• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2020

With benefits to the human health, environment, economy, and energy, anaerobic digestion (AD) systems have attracted remarkable attention within the scientific community. Anaerobic digestion system is created from (bio)reactors to perform a series of bi-metabolism steps including hydrolysis/acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis. By considering the physical separation of the digestion steps above, AD systems can be classified into single-stage (all digestion steps in one reactor) and multi-stage (digestion steps in various reactors). Operation of the AD systems does not only depend on the type of digestion system but also relies on the interaction among growth factors (temperature, pH, and nutrients), the type of reactor, and operating parameters (retention time, organic loading rate). However, these interactions were often reviewed inadequately for the single-stage digestion systems. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of both single-stage and multi-stage systems as well as the influence of the growth factors, operating conditions, and the type of reactor on them. From those points, the advantages, disadvantages, and application range of each system are well understood.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.110-119
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• 2016

High-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge achieves highly efficient volatile solid reduction, and production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) and methane compared with conventional low-solid anaerobic digestion. In this study, the potential mechanisms of the better performance in high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated by using 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing and real-time PCR to analyze the microbial characteristics in sewage sludge fermentation reactors. The results obtained by 454 highthroughput pyrosequencing revealed that the phyla Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were the dominant functional microorganisms in high-solid and low-solid anaerobic systems. Meanwhile, the real-time PCR assays showed that high-solid anaerobic digestion significantly increased the number of total bacteria, which enhanced the hydrolysis and acidification of sewage sludge. Further study indicated that the number of total archaea (dominated by Methanosarcina) in a high-solid anaerobic fermentation reactor was also higher than that in a low-solid reactor, resulting in higher VFA consumption and methane production. Hence, the increased key bacteria and methanogenic archaea involved in sewage sludge hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis resulted in the better performance of high-solid anaerobic sewage sludge fermentation.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1093-1100
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• 2021

The present study investigated the effect of ammonia load on microbial communities in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of propionic acid. A laboratory-scale continuous anaerobic digester treating propionic acid as a sole organic substrate was operated under non-inhibitory condition and inhibitory conditions with ammonia (1.5 g and 3.5 g ammonia-N/L, respectively), and bacterial and archaeal communities in the steady states of each ammonia condition were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. Thirteen bacterial families were detected as abundant bacterial groups in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of propionic acid. Increase in ammonia concentration resulted in significant shifts in microbial community structures. Syntorophobacter, Pelotomaculum, and Thermovigra were determined as the dominant groups of (potential) propionate oxidizing bacteria in the non-inhibitory condition, whereas Cryptanaerobacter and Aminobacterium were the dominant groups of (potential) propionate oxidizing bacteria in the ammonia-inhibitory condition. Methanoculleus and Methanosaeta were the dominant methanogens. Acetate-oxidation coupled with hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis might be enhanced with increases in the relative abundances of Methanoculleus and Tepidanaerobacter acetatoxydans under the ammonia-inhibitory condition. The results of the present study could be a valuable reference for microbial management of anaerobic digestion systems that are exposed to ammonia inhibition and propionic acid accumulation.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.366-376
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• 2014

Purpose: In the process of anaerobic digestion, stirring of the digester and feeding of organic waste into the digester have been considered important factors for digestive efficiency. The objective of this study was to determine the most appropriate conditions for both stirring interval of the digester and organic feeding frequency in order to improve anaerobic digestion performance. Methods: A 5-L anaerobic digester was used to conduct continuous batch tests to process swine manure and food waste. Four different stirring intervals of the digester were used: 5 min/h, 10 min/2 h, 15 min/3 h, and 20 min/4 h. Results: The application of swine manure to the digester every 5 min/h resulted in the highest production of biogas as well as the highest removal rates of volatile solids (VS) and total chemical oxygen demand. Stirring the digester with a mixture of swine manure and food waste at intervals of 5min/h and 10min/2 h produced the highest biogas yields of 515.3 mL/gVS and 521.1 mL/gVS, respectively. To test different supply frequencies, organic waste was added to the digester in either a 12-hor 24-h cycle. The 24-h cycle produced 1.5-fold greater biogas production than that during the 12-h cycle. Conclusions: Thus, from the above results, to optimize anaerobic digestion performance, the ideal stirring condition must be 5min/h for swine manure feeding and 10min/2h for co-digestion of food waste and swine manure in a 24-h cycle.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.66-73
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• 2011

Objective of this study was to investigate the effect of biogas production to different systems and feeding stocks. For the biogas production through operating the temperature phase anaerobic digestion(TPAD) with different feeding stocks, the stage state of biogas production with 70% of methane concentration in the thermophilic digestion tank with co-digestion of food waste and swine manure(40 : 60) was delayed at 3.5 times, but its mesophilic tank was short for 5 days as relative to the swine manure. The cumulative methane production in the thermophilic digestion tank with co-digestion of food waste and swine manure was started with greater than its swine manure at 60 days after digestion periods. However, its mesophilic tank with swine manure was great at 3 days after digestion periods. For aspect of anaerobic digestion processes with swine manure, it was appeared that the stage state of biogas production rate in TPAD was shorter than the two phase anaerobic digestion system.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2013

This study was carried out to compare the filtration effect of anaerobic digestion waste water by compost filtration bed. Three types of filtration systems were set for filtration test following to composition of bedding materials. Two filtration systems were filled with sawdust, rice-hull and wood-chip. And the other was filled with sawdust and rice-hull. Anaerobic digestion waste water was applied evenly on the surface of the filtration bed with spraying nozzle. The concentration of nitrogen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), suspended solids (SS) of anaerobic digestion waste water was decreased by filtration treatment. The total nitrogen content was decreased from 1,313 mg/L to 1,090~1,293 mg/L and BOD concentration was decreased from 529.7 mg/L to 125~162.3 mg/L, respectively. The SS content was decreased from 69~79% by filtration process. In addition, the electrical conductivity (EC) was decreased from 10.22 ds/m to 7.91~8.31 ds/m.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.269-275
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• 2019

This study was conducted to evaluate the microbial communities in coupled system of a microbial electrolysis cell and an anaerobic digestion. Glucose, butyric acid, propionic acid and acetic acid were used as substrates. The maximum methane production and methane production rate of propionic acid respectively were $327.9{\pm}6.7mL\;CH_4/g\;COD$ and $28.3{\pm}3.1mL\;CH_4/g\;COD{\cdot}d$, which were higher than others. Microbial communities' analyses indicated that acetoclastic methangens were predominant in all systems. But the proportion of hydrogenotrophic methanogens was higher in the system using propionic acid as a substrate when compared to others. In coupled system of a microbial electrolysis cell and anaerobic digestion, the methane production was higher as the distribution of hydrogen, which was generated by substrate degradation, and proportion of hydrogenotrophic methanogens was higher.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.532-536
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• 2016

In this study, single-stage continuous anaerobic reactors to treat sewage sludge were operated under different temperature (55 and $35^{\circ}C$; $R_{TAD}$ and $R_{MAD}$) to evaluate the reactor stability and performance of the thermophilic and mesophilic anaerobic digestion. During the overall digestion, both anaerobic reactors maintained quite stable and constant pH and total alkalinity (TA) values in the range of 6.5-8.0 and 3-4 g $CaCO_3/L$, respectively. After the start-up period, $R_{TAD}$ showed 10% higher VS removal efficiency than that of $R_{MAD}$ ($R_{TAD}$; 43.3%; $R_{MAD}$ : 33.6%). Although organic acids such as acetic and propionic acid were detected in both anaerobic reactors at the start-up period, all organic acids in $R_{TAD}$ and $R_{MAD}$ were consumed at the steady state condition. Also $R_{TAD}$ showed 31.4 % higher methane production rate (MPR) than that of $R_{MAD}$ at the steady state condition ($R_{TAD}$; 243 mL $CH_4/L/d$; $R_{MAD}$ : 185 mL $CH_4/L/d$). Meanwhile, the experimental results indicated similar methane yield between $R_{TAD}$ and $R_{MAD}$.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.57-66
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• 2014

The leachate recirculation anaerobic digestion system has the advantage of stable methane gas generation compared with existing one phase systems. In this study, an anaerobic digestion system fed with source separated food waste from school cafeteria was studied with different food waste/inoculum anaerobic sludge volume ratios (8:2, 3:7, 2:8). From this study, leachate recirculation anaerobic reactor with food waste/inoculum anaerobic sludge volume ratio of 2:8 that is 9 gVS/L of OLR(Organic Loading Rate) had the highest gas production. Also this anaerobic reactor showed daily decrease of H2S and NH3 contents in produced gas. Average biogas yield was 1.395 m3 Biogas/kg VS added. Other anaerobic reactors with food waste/inoculum anaerobic sludge volume ratio of 8:2 and 3:7 stopped methane gas production.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1051-1059
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• 2022

This study investigated microbial communities and their diversity in a full-scale mesophilic anaerobic digester treating sewage sludge. Influent sewage sludge and anaerobic digester samples collected from a wastewater treatment plant in Busan were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing. It was found that the microbial community structure and diversity in the anaerobic digester could be affected by inoculation effect with influent sewage sludge. Nevertheless, distinct microbial communities were identified as the dominant microbial communities in the anaerobic digester. Twelve genera were identified as abundant bacterial communities, which included several groups of syntrophic bacteria communities, such as Candidatus Cloacimonas, Cloacimonadaceae W5, Smithella, which are (potential) syntrophic-propionate-oxidizing bacteria and Mesotoga and Thermovigra, which are (potential) syntrophic-acetate-oxidizing bacteria. Lentimicrobium, the most abundant genus in the anaerobic digester, may contribute to the decomposition of carbohydrates and the production of volatile fatty acids during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge. Of the methanogens identified, Methanollinea, Candidatus Methanofastidiosum, Methanospirillum, and Methanoculleus were the dominant hydrogenotrophic methanogens, and Methanosaeta was the dominant aceticlastic methanogens. The findings may be used as a reference for developing microbial indicators to evaluate the process stability and process efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.