Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Sun Hoon Kwon

Ho Nam Chang

Woo Gi Lee

Seong Jin Lim

Yong Keun Chang

Pyung Cheon Lee

Dong Won Choi

Ik Keun Yoo

The present invention provides a method for manufacturing organic acid by high-efficiency fermentation, which comprises the steps of continuous culture of organic acid bacteria and collection of organic acid produced from the culture employing a cell-recycle multiple-stage continuous fermentor with serially connected fermentors, each of which comprises a fermentor containing a ferment container, temperature controller, stirrer, and pH controller; pumps for efflux-circulation of media from the fermentor; and, cell separator for separation and circulation of media from the pumps. According to the present method, the high-concentration lactic acid of 90 g/L can be produced with the high productivity of 50 g/L/h, which can reduce the facility cost and production cost in the bulk manufacturing process. In addition, the present invention can be effectively applied to the production of other organic acids such as acetic acid, formic acid, citric acid, malic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, and succinic acid, which show the end-product inhibition.

Method for manufacturing organic acid by high-efficiency continuous fermentation

The present invention provides to a method for removing nitrogen and phosphorous in wastewater simultaneously from wastewater by employing fermentation broth obtained by anaerobic fermentation of organic solid wastes. The method for removing nitrogen and phosphorous in wastewater of the invention comprises the steps of subjecting organic waste material to anaerobic fermentation at 30 to 40&deg; C. for 2 to 4 days by using anaerobic sludge to obtain fermentation broth; and, adding the fermentation broth to a sequencing batch reactor with alternating anaerobic-aerobic-anoxic cycles under anaerobic and anoxic conditions in a separate manner. In accordance with the present invention, nitrogen in the influent wastewater can be removed more than 95% in total and phosphorous concentration can be kept below 1 ppm regardless of the concentration of organic materials in the influent wastewater. Further, the present method requires no extra pretreatment steps or chemicals which are essential to remove residual ammonia nitrogen in the prior art systems, and lowers the overall cost for wastewater treatment due to the usage of organic waste materials.

Method for removing nitrogen and phosphorous in wastewater

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Taejon, South Korea

Sun Hoon Kwon