• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.365-384
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• 2012

Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms that are highly productive in the presence of basic renewable natural sources (light, $CO_2$, water and nutrients). They can synthesize lipids, carbohydrates and proteins in a small number of days. Subsequently, these carbon-captured products can be processed into both biofuels and valuable co-products. Additionally, microalgae would be an ideal feedstock for replacing land-based food crops with cellular products as high energy density transportation fuels. These microscopic organisms could contribute a significant amount of renewable energy on a global scale. In Korea, microalgae biofuel research was common in the early 1990s. The research activities were unfortunately stopped due to limited governmental funds and low petroleum prices. Interest in algal biofuels in Korea has been growing recently due to an increased concern over oil prices, energy security, greenhouse gas emissions, and the potential for other biofuel feedstock to compete for limited agricultural resources. The high productivity of microalgae suggests that much of the Korean transportation fuel requirements can be met by biofuels at a production cost competitive with the increasing cost of petroleum seen in early 2008. At this time, the development of microlalgal biomass production technology remains in its infancy. This study reviewed microalgae culture systems and biomass production, harvesting, oil extraction, conversion, and technoeconomical bottlenecks. Many technical and economic barriers to using microalgal biofuels need to be overcome before mass production of microalgal-derived fuel substitutes is possible. However, serious efforts to overcome these barriers could become a large-scale commercial reality. Overall, this study provides a brief overview of the past few decades of global microalgal research.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.516-522
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• 2001

The large-scale production of antibiotics by filamentous mycelial organism requires and adequate supply of dissolved oxygen. In terms of productivity, it means that oxygen transfer is the rate-limiting step. Therefore, the oxygen transfer coefficients(K$\_$L/A) were determined in a broth involving a filamentous mycelial organism such as Streptomyces avermitilis for use in fermentations. To determine (K$\_$L/A) inn a stirred vessel, a great deal of effort is required to provide all the cells with a sufficient oxygen supply. To overcome the oxygen limitation in a batch culture, a fed-batch culture was applied to control the growth rate by an intermittent supply of nutrients. Thus, it was possible to maintain a suitable dissolved oxygen concentration at a low agitation rate. The optimal agitation speed was 350 rpm at low cell concentrations (below 7 g/L) by considering the efficiency of agitation and shear stress. The (K$\_$L/A) was found to decrease from 64.26 to 29.21h.$\^$-1/ when the biomass concentration was increased from 9.82 to 12.06 g/L. In addition, and increase in viscosity was also observed during the growth phase. By comparing the (K$\_$L/A) values for the various agitation and aeration rates, it was found that the effect of an increase in (K$\_$L/A) by aeration was reduced dramatically at high biomass concentrations. However, this effect was not observed when altering the agitation rate. This suggests that controlling the dissolved oxygen concentration by altering the agitation rate was more efficient than increase the aeration rate.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.371-376
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• 2003

To develop an efficient cultivation system to increase the productivity and the high quality of Chrysanthemum boreale M., the effects of pig manure (PM) application on the yield and the effective component were investigated in the pot scale (1/2000a scale). PM applied at the equivalent of six rates (with rate of 0, 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, and 12000 kg $10a^{-1}$). Maximum plant biomass yield was achieved at 9510 kg $10a^{-1}$ and at 9940 kg $10a^{-1}$ for flower biomass. Nitrogen recovery efficiency was more than 42% for all nitrogen treatments and reached 66.6% at 4000 kg $10a^{-1}$. Proline $(7.4{\sim}9.2\;g\;kg^{-1})$ was the most abundant amino acid in the flower of C. boreale M. and the contents of amino acids increased with increasing PM application rate. Contents of cumambrin A. a sesquiterpene compound known to reduce blood-pressure, decreased with increasing PM application. The highly negative correlation was found ($R^2$ = -0.723, P<0.01) between content of cumambrin A and PM application. However, the amount of cumambrin A in flowers increased as PM rate increased, because of increasing flower yield. In conclusion, PM fertilization increases yields and enhances overall quality.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.22-29
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• 1996

Immobilized bioprocess was carried out for continuous production of cyclosporin A (CyA) produced intracellularly as a secondary metabolite by a filamentous fungus, Tolypocladium inflatum. Immobilization procedure for entrapping conidiospores of the producer was significantly simplified by use of a modified immobilization technique. A newly-designed immobilized perfusion reactor system (IPRS) showed good process benefits as demonstrated by the role of the high density immobilized cells as an efficient biomass generator, continuously supplying highly active CyA-producing free cells (1.0g/$\ell$/hr) even at very high dilution rate ($0.1hr^{-1}$). IPRS bioprocess was possible since efficient decantor system developed in our laboratory separated the sloughed-off free cells from the immobilized biomass effectively, thus overcoming wash-out phenomenon frequently encountered in continuous free cell cultures. Furthermore the released-free cells remaining in the bulk solution did not appear to cause substrate mass transfer limitation which was often experienced in suspended mycelial fungal cell fermentations. The primary reason for this was that the suspension broth of the IPRS mainly consisted of roundshaped short mycelial fragments and conidiospores, still remaining Newtonian even at high cell density. In parallel with IPRS bioprocess development, other key factors to be considered necessarily for significant increase in CyA productivity would be strain improvement and medium optimization for the immobilized cells.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.232-238
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• 2007

The distribution of stock density and larvae of Atrina pectinata was examined in Deukryang Bay. Sampling of adult stock was seasonally conducted from 29 stations in the bay in May, August, and November 1995 and February 1996. And the larvae were sampled with interval of 3 to 7 days from 12 stations from July to October 1996. Seasonal abundance of the adult in number and in biomass were the highest in August ($18\;inds./m^2$) and in November ($2,790\;g/m^2$), respectively, at G1 station located in the most inner bay. In frequency distribution of shell height, the mode in May appeared in 10-14 cm group with 62%, and that of the other seasons in $15{\sim}19\;cm$ group. The larvae were also distributed mainly at G1 as the adult were. The larval abundance showed a periodical cycle which seemed to be related to lunar cycle. The highest abundance of the larvae occurred on August 16 with $8\;inds./m^3$, and then decreased continuously. With regard to frequency distribution of larval shell height, the larvae less than $200\;{\mu}m$ occurred from July to October. And the mode in July appeared in small size group ($200{\sim}249\;{\mu}m$) with 38%. These results mean that A. pectinata spawned from July to October, mainly middle July to middle August. The larval distribution showed the same geographical tendency to adult distribution. Both the adult and the larvae mainly distributed in the most inner bay and west area of Deukryang island, where was shallower, warmer, and higher primary productivity than the entrance area of the bay and east area of the island. However, larval abundance of A. pectinata in this study was so low compared to adult biomass. The reason for this unusual phenomenon should be understood with the detail research in future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.428-434
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the level of $CO_2$ (370 and $650{\mu}mol\;mol^{-1}$) and temperature (ambient and ambient+$5^{\circ}C$) on tomato growth and fruit characteristics as affected by the application rate of N-fertilizer (68 and $204\;N\;kg\;ha^{-1}$), for the purpose of evaluating the influence of elevated $CO_2$ and temperature on tomato crop. The elevated atmospheric $CO_2$ and temperature increased the plant height and stem diameter for tomato crop, while the differences among the nitrogen(N) application rates were not significantly different. Under the elevated $CO_2$, temperature, and a higher N application rate, the biomass of aerial part increased. The fruit yield showed the same result as the biomass except for the elevated temperature. The elevated temperature made the size of fruit move toward the small, but the elevated $CO_2$ and the application of N-fertilizer were vice versa. The sugar content and pH of fruit juice were affected by nitrogen application rate, but not by the elevated $CO_2$ and temperature. These results showed that both the elevated $CO_2$ and temperature stimulated the vegetative growth of aerial parts for tomato, but each effects on the yield of fruit showed an opposite result between the elevated temperature and $CO_2$. In conclusion, the elevated $CO_2$ increased tomato yield and the ratio of large size of fruit, but the elevated temperature did not. Therefore, to secure the productivity of tomato as nowadays in future environment, it will need to develop new breeder as high temperature-tolerable tomato species or new type of cropping systems.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.808-814
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• 1989

To produce ${\gamma}-linolenic$ acid by a mold, cultural conditions of Mortierella isabellina IFO 8183 were investigated. It was found that the increase of initial pH resulted in the decrease of the ${\gamma}-Linolenic$ acid content and the increase of the C/N ratio of medium resulted in the increase of the lipid content. Addition of sodium acetate into the medium resulted in the increased of cell yield, lipid yield, ${\gamma}-Linolenic$ acid content and ${\gamma}-Linolenic$ acid productivity. Under the optimum coditions(glucose, $NH_4NO_3$, C/N ratio of 40, pH 6.0, $30^{\circ}C$ and 0.5% of sodium acetate), the following results were obtained: cell yield, 0.347(g dry biomass/g glucose; lipid yield, 0.18(g lipid/g glucose); lipid content, 0.52(g lipid/g dry biomass); ${\gamma}-linolenic$ acid content, 60(mg ${\gamma}-linolenic$ acid/g lipid); maximum ${\gamma}-linolenic$ acid concentration, 347mg/l after incubation of 8 days.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.141-148
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• 2012

In order to study the utilization of brown seaweed Laminaria japonica as an alternative renewable feedstock for bioethanol production, the properties of acid hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation were investigated. The acid hydrolysis enhanced the final yield of fermentable sugars, which led great increase of ethanol productivity. The maximum yield of reducing sugars reached 135 mg/g-dry Laminaria japonica after 1.0N sulfuric acid-hydrolysis at $130^{\circ}C$ for 6 h. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ATCC 24858) could ferment $C_6$-sugars like glucose, galactose and mannose into ethanol, but not $C_5$-sugars like arabinose and xylose. Optimal fermentation time varied with sugars; 48 h for glucose, 72 h for galactose, and 96 h for mannose. Nevertheless, the ethanol yield from the hydrolysate reached 242 mg/g-dry Laminaria japonica after fermentation by the S. cerevisiae at $35^{\circ}C$ for 96 h, which corresponds to approximately 4 times more than the theoretical yield from total reducing sugars in the hydrolysates. It indicates that the non-reducing sugars or oligosaccharides dissolved in the hydrolysate played an important role in producing bioethanol. The ethanol concentration linearly increased from 2.4 to 9.2 g/L, while the ethanol yield per dry weight of biomass decreased from 242 to 185 mg/g, with increasing the ratio of biomass to acid solution from 1 to 5% (w/v). The bioethanol yield estimated was approximately 7,400~9,600 kg/ha/year, and indicated that Laminaria japonica is a promissing feedstock for bioethanol production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.102 no.2
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• pp.198-203
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• 2013

Herein we analyzed the nuclear DNA content and the histological characteristics of the triploid of the 'Hyunsasi' (Populus alba ${\times}$ P. glandulosa $F_1$) which were developed for biomass production and molecular breeding research. The flow cytometric analysis showed that the nuclear DNA content of the 3 triploids were 1.6 times greater than those of the diploid. In terms of histological characteristics, the cross-section area of the stem of 'Line-18' was 1.6 times larger than that of the diploid. The area of pith, and cortex and phloem of the stem of 'Line-18' was also 1.6 and 2.0 times larger than that of the diploid, respectively. Moreover, the length and area of guard cell of 'Line-18' was 1.2 times larger than that of the diploid. These results helps to understand the cytological characteristics of the triploid poplar clones, and further investigations in the growth rate and wood properties of the triploids growing in the field will determine whether the triploid poplars are good candidates for molecular breeding programs and for the improvement of industrial biomass productivity.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.211-223
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• 1994

In fermentations with a 4-liter stirred tank bioreactor, a better than two-fold enhancement of the gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient$(k_La)$ in the celite-immobilized fungal cultures of Tolypocladium in flatum over the parallel conventional free-cell was observed at identical biomass concentrations, despite the higher specific oxygen uptake rate of the immobilized fungi during exponential growth. As a result oxygen sufficient conditions, i. e., dissolve oxygen(D.O.) concentrations exceeding 75% air saturation, could be maintained throughout exponential growth period of the immobilized culture, in contrast to the suspended fungal culture, whose D.O. levels fell below 50% air saturation. A linear monotonic dependence of $k_La$ upon impeller agitaion rate was found for both immobilized and conventional cultivation modes over a range of 250 to 550rpm, the slope being a function of biomass concentration for the free but not for the immobilized cell system In contrasts oxygen transfer rate was a much weaker function of aeration rate up to about 2.5 vvm for both culture configurations. Above this level, aeration rate had no further effect on the mass transfer. In addition, the immobilized cultures sustained good morphological and physiological states, leading to almost two times higher cyclosporln A (CyA) productivity overt the parallel free cell system. These experiments suggest that the celite-immobilized fungal system in a stirred tank reactor has considerable promise for scaling up cyclosporin A production in terms of high-density cultivation.