• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1393-1398
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• 2015

In this study, we investigated the extraction condition of alginate from Laminaria japonica, the enzymatic degradation of the extracted alginate, and the inhibitory activity of the degraded alginate on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. The optimal conditions for the efficient extraction, precipitation, and recovery of alginate from the brown seaweed L. japonica were 1% for Na₂CO₃ concentration, 80℃ for extraction temperature, and ethanol for precipitation solvent. In the enzymatic reaction for the production of low-molecular-weight alginate (LMWA) by using alginate lyase from Flavobacterium sp., the initial concentration of Laminaria alginate was 3%. The low-molecular-weight degree from alginate was independent with the enzyme concentration, and the optimal concentration of alginate lyase was found to be 5 unit/ml. Through the enzymatic reaction with 5 unit/ml of alginate lyase at 37℃ for 3 hr, the viscosity and molecular weight of LMWA were 4.5 cp and 307 kDa, respectively. Treatment with LMWA significantly suppressed the accumulation of lipid droplet and triglyceride in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes with a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, it seems that LMWA treatment could inhibit the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. These results indicate that LMWA or the degraded alginate produced by alginate lyase enzyme can be useful for the development of anti-obesity biosubstances.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.241-249
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• 2008

This study is to concentrate vanadium in Jeju groundwater using reverse osmosis processes, and to utilize the concentrate for vanadium water. Groundwater samples were taken from Wahyul, Ayum, and Seogwipo groundwater wells with different in vanadium content each other. Their vanadiuln concentrations were 31.8, 44.5, and 53.0 ppb, respectively. The rejection coefficients of every component in groundwater were increased with the increase of TMP At the TMP of $8 kg_f/cm^2$, the rejection coefficients of vanadium, sodium, potassium, aluminium, iron, and barium were $97.4%{\sim}99.0%,\;97.7%{\sim}97.8%,\;98.0%{\sim}98.3%,\;94.8%{\sim}97.5%,\;88.0%{\sim}96.4.0%$, and $97.9{\sim}98.0%$, respectively. And those of magnesium, calcium, chromium, mauganese, and strontium in three groundwater were more than 99.0% at the same TMP. It was possible that vanadium contents of Wahyul, Ayum and Seogwipo groundwater were concentrated into 58.6, 118.9, and 165.1 ppb, respectively, by 6 stages treatment at the recovery ratio of 15%. And these concentrated water (vanadium water) did not exceed the permissible drinking water standards.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.30 no.3 s.47
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• pp.345-352
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• 2004

There are two paradigms to explain the atopic dermatitis. The first is outside-inside paradigm and the second is inside-outside paradigm. According to the outside-inside paradigm the best way to treat the atopic dermatitis is recovery of skin barrier function. The barrier function is maintained by the specific structure of stratum corneum, which is constructed from corneocytes and intercellular lipids. In terms of lipid structures of SC in atopic dermatitis and lamellar ichthyosis, they contain more fluid hexagonal gel structures in SC and show deficiencies in free fatty acids, especially long chains and certain ceramides. With this reason, moisturizer which has the lamellar structure and restoring function of intrinsic intercellualr long periodicity phase can maintain and restore the lamellar structure of intercellular lipids in SC. The moisturizers containing ceramide or pseudoceramide also seem to be reasonable therapy for atopic dermatitis and several skin diseases, which interrelated with impaired skin harrier. By the way, according to the inside-outside paradigm, immune response including helper T cells, IgE, eosinophils is related. It is effective treatment of atopic dermititis to restore imbalance between Th1 and Th2 cells. Even though several kinds of immune-suppressor were introduced, these can affect the intrinsic immune function. SPC and S1P, metabolites of ceramide, would be interesting because they have the function of wound healing and immune modulating properties.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.370-379
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• 2015

In recent, the natural disaster like localized heavy rainfall due to the climate change is increasing. Therefore, it is important issue that the precise observation of rainfall and accurate spatial distribution of the rainfall for fast recovery of damaged region. Thus, researches on the use of the radar rainfall data have been performed. But there is a limitation in the estimation of spatial distribution of rainfall using rain gauge. Accordingly, this study uses the Kriging method which is a spatial interpolation method, to measure the rainfall field in Namgang river dam basin. The purpose of this study is to apply KED(Kriging with External Drift) with OK(Ordinary Kriging) and CK(Co-Kriging), generally used in Korea, to estimate rainfall field and compare each method for evaluate the applicability of each method. As a result of the quantitative assessment, the OK method using the raingauge only has 0.978 of correlation coefficient, 0.915 of slope best-fit line, and 0.957 of $R^2$ and shows an excellent result that MAE, RMSE, MSSE, and MRE are the closest to zero. Then KED and CK are in order of their good results. But the quantitative assessment alone has limitations in the evaluation of the methods for the precise estimation of the spatial distribution of rainfall. Thus, it is considered that there is a need to application of more sophisticated methods which can quantify the spatial distribution and this can be used to compare the similarity of rainfall field.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.199-206
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• 2013

Electrowinning process in pyroprocessing recovers U (uranium) and TRU (Trans Uranium) elements simultaneously from spent fuels using a liquid cadmium cathode (LCC). When the solubility limit of U deposits over 2.35wt% in Cd, U dendrites were formed on the LCC surface during the electrodeposition at $500^{\circ}C$. Due to the high surface area of dendritic U, the deposits were not submerged into the liquid cadmium pool but grow out of the LCC crucible. Since the U dendrites act as a solid cathode, it prevents the co-deposition of U and TRUs. In this study, the electrodeposition of U onto a LCC was carried out at 440 and $500^{\circ}C$ to compare the morphology and component of U deposits. The U deposits at $440^{\circ}C$ have a specific shape and were stacked regularly at the center of the LCC pool, while the U dendrites (i.e., ${\alpha}$-phase) at $500^{\circ}C$ were grow out of the LCC crucible. Through the microscopic observation and XRD analysis, the electrodeposits at $440^{\circ}C$, which have a round shape, were identified as an intermetallic compound such as $UCd_{11}$. It can be concluded that the LCC electrowinning operation at $440^{\circ}C$ achieves the co-recovery of U and TRU without the formation of U dendrites.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.3-17
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• 2021

Currently, there is a drain of natural resources, environmental contamination, generation of waste, and problems of the earth's climate by CO₂ emissions according to mass production and overconsumption of mankind. It is effectuated by a linear economy that involves manufacturing products, use, and waste repeatedly; there is no guarantee in the lives of humans and the future of the globe if we do not find alternative proposals. For a sustainable developing society and to overcome the present global problems, we must successively change to a circular economy from a linear economy. The circular economy has the concept of an extended value chain in recovery, reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling, instead of discarding after the use of manufactured goods. New business models of circular economy have been realized to save the earth ecology and sustainable developing society in serious recognition of the linear economy system. New business models are established by creating a vision and developing a program, and by renovating technology, law, and financial support through a worldwide government policy.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.909-930
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• 2022

Although the electricity tariff for each customer class in Korea has an institutional basis which can be linked to cost fluctuations caused by the increase in fuel cost, there is a situation in which it cannot be raised in a timely manner, considering the national economic burden such as inflation. There can be some disagreements about unconditionally raising electricity rates when cost increases occur. It is, however, well known that Korean domestic electricity rates are very low around the world and are in an environment in which rates are not easily adjusted. Moreover, as Korean electricity rates cannot be easily raised due to various factors, domestic electricity rates for each customer class itself have not delivered a desirable price signal for power consumption. Based on historical data such as fuel costs and power production by power source from 2017 to 2020, this study estimated how much power consumption would change if electricity rates were adjusted in 2030 and price signal distortion was resolved. As a result of the estimation, power consumption will be reduced by 9,000 GWh if the current electricity bill is adjusted to a level which can be 100% recovered even with the supply cost alone. This led to a reduction of about 3.82 million CO₂tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the Korean power sector.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.142-154
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• 2023

As the importance of the environment has been recognized worldwide, the need to calculate and reduce carbon emissions has been drawing an increasing attention throughout various industrial sections. Thereby the discipline of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) involving raw material preparation, production processes, transportation and installation has been established. There is a clear research gap between the need and the practice for Korean Case of renewable energy industry, particularly wind power. To bridge the gap, this study conducted LCA research on wind power generation in the Korean area of Yeongdeok, an example of a domestic onshor wind power complex using SimaPro, which is the most widely used LCA system. As a result of the study, the energy recovery period (EPT) of one wind turbine is about 10 months, and the GHG emitted to generate power of 1 kwh is 15 g CO₂/kWh, which is competitive compared to other energy sources. In the environmental impact assessment by component, the results showed that the tower of wind turbines had the greatest impact on various environmental impact sectors. The experience gained in this study can be further used in strengthening the introduction of renewable energy and reducing the carbon emission in line with reducing climate change.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.9-17
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• 2023

Efforts are currently underway to develop a method for efficiently recovering lithium from the cathode material of waste lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP). The successful application of lithium battery recycling can address the regional ubiquity and price volatility of lithium resources, while also mitigating the environmental impact associated with both waste battery material and lithium production processes. The isomorphic substitution leaching process was used to recover lithium from spent lithium iron phosphate batteries. Lithium was leached by the isomorphic substitution of Fe²⁺ in LFP using a relatively inexpensive ferric chloride etching solution as a leaching agent. In the study, the leaching rate of lithium was compared using the ferric chloride etching solution at various multiples of the LFP molar ratio: 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, and 1.6 times. The highest lithium leaching rate was shown at about 98% when using 1.3 times the LFP molar ratio. Subsequently, to eliminate Fe, the leachate was treated with NaOH. The Fe-free solution was then used to synthesize lithium carbonate, and the harvested powder was characterized and validated. The surface shape and crystal phase were analyzed using SEM and XRD analysis, and impurities and purity were confirmed using ICP analysis.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.194-200
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of newly developed Large Pore Micro-Filtration (LPMF) membrane in Lab size for the application of water treatment, and to find its problems with solutions. The out-to-inside filtration hollow fiber LPMF membrane of which average pore size was $5{\mu}m$ was used at this study and its material was the PET braid reinforced PVDF. Filtration tests were done through gravity with 30 cm water head difference or pressure below 1.5 bar, and the backwash was done instantaneously with the filtrate after pressurizing it to about 4 bar. The water flux of the LPMF membrane with 0.2 bar TMP (Trans Membrane Pressure) was 2 times higher than $0.4{\mu}m$ MF membrane with $0.05{\mu}m$ UF filtrate of the tap water and it was measured also with 20~30 cm water head difference which showed over 800 LMH at 30 cm water head difference. And Time-To-Filter (TTF) was performed by using $5{\mu}m$ filter paper to optimize coagulants and dosage which enhanced filtrate's turbidity and stabilized filtration flux. When the LPMF was operated with 30 cm gravity with very high dose of inorganic coagulants, the flux was maintained over 80 LMH with 93.5~99.5% turbidity removal. Especially, the filtration was maintained stably in the flux and about 97% of the recovery rate by instantaneous pressurized backwash with about 4 bar of the filtrate when the packing density was about 19%. But there was instability in filtration, since the TMP was continuously going up by inefficient backwash when the packing density was 43%.