Pyrolysis is an environmental friendly alternative method compared with incineration, and the least time-consuming and smallest infrastructure footprint method compared with bio-chemical and thermo-chemical conversion. Baseline data for the pyrolysis of food waste was obtained in a kinetic study of the thermal decompositions by thermogravimetric analysis. To simulate the difference in the types of food waste, the study was done using model compounds, such as cereals, meat, vegetable, and mixed food waste; the pyrolysis commenced at 150 °C for most food waste and the process terminated at 450 °C to 500 °C. Between one and three peaks were observed on a differential thermogravimetry (DTG) graph, depending on the type of waste being pyrolyzed, reflecting the difference in the time required for pyrolysis of different components of food waste to take place. Depending on the composition of each food, one or four peaks were found, and the pyrolysis patterns of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and cellulose were found. Activation energies and frequency factors were calculated from the rates of conversion, using differential equation analyses. The activation energy increased from 10 kJ/mol to 50 kJ/mol as conversions increased from the 10% to 90%, regardless of the food waste type. The activation energy was measured as 50 kJ/mol, with a slight variation among the type of the food waste. Due to the activation energy being low, food waste consists of carbohydrates and other substances rather than cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of domestic wastewater for anaerobic hydrogen production. High-strength and ordinary-strength organic loadings of synthetic wastewater, i.e., real-time domestic wastewater with and without a mixture of food waste, were tested. During operation at a high strength loading, the initial pH was maintained at 7 and then gradually decreased, and a pH of 5–5.5 was observed as the best experimental condition. A pH of 5–5.5 was controlled during the operation at an ordinary-strength loading. Maximum hydrogen yields of 1.125 mol H2/mol glucose and 1.01 mol H2/mol glucose were observed during operation at high (48 g COD/L·day) and ordinary (3 g COD/L·day) strength loadings in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD), respectively, with hydrogen contents of 42%–53%. The operating environment of the hydrogen production system was found to be very crucial because the metabolic pathway of the microorganism and production of intermediates were found to be dynamic with the controlled environment. Smaller COD removals of 30% and 26% were observed in high-strength and ordinarystrength loadings, respectively. Organic mass balance in terms of COD described the distribution of organics in the system via reactor byproducts. The findings of this study can be applied during the design of onsite domestic wastewater and energy recovery systems.

Biochar is the product of the pyrolysis of organic materials in a reduced state. In recent years, biochar has received attention due to its applicability to organic waste management, thereby leading to active research on biochar. However, there have been few studies using food waste. In particular, the most significant difference between food waste and other organic waste is the high salinity of food waste. Therefore, in this paper, we compare the chemical characteristics of biochar produced using food waste containing low- and high-concentration salt and biochar flushed with water to remove the concentrated salt. In addition, we clarify the salt component behavior of biochar. Peak analysis of XRD confirms that it is difficult to find salt crystals in flushed char since salt remains in the form of crystals when salty food waste is pyrolyzed washed away after water flushing. In addition, the Cl content significantly decreased to 1–2% after flushing, similar to that of Cl content in the standard, non-salted food waste char. On the other hand, a significant amount of Na was found in pyrolyzed char even after flushing resulting from a phenomenon in which salt is dissolved in water while flushing and Na ions are adsorbed. FT-IR analysis showed that salt in waste affects the binding of aromatic carbons to compounds in the pyrolysis process. The NMR spectroscopy demonstrated that the aromatic carbon content, which indicates the stability of biochar, is not influenced by the salt content and increases with increasing pyrolysis temperature.

This study investigated the possibility of applying pyrolysis as an alternative method to recycle powdered activated carbon-containing water treatment residuals (PAC-WTRs) discharged from the Cheongju water treatment plant as a multifunctional adsorbent. WTRs pyrolyzed for 1 h at 200-700 °C were compared with raw material. The carbon content of the PAC-WTR reaches 19.27%, with about 25% Al and 17% Si. Changes in PAC through pyrolysis imparted new adsorbent properties to WTR. As the pyrolysis temperature increased, the purity of PAC increased, and pores were regenerated to recover the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) from 6.5 m2 g-1 to 131.8 m2 g-1. In addition, the basicity increased as the carboxylic and phenolic groups on the carbon surface were decomposed, which increased the cation (methylene blue) adsorption capacity and reduced heavy metal leaching. As the coagulant regenerated with increasing pyrolysis temperature, the amount of aluminum leached and phosphate removal efficiency were increased. In the case of simultaneous removal of cations (MB+) and anions (PO43-), the removal efficiency was higher than that for single adsorption without competition through multi-layer adsorption by Al complex and PAC complex. Therefore, the pyrolyzed PAC-WTR is capable of adsorbing and removing anions and cations simultaneously without the peril of substance leaching. The regenerated WTRs containing PAC is expected to be utilized as a multi-functional remediation material for wastewater containing various pollutants.

We developed a lab-scale aerobic–methane oxidation bioreactor (MOB)–anoxic system, combining a MOB and the aerobic–anoxic denitrification process, and evaluated its potential for advanced nitrogen treatment in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The MOB used biogas generated from a WWTP and secondary-treated wastewater to support mixed methanotroph cultures, which mediated the simultaneous direct denitrification by methanotrophs and methanol production necessary for denitrifying bacteria in the anoxic chamber for denitrification. Compared to the aerobic–anoxic process, the aerobic–MOB–anoxic system with an influent concentration of 4.8 L·day⁻¹ showed a marked increase in the reduction efficiency for total nitrogen (41.9% vs. 85.9%) and PO₄⁻³-P (41.1% vs. 69.5%). However, the integrated actions of high nitrogen and phosphorus consumption are required for methanotroph growth, as well as the production and supply of methanol as a carbon source for denitrification and methane monooxygenase-mediated oxidation of NH₃ into N₂O by methanotrophs. After three months of continuous operation using actual wastewater, the total nitrogen removal rate was 76.3%, equivalent to the rate observed in a tertiary-advanced WWTP, while the total phosphorus removal rate reached 83.7%.

Food-waste-derived biochar structures obtained through pyrolysis and with different NaCl concentrations were investigated. Increased NaCl concentration in the samples inhibited cellulose and lignin decomposition, ultimately increasing the biochar yield by 2.7% for 20%-NaCl concentration. NaCl added in solution state exhibited templating effects, with maximum increases in the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and pore volume of 1.23 to 3.50 m²∙g⁻¹ and 0.002 to 0.007 cm³∙g⁻¹, respectively, after washing. Adding a high concentration (20%) of NaCl reduced the BET surface area. In contrast, the mean pore diameter increased owing to the increased NaCl clustering area. Increased NaCl clustering with increased added NaCl was shown to have positive effects on NaCl removal by washing. Furthermore, as the NaCl adhered to the KCl scattered in the food waste, a high NaCl concentration also had positive effects on KCl removal. This study reports on an investigation on the effects of varying NaCl concentrations injected in solution form on the structure of food-waste biochar during pyrolysis. The templating effect was considered using both added NaCl and NaCl already contained in the food waste, with implementation of a desalination process essential for food-waste treatment for recycling.