During the decay process of food waste, odor and leachate are generally produced because food is easily decomposed due to its high organic and moisture contents. In this study, various food waste samples, including samples artificially prepared and collected from actual waste containers, were tested to determine odor and leachate production as the samples were decomposed at a constant temperature of 35°C. In the air phase, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), acetaldehyde (AA), methyl mercaptan (MM), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) were measured as a function of the decay period for four days. The results of the experiment showed that TVOC and AA were produced at higher concentrations in the actual food waste than in all artificial wastes. The AA concentration accounted for about 90% of the TVOC in all of the waste samples except for the food waste containing meat and fish only. The concentrations of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) were generally lower than 100 μg/kg, and the concentration of DMS was the highest among the VSCs. In the waste sample containing meat and fish only; however, the concentration of VSCs increased up to 1,700 μg/kg, and mostly consisted of MM and DMS. Complex odor concentrations were found to be the highest after a decay period of 12-48 hours. In addition, the complex odor was mostly related to VSCs with low odor thresholds rather than the TVOC. The pH values mostly decreased from 5 to 3.5 as the waste samples were in the decomposition periods, while the pH value increased to 6 in the food waste containing meat and fish only. Consequently, odor intensity and leachate production were the highest in the 12-48 hour range as the decomposition started, and thus an appropriate control strategy needs to be implemented based on the waste composition and the decay period.

Food waste leachate (FWL) is a serious pollutant waste coming from the food waste recycling facilities in Korea. FWL has a high organic matter content and high COD to nitrogen (COD/N) ratio, which can disturb efficient methane production in the anaerobic digestion of FWL. In the present study a microalga, Clorella vulgaris (C.V), was used as co-substrate for the FWL anaerobic digestion in order to supply nutrients, decrease the COD/N ratio and increase its methane yield. Different co-digestion mixtures (COD/N ratios) were studied by using biochemical methane potential test and modified Gompertz equation for kinetic study. Mixed substrate of FWL and C. vulgaris in the co-digestion clearly showed more the biomethane yield than the sole substrates. The maximum methane production, 827.7 mL-CH4/g-VS added, was obtained for COD/N ratio of 24/1, whereas the highest improvement of methane yield was found for COD/N ratio of 15/1.

This study evaluated the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of primary sludge, secondary sludge, and food waste in batch anaerobic mono-digestion tests, and investigated the effects of mixture ratio of those organic wastes on methane yield and production rate in batch anaerobic co-digestion tests, that were designed based on a simplex mixture design method. The BMP of primary sludge, secondary sludge and food waste were determined as 234.2, 172.7, and 379.1 mL CH4/g COD, respectively. The relationships between the mixing ratio of those organic wastes with methane yield and methane production rate were successfully expressed in special cubic models. Both methane yield and methane production rate were estimated as higher when the mixture ratio of food waste was higher. At a mixing ratio of 0.5 and 0.5 for primary sludge and food waste, the methane yield of 297.9 mL CH4/g COD was expected; this was 19.4% higher than that obtained at a mixing ratio of 0.3333, 0.3333 and 0.3333 for primary sludge, secondary sludge, and food waste (249.5 mL CH4/g COD). These findings could be useful when designing field-scale anaerobic digersters for mono- and co-digestion of sewage sludges and food waste.

가죽제품 제조 산업으로부터 발생되는 피혁폐기물의 양은 투입되는 원료 가죽의 약 50%를 차지하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 그러나 이들 피혁폐기물은 적절한 처리 방법이 개발되지 않아 대부분 매립이나 소각을 통해 처리되고 있다. 특히, 매립이나 소각을 통한 처리는 단가가 높아 관련 산업의 경제성을 악화시키고 고형폐기물의 친환경적 처리 관점에서 문제점이 제기되고 있는 실정이다. 최근 화석연료를 대체하기 위한 신규에너지원의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라, 폐기물을 이용한 에너지화에 많은 연구가 진행되고 있으며, 피혁폐기물은 주로 단백질과 지질로 구성되어 있는 특성으로 인해 혐기성소화를 통한 바이오가스 생산이 가능한 것으로 알려져 있다. 그러나 일반적으로 알려져 있는 혐기성소화 공정의 최적 C/N 비 (20-30)를 고려할 때, 피혁폐기물의 높은 C/N비 (약 35)는 공정의 제한요소가 될 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 피혁폐기물과 음폐수를 통합하여 혐기성소화를 실시함으로써 기질의 C/N 비 조절이 혐기성소화 효율에 미치는 영향을 관찰하였다. 기질의 C/N 비 조절을 통한 혐기성소화 효율의 변화는 BMP (Biochemical methane potential) test를 약 40일간 진행하였으며, 바이오가스 발생량을 비교하였다. 실험은 경기도 동두천시에 위치한 가죽제품 제조업체로부터 수거된 pelt scrap과 양주시에 위치한 음식물쓰레기 자원화시설에서 발생되는 음폐수를 각각 채취하여 사용하였다. 개별 기질의 C/N 비는 피혁폐기물이 34.1, 음폐수가 13.5로 확인되었으며, 이들의 무게에 따른 혼합비를 조절하여 통합 혐기성소화 기질의 C/N 비를 20, 25, 30으로 맞춰 실험을 진행하였다. 실험결과 기질을 통합하여 C/N 비를 조절한 소화 조건에서 개별 기질의 단독소화 조건보다 많은 바이오가스 생산량이 관찰되었으며, C/N 비 20에서 바이오가스 생산량이 높은 것으로 나타났다. 이는 통합 기질의 C/N 비 조절효과와 함께 피혁폐기물에 비해 생분해도가 높은 음폐수 함량이 기질의 C/N 비가 낮을수록 더 많이 포함되었기 때문으로 판단된다.

본 연구에서는 음식물 쓰레기를 기질로 하여 수소생산을 수행하였을 때 중금속(구리)의 농도에 따른 수소생산 효율과 반응 조건, 수소생산에 기여하는 미생물 군집 분포의 변화를 살펴보고자 한다. 회분식 반응기가 사용된 이번 실험에서는 sucrose 1%(v/v)와 음식물 쓰레기가 탄소원으로 사용되었으며, 혐기성 조건을 충족하기 위하여 N2가스로 반응기 내를 10분간 purging한 뒤, 이를 완전 밀폐 시켰으며, 교반 속도와 실험 온도는 각각 200 rpm, 30±3℃로 유지되었다. 본 연구에서 수소생산은 실험 후 약 30-90시간 후 종료되는 것으로 나타났다. 수소생산의 yield값은 Cu 0.5ppm, 1ppm, 5ppm, 10ppm에서 각각 5.3016, 6.6363, 28.9388, 4.9398㎖ H2/g COD로 나타났다. 수소가스 발생량(Ph)과 최대 수소 생산률(Rh)은 Table 1에 나타내었다. 중금속의 농도에 따라 수소생산량을 비교해 보았을 때 Cu 5ppm>10ppm>1ppm>0.5ppm의 순서로 수소생산량이 많이 발생되었으며, 이는 약간의 중금속은 미생물의 성장에 촉진작용을 일으켜 수소생산을 활발하게 하는 것으로 판단되어지며, 일정 농도 이상으로 중금속의 농도가 높아지면 수소생산에 저해가 되는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 실험의 여건 상 5, 10ppm실험시기 보다 0.5, 1pmm농도의 실험시기의 온도가 약 3℃ 낮았던 것으로 보아 온도의 영향이 수소생산에 영향을 미친 것으로 판단된다. 16S rDNA의 PCR-DGGE결과 음식물 쓰레기의 수소생산량과 비교하여 적은 수소를 생산한 중금속 첨가 반응액에서 발견된 Band 6과 7은 Lactococcus속으로 규명되었다. 이는 위 미생물들이 Clostridium속의 수소생산 활동을 저해시키는 역할로 작용했다고 판단된다.

Anaerobic mesophilic batch tests of food waste and food waste leachate collected from food waste treatment facility were carried out to evaluate their ultimate biodegradability and two distinctive decay rate coefficients (k1 and k2) with their corresponding degradable substrate fractions (S1 and S2), respectively. Each 3 liter batch reactor was operated for more than 60 days at substrate to inoculum ratio (S/I) of 0.5 as an initial total volatile solids (TVS) mass basis. Result of Ultimate biodegradability of 74 ~ 83% for food waste and 85 ~ 90% for food waste leachate were obtained respectively. The readily biodegradable fraction of 85 ~ 93% (S1) of food waste Biodegradable Volatile Solids (BVS, So) degraded within the initial 15 days with a range of of 0.151 ~ 0.168 day−1, whereas the rest slowly biodegradable fraction (S2) of BVS degraded for more than 53 days with the long term batch decay rate coefficients of 0.009 ~ 0.010 day−1. For the food waste leachate, the readily biodegradable portion (S1) appeared to be 92 ~ 94% of BVS (So), which degrades with of 0.172 ~ 0.206 day−1 for an initial 15 days. Its corresponding long term batch decay rate coefficients were 0.005 ~ 0.009 day−1. It is recommended that the hydraulic retention times of mesophilic anaerobic digesters be 16 days for the food waste and 15 days for the food waste leachate, respectively. However a safety factor should be considered when designing a full scale plant.

This study investigated the enzymatic pretreatment of food waste (FW) using Viscozyme L to enhance reducing sugar (RS) production. Response surface analysis was used to study the effects of the pretreatment variables of temperature (T) (35-55oC) and incubation time (IT) (9-15 hr). The results indicated that the generated regression model represented the relationship between the independent variables and the responses. The RS production from FW was affected by IT rather than T. Within the design boundaries, a maximum RS yield (0.72 g/g of total solids of FW) was obtained at 44.5oC and 13.7 hr.

For the practical feasibility of lactic acid (LA) fermentation process, a continuous operation using mixed culture and the use of cheap and non-food raw materials are essential. In this study, a continuous LA fermentation of food waste was attempted using indigenous mixed culture. During the operation, temperature was gradually increased from 35℃ to 55℃, with showing the highest performance at 50℃. At 35-45℃, other organic acids such as acetic acid and butyric acid were also observed. At 50℃ and HRT 1.0 d, both LA production yield and its productivity were maximized to 1.8 mol LA/mol hexoseadded and 1.4 g LA/L/hr, respectively. A pyrosequencing result showed that Lactobacillus amylolyticus was the predominant species performing LA fermentation of food waste. The combined process of nanofiltration and water-splitting electrodialysis could recover highly purified LA from the fermentation broth by removing 95% of mineral ions and 77% of ammonium and glucose.

Batch cultivations were performed to evaluate the influences of the initial pH condition on mesophilic and thermophilic acidogenic fermentation with food waste recycling wastewater. In both conditions of mesophilic and thermophilic fermentation, TVFAs production rates were maximized at the initial pH 7 condition as 0.15 and 0.23 g TVFAs/L·hr, respectively. And pH was also maintained stably between 6 and 7 during 72hr acidogenic cultivation at both conditions. However, predominant VFA components were different according to reaction temperature conditions. In mesophilic condition, propionic acid which has low conversion efficiency to methane was accumulated up to 1,348 mg/L while acetic and butyric acid were predominant in thermophilic condition. Therefore, thermophilic acidogenic fermentation was superior for the effective VFAs production than mesophilic condition. From the DGGE analysis, the band patterns were different according to the initial pH conditions but the correlations of the each band were increased in similar pH conditions. These results mean that microbial communities were certainly affected by the initial pH condition. Consequently, the adjustment of the initial pH to neutral region and thermophilic operation are needed to enhance acidogenic fermentation of food waste recycling wastewater.