• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-29
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• 2014

The present study investigated the effects of thermal pre-treatment on the enhancement of anaerobic biodegradability of waste activated sludge at varied TS concentration levels. The activated sludges were thermally oxidized for 30 minutes at $80{\sim}200^{\circ}C$ with varied TS concentrations (2%, 4% and 6%). and then, sludge characteristics, solubilization efficiency and methane production yield of thermally pre-treated sludges were analyzed. The higher the temperature in the thermal pre-treatment, the higher the concentration levels of dissolved matters such as $SCOD_{Cr}$, $NH_4{^+}$ and VFAs, which indicates that the thermal pre-treatment facilitates the hydrolysis and acid fermentation. Furthermore, the solubilization efficiency was increased in proportion to the temperature rise at all TS concentrations and was reached at 68.9%, 55.6% and 53.1%, respectively, at $200^{\circ}C$. In the BMP test of the pre-treated sludges, higher methane production yields were observed as 0.313. 0.314 and $0.299m^3\;CH_4/kg\;VS_{add}$ at the condition of TS 2% ($160^{\circ}C$), 4% ($160^{\circ}C$) and 6% ($180^{\circ}C$), respectively, and degradation rate was increased by 84%, 79% and 65% compared with non-pretreated waste activated sludge. These findings suggest the effectiveness of thermal pre-treatment of waste activated sludge for anaerobic biodegradable process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.104-116
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• 1996

Anaerobic digestion is generally used for the treatment of volatile organic solids such as manure and sludge from waste water treatment plants. However, the reaction rate of anaerobic process is slow, and thus it requires a large reactor volume. To minimize such a disadvantage, physical and chemical pre-treatment is generally considered. Another method to reduce the reactor size is to adopt different reactor system other than CSTR. In this paper, the effects of heat pre-treatment and reactor configurations on the anaerobic treatability of volatile solids was studied. Carrot, kale, primary sludge, and waste activated sludge was chosen as the test materials, and the BMP method was used to evaluate the maximum methane production and first order rate constants from each sample. After the heat treatment at $130^{\circ}C$ for 30min., the measured increase in SCOD per gram VS was up to 394 mg/L for the waste activated sludge. However, the methane production potential per gram VS was increased for only primary and waste activated sludge by 17-23%, remaining the same for carrot and kale. The overall methane production process for the tested solids can be described by first order reactions. The increased in reaction constant after heat pre-treatment was also more significant for the primary and waste activated sludge than that for carrot and kale. therefore, the heat pre-treatment appeared to be effective for the solids with high protein contents rather than for the solids with high carbohydrate contents. Among the four reactor systems studied, CSTR, PFR, CSTR followed by PFR, and PFR with recycle, CSTR followed by PFR appeared to be the best choice considering methane conversion rate and the operational stability.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.15-21
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• 2014

In this study, biochemical methane potential test was conducted to estimate ultimate methane and carbon dioxide yield for anaerobic digestion and pretreatment with sewage sludge cake. Two of 0.2 % TS of sewage sludge cakes were treated with 5M NaOH or sonication of 0.51 W/mL during 30 min respectively. Another sample was treated simultaneously with NaOH and sonication in same condition. Then, initial soluble COD increased from 33.1 mg/L to 494 mg/L. After BMP test, methane production ranged from 3.12 and 84.2 mL $CH_4$ per g of Volatile Solid (VS) and 9.2 and 13.5 mL $CO_2$ per g of Volatile Solid (VS) for carbon dioxide. In other tests, injection of nutrient media or sludge supernatant produced 73.1 and 73.8 mL $CH_4$ per g of Volatile Solid (VS) and 11.2 and 13.6 mL $CO_2$ per g of Volatile Solid (VS) respectively. When BMP test finished, 62 % of initial volatile solids decreased to 33.8~45.4 %. Simultaneous pretreatment increased soluble COD, reduction rate of volatile solids and digestion efficiency than those for alkaline and ultrasonic pretreatment.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.583-589
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• 2015

This study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of anaerobic pretreatment for the leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge cake. Overall process for the treatment of sludge cake consists of thermal hydrolysis, crystallization of magnesium, ammonium, and phosphate (MAP) for the leachate and anaerobic digestion of supernatant from MAP crystallization. The experimental evidence showed that the optimum ratio of Mg : P for the struvite crystallization of leachate solubilized from thermal hydrolysis of sludge cake was 1.5 to 1.0 as weight basis at the pH of 9.5. With this operational condition, the removal efficiencies of ammonia nitrogen and phosphorous achieved 50% and 97%, respectively. The mesophilic batch test showed that the ultimate biodegradability of the supernatant from MAP crystallization reached 63% at S/I ratio of 0.5. The readily biodegradable fraction of 90% ($S_1$) of the MAP supernatant BVS (Biodegradable Volatile Solids, $S_0$) degraded with $k_1$ of $0.207day^{-1}$ for the initial 17 days where as the rest slowly biodegradable fraction ($S_2$) of 10% of BVS degraded with $k_2$ of $0.02day^{-1}$ for the rest of the operational period. Semi-Continuously Fed and Mixed Reactor (SCFMR) was chosen as one of the best candidates to treat the MAP supernatant because of its total solids content over 6%. Maximum average biogas production rates reached 0.45 v/v-d and TVS removal efficiency of 37~41% was achieved at an hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 days and its corresponding organic loading rate (OLR) of 1.43 g VS/L-d.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.594-598
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• 2012

In the present study, biogas was produced from the anaerobic digestion of marine macroalgae (Laminaria japonica) biomass. The optimal anaerobic condition for producing the sludge was the freeze treatment at $-70^{\circ}C$ for 20 min. Total amounts of hydrogen and methane gas produced were 667.28 mL/L and 3420.24 mL/L, respectively, which were 2.7 and 3.4 times greater than that in the control group. Freeze treatment of sludge produced the maximum biogas under an initial optimum pH of 7.0 and the maximum biomass at an initial optimum pH of 8.0. We confirmed that biogas production was greatly reduced under acidic conditions compared to that under alkaline conditions. Sludge was freeze treated, and the biomass and sludge production was optimal the total amounts of hydrogen and methane gas produced were 643.73 mL/L and 4291.6 mL/L, respectively, which were 2.6 and 4.3 times greater than in the control group. Also the results showed that under optimal conditions in a 5-L bioreactor, a maximum of 1605.03 mL/L of hydrogen and 4593.71 mL/L of methane gas could be produced by the substrate contained in the marine macroalgae biomass.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.636-643
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• 2011

Sludge solubilization using sonification has been increasingly used for sludge volume reduction along with enhancing digestion efficiency during anaerobic biogas production. In this study, either electric field or ultrasonification or in combination with were investigated using three types of sludge (return, excess and mixed at G sewage treatment facility) for the most efficient solubilization. As a the closed loop, 200 L of sludge was continuously passing through the solubilization system at an average flow rate of $0.7m^3/h$, which is equivalent to 3.5 times treated per hour for up to 84 times (24 h). Only implying electric field showed no variation for sCOD/tCOD before and after treatment on sludge solubilization regardless of types of sludge. However, employing the ultrasonic or combined system could both increasingly solubilize sludge with regard to the number of passing-through, which more enhanced by the combined. In addition, VSS/TSS was lowered to in the range of 2 and 6% while its particle size, diameter (0.9) and diameter (0.5) were more minimized than that of raw sludge. For return sludge, ultrasonification was more efficiently facilitated for solubilization, whereas electric field-ultrasonification was more preferably applied for excess and mixed sludge. It is concluded that depending on types of sludge, solubilization system must be selectively applied for the most efficient break-up of them.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.513-520
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• 1998

The evaluation of uncertainty in environmental elemental analysis can be difficult because of the wide variety of analytical sample and objectives. for the specification of measured, elemetal analysis need certain method and high pretreatment technique. The sample of Pb, Cd in paddy soil and sewage sludge were analyzed by same ICP-AES, but each using four different pretreatment technique ; 0.1N HCl extraction, AB-DTPA extraction and two Mixture Acid Digestion. The four technique gave comparable results for the analysis of lead and cadmium. Concentrations determined by Mixture Acid Digestion were more higher than those by 0.1NHCI extraction and AB-DTPA extraction.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.121-127
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• 2016

BACKGROUND: Anaerobic digestion is the most feasible technology because not only the energy embedded in organic matters can be recovered, but also they are stabilized while being degraded. This study carried out to improve methane yield of slaughterhouse wastewater treatment sludge cake by the thermal pre-treatment prior to anaerobic digestion.METHODS AND RESULTS: Slaughterhouse wastewater treatment sludge cake was pre-treated by the closed hydrothermal reactor at reaction temperature of 190℃. BMPs (Biochemical methane potential) of the thermal hydrolysate was tested in the different S(Substrate)/I(Inoculum) ratio conditions. COD(Chemical oxygen demand) and SCOD(Soluble chemical oxygen demand) contents of thermal hydrolysate were 10.99% and 10.55%, respectively, then, the 96.00% of COD was remained as a soluble form. The theoretical methane potential of thermal hydrolysate was 0.51 Nm³ kg^-1-VS_added. And BMPs were decreased from 0.56 to 0.22 Nm³ kg^-1-VS_added when S/I ratio were increased from 0.1 to 2.0 in the VS content basis. Those were decreased from 0.32 to 0.13 Nm³ kg^-1-COD_added when S/I ratio were increased from 0.1 to 2.0 based on COD content. The anaerobic degradability of VS basis have showed 196.9%, 102.2%, 80.7%, 67.4%, and 39.4% in S/I ratios of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0, respectively. Also the COD of 119.6%, 76.3%, 70.1%, 69.0%, and 43.1% were degraded anaerobically in S/I ratios of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0, respectively.CONCLUSION: BMPs obtained in the S/I ratios of 0.1 and 0.3 was overestimated by the residual organic matters remaining at the inoculum. And inhibitory effect was observed in the highest S/I ratio of 2.0. The optimum S/I ratios giving reasonable BMPs might be in the range of 0.5 and 1.0 in S/I ratio. Therefore VS biodegradability of thermal hydrolysate was in 67.4-80.7% and COD biodegradability showed 69.0-70.1%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.542-549
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• 2015

The bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion for sewage sludge was attempted at different applied voltages ranged from 0.2 V to 0.4 V. At 0.3 V of the applied voltage, pH and VFAs were at 7.32 and 760 mg COD/L, respectively, which were quite stable. The methane production rate was $1.32L\;CH_4/L.d$, and the methane content in biogas was 73.8%, indicating that the performance of the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digestion could be considerably improved by applying a low voltage. At 0.4 V of the applied voltage, however, the contents of the minor VFA components including formic acid and propionic acid were increased. The methane production rate was reduced to $1.24L\;CH_4/L.d$ and the biogas methane content was also reduced to 72.4%. At 0.2 V of the applied voltage, the pH was decreased to 6.3, and VFAs was accumulated to 5,684 mg COD/L. The contents of propionic acid and butyric acid in the VFAs were considerably increased, The performances in terms of the methane production rate and the biogas methane content were deteriorated. The poor performance of the bioelectrochemical reactor at 0.2 V of the applied voltage was ascribed to the thermodynamic potential lack for the driving of the carbon dioxide reduction into methane at cathode.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.117-127
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• 1983

An experimental research was performed employing the two stage anaerobic digestion of the mixture of the nightsoil and septic tank sludge to determine the effects of various hydraulic retention time of the digestion on chemical characteristics and treatment effeciency, thus determining the proper retention time. Results of the research are as follows, 1. Volatile-acid decreased as HRT increased. 2. Alklinity and ammonia-N tended to increase as HRT increased as did pH values, however, were observed to be constant at higher HRT values than 15 days. 3. The removal efficiencies of TBOD, TCOD and VS increased as HRT increased. 4. The removal efficiency of volatile solid decreased as VS loading increased. 5. It was observed that the rates of gas production were: 0.33 with HRT of 5 days, 0.58 with HRT of 15 days and $0.57m^3/kg$ VS fed/day with HRT of 25 days respectively. It is believed that the highest rate of gas production was at HRT of 15 days. 6. The sludge settling experiment showed that the minimum settling time required to ensure the desired underflow concentraton was estimated to be 8.6 days.