD_{cr}$, $SCOD_{cr}$, $NH_3-N$, available P, fecal coliforms and Salmonella, respectively. This study suggested that, the modified UGAD system is a greatly desirable for anaerobic digestion for swine slurry with regards to high methane yield and biodegradability.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.93-101
• /
• 2000

The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of co-digestion of food waste and sewage sludge mixture using anaerobic system. The Biochemical methane Potentials of cabbage and food waste were $297ml\;CH_4/g$ VS and $306.7ml\;CH_4/g$ VS, respectively. The biodegradability of food waste was 60%. The concentrations of acetate, propionate, and isobutyrate produced during the aerobic acidogenesis of food waste for 36 hours were 7,000~7,200 ppm, 260~280 ppm, 380~400 ppm, and 40~50 ppm, respectively, of which acetate was over 85%. The concentrations of acetate, propionate, and isobutyrate produced during the anaerobic acidogenesis for 36 hours were 1,400~1,600 ppm, 30~40 ppm, 220~250 ppm, and 260~300 ppm, respectively, of which acetate was over 70%. The biodegradabilities of aerobic and anaerobic acidogenesis were 30% and 25%, respectively. Methanogensis could be activated under 1 % of NaCl and 1,000 ppm of volatile fatty acids at the range of pH 6.8~7.2. The maximum mixture ratio of food waste and sewage sludge in the present study was 2:8 by the result of VS removal rate and Methane production.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.13-18
• /
• 2009

We confirmed methane production and reduction of pollution during anaerobic digestion of milk waste and analyzed the economic potential of using milk waste as a renewable energy source. The milk waste sludge was obtained from the Pasteur milk factory and processed by anaerobic digestion to produce methane. The methane production from two completely mixed tank reactors with an effective capacity of 6 ${\ell}$, 15 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT), and a mid-temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ averaged 4.11 ${\ell}$/day. The total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) during production decreased from an initial 31,416 mg/${\ell}$ to 13,500 mg/${\ell}$, showing a maximum TCOD removal efficiency of 60%. When HRT was reduced to 12 days, methane production increased by 44% under a high-temperature condition of $55^{\circ}C$. An economic analysis based on these results was applied to a Korean milk factory of typical size and demonstrated that the installation of an anaerobic digester could provide sufficient economic profit.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.297-302
• /
• 2016

Microbial electrochemical technology (MET) has recently been studied to improve the efficiency of a traditional anaerobic digestion (AD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of MET in the system when MET was combined with traditional AD (i.e., AD-MET). Electrodes used in the MET were Cu coated graphite electrodes. They were supplied with a voltage of 0.3 V. AD started to generate methane in 80 days. But AD-MET started to generate methane from the initial operation after the system started. It was observed that AD-MET reached steady state faster and produced higher methane yield than AD. During the steady state, the average daily methane productions in AD and AD-MET were 2.3L/d and 4.9L/d, respectively. Methane yields were 0.07-CH₄/g‧CODre in AD and 0.25L-CH₄/g‧CODre in AD-MET. In AD-MET, the production rates of total volatile fatty acids (TVFAs) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) were 0.12 mg TVFAs/mg VS‧d and 0.35 mg SCOD/mg VS‧d, respectively. They were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those in AD. However, the concentrations of residual TVFAs in both systems were not significantly (p > 0.05) different from each other, confirming that methane conversion in AD-MET was greater than that in AD.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.66-73
• /
• 2009

Temperature phase anaerobic co-digestion process was conducted with the one to one mixture of food wastewater with livestock wastewater, and the presence and the dynamics of various pathogenic microorganisms was analyzed. The mixture contained various enteric and pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli. Enterobacteriaceae, Coliform bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria, and Yeast. Anaerobic digestion has become stabilized around 21 days after the reaction started, showing about 80% to 90% of remarkable reduction rates of microorganisms until this period in acidogenic reactor (AR) and methanogenic reactor (MR), respect ively. After stabilization, the average reduction rate of organic matter was recorded as around 60% in MR. Most microorganisms in the effluent were not detected at around the last period of the reaction, except Listeria and S. aureus, which showed the growth even at the last day of the reaction.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.55-68
• /
• 2020

Because of the intensified environmental problems such as climate change and resource depletion, sewage treatment technology focused on energy management has recently attracted attention. The conversion of primary sludge from the primary sedimentation tank and excessive sludge from the secondary sedimentation tank into biogas is the key to energy-positive sewage treatment. In particular, the primary sedimentation tanks recover enriched biodegradable organic matter and anaerobic digestion process produces methane from the organic wastes for energy production. Such technologies for minimizing oxygen demand are leading the innovation regarding sewage treatment plants. However, sewage treatment facilities in Korea lack core technology and operational know-how. Actually, the energy potential of sewage is higher than sewage treatment energy consumption in the sewage treatment, but current processes are not adequately efficient in energy recovery. To improve this, it is possible to apply chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT), high-rate activated sludge (HRAS), and anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) to the primary sedimentation tank. To maximize the methane production of sewage treatment plants, organic wastes such as food waste and livestock manure can be digested. Additionally, mechanical pretreatment, thermal hydrolysis, and chemical pretreatment would enhance the methane conversion of organic waste. Power generation systems based on internal combustion engines are susceptible to heat source losses, requiring breakthrough energy conversion systems such as fuel cells. To realize the energy positive sewage treatment plant, primary organic matter recovery from sewage, biogas pretreatment, and co-digestion should be optimized in the energy management system based on the knowledge-based operation.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.34 no.1
• /
• pp.121-131
• /
• 2018

Domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) consume about 0.5 % of total electric energy produced annually, which is equivalent to 207.7 billion Korean won per year. To minimize the energy consumption and as a way of mitigating the depletion of energy sources, the sewage treatment strategy should be improved to the level of "energy positive". The core processes for the energy positive sewage treatment include A-stage for energy recovery and B-stage for energy-efficient nitrogen removal. The integrated process is known as the A/B-process. In A-stage, chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) or high rate activated sludge (HRAS) processes can be utilized by modifying the primary settling in the first stage of sewage treatment. CEPT utilizes chemical coagulation and flocculation, while HRAS applies returned activated sludge for the efficient recovery of organic contents. The two processes showed organic recovery efficiencies ranging from 60 to 70 %. At a given recovery efficiency of 80 %, 17.3 % of energy potential ($1,398kJ/m^3$) is recovered through the anaerobic digestion and combustion of methane. Besides, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can recover 85% of organic contents and generate $1,580kJ/m^3$ from the sewage. The recovered energy is equal to the amount of energy consumption by sewage treatment equipped with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX)-based B-stage, $810{\sim}1,620kJ/m^3$. Therefore, it is possible to upgrade STPs as efficient as energy neutral. However, additional novel technologies, such as, fuel cell and co-digestion, should be applied to achieve "energy positive" sewage treatment.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.895-902
• /
• 2011

Objective of this research was to investigate the characteristics of biogas production in anaerobic digestion reactor with different mixing ratio of food waste and swine manure. It was observed that the highest removal efficiency of organic material was 80% at 60 : 40 of mixing ratio (livestock manure : food waste). And also biogas yield was varied due to different mixing ratio of them. The cumulative biogas yield was highest at 60 : 40 of mixing rate (livestock manure : food waste). For use of the liquefied fertilizer as effluent from anaerobic digester, it was the limited ratio for 30% of co-digested food waste based on its salt content.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2010

Methane was produced from the anaerobic digestion of marine macro-algae. Elemental analysis was first performed to estimate the theoretical methane production of three macro-algae (Undaria pinnatifida, Laminaria japonica, Hizikia fusiformis). Three algae were found to contain C 34 ~ 36%, H 5%, O 37 ~ 43%, N 2 ~ 4%, S 0.4 ~ 0.7%, and ash 14~21%, and the theoretical methane content was in the range of 56 ~ 60%, which can produce 442 ~ 568 mL $CH_4$ per g of volatile solid (VS). Using the biological methane potential (BMP) test, we found that L. japonica resulted in the highest yield of methane (52%). Moreover, various operational conditions, such as algae amount, pH, salinity, particle size, and pre-treatment, were investigated in order to find an optimal condition of anaerobic digestion. At pH 8.0, the autoclaved L. japonica (5g VS/200 mL), when used without washing salt, produced 268.5 mL/g VS which is 65% of the theoretical methane productions. Furthermore, using a CSTR (with the working volume of 7 L out of the total volume of 10 L), we have successfully operated the reactor for 65 days and obtained maximum methane production rate of 1.4 L/day with purity of 70%.