• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2017

In the present work, the synergistic effect of seaweed addition on organic acid production from sludge was investigated. The batch experiment was conducted at various mixing ratios of sewage sludge and seaweed (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, 0:100 on a COD basis) under the substrate concentration of 20 g COD/L. The fermentation temperature was conducted under mesophilic condition ($35^{\circ}C$) and a heat-treated ($90^{\circ}C$ for 20 min) anaerobic digester sludge was used as a seeding source to suppress the methanogenic activity, The results showed that the amount of organic acid production increased as the content of seaweed increased: organic acids were 1.45, 3.22, 4.28, 5.24 and 4.82 g COD/L for the mixing ratio of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 respectively. The synergistic effect was calculated based on the organic acid production of individual sludge and seaweed, and was found to be 0.92, 1.14, 1.26 g COD/L at the mixing ratio of 75:25, 50:50 and 25:75, which indicates that 40% of synergy was obtained when 25% of seaweed was added. The synergistic effect could be ascribed to the high C/N ratio and biodegradability of seaweed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.352-358
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• 2014

The feasibility of perchlorate reducing-bacteria isolated from the sludge of an anaerobic digester was determined using ammonium perchlorate in aqueous medium. Growth kinetics of the two perchlorate reducing bacteria including Rhodococcus sp. YSPW01 and YSPW02 were investigated using acetate as the electron donor in batch experiment. The growth of YSPW01 and YSPW02 reached a steady-state at 26 and 9 h, respectively. The initial perchlorate concentration was completely reduced within 8 and 7 h by YSPW01 and YSPW02, respectively. The reduction rates were 2.1 and $15mg\;L^{-1}h^{-1}$ for YSPW01, and 3.2 and $15.5mg\;L^{-1}h^{-1}$ for YSPW02, at 1:1 and 5:1 ratios of acetate:perchlorate (w:w), respectively. In this study, the bacteria Rhodococcus sp. YSPW01 and YSPW02 demonstrated a potential for the perchlorate reduction, which could be further investigated for development of an efficient strategy to treat the perchlorate contaminated waters.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.264-270
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• 2010

Waste activated sludge from sewage treatment plants mainly consisted of flocs of bacterial cell, and thus hard to be stabilized anaerobically due to rigid cell walls. One of the pretreatment methods to overcome this barrier is the venturi cavitation system (VCS) adopting hydrodynamic cavitation. This research was conducted to investigate the effects of the pretreatment of waste activated sludge by VCS on the anaerobic digestibility. Depending on the pretreatment period with the VCS, methane production, COD removal and VS removal efficiency increased 41%~45%, 36.5%~43.1% and 18.4~24.1%, respectively, compared to the control case. The increase in methane production from digester was 3.3~4.2 times higher than the theoretical methane potential of the increased SCOD after the VCS pre-treatment. This suggests that the VCS pre-treatment not only increases SCOD but also improves the digestibility of solid fractions. The energy mass balance indicated that the energy consumed for sludge pre-treatment could be recovered by the increased methane production after pre-treatment, suggesting the high potential for field application.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.11
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• pp.618-626
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• 2016

The influence of ferric ion ($Fe^{+3}$) on bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge was explored at ambient temperature ($25^{\circ}C$). Before the addition of ferric ion, the removal of volatile solids (VS) was 65.9% and the specific methane production rate was 370 mL/L/d. After the addition of ferric ion (200 ppm) to feed sludge, the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester was more stable in the state variables including pH, alkalinity, COD and VFAs, and the VS removal and specific methane production rate were increased to 69.8% and 396 mL/L/d, respectively. However, the methane content in biogas was slightly reduced by the addition of ferric ion, indicating that the activity of planktonic anaerobic bacteria (PAB) was more improved after the addition of ferric ion. The dominances of syntrophic bacteria (Cloacamonas) and hyrolytic bacteria (Saprospiraceae, Ottowia pentelensis) in the PAB were increased by the addition of ferric ion. The addition of ferric ion improved the performance of bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge at ambient temperature.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2020

Biogas production potential was experimentally estimated for mono- and co-digestion of cow manure and waste grass. The two organic wastes were mixed at five different ratios (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, 0:100) on the volatile solids basis, and were assessed using biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. Thee reaction temperatures, 25℃, 30℃ and 35℃, were applied as well, resulting in 15 different combinations for the test. The results showed that both higher temperature and waste grass mixing ratio resulted in higher methane yield and maximum methane production rate. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical farm- or community-scale (240 or 2400 ㎥) anaerobic digester was designed to evaluate the energy balance associated with mono- and co-digestion of the wastes at different temperatures. Although the energy production increased as the temperature and the waste grass mixing ratio increased, the net energy gain, energy production subtracted by energy consumption for heating and maintenance, was estimated to be the highest at 30℃, followed by at 35℃ and 25℃. Therefore, it is advised that both the experimental methane production and the detailed design parameters must be considered for the optimization of the net energy gain from these wastes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.302-308
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• 2005

Nitrate is one of common contaminants frequently found in the bank filtrate. Biological autotrophic denitrification into permeable reactive barrier(PRB) system to reduce nitrate concentration in bank filtrate was implanted. The objectives of research are to investigate effect of inoculation, to evaluate alternative alkalinity sources, and to determine effect of hydraulic characteristics, such as retention time, flow rate on the performance of semi-pilot PRB system. Semi-pilot scale biological PRB system was installed using elemental sulfur and limestone/oyster shell as reactive materials near Nakdong River in Kyoungnam province, Korea. Nitrate concentration in bank filtrate was reduced by indigenous microorganisms in oyster shell as welt as by inoculating microorganisms isolated from the sludge of an anaerobic digester in a wastewater treatment plant. Oyster shell as well as limestone can be used as an alkalinity source. However, oyster shell resulted in suspended solids of effluent. As the flow rate in the system increased from 66 to 132 mL/min and accordingly the residence time decreased from 15 to 7.5 hours, nitrate concentration in effluent increased and nitrate removal efficiencies decreased from 75 to 58% at the fixed thickness of 80 cm of PRB.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.341-345
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• 2009

Continuous dry anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes (30% TS, Total Solids) comprised of food waste and paper was performed under mesophilic condition. During the operation, hydraulic retention time (HRT) was decreased as follows: 150 d, 100 d, 60 d, and 40 d, which corresponded to the solid loading rate of 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, and 7.5 kg TS/$m^3$/d, respectively. Volumetric biogas production rate ($m^3$/$m^3$/d) increased as HRT decreased, and the highest biogas production rate of 3.49${\pm}$0.31 $m^3$/$m^3$/d was achieved at 40 d of HRT. At this HRT, high volatile solids (VS) reduction of 76% was maintained, and methane production yield of 0.25 $m^3$/kg $TS_{added}$ was achieved, indicating 67.4% conversion of organic solid waste to bioenergy. The highest biogas production yield of 0.52 $m^3$/kg $TS_{added}$ was achieved at 100 d of HRT, but it did not change much with respect to HRT. For the ease feed pumping, some amount of digester sludge was recycled and mixed with fresh feed to decrease the solid content. Recirculation volume of 5Q was found to be the optimal in this experimental condition. Specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of microorganisms at mesophilic-dry condition was 2.66, 1.94, and 1.20 mL $CH_4$/g VS/d using acetate, butyrate, and propionate as a substrate, respectively.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.97-102
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• 2007

The piggery wastewater is the major source of the water pollution problem in the rural area. The treatment alternatives for piggery wastewater are limited by the characteristics of both high organic and nitrogen(N) content. In order to investigate an efficient N removal system, the thermophilic aerobic digestion process was examined. The experiment was investigated organic and nitrogen removal efficiency at various HRTs and air supply volume. The results of semi-continuous experiment indicated that a higher removal of the soluble portion of COD was achieved with the longer HRTs. However, the inert portion of COD in piggery wastewater was not much changed by thermophilic aerobic digestion. In addition, with the higher HRT of 3 days, up to 79% of NH4-N removal efficiency was achieved. Lower the HRTs, a decrease of NH4-N removal was founds. The gas samples from the lab reactor were analyzed along with the N content in influent and effluent. The N2O formation in our system indicates a novel aerobic deammonification process occurred during the thermophilic aerobic digestion. Both N02 and N03 were not presented in the effluent of thermophilic aerobic digester. With the HRT of 3 days, 36.4% of influent N(or 57.5% removal N) was aerobically converted to N2O gas. The ammonium conversion to N2O gas significantly decrease to 4.5% at low HRT of .05 day..

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2009

We confirmed methane production and reduction of pollution during anaerobic digestion of milk waste and analyzed the economic potential of using milk waste as a renewable energy source. The milk waste sludge was obtained from the Pasteur milk factory and processed by anaerobic digestion to produce methane. The methane production from two completely mixed tank reactors with an effective capacity of 6 ${\ell}$, 15 days of hydraulic retention time (HRT), and a mid-temperature of $35^{\circ}C$ averaged 4.11 ${\ell}$/day. The total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) during production decreased from an initial 31,416 mg/${\ell}$ to 13,500 mg/${\ell}$, showing a maximum TCOD removal efficiency of 60%. When HRT was reduced to 12 days, methane production increased by 44% under a high-temperature condition of $55^{\circ}C$. An economic analysis based on these results was applied to a Korean milk factory of typical size and demonstrated that the installation of an anaerobic digester could provide sufficient economic profit.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2010

We(Hansol EME Co. Ltd.) proceeded anaerobic digestion test for domestic food wastewater applying to two operating method for increasing of OLR. The methods are as follows. One was the rapidity operating method which was increasing the OLR continuously and rapidly and the other was the terraced operating method which was increasing the OLR having adaptation period for each step. As a result of this tests, the ratio of VFA/Alkalinity of the process was very unstable under the rapidity operating method then the volume of produced biogas was dramatically decreased. However the process was shown stable performance under the terraced operating method maintaining the ratio of VFA/Alkalinity less than 0.4. Also, the process was performing the biogas recovery of $0.8Nm^3/kgVS_{rem}/d$ and the VS removal ratio of 85%. T-RFLP analysis about the community of bacteria and methanogen is also conducted to check the change of the microbial community according to the methods of OLR increasing operation. The microbial community was changed by the methods of OLR increasing operation according to the result of T-RFLP analysis. Although the anaerobic digestion test was executed by same pilot plant, the reactivity and the tolerance of microbial community for surrounding environment could be considerably changed by the operating method for the process.