• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.216-222
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• 2018

The growth characteristics of Spirulina platensis were investigated using four photo-bioreactors with $CO_2$-mixed air flows. Each reactor was operated under a specific condition: 3% $CO_2$ at 50 mL/min, 3% $CO_2$ at 150 mL/min, 6% $CO_2$ at 50 mL/min, and 6% CO2 at 150 mL/min. The 3% $CO_2$ at 150 mL/min condition produced the highest algal growth rate, while the 6% $CO_2$ at 150 mL/min conditioned produced the lowest. The algal growth performance was suitably assessed by the linear growth curve rather than the exponential growth. The medium pH decreased from 9.5 to 8.7-8.8 (3% $CO_2$) and 8.4-8.5 (6% $CO_2$), of which trends were predicted only by the pH-carbonate equilibrium and the reaction kinetics between dissolved $CO_2$ and $HCO_3{^-}$. Based on the stoichiometry between the nutrient amounts and cell elements, it was predicted that depleted nitrogen (N) at the early stage of the cultivation would reduce the algal growth rates due to nutrient starvation. In this study, use of the photobioreactors capable of good light energy distribution, proper ranges of $CO_2$ in bubbles and medium pH facilitated production of high amounts of algal biomass despite N limitation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.469-471
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• 2013

In this study, we measured the anti-bacterial activity of radioisotope Lu-177 using a new laboratory instrument. The disk method used for the measurement of existing anti-bacterial antibiotics is drug diffusion into the medium. To measure the antimicrobial activity of a radioisotope, a new type of laboratory instrument is necessary to prevent the drug from spreading and the present invention was thus tested. In the medium, a space isolated separately for radioisotope injection was used to prevent the radioisotope from spreading and radioisotopes are actually injected by this system. We found that the antibacterial activity increased according to the radiation dose increases. It is expected that, through the present study, measuring the antibacterial activity of the other radioisotopes easily in the laboratory will be possible.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.346-351
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• 1995

To produce ethanol from Jerusalem artichoke powder efficiently, Kluyveromyces marxianus F043 cells were encapsulated in 2% sodium alginate and were cultured in a countinuous reactor to investigate the fermentation properties. Immobilized K. marxianus F043 cells were activated for 48 hours in a fermentor for continuous ethanol production. The culture in a CSTR using a Jerusalem artichoke substrate treated with 2% cellulase showed a decrease in ethanol concentration and an increase in residual saccharide concentration with a increasing dilution rate. Optimum conditions for high ethanol productivity and low residual saccharide output were clarified to be given at a dilution rate of 0.2 h$^{-1}$ and a Jerusalem artichoke medium concentration of 75 g/l. Ethanol productivity of 3.1 g/l-h and saccharide utilization of 62.6% were obtained under the optimum condition. When the fermentation was performed for 3 weeks under these conditions, the effluent medium showed stable ethanol concentrations of 16.3 - 17.9 g/l and viable cells of 6.60-7.16 log cells/ml without contamination. Trace amounts of methyl, n-propyl, iso-butyl, isoamyl alcohols besides ethanol were detected.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.340-344
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• 2000

Microbial oxidation of D-sorbitol to L-sorbose by Acetobacter suboxydans is of commercial importance since it is the only biochemical process in vitamin C synthesis. The main bottleneck in the batch oxidation of sorbitol to sorbose is that the process is severely inhibited by sorbitol. Suitable fed-batch fermentation designs can eliminate the inherent substrate inhibition and improve sorbose productivity. Fed-batch sorbose fermentations were conducted by using two nutrient feeding strategies. For fed-batch fermentation with pulse feeding, highly concentrated sorbitor (600g/L) along with other nutrients were fed intermittently in four pulses of 0.5 liter in response to the increased DO signal. The fed-batch fermentation was over in 24h with a sorbose productivity of 13.40g/L/h and a final sorbose concentration of 320.48g/L. On the other hand, in fed-batch fermentation with multiple feeds, two pulse feeds of 0.5 liter nutrient medium containing 600g/L sorbitol was followed by the addition of 1.5 liter nutrient medium containing 600g/L sorbitol at a constant feed rate of 0.36L/h till the full working capacity of the reactor. The fermentation was completed in 24h with an enhanced sorbose productivity of 15.09g/L/h and a sorbose concentration of 332.60g/L. The sorbose concentration and productivity obtained by multiple feeding of nutrients was found to be higher than that obtained by pulse feeding and was therefore a better strategy for fed-batch sorbose fermentation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 1992

A study on the citric acid production was performed in various size dual hollow fiber bioreactors with immobilized Aspergillus niger (KCTC 1232). The final dry cell mass density reached 300g/l based on the space volume available for cell growth. Under air and oxygen aeration the volumethe productivity reached 0.63 and 1.02g/l.h, which cormsponded to 10 and 16 fold over those of batch fermentation, respectively. The initial pH of the medium was a critical factor and the lower value resulted in higher citric acid yield. The increase in the feeding rate of medium or the number of reactor unit resulted in the improvement of the productivity due to higher consumption rate of substrate.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.826-833
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• 2014

Driven by both environmental and economic reasons, the development of small to medium scale GTL(gas-to-liquid) process for offshore applications and for utilizing other stranded or associated gas has recently been studied increasingly. Microchannel GTL reactors have been prefrered over the conventional GTL reactors for such applications, due to its compactness, and additional advantages of small heat and mass transfer distance desired for high heat transfer performance and reactor conversion. In this work, multi-microchannel reactor was simulated by using commercial CFD code, ANSYS FLUENT, to study the geometric effect of the microchannels on the heat transfer phenomena. A heat generation curve was first calculated by modeling a Fischer-Tropsch reaction in a single-microchannel reactor model using Matlab-ASPEN integration platform. The calculated heat generation curve was implemented to the CFD model. Four design variables based on the microchannel geometry namely coolant channel width, coolant channel height, coolant channel to process channel distance, and coolant channel to coolant channel distance, were selected for calculating three dependent variables namely, heat flux, maximum temperature of coolant channel, and maximum temperature of process channel. The simulation results were visualized to understand the effects of the design variables on the dependent variables. Heat flux and maximum temperature of cooling channel and process channel were found to be increasing when coolant channel width and height were decreased. Coolant channel to process channel distance was found to have no effect on the heat transfer phenomena. Finally, total heat flux was found to be increasing and maximum coolant channel temperature to be decreasing when coolant channel to coolant channel distance was decreased. Using the qualitative trend revealed from the present study, an appropriate process channel and coolant channel geometry along with the distance between the adjacent channels can be recommended for a microchannel reactor that meet a desired reactor performance on heat transfer phenomena and hence reactor conversion of a Fischer-Tropsch microchannel reactor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.303-311
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• 2000

This study was conducted to find an optimal TNT transformation condition with the addition of different carbon and energy sources in a batch reactor. When TNT and nitrate were present in the medium, the cell growth and TNT transformation was slower because nitrate and TNT was competitively served as electron acceptor. Transformation of TNT was faster when TNT in the medium was nitrogen source and acetate as a carbon source. Cell growth and nitrate transformation was slower when yeast extract was not present in the medium. The proposed intermediates of TNT biotransformation from the earlier studies was not detected in this experiment but the intermediates are tentatively proposed as nitro and amino-free compounds. These results should be helpful for the operation of the munition waste treatment in the future.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.307-313
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• 2001

Reactive medium including zero-valent metals such as zero-valent iron ($Fe^0$) degrades chlorinated solvents as a contaminant plume flows through the treatment medium. Although the Feo based reactive barrier has been demonstnlted to be a cost effective for trichloroethenc (TCE)-contaminaled plume remediation, current approach is limited by low process eftlciency and uncertain, effective life of the medium. The objective of this study is to develop an enhanced treatment method of TeE-contaminated groundwater using Feo and direct current. The bench-scale test using flow-through $Fe^0$ reactor column confirmed that the application of direct current with $Fe^0$ is highly effective in enhancing the rate of TeE dechlorination. The dechlorination mechanism appears to be reductive, with the electrons supplied by the iron oxidation and external power supply serving as the additional source of electrons.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1155-1160
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• 2012

Sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification relies on an inorganic carbon source to reduce the nitrate by producing sulfuric acid as an end product and can be used for the treatment of wastewaters containing high levels of nitrates. In this study, sulfur-denitrifying bacteria were used in anoxic batch tests with sulfur as the electron donor and nitrate as the electron acceptor. Various medium components were tested under different conditions. Sulfur denitrification can drop the medium pH by producing acid, thus stopping the process half way. To control this mechanism, a 2:1 ratio of sulfur to oyster shell powder was used. Oyster shell powder addition to a sulfur-denitrifying reactor completely removed the nitrate. Using 50, 100, and 200 g of sulfur particles, reaction rate constants of 5.33, 6.29, and $7.96mg^{1/2}/l^{1/2}{\cdot}h$ were obtained, respectively; and using 200 g of sulfur particles showed the highest nitrate removal rates. For different sulfur particle sizes ranging from small (0.85-2.0 mm), medium (2.0-4.0 mm), and large (4.0-4.75 mm), reaction rate constants of 31.56, 10.88, and $6.23mg^{1/2}/l^{1/2}{\cdot}h$ were calculated. The fastest nitrate removal rate was observed for the smallest particle size. Addition of chemical oxygen demand (COD), methanol as the external carbon source, with the autotrophic denitrification in sufficiently alkaline conditions, created a balance between heterotrophic denitrification (which raises the pH) and sulfur-utilizing autotrophic denitrification, which lowers the pH.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.379-388
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• 2006

Two mesophilic trickling bed bioreactors filled with two different types of media, hydrophilic- and hydrophobic-cubes, were designed and conducted for hydrogen production under the anaerobic fermentation of sucrose. Each bioreactor consisted of the column packed with polymeric cubes and inoculated with heat-treated sludge obtained from anaerobic digestion tank. A defined medium containing sucrose was fed by the different hydraulic retention time(HRT), and recycle rate. Hydrogen concentrations in gas-phase were constant, averaging 40% of biogas throughout the operation. Hydrogen production rate was increased till $10.5\;L{\cdot}h^{-1}{\cdot}L^{-1}$ of bioreactor when influent sucrose concentrations and recycle rates were varied. At the same time, the hydrogen production rate with hydrophobic media application was higher than its hydrophilic media application. No methane was detected when the reactor was under a normal operation. The major fermentation by-products in the liquid effluent of the both trickling biofilters were acetate, butyrate and lactate. In order to run in the long term operation of both reactor filled with hydrophilic and hydrophobic media, biofilm accumulation on hydrophilic media and biogas produced should be controlled through some process such as periodical backwashing or gas-purging. Four sample were collected from each reactor on the opposite hydrogen production rate, and their bacterial communities were compared by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of PCR products generated using bacterial 16s rRNA gene primers (8f and 926r). It was expressed a marked difference in bacterial communities of both reactors. The trickling bed bioreactor with hydrophobic media demonstrates the feasibility of the process to produce hydrogen gas. A likely application of this reactor technology can be hydrogen gas recovery from pre-treatment of high carbohydrate-containing wastewaters.