• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.524-534
• /
• 2017

The development and utilization of crop straw biogas resources can effectively alleviate the shortage of energy, environmental pollution, and other issues. This study performed a continuous batch test at $35^{\circ}C$ to assess the methane production potential and volatile organic acid contents using the modified Gompertz equation. Illumina MiSeq platform sequencing, which is a sequencing method based on sequencing-by-synthesis, was used to compare the archaeal community diversity, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to analyze the bacterial community diversity in rice straw, dry maize straw, silage maize straw, and tobacco straw. The results showed that cumulative gas production values for silage maize straw, rice straw, dry maize straw, and tobacco straw were 4,870, 4,032.5, 3,907.5, and $3,628.3ml/g{\cdot}VS$, respectively, after 24 days. Maximum daily gas production values of silage maize straw and rice straw were 1,025 and $904.17ml/g{\cdot}VS$, respectively, followed by tobacco straw and dry maize straw. The methane content of all four kinds of straws was > 60%, particularly that of silage maize straw, which peaked at 67.3%. Biogas production from the four kinds of straw was in the order silage maize straw > rice straw > dry maize straw > tobacco straw, and the values were 1,166.7, 1,048.4, 890, and $637.4ml/g{\cdot}VS$, respectively. The microbial community analysis showed that metabolism was mainly carried out by acetate-utilizing methanogens, and that Methanosarcina was the dominant archaeal genus in the four kinds of straw, and the DGGE bands belonged to the phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi. Silage maize is useful for biogas production because it contains four kinds of straw.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.1093-1100
• /
• 2015

Acetate and lactate in growth media are detrimental to the production of Thermus maltogenic amylase (ThMA), a heterologous protein, as well as to the growth of recombinant Escherichia coli. Only 50 mM of acetate or 10 mM of lactate reduced 90% of specific ThMA activity. In this study, mutant E. coli strains blocked in the ackA-pta or ackA-pta and ldh pathways were created, characterized, and assessed for their culture performace in 300 L-scale fermentation. The ackApta and ldh double-mutant strain formed significantly less lactate and acetate, and produced a concomitant increase in the excretion of pyruvate (17.8 mM) under anaerobic conditions. The ackA-pta mutant strain accumulated significant acetate but had an approximately 2-fold increase in the formation of lactate. The ackA-pta and ldh double-mutant strain had superior overall performance in large-scale culture under suboptimal conditions, giving 67% higher cell density and 66% higher ThMA activity compared with those of the control strain. The doublemutant strain also achieved a 179% improvement in volumetric ThMA production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.112-127
• /
• 1997

The purpose of this study is to get optimum operating factors of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor by introducing methods that make it to reduce inhibition possible in each process wastewater treatment. The used substrates, concentrated corn starch liquid (CSL) wastewater, modified starch, filtering and decoloring wastewater, ion refining wastewater, and mixed wastewater including modified starch and not including modified starch, are generated from molasses process. The seeding sludge is the digested sludge that had been applied to molasses wastewater. Batch test to reduce the inhibition factors that might be existed in each wastewater was examined. Based on the this test, the optimum operating factors according to alkalinity and pH variation was studied through the continuous test using three 5.5 L UASB reactor. The first reactor added $NaHCO_3$ to control alkalinity. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) reduced to 8 hours and the organic loading rate increased gradually. The second reactor changed the pH of influent from 7.0 to 6.0 using NaOH. The third reactor was operated without changes to compare the above two reactors. As the result, the inhibition in concentrated CSL wastewater was removed by adding iron (II). When trace metals were added to mixed wastewater not including modified starch, the digestability by gas production rate increased to more fifty percentage than mixed wastewater that was not adding the trace metals. The reason that the inhibition did not decreased in spite of adding trace metals and nutrients was influenced by high concentration generated during the acid fermentation. The UASB reactors using the mixed wastewater with the most effective performance were operated as 500 mg/L as $CaCO_3$ alkalinity and 6.0 pH at steady state, and at this time, the gas production rates were 283 and 311mL gas/g $COD_{added}$. The COD removal rates were 84.7 and 86.3%, respectively.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.37-45
• /
• 1995

The performance and the operational problems of UASB(Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) reactor for treatment of dairy wastewaters were investigated. Synthetic milk wastewater was successfully treated up to the loading rate of 3.9kg $COD/m^3.day$, with a specific gas production rate of 1. 23 I/I. day and a COD removal efficiency of over 90%. However, the sludge rising was observed at the loading rate of 2.1kg $COD/m^3.day$, due probably to the formation of scum layer at the surface of settling compartment. The BMP(biochemical methane potential) of raw milk wastewater and ice cream wastewater, measured by using SBT(serum bottle test), were 0.135 and 0.66ml $CH_4/mg\;COD_{added}$, respectively. The sludge activity increased more than 8 times from 0.159g $COD-CH_4/g$ VSS. d during 90 days of operation.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.31 no.4
• /
• pp.246-255
• /
• 2016

Co-production of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) and 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) was suggested as an innovative strategy to overcome several limitations occurring in the single production of 3-HP from glycerol. In this study, two new isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae, which produce less lipopolysaccharide (LPS) thus considered less pathogenic than K. pneumoniae DSM 2026, were compared and evaluated for their potential for the co-production of 3-HP and 1,3-PDO. The newly isolated strains showed significantly faster sedimentation rate than DSM, which should be beneficial for downstream processing. Analysis of genome sequences of the isolates confirmed the presence of all genes necessary for glycerol assimilation, 1,3-PDO production and biosynthesis of coenzyme $B_{12}$. Co-production yield was highest under anaerobic condition while cell growth was highest under aerobic condition. Both strains showed similarly good performance for the co-production although J2B gave the slightly higher co-production yield of 0.80 mol/mol than GSC021 (0.75 mol/mol). The evaluation of the newly developed strains presented here should be useful in designing similar evaluation experiments for other microorganisms.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.50 no.2
• /
• pp.119-126
• /
• 2012

Carboxylic acids play an important role in both aerobic and anaerobic metabolic pathways of both the snail and the parasite. Monitoring the effects of infection by schistosome on Biomphalaria alexandrina carboxylic acids metabolic profiles represents a promising additional source of information about the state of metabolic system. We separated and quantified pyruvic, fumaric, malic, oxalic, and acetic acids using ion-suppression reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to detect correlations between these acids in both hemolymph and digestive gland gonad complex (DGG's) samples in a total of 300 B. alexandrina snails (150 infected and 150 controls) at different stages of infection. The results showed that the majority of metabolite pairs did not show significant correlations. However, some high correlations were found between the studied acids within the control group but not in other groups. More striking was the existence of reversed correlations between the same acids at different stages of infection. Some possible explanations of the underlying mechanisms were discussed. Ultimately, however, further data are required for resolving the responsible regulatory events. These findings highlight the potential of metabolomics as a novel approach for fundamental investigations of host-pathogen interactions as well as disease surveillance and control.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.624-629
• /
• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate the performance of nitrogen removal using autotrophic microorganism in the Membrane-Attached Biofilm Reactor (MABR). The treatment system consists of an aerobic MABR (R1) for nitrification and an anaerobic MABR (R2) for hydrogenotrophic denitrification. Oxygen and hydrogen were supplied through the lumen of hollow-fiber membranes as electron acceptor and donor, respectively. In phase Ι, simultaneous organic carbon removal and nitrification were carried out successfully in R1. In phase II, to develop the biofilm on the hollow-fiber membrane surface and to acclimate the microbial community to autotrophic condition, R1 and R2 were operated independently. The MABRs, R1 and R2 were connected in series continuously in phase III and operated at HRT of 8 hr or 4 hr with $NH_4{^+}-N$ concentration of influent, from 150 to 200 mgN/L. The total nitrogen removal efficiency reached the maximum value of 99% at the volumetric nitrogen loading rate of $1.20kgN/m^3{\cdot}d$ in the combined MABR system with R1 and R2. The results in this study demonstrated that the combined MABR system could operate effectively for the removal of nitrogen in wastewater not containing organic materials and can be used stably as a high rate nitrogen removal technology.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.323-336
• /
• 2010

We evaluated the properties of a fixed-bed column reactor for high-concentration tetrachloroethylene (PCE) removal. The anaerobic bacterium Clostridium bifermentans DPH-1 was able to dechlorinate PCE to cis-1,2-dichloroethylene (cDCE) via trichloroethylene (TCE) at high rates in the monoculture biofilm of an upflow fixed-bed column reactor. The first-order reaction rate of C. bifermentans DPH-1 was relatively high at $0.006\;mg\;protein^{-1}{\cdot}l{\cdot}h^{-1}$, and comparable to rates obtained by others. When we gradually raised the influent PCE concentration from $30\;{\mu}M$ to $905\;{\mu}M$, the degree of PCE dechlorination rose to over 99% during the operation period of 2,000 h. In order to maintain efficiency of transformation of PCE in this reactor system, more than 6 h hydraulic retention time (HRT) is required. The maximum volumetric dechlorination rate of PCE was determined to be $1,100\;{\mu}mol{\cdot}d^{-1}l$ of reactor $volume^{-1}$, which is relatively high compared to rates reported previously. The results of this study indicate that the PCE removal performance of this fixed-bed reactor immobilized mono-culture is comparable to that of a fixed-bed reactor mixture culture system. Furthermore, our system has the major advantage of a rapid (5 days) start-up time for the reactor. The flow characteristics of this reactor are intermediate between those of the plug-flow and complete-mix systems. Biotransformation of PCE into innocuous compounds is desirable; however, unfortunately cDCE, which is itself toxic, was the main product of PCE dechlorination in this reactor system. In order to establish a system for complete detoxification of PCE, co-immobilization of C. bifermentans DPH-1 with other bacteria that degrade cDCE aerobically or anaerobically to ethene or ethane may be effective.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.213-217
• /
• 2009

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been known as a new alternative energy conversion technology for treating wastewater and producing electricity simultaneously. A MFC converts the chemical energy of the organic compounds to electrical energy through microbial catalysis at the anode under anaerobic conditions. To examine the performance of MFC, in this work, the characteristics of the efficiency of wastewater treatment and generation of electricity was evaluated for sewage. When acetate as a carbon source was added into the sewage, the removal efficiency of COD was increased from 75.7% to 88.2% and the voltage was increased significantly from 0.22 V to 0.4 V. The influence of distance between anode and cathode was examined and the effect of the surface area of anode was investigated under the various external resistances. It was found that the maximum power density was $610mW/m^2$ and power generation was effective when the distance between the electrodes was shorter and the surface area of the anode was smaller.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.79-92
• /
• 1996

In a repository containing low-level waste, gas generation will occur principally by the coupled processes of metal corrosion and microbial degradation of cellulosic waste. This paper describes a mathematical model designed to address gas generation by these mechanisms and assesses the potential effects of gas generation on the performance of a radioactive waste repository. The metal corrosion model incorporates a three-stage process encompassing aerobic and anaerobic corrosion regimes ; the microbial degradation model simulates the activities of eight different microbial populations, which are maintained as functions both of pH and of the concentrations of particular chemical species. A prediction is made for gas concentrations and generation rates over an assessment period of ten thousand years in a radioactive waste repository. The results suggest that H$_2$will be the principal gas generated within the radioactive waste cavern.