• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.2
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• pp.17-29
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• 2020

The objective of this study was to find an optimum methane yield condition in anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge with microwave pretreatment. The pretreatment process was carried out using a lab scale industrial microwave unit (2,450 MHz frequency). The digestion efficiency of pretreated sludge was evaluated by biochemical methane potential (BMP) test. Box-Behnken design and Response Surface Analysis (RSA) were applied to determine the optimal combination of sludge mixing ratio (0 to 100%), power (400 to 1600 W), holding time (0 to 10 min) and pretreatment temperature (60 to 100℃). BMP test results showed that Volatile Solid (VS) removal efficiency was up to 48% at a condition of 0% for mixing ratio, 1600 W for power, 5 min for holding time, and 80℃ for pretreatment temperature. Methane production was up to 832.3 mL/g VS_removed at a condition of 50% for mixing ratio, 1000 W for power, 5 min for holding time, and 80℃ for pretreatment temperature. The results of the variance analysis (ANOVA) showed that the p-value of the power and pretreatment temperature among the independent variables were significant (p<0.05), and in particular, the pretreatment temperature significantly affected on the solubilization and methane production. The optimum condition for the maximum methane yield (847 mL/g VS_removed) was consist of 38.4% of mixing ratio, 909.1 W of power, 4.1 min of holding time, and 80℃ of temperature within the design boundaries.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2023

Methane production by anaerobic digestion occurs through interspecies electron transfer (DIET), a synthetic metabolism between acetic and methanate bacteria through hydrolysis and acid production steps. In this study, to improve methane yield, the effect of addition of magnetite (Fe₃O₄), a conductor promoting DIET on methane production in food wastewater was investigated, and the effect on methane yield was assessed by methane potential (B_u) and maximum methane production rate [R_m(t₀)] by the operation of batch type anaerobic reactor adding Fe₃O₄. The B_u and R_m(t₀) of food wastewater without Fe₃O₄ were 0.496 Nm³/kg-VSadded and 38.24 mL/day, respectively. The t0 which reached to R_m appeared at 21.06 days during the operation of the anaerobic reactor. The B_u of food wastewater with Fe₃O₄ was 0.502, 0.498, 0.512, 0.510, 0.518, 0.523, 0.524, 0.540, and 0.549 Nm³/kg-VSadded in the treatment of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 70, and 100mM-Fe₃O₄, respectively, and the B_u significantly increased to 36.95% with the addition of magnetite in the addition of 15mM-Fe₃O₄. And, the addition of Fe₃O₄ shortened the duration to reach R_m from 21.06 days to the maximum of 14.67 days by the addition of Fe₃O₄. Therefore, the methane yield and production rate of food wastewater significantly improved with the addition of Fe₃O₄.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2023

In this study, spent mushroom substrate (SMS), which consits of lignocellulosic material, was pretreated by hydrothermal method; the changes of biodegradability and methane production yield of pretreated SMS were determined according to formation of lignocellulosic biomass degrading byproducts formation during thermal pretreatment. Based on the results, all hydrothermal pretreatment temperatures showed improved solubilization performance for biomass, and the optimum pretreatment effect was observed at an pretreatment temperature of 150℃ with the highest methane production yield. However, the induced formation of furan derivatives (i.e., 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and furfural) as byproducts during hydrolysis of hemicellulose and cellulose at severe condition lowered biodegradability and methane yield when the hydrothermal pretreatment temperature was higher than 180℃. Thus, this study revealed that hydrothermal pretreatment could promote anaerobic digestion efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass and is of great importance for preventing byproducts formation through pretreatment condition control.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.927-933
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• 2007

Waste activated sludge (WAS) was thermally pretreated to enhance hydrolysis and ultimately methane yield. Batch and semi-continuous anaerobic digestion were conducted to evaluate the performance of methane fermentation of the hydrolyzed sludge and to investigate the kinetics of sludge fermentation. Thermal pretreatment remarkably enhanced digestion performances particularly the methane fermentation with three times more methane production than before the pretreatment. Gas production and kinetic parameters in the semi-continuous anaerobic digestion were estimated using Chen Hashimoto model. The model simulation fitted well the experimental results and the model was shown to be suitable for evaluating the effects of disintegration of WAS in anaerobic digestion. Three parameters ($B_o$, K, and ${\mu}_m$) determined by model simulation were $0.0807L-CH_4/g-VS$, 0.453 and $0.154d^{-1}$ for control sludge, and $0.253L-CH_4/g-VS$, 0.835 and $0.218d^{-1}$ for thermally pretreated sludge, respectively.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 1993

The anaerobic digestion of organic synthetic wastewater in anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor (AFBBR) and anaerobic fluidized packed bed bioreactor (AFPBBR) was studied. This study was conducted to evaluate efficiency and reliability of two reactor. Experiment was performed to find the effect of upflow rate with AFBBR and the height of packed bed with AFPBBR. As a result, this program obtained several conclusion. These are given as follows: As applied the upflow rate increased in AFBBR the produced volume of biogas increased, while the gas production and COD removal decreased at above 0.3 m$^3$/h. When a upflow rate is 0.4 m$^3$/h in AFBBR the volatile suspended solid (VSS) became significantly increased. At an organic loading rate from 0.1 to 0.4 of upflow rate in AFBBR, the methane yield was 1.5584 m$^3$CH$_4$/kgCOD removed, and the observed cell yield coefficient was 0.0933 gVSS/gCOD. In case of AFPBBR, the results showed also that 20 cm of height of packed bed was superior to other in the aspect ot biogas production, the content of methane and COD removal. At 20 cm of height, the profile of microorganisms was stable, while at 30 cm the VSS of effluent became higher than AFBBR. Though COD removal of AFPBBR increased with packed bed, COD removal deteriorate with over packing because the loss of pressure became higher in the reactor. At an organic loading rate from 20 to 40 cm of packed bed in-AFPBBR, the methane yield was 2.5649 m$^3$CH$_4$/kgCOD removed, and the observed cell yield coefficient was 0.0506 gVSS/gCOD. Based upon the results obtained, it is suggested that AFBBR and AFPBBR is the most effective conditions at 0.3 m3/h of upflow rate, the 20cm of packed bed, respectively. The rate constant are summarized as follow:

• 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 the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.27-40
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• 2022

In this study, the anaerobic digestion potential and thermo-chemical pre-treatment were evaluated for efficient anaerobic co-digestion of dewatered sludge(DS) and food waste(FW). As a result, the degradable organic matter concentration and methane yield of FW were evaluated to 2.2 and 1.3 times higher than that of DS, respectively. In order to increase the amount of biogas production, it was determined that it is desirable to increase the mixing ratio of FW. The efficiency of thermo-chemical pre-treatment was evaluated for the reaction temperature, NaOH concentration, reaction time and mixture ratio. As a result of evaluation through pre-treatment efficiency and dehydration capacity, the optimum pre-treatment conditions were evaluated as follows: reaction temperature 140℃, NaOH concentration 60 meq/L, reaction time 60 min, mixture ratio 1:5(DS:FW). The gas production rate and methane yield increased 1.6 and 1.5 times, respectively, compared to before and after applying the optimum pre-treatment. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the mixing ratio of food waste for efficient anaerobic co-digestion of DS and FW. and it is necessary to increase the solubilization efficiency of waste by application of pre-treatment.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.156-161
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• 2012

Marine biomass is considered an important substrate for anaerobic digestion to recovery energy i.e. methane. Nevertheless, marine biomass has attracted little attention by researchers compared to terrestrial feedstock for anaerobic digestion. In this study, biochemical methane potential (BMP) test was used to evaluate generation of renewable energy from starfish. A cumulative biogas yield of $748{\pm}67mL\;g^{-1}VS^{-1}$ was obtained after 60 days of digestion. The cumulative methane yield of $486{\pm}28mL\;CH_4\;g^{-1}VS^{-1}$ was obtained after 60 days of digestion. The methane content of the biogas was approximately 70%. The calculated data applying the modified Gompertz equation for the cumulative $CH_4$ production showed good correlation with the experimental result obtained from this batch study. Since the result obtained from this study is comparable to results with other substrates, marine biomass can be co-digested with food waste or swine wastewater to produce $CH_4$ gas that will help to reduce the gap in global energy demand.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.141-148
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• 2022

In this study, the inhibition of ammonia on anaerobic digestion of butyric acid was evaluated and the potential alleviating effects of such ammonia inhibition by the addition of magnetite particles were investigated. Independent anaerobic batch tests fed with butyric acid as a sole organic source were conducted in twenty 60-mL glass bottles with 10 different treatment conditions, comprising ammonia: 0.5, 2.0, 4.0, 6.0, and 7.0 g total ammonia nitrogen (TAN)/L and magnetite particles: 0 mM and 20 mM. The increase in ammonia concentration did not cause significant inhibition on methane yield; however, a significant inhibition on lag time and specific methane production rate was observed. The IC₅₀ in the control treatments (without magnetite addition) was estimated as 6.2654 g TAN/L. A similar inhibition trend was observed in magnetite-added treatments; however, the inhibition effect by ammonia was significantly alleviated in lag time and specific methane production rate when compared to those in the control treatments. The lag time was shortened by 1.6-46.3%, specific methane production rate was improved by 6.0-69.0%. In the magnetite-added treatments, IC₅₀ was estimated as 8.5361 g TAN/L. This study successfully demonstrated the potential of magnetite particles as an enhancer in anaerobic digestion of butyric acid under conditions of ammonia stress.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.101-101
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• 2010

Anaerobic digestion(AD) is the most promising method for treating and recycling of different organic wastes, such as organic fraction of municipal solid waste, household wastes, animal manure, agro-industrial wastes, industrial organic wastes and sewage sludge. During AD, i.e. organic materials are decomposed by anaerobic forming bacteria and fina1ly converted to excellent fertilizer and biogas which is a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane. AD has been one of the leading technologies that can make a large contribution to produce renewable energy and to reduce $CO_2$ and other green-house gas(GHG) emission, it is becoming a key method for both waste treatment and recovery of a renewable fuel and other valuable co-products. Currently some 80% of the world's overall energy supply of about 400 EJ per year in derived from fossil fuels. Nevertheless roughly 10~15% of this demand is covered by biomass resources, making biomass by far the most important renewable energy source used to date. The representative biofuels produced from the biomass are bioethanol, biodiesel and biogas, and currently biogas plays a smaller than other biofuels but steadily growing role. Traditionally anaerobic digestion applied for different biowaste e.g. sewage sludge, manure, other organic wastes treatment and stabilization, biogas has become a well established energy resource. However, the biowaste are fairly limited in respect to the production and utilization as renewable source, but the plant biomass, the so called "energy crops" are used for more biogas production in EU countries and the investigation on the biomethane potential of different crops and plant materials have been carried out. In Korea, with steadily increasing oil prices and improved environmental regulations, since 2005 anaerobic digestion was again stimulated, especially on the biogasification of different biowastes and agro-industrial biomass including "energy crops". This study have been carried out to investigate anaerobic biodegradability by the biochemical methane potential(BMP) test of animal manures, different forage crops i.e. "energy crops", plant and industrial organic wastes in the condition of thermophilic temperature, The biodegradability of animal manure were 63.2% and 58.2% with $315m^3CH_4/tonVS$ of cattle slurry and $370m^3CH_4/tonVS$ of pig slurry in ultimate methane yields. Those of winter forage crops were the range 75% to 87% with ultimate methane yield of $378m^3CH_4/tonVS$ to $450m^3CH_4/tonVS$ and those of summer forage crops were the range 81% to 85% with ultimate methane yield of $392m^3CH_4/tonVS$ to $415m^3CH_4/tonVS$. The forge crops as "energy crops" could be used as good renewable energy source to increase methane production and to improve biodegradability in co-digestion with animal manure or only energy crop digestion.