• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2013

A concerted effort to develop alternative forms of energy is underway due to fossil fuel shortages and its deleterious effects. Recently, bioenergy from microalgae has gained prominence and the use of municipal wastewater as a low cost alternative for a nutrient source has significant advantages. In this study, we have employed municipal wastewater directly after primary treatment (primary settling basin) in a small scale raceway pond (SSRP) for microalgal growth. Indigenous microalgae in the wastewater were encouraged to grow in the SSRP under optimal conditions. The mean removal efficiencies of TN, TP, and $NH_3-N$ after 6 days were 77.77%, 63.55%, and 89.02%, respectively. The average lipid content of the microalgae was 19.51% of dry cell weight, and linolenate and linoleate (18:n) were the predominant fatty acids. The 18S rRNA gene analysis and microscopic observations of the indigenous microalgae community revealed the presence of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus as the dominant microalgae. These results indicate that untreated municipal wastewater, serving as an excellent nitrogen and phosphate source for microalgal growth, could be treated using microalgae in open raceway ponds. Moreover, microalgal biomass could be further profitable by the extraction of biodiesel.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2014

This is to study the effects of various pretreatment methods of agricultural residue, corn stover, and to compare the feature and pros and cons of each method including dilute sulfuric acid (DSA), soaking in aqueous ammonia (SAA), and ammonia recycle percolation (ARP). In order to convert corn stover to ethanol, various pretreatments followed by simultaneous saccharification and co-fermentation (SSCF) were tested and evaluated in terms of ethanol yield. With 3%, w/w of glucan loading using ARP-, DSA-, and SAA-treated solids, SSCFs using recombinant E. coli strain (ATCC$^{(R)}$ 55124) with commercial enzymes (15 FPU of Spezyme CP/g-glucan and 30 CBU/g-glucan enzyme loading) were tested. In the SSCF tests, 87, 90, and 78% of theoretical maximum ethanol yield were observed using ARP-, DSA-, and SAA-treated solids, respectively, which were 69, 58, and 74% on the basis of total carbohydrates (glucan + xylan) in the untreated corn stover. Ethanol yield of SAA-treated solid was higher than those of ARP- and DSA-treated solids. In addition, SSCF test using treated solids plus pretreated hydrolysate indicated that the DSA-treated hydrolysate showed the strongest inhibition effect on the KO11 strain, whereas the ARP-treated hydrolysate was found to have the second strongest inhibition effect. Bioconversion scheme using SAA pretreatment and SSCF can make the downstream process simple, which is suggested to produce ethanol economically because utilization of hemicellulose in the hydrolysate is not necessary.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.335-341
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• 2013

Ammonia circulation reactor (ACR) was devised for the effective pretreatment of corn stover. This method is designed to circulate aqueous ammonia continuously so that it can reduce the chemical and water consumption during pretreatment. In this study, ammonia pretreatment with various reaction conditions such as reaction time (4~12 hour), temperature ($60{\sim}80^{\circ}C$), and solid:liquid ratio (1:3~1:8) was tested. Chemical compositions including solid remaining after reaction, lignin and carbohydrates were analyzed and enzymatic digestibility was also measured. It was observed that as reaction conditions become more severe, lignin removal was significantly affected, which was in the range of 47.6~70.6%. On the other hands, glucan and xylan losses were not substantial as compared to that of lignin. At all tested conditions, the glucan loss was not changed substantially, which was between 4.7% and 15.2%, while the xylan loss varied, which was between 7.4% and 25.8%. With (15 FPU-GC220+30 CBU)/g-glucan of enzyme loading, corn stover treated using ammonia circulation reactor for 8~12 hours resulted in 90.1~94.5% of 72-h glucan digestibility, which was higher than 92.7% of $Avicel^{(R)}$-101. In addition, initial hydrolysis rate (at 24 hour) of this treated corn stover was 73.0~79.4%, which was shown to be much faster than 69.5% of $Avicel^{(R)}$-101. As reaction time increased, more lignin removal and it was assumed that the enhanced enzymatic digestibility of treated biomass was attributed to the lignin removal.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.414-422
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• 2022

The objective of this work was to investigate the feasibility of acid-catalyzed hydrothermal fractionation for maximum solubilization of the hemicellulosic portion of two typical agricultural residues. The fractionation conditions converted into combined reaction severity (CS) in the range of 1.2-2.9 was used to establish a simple reaction criteria at glance. The hemicellulosic sugar yield of 56.6% was shown when rice straw was fractionated at the conditions at the conditions; 160 ℃ of temperature 0.75% (w/v) of H₂SO₄, 20 min of reaction time, 1:15 solid/liquid ratio. The hemicellulosic sugar yield of 83.0%, however, was achieved when barley straw was fractionated at the conditions at the conditions; 150 ℃ of temperature 0.75% (w/v) of H₂SO₄, and 15 min of reaction time, 1:10 solid/liquid ratio. For barley straw, acid-catalyzed hydrothermal fractionation could be effectively performed. After the fractionation process, the remaining fractionated solids were 48.5% and 57.5% from raw rice and barley straws, respectively. The XMG contents in the solid residues decreased from 17.3% and 17.6% to 6.0% and 2.6%, which corresponded to 16.7% and 8.5% on the basis of the raw straws, respectively. In another way, only 5.6% of cellulose and 8.5% of XMG were lost due to excessive decomposition during the acid-catalyzed hydrothermal fractionation of barley straw, compared to cellulose and XMG losses of 6.4% and 26.6% in rice straw. Hemicellulosic sugars from the rice straw were considered more over-decomposed due to the somewhat higher reaction severity at the acid-catalyzed hydrothermal fractionation.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.349-353
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• 2009

We developed a new barley cultivar "Dami" (Hordeum vulgare L.) with the auricleless gene lig (al, li, aur-a). The characteristic of auricleless is a spontaneous mutant type which has known as a monogenic recessive gene. The plant with the gene has erect leaf blades because of no auricle. The cultivar was derived from a cross between 'BGS60' and 'Kangbori'. 'BGS60' has the auricleless gene (li), while 'Kangbori' showed a high biomass with winter hardiness and resistance to BaYMV (Barley Yellow Mosaic Virus). Subsequent generations were handled by the bulk method in a pedigree selection program. A promising line showed both high yield and lodging resistance in the yield trials at Iksan in 2003 to 2004, and designated as Iksan414. The line was subsequently evaluated for winter hardiness, earliness, and yield in the seven locations around Korea for three years from 2005 to 2007 and was designated as "Dami" and released. It has the growth habit of III, erect plant type, green leaf and stem similar to the check cultivar 'Sunwoo' Its heading date was April 30, and maturing date May 31 in paddy field conditions, which were similar to those of 'Sunwoo' respectively. The cultivar Dami was 97 cm in culm length, had 643 spikes per $m^2$ and higher leaf dry weight, and better adaptability to dense planting, winter hardiness, and resistance to BaYMV than the check cultivar did. The average forage yield of "Dami" was about 12 ton $ha^{-1}$ in dry matter (33 ton $ha^{-1}$ in fresh matter) in paddy field. "Dami" also showed 7.5% of crude protein content, 28.5% of ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber), 50.1% of NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber), and 66.4% of TDN (Total Digestible Nutrients), including higher grade of silage quality for whole crop barley. This cultivar would be suitable for the area where the daily minimum temperature of January is above $-8^{\circ}C$ in Korean peninsula.