Woo-Kyun Park

Estimation of Biomass Resource Conversion Factor and Potential Production in Agricultural Sector

BACKGROUND: Currently, national biomass inventory are being established for efficient management of the potential energy sources. Among the various types of biomass, agricultural wastes are considered to take the biggest portion of the total annual biomass generated in Korea, implying its importance. However, the currently estimated amount is not reliable because the old reference data are still used to estimate total annual amount of agricultural wastes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Therefore, to provide reliable estimation data, a correct conversion factor obtained by taking into account the current situation is required. For this, the current study was conducted to provide the conversion factors for each representative 8 crop through a field cultivation study. Also conversion factors for 18 crops were calculated using the average amount of each crop produced during 2004 and 2008, subsequently; total amount of agricultural wastes generated in 2009 was estimated using these conversion factors. The total biomass of rice straw and rice husk generated in 2009 were 6.5 and 1.1 million tons, respectively, which consist 75% of the total agricultural based wastes, while the total biomass of pepper shoots and apple pruning twigs were 1.0 and 0.6 million tons, respectively. Despite the high amount of rice-based biomass, their applicability for bio-energy production is low due to conventional utilization of these materials for animal feeds and beds for animal husbandry. In addition to exact estimation of the total biomass, temporal variations in both generated amount and the type of agricultural biomass materials are also important for efficient utilization; fruit pruning twigs (January to March); barley-, been-, and mustard-related waste materials (April to June); rice-related waste (September to October). CONCLUSION(s): Such information provided in this study can be used to establish a master plan for efficient utilization of the agricultural wastes on purpose of bio-energy production.

Effects of ultrasonification and mechanical stirring methods for the production of biodiesel from rapeseed oil

This study was conducted to compare the effects of ultrasonic energy and mechanical stirring methods in bio-diesel production from rapeseed oil under base catalysis conditions. With the transesterification of rapeseed oil, the molar ratio of methanol to vegetable oil was 6: 1, and the amount of catalysts added to the vegetable oil was 0.3, 0.5 and 1.0% (wt/wt). The main components of methyl esters from the transesterification of rapeseed oil were oleic acid (48.5%, C18:1) and linoleic acid (18.1%, C18:2). In addition, the optimum conditions to produce fatty acid methyl esters (96.6%) were 0.5% KOH after 25 min of ultrasonification at 40 °C as compared to mechanical stirring at 60 °C. The maximum conversion ratio was 75.6% with 1.0% NaOH after 40 min of ultrasonification at 40 °C. These results indicate that ultrasonic energy could be a valuable tool for transesterification of fatty acids from rapeseed oil in terms of the reaction time and temperature.

Study on Characteristics of Biogas Production and Liquid Fertilizer with Anaerobic Co digestion of Livestock Manure and Food Waste

Objective of this research was to investigate the characteristics of biogas production in anaerobic digestion reactor with different mixing ratio of food waste and swine manure. It was observed that the highest removal efficiency of organic material was 80% at 60 : 40 of mixing ratio (livestock manure : food waste). And also biogas yield was varied due to different mixing ratio of them. The cumulative biogas yield was highest at 60 : 40 of mixing rate (livestock manure : food waste). For use of the liquefied fertilizer as effluent from anaerobic digester, it was the limited ratio for 30% of co-digested food waste based on its salt content.

Optimum Recovery of Biogas from Pig Slurry with Different Compositions

2 and Noh-Back Park This study was conducted to investigate the optimum conditions for efficient methane production through anaerobic digestion of pig waste slurry. The examined parameters were organic matter content of the pig slurry, the ratio of seed sludge to pig slurry, and stirring intensity of the digestion reactor. The effects of types of slurry produced from different purpose-based pigs fed with different feeds were also tested. The methane concentration in the produced biogas was 45% when the ratio of seed sludge to pig slurry was 50% and total solid (TS) concentration was 1%, and it increased in proportional to TS concentration increases from 3 to 7%. At 3 and 5% of TS concentration, increasing mixing velocity from 80 to 160 rpm resulted in higher biogas production amount. However, mixing amount of seed sludge did not cause any significant effect on biogas production. Overall, the most efficient biogas production was achieved at 3-5% TS concentration in combination with 50% seed sludge inoculation and mixing velocity at 120 rpm. Among pig slurry types, gestating sow waste slurry showed the highest biogas production probably due to higher the degradation rate than other types of pig waste slurry being affected by the feeds components.

Application Amount of Anaerobic Digestion Waste Water from Methane Fermentation of Pig Manure on Rice

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the proper application level of anaerobic digestion waste water on rice. The waste water was from methane fermentation of pig manure to use as a liquid manure. The mixture treatment of 70% liquid manure and 30% chemical fertilizer (LM 70%+CF 30%) and 100% liquid manure (LM 100%) treatment were higher number of tiller than other treatments at the both tillering and heading stages of rice. The yields of LM 70%+CF 30% and LM 100% treatments were a little higher than that of NPK treatment, but the mixture treatment of 50% liquid manure and 50% chemical fertilizer (LM 50%+CF 50%) was a little lower yield than NPK treatment. The periodic changes of the and contents of the NPK and the LM 50%+CF 50% treatments in paddy soil were a little higher than those of other treatments at the early stage of rice. The contents of NPK and the LM 50%+CF 50% treatments in irrigation water quality were higher than those of other treatments, however there was no difference in content among the treatments. The and contents of non fertilizer treatment in infiltration water quality were leached a little higher than those of other treatments. It may be due to poor growth of rice following to reduce the nutrient uptake by rice and to increase relatively the nutrient leaching to the ground water. The proper application level of anaerobic digestion waste water as a liquid manure could be suggested to apply LM 70%+CF 30%. All treatments were the same amount of nitrogen content for the standard application amount on rice.

Characteristics of Greenhouse Gas Emission in the Upland Soil Applied with Agricultural Biomass

NH₄-N contents in the soil treated were relatively high in the initial stages, but rapidly decreased at 124 days after treatment. NO₃-N contents were shown to be opposite patterns of H₄-N contents. CO₂ emissions in the non-treatment and Carbonized rice hull treatment with application of NPK fertilizers decreased by 43.7 and 21.9% relative to the non-application of NPK fertilizer plot except 5.4% increasement in the pig manure compost treatment. N₂O emissions of the non-application, the Expander rice hull application, and bio-char treatment increased by 90, 25, and 21.4%, respectively, but decreased by 54.2% in the pig manure compost treatment applied with NPK fertilizers compared with the NPK fertilizer non-application plot.

Removal of Nutrients Using an Upflow Septic Tank(UST) - Aerobic Filter(AF) System

The objective of this study was to investigate a small sewage treatment system. This system was developed to improve a nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiency and generate less solid using upflow septic tank(UST) - aerobic filter(AF) system. The UST equipped with an aerobic filter, the filter was fed with both raw sewage and recycled effluent from the UST to induce the denitrification and solid reduction simultaneously. Overall removal efficiencies of COD and total nitrogen(TN) were above 96% and 73% at recycle ratio of 200%, respectively. Critical coagulant dose without the biochemical activity was found to be 40 mg/L. Removal efficiency of total phosphorus(TP) in influent was above 90% by chemical and biological reactions. Although the phosphorus concentration was low under the high alkalinity in raw sewage, the pH value was unchanged by the coagulant dose.

Effect of the Application of Carbonized Biomass from Crop Residues on Soil Organic Carbon Retention

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of carbonized biomass from crop residues on soil carbon storage during soybean cultivation. The carbonized biomass was made by field scale mobile pyrolyzer. The treatments consisted of control without input and three levels of carbonized biomass inputs as 59.5 kg 10a -1 , C-1 ; 119 kg 10a - 1, C-2 ; 238 kg 10a -1 , C-3. Soil samples were collected during the 113 days of experimental periods, and analyzed soil pH and moisture contents. Soil carbon contents and soybean yield were measured at harvesting period. For the experimental results, soil pH ranged from 6.8 to 7.5, and then increased with increasing carbonized material input. Soil moisture contents were slightly higher by 0.1~1.5% than the control, but consistent pattern was not observed among the treatments. Soil carbon and organic carbon contents in the treatments increased at 24 and 15% relative to the control at 15 days after sowing, respectively. Loss rate of SOC (soil organic carbon) relative to its initial content was 7.2% in control followed by C-1, 6.8%> C-2, 3.5%>C-3, 1.1% during the experimental periods. The SOC change rate decreased with increasing carbonized biomass rate. It was appeared that soybean yields were 476.9 kg 10a -1 in the control, and ranged from 453.6 to 527.3, kg 10a -1 in the treatments. However, significant difference was not found among the treatments. It might be considered that the experimental results will be applied to soil carbon sequestration for future study.

Mechanical Test Methods for Compost Maturity

Manure-based composts can have detrimental effects on the agricultural lands and crops if they are applied without proper stabilization process. Composting is well-known method for the stabilization of manure-based composts and the extent of composting could be examined by maturity test. Among various methods to examine compost maturity, the performances of two mechanical methods (Solvita and CoMMe-100) were examined and the test results were compared with seed germination test. The mechanical methods are considered to be simple and relatively objective. Also they are cost- and time-efficient. Ten commercially available composts collected in Korea were used for this study. Basically, the maturity determined with these mechanical methods was in good agreement with the seed germination test. However, it appeared that the index levels of compost maturity indicated more maturity by CoMMe-100 than Solvita for the same compost. The differences between maturity index levels determined by both methods were able to be minimized through extending the reaction time for CoMMe-100 and adjusting index level for maturity determination in the standard color chart.

Effects of Antimicrobials on Methane Production in an Anaerobic Digestion Process

BACKGROUND: Anaerobic digestion process is recently adapted technology for treatment of organic waste such as animal manure because the energy embedded in the waste can be recovered from the waste while the organic waste were digested. Ever increased demand for consumption of meat resulted in the excessive use of antimicrobials to the livestocks for more food production. Most antimicrobials administered to animals are excreted through urine and feces, which might highly affect the biological treatment processes of the animal manure. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of antimicrobials on the efficiency of anaerobic digestion process and to clarify the interactions between antimicrobials and anaerobes. METHODS AND RESULTS: The experiment was consisted of two parts 1) batch test to investigate the effects of individual antibiotic compounds on production of methane and VFAs(volatile fatty acids), and removal efficiency of organic matter, and 2) the continuous reactor test to elucidate the effects of mixed antimicrobials on the whole anaerobic digestion process. The batch test showed no inhibitions in the rate of methane and VFAs production, and the rate of organic removal were observed with treatment at 1∼10 mg/L of antimicrobials while temporary inhibition was observed at 50 mg/L treatment. In contrast, treatment of 100 mg/L antimicrobials resulted in continuous decreased in the rate of methane production and organic removal efficiency. The continuous reactor test conduced to see the influence of the mixed antimicrobials showed only small declines in the methane production and organic matter removal when 1∼10 mg/L of combined antimicrobials were applied but this was not significant. In contrast, with the treatment of 50 mg/L of combined antimicrobials, the rate of organic removal efficiency in effluent decreased by 2∼15% and the rate of biogas production decreased by 30%. CONCLUSION(s): The antimicrobials remained in the animal manure might not be removed during the anaerobic digestion process and hence, is likely to be released to the natural ecosystem. Therefore, the efforts to decline the usage of antimicrobials for animal farming would be highly recommended.