Mo-Kwon Lee

Effect of the accuracy of pH control on hydrogen fermentation.

pH, known as the most important parameter in H2 fermentation, cannot be precisely controlled in a scaled-up fermenter as in a lab fermenter. In the preset work, to assess the effect of pH control accuracy on H2 fermentation, the pH was controlled at 6.0±0.1, 6.0±0.3, 6.0±0.5, 6.0±0.7, and 6.0±0.9 during batch fermentation of food waste. Up to deviation of ±0.3, a high H2 yield of 1.67-1.73 mol H2/mol hexose(added) was attained with producing butyrate as a major metabolite (>70% of total organic acids produced). A huge drop of H2 production, however, was observed at deviation >±0.5 with lowered substrate utilization and increased production of lactate. Next generation sequencing results showed that Clostridium was found to be the dominant genus (76.4% of total number of sequences) at deviation of ±0.1, whereas the dominant genus was changed to lactic acid bacteria such as Streptococcus and Lactobacillus with increase of deviation value.

Effect of temperature on continuous fermentative lactic acid (LA) production and bacterial community, and development of LA-producing UASB reactor

A frequently used fermentation manner in lactic acid (LA) production, batch fermentation by pure cultures, has a limited practicability: low volumetric productivity and high energy consumption. In this study, continuous LA fermentation was performed in a completely stirred tank reactor at 12h HRT, inoculated with anaerobic digester sludge. Glucose (25 g COD/L) was used as a feedstock and temperature was increased from 35 to 60°C. LA production significantly increased from 50°C, which was negligible up to 45°C, with obvious bacterial community change. At 50 and 55°C, LA production was maximized, reaching 23 g COD/L, corresponding to 92% LA conversion efficiency. Pyrosequencing analysis showed that microbial diversity was simplified at 50-60°C, and the sequences closely related with Bacillus coagulans became predominant, followed by Lactobacillus fermentum. An LA-producing upflow ananerobic sludge blanket reactor was successfully developed, which enhanced the productivity up to 4.8 gLA/L/h by shortening HRT to 4h.

Hydrogen fermentation of food waste by alkali-shock pretreatment: microbial community analysis and limitation of continuous operation.

In the study, at first, batch tests were performed to investigate the effect of alkali-shock on H2 production from food waste (FW). After alkali-pretreatment of FW at pH 9.0-13.0, the FW was cultivated under mesophilic condition at pH 6.0 for 30 h without external inoculum addition. The amount of H2 production from FW pretreated at pH 11.0 and 12.0 was higher than that achieved in other pretreatment pH. The main metabolite was butyrate, and Clostridium were dominant at pH 11.0 and 12.0. Meanwhile, lactate was the main metabolite with Enterococcus and Streptococcus being the dominant genus at other pretreatment pH. When the batch process was switched to a continuous mode, H2 production was significantly dropped due to the increased activity of H2-consumers. The reliability of alkali-pretreatment at pH 11.0 was proven by repeating the scale-up batch process, recording 1.57±0.11 mol H2/mol hexose(added) (17±2LH2/kg FW) and 4.39±0.32LH2/L/d.

Biohydrogen production from food waste: current status, limitations, and future perspectives.

Among the various biological routes for H2 production, dark fermentation is considered the most practically applicable owing to its capability to degrade organic wastes and high H2 production rate. Food waste (FW) has high carbohydrate content and easily hydrolysable in nature, exhibiting higher H2 production potential than that of other organic wastes. In this review article, first, the current status of H2 production from FW by dark fermentation and the strategies applied for enhanced performance are briefly summarized. Then, the technical and economic limitations of dark fermentation of FW are thoroughly discussed. Economic assessment revealed that the economic feasibility of H2 production from FW by dark fermentation is questionable. Current efforts to further increase H2 yield and waste removal efficiency are also introduced. Finally, future perspectives along with possible routes converting dark fermentation effluent to valuable fuels and chemicals are discussed.

Effect of hydraulic retention time on lactic acid production and granulation in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor

In the present work, lactic acid (LA) production performance with granulation was investigated at various hydraulic retention times (HRTs), 8-0.5h. Glucose was used as a feedstock, and anaerobic mixed cultures were inoculated in an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. As HRT decreased, the average diameter and hydrophobicity of the granules increased from 0.31 to 3.4mm and from 17.5% to 38.3%, respectively, suggesting the successful formation of granules. With decreasing HRT, LA productivity increased up to 16.7gLA/L-fermenter/h at HRT 0.5h. The existence of rod-shaped organisms with pores and internal channels at granule surface was observed by scanning electron microscope. Next generation sequencing revealed that Lactobacillus was the dominant microorganism, accounting for 96.7% of total sequences, comprising LA-producing granules.

Enhanced anaerobic digestion of livestock waste by ultrasonication: A tool for ammonia removal and solubilization

Ultrasonication was applied to lower the ammonia level in livestock waste to enhance the anaerobic digestion performance. In simulated waste tests, in spite of an identical temperature increase, a higher ammonia removal rate was observed at lower frequency. This could be explained by the existence of athermal effects, accounting for 64% of the total ammonia removal rate. These effects originated from various convections (micro-streaming, micro-convection, shock-waves, and micro-jets), possibly caused by stable bubbles, and this indigenous mixing ability led to a negligible effect of aeration in the ultrasound assisted ammonia stripping process. In actual waste tests, an ammonia removal rate of up to 55% was achieved with a 0.77 h−1 mass transfer rate coefficient. After ultrasonication (28 kHz, pH 11, 15 min) of livestock waste, 58% higher CH4 yield was achieved due to the decrease of ammonia concentration (28%) and enhanced solubilization (51%).

Prediction of bio-methane potential and two-stage anaerobic digestion of starfish

The present work reports the first ever evaluation of the biological CH₄ potential (BMP) of starfish, classified as invasive species. Since starfish contain a large amount of inorganic matter, only the supernatant obtained through grinding and centrifugation was used for BMP test. By applying response surface methodology, the individual and interactive effects of three parameters, inoculum/substrate ratios, substrate concentrations, and buffer capacities on CH₄ production were investigated, and the maximum CH₄ yield of 334 mL CH₄/g COD was estimated. In addition, continuous CH₄ production was attempted using a two-stage (acidogenic sequencing batch reactor+methanogenic up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASBr)) fermentation process. Acidification efficiency was maximized at 2 days of hydraulic retention time with valerate, butyrate, and acetate as main acids, and these were converted to CH₄ with showing 296 mL CH₄/g COD added. Overall, the two-stage fermentation process could convert 44% of organic content in whole starfish to CH₄.

Microbial granulation for lactic acid production

This work investigated the formation of microbial granules to boost the productivity of lactic acid (LA). The flocculated form of LA‐producing microbial consortium, dominated by Lactobacillus sp. (91.5% of total sequence), was initially obtained in a continuous stirred‐tank reactor (CSTR), which was fed with 2% glucose and operated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12 h and pH 5.0 ± 0.1 under a thermophilic condition (50°C). The mixed liquor in the CSTR was then transferred to an up‐flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB). The fermentation performance and granulation process were monitored with a gradual decrease of HRT from 8.0 to 0.17 h, corresponding to an increase in the substrate loading from 60 to 2,880 g glucose L−1d−1. As the operation continued, the accumulation of biomass in the UASB was clearly observed, which changed from flocculent to granular form with decrease in HRT. Up to the HRT decrease to 0.5 h, the LA concentration was maintained at 19–20 g L−1 with over 90% of substrate removal efficiency. However, further decrease of HRT resulted in a decrease of LA concentration with increase in residual glucose. Nevertheless, the volumetric LA productivity continuously increased, reaching 67 g L‐fermenter−1h−1 at HRT 0.17 h. The size of LA‐producing granules and hydrophobicity gradually increased with decrease in HRT, reaching 6.0 mm and 60%, respectively. These biogranules were also found to have high settling velocities and low porosities, ranging 2.69–4.73 cm s−1 and 0.39–0.92, respectively. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 101–111.

High-calorific bio-hydrogen production under self-generated high-pressure condition

For the use of biologically produced H2, removal of CO2 is an indispensable process. Unlike conventional CO2 removal methods, this study proposed a self-generated high-pressure dark fermentation (HPDF) process as a novel strategy for directly producing high-calorific bio-H2. The pressure was automatically increased by self-generated gas, while the maximum pressure inside fermenter was restricted to 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 bar in a batch operation. As the pressure increased from 1 to 10 bar, the H2 content increased from 55% to 80%, whereas the H2 yield decreased from 1.5 to 0.9 mol H2/mol hexoseadded. The highest H2 content of 80% was obtained at both of 7 and 10 bars. Increased lactate production with increased abundance of lactic acid bacteria was observed at high-pressure. Despite the lower H2 yields at high-pressure conditions, HPDF was found to be economically beneficial for obtaining high-calorific bio-H2 owing to the low CO2 removal cost.