• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.10
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• pp.1869-1879
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• 2000

A series of experiments were conducted for modeling the fate and effect of the coupled oxidation reduction reaction of ethanol and propionate recognized as important intermediates in anaerobic degradation metabolism. Anaerobic kinetics for conversion of propionate and the interaction with ethanol were investigated using the model of specific substrate priority utilization effect. Seed cultures for the experiment were obtained from an anaerobically enriched steady-state propionate master culture reactor (HPr-MCR), ethanol-propionate master culture reactor (EtPr-MCR) and glucose master culture reactor (Glu-MCR). Experiments were consisted of four phases. Phase I, II and III were conducted by fixing the propionate organic loading as 1.0 g COD/L with increasing ethanol loading of 0, 100, 200, 400 and 1,000 mg/L, to find metabolic interaction of ethanol and propionate degradation by each enriched anaerobic culture. In phase IV, different mixing ratios of Glu-MCR and HPr-MCR cultures with fixed propionate organic loading, 1.0 g COD/L, were applied to observe the propionate degradation metabolic behavior. In the results of this study, different pathways of propionate and ethanol conversion were found using a modified competitive inhibition kinetic model. Increase of $K_{s2}$ value reflected the formation of acetate followed by ethanol degradation. In addition. $K_3$ value was increased slightly as the reactions of acetate formation and degradation were occurred in acetoclastic methanogenesis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.8
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• pp.452-458
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• 2016

The study on pH control at the themophilic solubilization (pretreatment process) was investigated in order to improve the methane gas production of two phase anaerobic digestion of food waste. From a batch experiment, it was observed that the solubilization efficiency was increased from 26.2% to 47.1% and 55.6% by the pH increament from $4.20{\pm}0.40$ (without pH control) to $7.00{\pm}0.50$, and $12.00{\pm}0.50$, respectively. However there was immaterial increase (8.5%) in solubilization efficiency when the pH was increased from $7.00{\pm}0.50$ to $12.00{\pm}0.50$. The two phase anaerobic digestion system was operated for laboratory scale experiment under the solubilization condition of pH $4.20{\pm}0.40$ (Run1) and $7.00{\pm}0.50$ (Run2). Higher soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) concentration were observed in Run2 throughout the system resulted by the solubilization effect at the pH $7.00{\pm}0.50$. The TVFA concentration in acidogenic reactor was 18.4 g/L which was 1.8 times higher than the result of Run1. Consequently the methane gas production was enhanced to 0.333 L/g VS in the methanogenic reactor, which is 18% higher than the result (0.282 L/g VS) of Run1.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

Long term hydrogen production was investigated in an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) using mixed microflora. Glucose (about 8,250 mg/L) was used as a substrate for the ASBR operation under the condition of pH 5.5 and $37^{\circ}C$ with mixing at 150 rpm. The experiment was carried out over a period of 160 days. Hydrogen yield was 0.8mol $H_2/mol$ glucose with F/M ratio 2 at initial operation period. The hydrogen yield reached to maximum 2.6 mol $H_2/mol$ glucose at 80th day operation. However decreased hydrogen yield was observed after 80 days operation and eventually no hydrogen yield. Although well-known hydrogen producer Clostridium sp. was detected in the reactor by PCR-DGGE analysis, changed reactor operation was the major reason of the decreased hydrogen production, such as low F/M ratio of 0.5 and high propionic acid concentration 2,130 mg/L. Consequently the long period operation resulted in MLSS accumulation and then low F/M ration stimulating propionic acid formation which consumes hydrogen produced in the reactor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.13-23
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• 2014

A lab-scale Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) was applied to treat a primary sludge taken from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. In this experiment, acidogenic reaction was promoted by operating the ABR with short hydraulic retention time (HRT) to produce sufficient volatile fatty acids (VFA) instead of production of methane. The performance of ABR on the VFA production and total solids reduction was observed with different operating conditions with 2, 4, 6, and 8 days of HRT. Corresponding organic loading rates were 6.7, 3.4, 2.2, and $1.6kgCOD_{cr}/m^3{\cdot}day$. As HRT increased the removal rate of TCOD was also increased (82.5, 84.2, 96.9, and 95.9 % in average for HRT of 2, 4, 6, and 8 days, respectively) because the settlement of solids was enhanced in the baffle by the decrease of upflow velocity. At HRT of 2 days the average concentration of VFA in the effluent was measured at $1,306{\pm}552$ mgCOD/L corresponding to 107 % increment as compared to the VFA concentration in the influent. However, as HRT increased VFA concentraiotn was decreased to $143{\pm}552$ mgCOD/L at HRT of 8 days. The reduction rates of total solids were 12.2, 26.5, 24.8, and 43.0 % for HRT of 2, 4, 6, and 8 days. As HRT increased the hydrolysis of organic particulate matters in the reactor was enhanced due to the increasing of solids retention time in the baffle zone with low upflow velocity in long HRT condition. Consequently, we found that a primary sludge became a good source of VFA production by the application of ABR process with HRT less than 4 days and the 12-26 % of total solids reduction was expected at these conditions.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.125-136
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• 1997

Digestion of a municipal wastewater sludge by the anaerobic sequencing batch reactor(ASBR) was investigated to evaluate the performance of the ASBR process at a critical condition of high-solids-content feed. The reactors were operated at an HRT of 10 days with an equivalent loading rate of 0.8-1.5 gVS/L/d at $35^{\circ}C.$ The main conclusions drawn from this study were as follows: 1. Digestion of a municipal wastewater sludge was possible using the ASBR in spite of high concentration of settleable solids in the sludge. The ASBRS with 3- and 4-day cycle period showed almost identical high digestion performances. 2. No adverse effect on digestion stability was observed in the ASBRS in spite of withdrawal and replenishment of $30\%\;or\;40\%$ of liquid contents. A conventional anaerobic digester could be easily converted to the ASBR without any stability problem. 3. Flotation thickening occurred in thicken step of the ASBRS throughout steady state, and floating bed volume at the end of thicken period occupied about $70\%$ of the working volume of the reactor. Efficiency of flotation thickening in the ASBRS could be comparable to that of additional gravity thickening of a completely mixed digester. 4. Solids were accumulated rapidly in the ASBR during start-up period. Solids concentrations in the ASBRS were 2.6 times higher than that in the completely mixed control reactor at steady state. Dehydrogenase activity had a strong correlation with the solids concentration. Dehydrogenase activity of the digested sludge in the ASBR was 2.9 times higher than that of the sludge in the control reactor, and about 25 times higher than that of the subnatant in the ASBR. 5. Remarkable increase in equivalent gas production of $52\%$ was observed at the ASBRS compared with the control reactor in spite of similar Quality of clarified effluent from the ASBRS and control reactor. The increase in gas production from the ASBRS was believed to be combined results of accumulation of microorganisms, higher driving force applied, and additional long-term degradation of organics continuously accumulated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.583-589
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• 2015

This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of anaerobic pretreatment for the leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge cake. Overall process for the treatment of sludge cake consists of thermal hydrolysis, crystallization of magnesium, ammonium, and phosphate (MAP) for the leachate and anaerobic digestion of supernatant from MAP crystallization. The experimental evidence showed that the optimum ratio of Mg : P for the struvite crystallization of leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sludge cake was 1.5 to 1.0 as weight basis at the pH of 9.5. With this operational condition, the removal efficiencies of ammonia nitrogen and phosphorous achieved 50% and 97%, respectively. The mesophilic batch test showed that the ultimate biodegradability of the supernatant from MAP crystallization reached 63% at S/I ratio of 0.5. The readily biodegradable fraction of 90% ($S_1$) of the MAP supernatant BVS (Biodegradable Volatile Solids, $S_0$) degraded with $k_1$ of $0.207day^{-1}$ for the initial 17 days where as the rest slowly biodegradable fraction ($S_2$) of 10% of BVS degraded with $k_2$ of $0.02day^{-1}$ for the rest of the operational period. Semi-Continuously Fed and Mixed Reactor (SCFMR) was chosen as one of the best candidates to treat the MAP supernatant because of its total solids content over 6%. Maximum average biogas production rates reached 0.45 v/v-d and TVS removal efficiency of 37~41% was achieved at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days and its corresponding organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.43 g VS/L-d.

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

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.2197-2204
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• 2000

Lignin is a major component of wastewater generated in the chemical processing of wood. Because it is recalcitrant, it inhibits biological treatment of wastewater of pulp manufacturing, especially high concentration of lignin may inhibit the anaerobic digestion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the toxicity of high molecular hardwood lignin (lignosulfonate, MW $\geq$ 20,000) on aceticlastic methanogens in the batch reactors at different temperatures with different sludge concentrations, using anaerobic serum bottles. The hardwood lignin was found to inhibit anaerobic conversion of acetate to methane and carbon dioxide, shown with a long lag-phase before methanogenesis started. The methanogens assumed not to be able to acclimate to the lignin were found to be acclimated slowly in the batch experiments, finally reaching non-toxic levels in which methane production could start. The hardwood lignin was found not to be bacteriocidal but bacteriostatic to aceticlastic methanogens. Hardwood lignin(lignosulfonate) at 1.3, 2.6, and 3.9%(w/w) inhibited the acetateutilizing methanogens of anaerobic digester sludge by 14.5, 17.8, 21.1 days(in noninhibitory condition it took 10 days) to produce the same amount of methane. The inhibitory effect of lignin was examined at temperature ranges of $30^{\circ}C$ to $50^{\circ}C$. When 2.6% of lignin was contained in wastewater, methane production was highest at $30^{\circ}C$ during initial 8 days. At $4^{\circ}C$, methane production rapidly increased after 12 days of digestion, the value became higher than that at $30^{\circ}C$ after 14 days. However, the methane production was completely inhibited during whole digestion period at $50^{\circ}C$. High ratio of lignin concentration to initial anaerobic sludge concentration gave tolerance to the inhibition. In this experiment, high molecular hardwood lignin was not degraded and decolorized.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.165-173
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• 2005

Nano-sized iron particles were synthesized by reduction of $Fe^{3+}$ in aqueous solution under two reaction conditions, aerobic and anaerobic, and the reactivity of iron was tested by reaction with trichloroethene (TCE) using a batch system. Results showed that iron produced under anoxic condition for both synthesis and drying steps gave rise to iron with higher reduction reactivity, indicating the presence of oxygen is not favorable for production of nano-sized iron deemed to accomplish reactivity enhancement from particle sized reduction. Nano-sized iron sample obtained from the anoxic synthesis condition was further characterized using various instrumental measurements to identity particle morphology, composition, surface area, and particle size distribution. The scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image showed that synthesized particles were uniform, spherical particles (< 100 nm), and aggregated into various chain structures. The effects of other synthesis conditions such as solution pH, initial $Fe^{3+}$ concentration, and reductant injection rate on the reactivity of nano-sized iron, along with standardization of the synthesis protocol, are presented in the companion paper.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.121-127
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• 2005

To reveal vegetation history and environmental changes in Mt. Jiri, sediment cores were collected from Wangdeungjae moor of Mt. Jiri. Overall dry matter accumulation rates and sedimentation rates by $^{14}C-dating$ were 0.027 $kg{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}yr^{-1}$ and 0.184 mm/yr since 1250 ($760{\pm}40$ yrs BP, 14 cm in depth). There are three pollen zones; the first zone is below 14 cm depth where Quercus dominated, the second zone is from 14 cm to 6 cm depth where Gramineae increased and Quercus and Salix dominated and the third zone is from 6 cm depth to the top where Pinus and Quercus dominated. Total pollen concentration gradually increased from bottom to the top of sediment core, which implies wet, anaerobic and cool condition during covered period by the core. Calcium and magnesium contents had increased since 14 cm depth, with peaks at 13 and 20 cm depths. This indicates that groundwater had recently become relatively more important than surface water as water source of Wangdeungjae moor Exotic plant or Chenopodiacea pollen was less than 1%. There was little variation in total N and P contents along the length of the core. These results support that Wangdeungjae moor has been little affected by anthropogenic activities. Also, nutrients and heavy metal contents indicate the baseline condition of Wangdeungjae moor.