• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.126-137
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• 2006

Behaviors of simple organic compound and granular sludge in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating propionate at high ammonia nitrogen levels were investigated for 12 months. The UASB reactor achieved about 80% removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) at ammonia nitrogen concentration up to 6000 mg-N/L. At higher concentration of ammonia nitrogen, the propionate in the effluent increased whereas the acetate was very low. At ammonia nitrogen concentration of 8000 mg-N/L, the volatile suspended solids (VSS) increased sharply due probably to the decrease of the content of extracellular polymer (ECP) although methane production was very low. The specific methanogenic activity (SMA) using formate, acetate, and propionate as substrate to granules decreased as ammonia nitrogen concentration increased. The ammonia nitrogen concentration $I^{50}$, causing 50% inhibition of SMA were 2666, 4778 and 5572 mg-N/L, respectively. The kinetic coefficients of ammonia inhibition using formate, acetate, and propionate as substrate were 3.279, 0.999 and 0.609, respectively. The SMA using formate was severely affected by ammonia nitrogen than those using acetate and propionate. This result indicated that the hydrogenotrophic methanogens was most affected by ammonia nitrogen. Granules were mainly composed of microcolonies of methanothrix-like bacteria resembling bamboo-shape, and several other microcolonies including propionate degrader with juxtapositioned syntrophic associations between the hydrogen-producing acetogens and hydrogen-consuming methanogens.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.25-34
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• 1999

The effects of copper on the anaerobic degradation of propionate were studied using anaerobic batch reactors. The apparent inhibitory effects of copper on the anaerobic degradation of propionate could be observed from behaviors of intermediates, ultimate methane yield(UMY) and specific methanogenic activity(SMA) There was little inhibition at the concentration of $2.5mg\;Cu^{2+}/L$. Beyond this concentration, the inhibitory effects increased with increasing dose of coppers. The 50% inhibition of UMY and SMA occurred at copper dosage of 33.8 and $24.1mg\;Cu^{2+}/gVSS$, respectively. The inhibitory effect based on the UMY was gradually reduced with the operation time dueprobably to the acclimation of microorganisms and/or binding of the added copper by ligands(and possibly ion exchange sites)contained on the cell membrane and extracellular polymer matrix whereas it based on the SMA might exclude the this phenomena. Therefore, the methodology for interpretation of inhibition data based on the SMA was more accurated than the UMY. There was no inhibitory effect in batch reactors supplemented with sulfate due to an antagonistic action of the sulfate reducing bacteria. Propionate degradation was initially retarded for copper inhibited samples but it gradually degraded afterward. Based on the mass removal considering take into account the propionate to acetate conversion, propionate degradation may appeal more affected than acetate. This result revealed that the hydrogenotrophic methanogens were the most affected by copper.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.41-49
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• 2019

Livestock manure is a significant source for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and a huge amount of GHG emission is generated during its storage. In the present work, lowering temperature was attempted to mitigate methane ($CH_4$) emission from cattle manure (CM) with high solid content. CM was stored for 60 d at $15-35^{\circ}C$ ($5^{\circ}C$ interval). $CH_4$ emission reached $63.6{\pm}3.6kg\;CO_2\;eq./ton\;CM$ at $35^{\circ}C$, which was reduced to $51.6{\pm}1.8$, $24.1{\pm}4.4$, $14.9{\pm}0.5$, and $3.7{\pm}0.1kg\;CO_2\;eq./ton\;CM$ at 30, 25, 20, and $15^{\circ}C$, respectively. After storage, 30% of COD reduction was observed in the CM stored at $35^{\circ}C$, while the COD removal decreased to only 6% at $15^{\circ}C$. It was found that only 3-11% of COD removal was done by anaerobic process, while the rest of COD removal was done by aerobic biological process. Methanobrevibacter and Methanolobus were found to be the dominant species in the CM, and the dominance of Methanolobus psychrophilus increased at lower storage temperature. Specific methanogenic activity test results showed that the inhibition by low temperature was temporal.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.378-384
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• 2003

Mesophilically-grown granular sludge seeded in thermophilic UASB reactor was monitored to better understand the start-up process of the reactor. The reactor was fed with a synthetic wastewater containing glucose. As COD loading rate increased stepwise, methane production rate increased. Maximum values of COD removal efficiency (95%) and methane production rate (5.3 l/day) were achieved by approximately day-80 and remained constant afterward. However, physicochemical and microbial properties of granules kept changing even after day-80. Specific methanogenic activity (SMA) was initially negligible, and increased continuously until day-153 and remained constant afterward, showing the maximum value of $1.51{\pm}0.13\;g\;CH_4-COD/g$ VSS/day. Deteriorated settling ability of granules recovered the initial value by day-98 and was maintained afterward, as determined by sludge volume index. Initially reduced granule size increased until day-126, reaching a plateau of 1.1 mm. Combined use of fluorescence in situ hybridization and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) allowed to localize families of Methanosaetaceae and Merhanosarcinaceae in granules with time Quantitative analyses of CLSM images of granule sections showed abundance patterns of the methanogens and numerical dominance of Methanosaeta spp. throughout the start-up period. The trend of SMA agreed well with abundance patterns of the methanogens.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2001.04a
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• pp.172-181
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• 2001

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system employs granular sludge to treat various wastewaters including landfill leachate. CH$_4$ production of the granules determines overall performance of a UASB reactor. Sludge granules are developed by self-granulation of microorganisms and dynamic balance between granule growth and decay results in coexistence of granules with different sizes in the reactor. In this study, granules taken from a laboratory-scale UASB reactor were classified into 4 groups based on their diameters and their Physicochemical characteristics we were investigated. Each group was analyzed for settling ability, specific methanogenic activity (SMA), and elemental content. Settling ability was proportional to granule diameter. suggesting effective detainment of larger granules in the reactor. When acetate or glucose was used as a substrate, all groups showed relatively slight difference in SMA. However SMA with a volatile fatty acid mixture showed significant increase with granule diameter, suggesting better establishment of syntrophic relationship in larger granules. Larger granules showed higher value of SMA upon environmental changes (i.e., PH, temperature, or toxicant concentration). Comparative analysis of elemental contents showed that content (dry weight %) of most tested elements (iron, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, nickel. and manganese) deceased with granule diameter, suggesting importance of these elements for initial granulation. Taken together, this study verified experimentally that Physicochemical Properties of granules are related to granule size distributions. Overall results of physicochemical characterization supports that larger.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.993-997
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• 2007

The upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor can be effective for treating simple organic compounds containing high concentration of ammonia nitrogen. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was about 80% at ammonia nitrogen concentration up to 6,000 mg-N/L. This result also showed that it would be possible to treat propionate effectively at free ammonia nitrogen concentration up to 724 mg-N/L if sufficient time was allowed for adaptation. However the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of granule was lower than that of granule in the reactor with lower ammonia nitrogen concentration. At 8,000 mg-N/L, the inhibition of high ammonia concentration was observed with evidence of increase of the volatile suspended solids (VSS) concentration in the effluent. It might be ascribed to the decrease in the content of extracellular polymer (ECP), which resulted to the sloughing off of obligated proton-reducing acetogens and heterogenotrophic methanogens from the exterior of granular sludge. This caused a great portion of the finely sludge to be easily washed out. Therefore, failure to maintain the balance between these two groups of microorganism cause accumulation of the hydrogen partial pressure in the reactor, which could have inhibited the growth of acetate utilizing methanogens.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 1999

Three different types of lab-scale anaerobic bioreactors, AF and two-stage ASBF-PR and ASBF-SP, were evaluated in treating swine wastewater by operating at $1{\sim}2$ days of hydraulic retention time with increasing organic loading rate upto 6.3 $kg-COD/m^3{\cdot}d$ at $35^{\circ}C$. Seeding the anaerobic bioreactors with waste anaerobic digester sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was effective and a 40-day acclimation period was required for steady-state operation. Three anaerobic bioreactors were effective in treating swine wastewater with COD removal efficiency of $66.4{\sim}84.9$% and biogas production rate of $0.333{\sim}0.796m^3/kg-COD_{removed}{\cdot}d$. Increases of organic loading rate by increasing influent COD concentration and/or decreasing hydraulic retention time caused decreases in COD removal efficiency and increases in biogas production rate. At relatively high organic loading rate employed in this study, the treatment efficiency of AF and ASBF-PR were similar but superior than that of ASBF-SP, indicating that porosity and pore size of the media packed in the bioreactors are more important factors contributing the performance of to bioreactors than specific surface area of the media. TKN in swine wastewater must be removed prior to the anaerobic processes when anaerobic process is considered as a major treatment process since influent TKN concentration of $1,540{\sim}1,870mg/L$ to the bioreactors adversely affect the activity of methanogenic bacteria, resulting in decreases of treatment efficiency and biogas production rate by 50%.

• 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.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.431-437
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• 2005

Molecular methods were employed to investigate microorganisms in a thermophilic continuous stirred tank reactor(CSTR) used for continuous $H_2$ production. The reactor was inoculated with heat-treated anaerobic sludge and fed with a glucose-based medium. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis showed dynamic changes of bacterial populations in the reactor during 43 days of operation. Gas composition was constant from approximately 14 days but population shift still occurred. Populations affiliated with Fervidobactrium gondwanens and Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum were dominant on 21 and 41 days, respectively. Keeping pH of the medium at 5.0 could suppress methanogenic activity that was detected during initial operation period. $CH_4$ and mcrA detected in the samples obtained from the reactor or inoculum suggested the heat treatment condition employed in this study is not enough to remove methanogens in the inoculum. PCR using primer sets specific to 4 main orders of methanogens suggested that major $H_2$-consuming methanogens in the CSTR belong to the order Methanobacteriales.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.33-40
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• 2021

In this study, the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of anaerobic granular sludge at different heights of a full-scale UASB reactor (UASBr) were investigated. Granular sludge was taken from 1 m, 2 m, and 3 m above the ground level in the UASBr. The morphological analysis showed that the upper part had bigger granules and the lower part had rounder granules. The ANOVA test confirmed that the mean size and the roundness of the granules had statistically significant difference along the height at 95% confidence level, and there was a significant negative linear relationship between the size and roundness (r=-0.40, p<0.05). A SMA test using acetic, propionic and butyric acids showed that granules from 2 m height had the highest specific methanogenic activity. The EPS contents were also unequal to each height, with 2 m showing the highest content. These findings could be helpful to understand the different characteristics of stratified anaerobic granules in full-scale UASBr and maintain the reactor performance.