• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.363-367
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• 2006

Food wastes were decomposed into the Mugri (Isung Engineering, Korea), a food waste reduction machine, with adding sawdust of cryptomeria. Degradation effects were better when the machine worked at over 45$^{\circ}C$ than those at the lower temperature. Thermophilic bacteria were isolated from cryptomeria sawdust and the food waste products degraded by the machine. The isolates from cryptomeria sawdust were classified into 3 genera (Acinetobacter baumannii, Enterobacter sp. and Erwinia cypripedii) and almost all the isolates from the degraded products were partially identified as Bacillus sp. by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The isolated thermophilic bacteria showed degradative enzyme activities. In the case of addition of the 30 thermophilic bacteria into the machine, degradation rate of food wastes was almost twice as high with increasing process temperature up to 6$^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.345-361
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• 2015

The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness and attitudes for leftover foods and the relationship between gender/number of family members on the effect of leftover foods-free day in elementary school students. The reasons for school lunch leftover foods were 'too much amount (38.3%)' and 'disliked menu (33.6%)', and the preferred ways for reduction of leftover food was 'to cook deliciously (34%)'. In the case of students who received nutrition education for reduction of leftover lunch, approximately 33.8% of subjects received nutrition education by administered by nutrition teachers during lunch time. The reason for reducing the amount of leftover foods was 'not to waste the foods (35.5%)'. After a leftover food-free day, approximately 62.3% of subjects responded that they ate their whole meal, except for soup. The subjects wanted 'twice per week for leftover food-free day' and had positive attitudes for that program. Proportion of practicing reduction of leftover foods in families was 55.9% of subjects, and 40.5% of subjects preferred dietary education by nutrition teachers in the classroom. For effective reduction of leftover lunch in school, nutrition teachers should attract interest on the environment and foods through after-school activities.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.781-788
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• 2007

The Carbon source to enhance the denitrification is essential matter in the advanced sewage treatment. For the high level of nutrient removal, external carbons such as ethanol, methanol, volatile fatty acids and so on should be needed. In this study, the methods to increase the sludge solubilization and acidification rate were compared with waste activated sludges and food waste leachate. Ultrasonication and acids were used for the pretreatment of organic particles in sludges. As a results, the optimal temperature and HRT were $60^{\circ}C$ and 5 days, respectively. HAc, HPr, HBr, and other VFAs for acid fermentations reduced up to 22, 16, 14, and 48% with HRT reduction. For the increase of solubilization, 28% of solids destruction rate was shown at 0.3 watts/mL.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.321-326
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• 1999

This study was performed to evaluate the quality of produced compost and to analyse the change of a component during the reduction compost according to the input volume. The volume of pilot scale used in this study was about 300㎥. The pile of 2m width, 20m length and 1.2m height was constructed. Woodchip was used as bulking agent to enhance pore volume of composting bay and to control water content of food waste in starting time. Food waste was turned using a mechanical tumer twice a day. The result are as follows : In these cases of input volume of $2m^3$ and $3.5m^3$, temperature of composting pile was maintained over $60^{\circ}C$ and water content was 43.6% and 47.2%, respectively. It was proved that microorganisms activity was maintained high in each input volume. After operation of step 1 and step 2, pH and organic matter in the final compost were 6.2, 6.6 and 84.3%, 79.6%, respectively. Cation concentration such as $K_2O,$ CaO and NaCl was accumulated in the compost during the composting period. NaCl concentration in the final compost was 4.62%, 4.92%, respectively. Hence, If was recommended that this compost should be applied to others expect agricultural area or mixed with a low concentration other compost. In the steps 1, input volume of $2m^3$, heavy metal concentration of Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni. Cd were 37.82㎎/㎏, 56.87㎎/㎏, 9.8㎎/㎏. 22.21㎎/㎏ and 3.69㎎/㎏, and 44.55㎎/㎏, 95.54㎎/㎏, 12.22㎎/㎏, 24.94㎎/㎏, and 3.86㎎/㎏ in the step 2.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.15-23
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• 1997

Commercial inocula and mature compost were added separately to food wastes in order to compare the inoculating effect on garbage decomposition. Among commercial inocula available in the market, GM (Green Microorganisms) and EM (Effective Microorganisms) were selected as test inocula. Garbage decompostion were evaluated in Volatile Solid (VS) reduction and FDA (Fluorescein DiAcetate) hydrolysis activity. VS reduction with mature compost experiment was higher than that with GM-added one. VS reduction rates were about 32% with mature compost and 27% with GM. When food wastes were treated with GM and EM based on the manufacturer's specifications, GM-added and EM-added food wastes showed only 8% and 9% of VS reduction respectively, which are much lower than those with the mature compost. FDA hydrolysis activity increased during the first 10 days of active composting periods for the composting experiments, while it decreased continuously for the experiments based on manufacturer's specifications.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.185-195
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• 2014

Despite the enormous technical and economic efforts to improve environmental conditions, currently about 40% of the global population (or 2 billion people) are still lack access to safe water supply and adequate sanitation facilities. Pollution problems and transmission of water- related diseases will continue to proliferate. The rapid population growth and industrialization will lead to a reduction of arable land, thus exacerbating the food shortage problems and threatening environmental sustainability. Natural systems in this context are a transdisciplinary approach which employs the activities of microbes, soil and/or plants in waste stabilisation and resource recovery without the aid of mechanical or energy-intensive equipments. Examples of these natural systems are: waste stabilisation ponds, aquatic weed ponds, constructed wetlands and land treatment processes. Although they require relatively large land areas, the natural systems could achieve a high degree of waste stabilisation and at the same time, yield potentials for waste recycling through the production of algal protein, fish, crops, and plant biomass. Because of the complex interactions occurring in the natural systems, the existing design procedures are based mainly on empirical or field experience approaches. An integrated kinetic model encompassing the activities of both suspended and biofilm bacteria and some important engineering parameters has been developed which could predict the organic matter degradation in the natural systems satisfactorily.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.67-76
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• 2021

Biogasification is a technology that produces environmentally friendly fuel using methane gas generated in the process of stably decomposing and processing organic waste. Biogasification is the most used method for energy conversion of organic waste with high moisture content, and is a useful method for organic waste treatment following the prohibition of direct landfill (2005) and marine dumping (2013). Due to African Swine Fever (ASF), which recently occurred in Korea, recycling of wet feed is prohibited, and consumers such as dry feed and compost are negatively recognized, making it difficult to treat food waste. Accordingly, biogasification is attracting more attention for the treatment and recycling of food waste. Korea's energy consumption amounted to 268.41 106toe, ranking 9th in the world. However, it is an energy-poor country that depends on foreign imports for about 95.8% of its energy supply. Therefore, in Korea, the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) is being introduced. The domestic RPS system sets the weight of the new and renewable energy certificate (REC, Renewable energy certificate) of waste energy lower than that of other renewable energy. Therefore, an additional incentive system is required for the activation of waste-to-energy. In this study, the operation of an anaerobic digester that treats food waste, food waste Leachate and various organic wastes was confirmed. It was intended to be used as basic data for preparing the waste-to-energy incentive system through precise monitoring for a certain period of time. Four sites that produce biogas from organic waste and use them for power generation and heavy gas were selected as target facilities, and field surveys and sampling were conducted. Basic properties analysis was performed on the influent sample of organic waste and the effluent sample according to the treatment process. As a result of the analysis of the properties, the total solids of the digester influent was an average of 12.11%, and the volatile solids of the total solids were confirmed to be 85.86%. BOD and CODcr removal rates were 60.8% and 64.8%. The volatile fatty acids in the influent averaged 55,716 mg/L. It can be confirmed that most of the volatile fatty acids were decomposed and removed with an average reduction rate of 92.3% after anaerobic digestion.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.15-20
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• 2012

Processing of organic waste is converted to anaerobic digestion for environmental friendly and sustainable energy recovery and reduction of sludge. In this study, ECOPAD (ECOdays' Plug-flow Anaerobic Digster)design for a high solids content and high organic matter content were used to investigate an applicability and efficiency of food waste treatment and poultry wastewater treatment. Case-by-case analysis of treatment efficiency of ECOPAD using food waste of city "P" and city "S". Volatile Solids basis organic removal efficiency of city "P" and city "S" was 84% and 88% respectively. And, the content of methane (P City: 70%, S City: 71%) was measured similarly. In the case of poultry waste bio-gas production was measured to $1.6Nm^3/kg$-VSrem, and methane content was measured to 69%.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.257-270
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• 2009

The central government in Korea has pursued a policy to privatize municipal solid waste treatment facilities in order to enhance the effectiveness of public financial management in recent years. To understand the intentions of local governments on this policy, the survey with questionnaires on 37 out of 256 local governments was made in October, 2007. The results were analyzed and compared in 6 classified policy areas. The results showed that local government had enough financial status to operate the facilities with proper services and had the opinion with positive management in finance with increasing rate of prospective views. Among the facilities operated by local governments, the satisfaction levels for landfill(46.2%) and incineration(40.0%) were relatively higher. However those for recycling and food waste resource facilities were not satisfied with showing lower rate of satisfaction. The priority of privatization in consideration among them were following in order of food waste resource plants(76.2%), incinerators(63.6%), and recycling facilities(53.9%) and the most considerable reason to privatize them was due to resolve financial problems(59.7%). They thought and expected that the privatization would provide cost reduction effects in local governments and also be easier to achieve the environmental goals. To enhance such privatization, expanding more incentives by central government would be essential as shown in the investigation of this survey.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.159-167
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• 2023

Food waste (FW) emissions in South Korea amounted to 4.77 million tons in 2021, and continue to increase. Various technologies have been developed to treat FW, with recent research focusing on biochar production through pyrolysis to reduce FW. However, the agricultural application of food waste-biochar (FWBC) is limited by the salt accumulated during pyrolysis. This study investigated salt removal from and the kinetic characteristics of FWBC, and subsequently evaluated its agricultural applications. FW was pyrolyzed at 350℃ for 4 h, and subsequently washed for 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 5, 15, and 30 min to remove salt. FWBC had a salt concentration of 5.75%, which was effectively removed through washing. The salt concentration decreased rapidly at the beginning (1 min) and then slowly decreased, unlike in FW, in which the salt decreased continuously and slowly. The salt removal speed constant (K) was 1.5586 (Stage 1, FWBC) > 0.0445 (Stage 2, FWBC) > 0.0026 (FW). In a lettuce cultivation experiment, higher biomass was achieved using washed FWBC than when using unwashed FWBC and FW, and soil properties were improved. Overall, these findings suggest that although FW reduction using pyrolysis causes a salt accumulation problem, the salt can be effectively removed through washing. The use of washed FWBC can enhance plant growth and soil properties.