메탄(CH4)은 지구 온난화에 크게 기여하는 온실가스이며, 우리나라 농업 분야에서 벼 재배는 메탄 배출의 주요한 원인으로 알려져 있다. 본 연구는 벼 뿌리의 형태학적 특성과 토양 환경이 메탄 배출 특성에 미치는 영향을 구명하기 위하여 온도 조절이 가능한 인공 유리 온실에서 삼광과 신동진 벼 품종을 대상으로 포트 실험을 수행하였다. 생육 단계별로 챔버를 이용한 메탄 가스 포집과 벼의 생육 특성 및 뿌리의 형태학적 특성을 조사하고 토양의 산화환원전위, 온도, 용존유기탄소를 함께 측정하였다. 두 품종 모두 유수형성기 이후 메탄 배출량이 급격히 증가하여 출수기에 최대 1.7-2.1 mg CH4 m-2 hr-1을 보였으며, 누적 메탄 배출량은 삼광 품종이 다소 높았으나 통계적으로 유의한 차이는 없었다. 벼 뿌리의 형태학적 특성은 두 품종 간 유의한 차이가 없었으나, 주요 생육 시기의 메탄 배출 변화와는 유사하였다. 또한, 토양 산화환원전위는 담수기간이 지속될수록 환원 조건이 더욱 형성되었다. 이는 토양 내 메탄생성균의 기질 공급 등의 유리한 조건을 형성하여 메탄 생성이 활발해졌을 것으로 판단된다. 이러한 결과는 벼 품종 및 재배 관리에 따른 농업 부문의 메탄 저감 전략 마련에 기초 자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

As the demand for sustainable hydrogen (H₂) production grows, catalytic decomposition of methane (CDM) has emerged as a CO2- free pathway for H2 generation, producing valuable multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as byproducts. This study examines the role of fuel type in shaping the properties and performance of NiOx/AlOx catalysts synthesized via solution combustion synthesis (SCS). Catalysts prepared with citric acid, urea, hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA), and glycine exhibited varying NiO nanoparticle (NP) sizes and dispersions. Among them, the HMTA catalyst achieved the highest Ni dispersion (~ 3.2%) and specific surface area (21.6 m2/ gcat), attributed to vigorous combustion facilitated by its high pH and amino-group-based fuel. Catalytic tests showed comparable activation energy (55.7–59.7 kJ/mol) across all catalysts, indicating similar active site formation mechanisms. However, the HMTA catalyst demonstrated superior CH4 conversion (~ 68%) and stability, maintaining performance for over 160 min under undiluted CH₄, while others deactivated rapidly. MWCNT characterization revealed consistent structural properties, such as graphitization degree and electrical conductivity, across all catalysts, emphasizing that fuel type influenced stability rather than MWCNT quality. H2 temperature-programmed reduction ( H2-TPR) analysis identified moderate metal-support interaction (MSI) in the HMTA catalyst as a key factor for optimizing stability and active site utilization. These findings underscore the importance of fuel selection in SCS to control MSIs and dispersion, offering a strategy to enhance catalytic performance in CDM and other thermocatalytic applications.

The commercial feed additive, native rumen microbes (RC), derived from a diverse microbial community isolated from the rumen of Hanwoo steers is being explored to enhance rumen fermentation and improve ruminant feed utilization. This study evaluated the impact of native rumen microbes supplementation on methane emissions, microbial diversity, and fermentation efficiency on in vitro assessment. Treatments were as follows: CON (basal diet, without RC); T1 (basal diet + 0.1% RC); T2 (basal diet + 0.2% RC). Rumen fermentation parameters, total gas, and methane production were assessed at 12, 24, and 48 h of incubations. The in vitro gas production was carried out using the Ankom RF Gas Production System. Supplementation of RC significantly reduced the total gas production at 12, 24, and 48 hours of incubation (p < 0.05). Volatile fatty acid concentrations were increased, while acetate and propionate were decreased (p < 0.05) at 48 h by the supplementation of RC. Notably, the 0.1% inclusion level of RC significantly reduced methane production by 28.30% and 21.21% at 12 and 24 hours. Furthermore, microbial diversity analysis revealed significant shifts (p < 0.05) in bacterial composition between the control and treatment groups, while supplementation also promoted the growth of bacterial populations, such as Succiniclasticum. These findings suggest that native rumen microbes supplementation, particularly at 0.1% inclusion level, can enhance rumen microbial composition while significantly reducing methane production in vitro.

This review examines the importance of measuring practical enteric methane emissions from ruminants, considering their significant impact on global warming. Global warming is significantly driven by an increase in greenhouse gases, with rising methane (CH4) emissions from ruminants accelerating global warming recently. To successfully mitigate CH4 emissions and establish effective strategies, it is essential to apply reliable measurement techniques. This will allow for an accurate assessment of on-farm CH4 emissions. The priority should be to gather CH4 emission data that reflects the actual state of CH4 emissions from ruminants. The review provides an overview of the methods used to measure CH4 emissions from ruminants by compiling existing researches. It introduces the concepts, principles, and limitations of these methods to facilitate comparisons between existing approaches. This review discusses methods for measuring enteric CH4 emissions from ruminants at the farm level, including the tracer technique, laser methane detector, GreenFeed, and sniffer system. These methods are highlighted as potential tools to accumulate substantial data on on-farm CH4 emission from domestic animals with provides examples of international cases. Among these, this review introduces the Sniffer method, a CH4 emission measurement techniques that are suitable for on-farm use under domestic conditions, and emphasizes the necessity of its application. In addition, by presenting international cases where predictive models were developed based on on-farm CH4 measurement techniques, it is projected that if predictive models for CH4 emissions are developed by accumulating data at the farm level, it can contribute to sustainable livestock industry in various promising ways.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of different red seaweeds on in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics and methane gas production. Five species of red seaweed (Chrysymenia wrughtii Yamada, CW; Hypnea sp., Hypnea sp.; Chondria crassicaulis, CC; Gelidium vagum Okamurae, GV; Hypnea saidana Holmes, HS) were obtained from National Institute of Fisheries Science (NIFS) in South Korea. The collected red seaweeds were washed for 3 minutes, and then samples were freeze-dried and ground to a size of a 1 millimeter. The buffered ruminal fluid (50 mL) was incubated with substrates and seaweeds (5% of substrates) at 39℃ for 48 hours. Total gas production was lower than red seaweed treatments excluding the CW treatment (p<0.05; 63.25 mL). Methane production was the lowest in CC treatment (p<0.05; 9.93 mL/g of digestible dry matter). The rumen pH of the red seaweed treatments ranged from 5.98 to 6.08, which was significantly the lowest in the GV treatment (p<0.05; 5.98). There was no significant difference in the total VFA concentration, but propionate (27.53%) was significantly highest in the CW treatment, whereas acetate (53.14%), iso-valerate (3.52%), valerate (1.72%), and A:P ratio (1.93) were significantly lowest (p<0.05). In conclusion, among the five species of red seaweeds, Chondria crassicaulis reduced in vitro methane production without negative effects on dry matter digestibility. Future studies will be needed to determine the optimal inclusion level of Chondria crassicaulis as feed additive to reduce enteric methane production.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of various washing pre-treatments of native Codium fragile as a feed additive on in vitro ruminal fermentation and CH4 production in ruminants. Seaweed was included at 0.5% dry matter (DM) based on the experimental feed (forage : concentrate = 3:7). Treatment groups were classified as follows: experimental feed (C), no washing (T1), washing at 0°C (T2), washing at 22°C (T3) and washing at 70°C (T4) each immersed for 6 minutes in distilled water. The pH consistently fell within the ruminal stability range. In vitro dry matter digestibility was significantly highest in T2, T3, T4 and C, T4 was the lowest at 48 h (p<0.05). NH3-N concentration was significantly highest in T4 at 48 h (p<0.05). Total gas production at 48 h was 19% lower in T4 compared to C (p<0.01). CH4 production (mL/g DM) at 48 h was lower in all treatment groups compared to C, with T3 showing a 31% reduction (p<0.01). Similarly, CH4 production (mL/g dry matter degradability, DMD) at 48 h was 39% lower for T3 compared to C (p<0.01). At 24 h, total VFA was significantly highest in T1 and T4 (p<0.05). The proportions of acetate was significantly highest in C and T3 was the lowest at 48 h (p<0.01). The proportions of propionate was significantly highest in T3 and C was the lowest at 48 h (p<0.01). The acetate to propionate ratio was singnificantly highest in C at 48 h (p<0.01). The proportions of butyrate at 24 h was lower for T3 compared to C (p<0.05). Therefore, this study confirms that Codium fragile can reduce CH4 production when used as a feed additive for ruminants and this effect is not significantly influenced by the washing pre-treatment. However, if washing process is necessary, washing at 22°C is the most appropriate method to remove foreign objects.

This study developed and tested a pilot-scale biowindow for simultaneous removal of odor and methane from landfills. The test was conducted in a sanitary landfill site during the summer season (July and August). The average temperature inside the biowindow was 5°C higher than the average air temperature, rising to 37–48oC when the outdoor temperature was very hot. The complex odor removal rate (based on the dilution-to-threshold value) in the biowindow during the summer was 91.3- 98.8% (with an average of 96.2±4.2%). The average concentration of hydrogen sulfide was 3,024.9±805.8 ppb, and its concentration was found to be the highest among 22 odorous compounds. The removal efficiencies of hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan were 89.1% and 83.2%, respectively. The removal of dimethyl sulfide was 17.7%, and no ammonia removal was observed. Additionally, the removal efficiencies of toluene and xylene were 85.2% and 72.5%, respectively. Although the initial methane removal was low (24.9%), the methane removal performance improved to 53.7–75.6% after the 11th day of operation. These results demonstrate that the odor and methane removal performance of the pilot-scale biowindow was relatively stable even when the internal temperature of the biowindow rose above 40oC in the summer. Since the main microorganisms responsible for decomposing odor and methane are replaced by thermotolerant or thermophilic microorganisms, and high community diversity is maintained, odor and methane in the biowindow could be stably removed even under high-temperature conditions.

Pyrolysis of methane is a carbon-economic method to obtain valuable carbon materials and COx- free H2, under the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. In this work, we propose a methane pyrolysis process to produce graphite and H2 using bubble column reactor containing NiO/Al2O3 and NaCl–KCl (molten salt). The process was optimized by the different amounts of NaCl–KCl, the CH4/ Ar ratio and temperature, indicating that the CH4 conversation rate could reach 92% at 900 °C. Meanwhile, we found that the addition of molten salt could obtain pure carbon materials, even if the conversation rate of CH4 decreases. The analysis of the carbon products revealed that graphite could be obtained.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of varying levels of neutral detergent-soluble fiber (NDSF) in Hanwoo growing cattle diets on rumen fermentation and methane (CH4) emissions. An in vitro rumen fermentation experiment utilized feeds with different NDSF levels, incorporating ingredients such as corn grain, soybean meal, soybean hulls, palm kernel meal, beet pulp and timothy hay. The NDSF contents in the diets were 9.02% (T1), 10.09% (T2), 12.42% (T3) and 14.63% (T4). In vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) at 48 h was 7.4% higher for T4 compared to T1 (p<0.05). Total gas production at 48 h was 6.6% higher for T4 than T1 (p<0.05). CH4 production significantly decreased at 9 h and 12 h for T1 and T2 (p<0.05). At 48 h, CH4 production was 5.6% higher for T4 compared to T1 and 6.7% higher compared to T2 (p<0.05). At 12 h ans 24 h, the ammonia nitrogen concentration of T4 was approximately 33.1% and 40.4% lower, respectively, compared to T1 (p<0.05). The acetate to propionate ratio at 48 h was approximately 18.8% higher for T4 than T1 (p<0.05). From 9 h to 48 h, the proportions of butyrate and valerate were significantly higher for T4 (p<0.05). At 48 h, the dominant phylum in T4's rumen microbial community was Candidatus Thermoplasmatota Methanomassiliicoccus, an Archaea. Therefore, this study confirmed that increasing the NDSF content in growing Hanwoo cattle diets up to 12.42% increases IVDMD without increasing CH4 emissions, which is expected to positively impact Hanwoo productivity.

The conventional multi-scale modelling approach that predicts carbon nanotube (CNT) growth region in heterogeneous flame environment is computationally exhaustive. Thus, the present study is the first attempt to develop a zero-dimensional model based on existing multi-scale model where mixture fraction z and the stoichiometric mixture fraction zst are employed to correlate burner operating conditions and CNT growth region for diffusion flames. Baseline flame models for inverse and normal diffusion flames are first established with satisfactory validation of the flame temperature and growth region prediction at various operating conditions. Prior to developing the correlation, investigation on the effects of zst on CNT growth region is carried out for 17 flame conditions with zst of 0.05 to 0.31. The developed correlation indicates linear ( zlb=1.54zst +0.11) and quadratic ( zhb=zst(7-13zst )) models for the zlb and zhb corresponding to the low and high boundaries of mixture fraction, respectively, where both parameters dictate the range of CNT growth rate (GR) in the mixture fraction space. Based on the developed correlations, the CNT growth in mixture fraction space is optimum in the flame with medium-range zst conditions between 0.15 and 0.25. The stronger relationship between growth-region mixture-fraction (GRMF) and zst at the near field region close to the flame sheet compared to that of the far field region away from the flame sheet is due to the higher temperature gradient at the former region compared to that of the latter region. The developed models also reveal three distinct regions that are early expansion, optimum, and reduction of GRMF at varying zst.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Liriope platyphylla and organic acids on enteric methane mitigation in goats using an open-circuit simplified respiration chamber system. Methane recovery was evaluated by injecting 3% standard methane gas for 30 min at 3 L/min. The percentage of methane recovery from the four chambers was 99±5.4%. Following the recovery test, an animal experiment was conducted using eight castrated Boer goats (body weight 46.6±7.77 kg) using a 2×2 crossover design. Experimental diets were as follows: 1) Control (CON), commercial concentrate and tall fescue, and 2) Treatment (MIX), concentrate supplemented with L. platyphylla and organic acids and tall fescue. Goats were offered feed at 2% of body weight (dry matter basis) in equal portions twice daily at 8:00 and 15:30. The goats were adapted to the feed and methane chamber for 10 and 3 days, respectively. Methane emission was measured one day per goat using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, and temperature and airflow measurements were used to estimate methane emissions. Dry matter intake (DMI), body weight, and methane emission were measured during each period. Methane production with CON and MIX was 24.48 and 22.68 g/d, respectively, and 26.81 and 24.83 g/kg DMI, respectively. Although the differences were not significant, the use of supplements resulted in a numerical reduction in methane in MIX compared with CON. Collaboration with experts in other areas, including various engineering departments, is imperative to measure methane emissions using a chamber system accurately.

The thermocatalytic decomposition of methane is a promising method for hydrogen production. To determine the cause of carbonaceous catalyst deactivation and to produce high-value carbon, methane decomposition behavior and deactivated catalysts were analyzed. The surface properties and crystallinity of a commercial activated carbon material, MSP20, used as a methane decomposition catalyst, varied with the reaction time at a reaction temperature of 900 °C. During the initial reaction, MSP20 provided a methane conversion of ≥ 50%; however, the catalyst exhibited rapid deactivation as crystalline carbon grew at surface defects; after 15 min of reaction, approximately 33% methane conversion was maintained. With increasing reaction time, the specific surface area of the catalyst decreased, whereas crystallinity increased. The R-square value of the conversion–crystallinity relationship was significantly higher than that of the conversion–specific surface area relationship; however, neither profile was linear. The activity of the activated carbon catalyst for methane decomposition is mainly determined by the complex actions of the specific surface area and defect sites. The activity was maintained after an initial sharp decline caused by the continuous growth of crystalline carbon product. This study presents the application of carbonaceous catalysts for the decomposition reaction of methane to form COx- free hydrogen, while simultaneously yielding porous carbon materials with an improved electrical conductivity.