• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.32-39
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• 2024

The key components of a Phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) are an electrode catalyst, an electrolyte matrix and a gas diffusion layer (GDL). In this study, we introduced a microporous layer on the GDL of PAFC to enhance liquid electrolyte management and overall electrochemical performance of PAFC. MPL is primarily used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells to serve as an intermediate buffer layer, effectively managing water within the electrode and reducing contact resistance. In this study, electrodes were fabricated using GDLs with and without MPL to examine the influence of MPL on the performance of PAFC. Internal resistance and polarization curves of the unit cell were measured and compared to each other to assess the impact of MPL on PAFC electrode performance. As the results, the application of MPL improved power density from 170.2 to 192.1 mW/cm². MPL effectively managed electrolyte and water within the matrix and electrode, enhancing stability. Furthermore, the application of MPL reduced internal resistance in the electrode, resulting in sustained and stable performance even during long-term operation.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.344-357
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• 2020

Strain improvement and bioprocess development were undertaken to enhance hyaluronic acid(HA) production by Streptococcus zooepidemicus cells. Using a high-yielding mutant strain, statistical medium optimization was carried out in shake flask cultures, resulting in 52% increase in HA production (5.38 g/l) at the optimal medium composition relative to the parallel control cultures. For sufficient supply of dissolved oxygen (DO), which turned out to be crucial for enhanced production of HA, agitation system and speed were intensively investigated in 5 L bioreactor cultures. Increase in oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) through increment of agitation speed (rpm) and 35% expansion of diameter of the newly-designed impellers showed significantly positive effects on HA production. By installing an expanded Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient break-down of sparged air, and an extended marine impeller above the Rushton-turbine impeller for efficient mixing of the air-born viscous fermentation broth, maximum amount of HA (9.79 g/l) was obtained at 450 rpm, 1.8 times higher level than that of the corresponding flask culture. Subsequently, the possibility of bioprocess scale-up to a 50 L bioreactor was investigated. Despite almost identical maximum HA production (9.11 vs 9.25 g/l), the average HA volumetric productivity (r_p) of the 50 L culture turned out only 74% compared to the corresponding 5 L culture during the exponential phase, possibly caused by shear damages imposed on the producing cells at the high stirring in the 50 L culture. The scale-up process could be successfully achieved if a scale-up criterion of constant oxygen mass transfer coefficient (k_La) is applied to the 50 L pilot-scale bioreactor system.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.232-240
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• 2014

The significance of thermoplastic polyolefin polypropylene (PP) lies in its potential to replace polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the most widely used material for automobile interiors (door trim, dash board), which discharges harmful compounds in certain conditions. Another benefit of PP (0.855 amorphous - 0.946 crystalline $g/cm^3$) is its low density compared to that of PVC ($1.1-1.45g/cm^3$), which reduces vehicle weight. Market demand for eco-friendly water-based adhesive/coating material is rising significantly as a substitute for solvent-based adhesive/coating material which emits VOC and causes harmful working conditions. Under such context, in this study, a series of eco-friendly waterborne polyurethane-urea primer (a paint product that allows finishing paint to adhere much better than if it were used alone) for hydrophobic PP were prepared from different mix of DMPA content, NCO/OH molar ratio, various wt% of silicone diol and various soft segment content, among which DMPA of 21 mole %, NCO/OH molar ratio of 1.2, modified silicone diol of 5 wt% and soft segment content of 73 wt% led to good adhesion strength. Additionally, the incorporation of optimum content of additives (0.5 wt% dispersing agent, 0.5 wt% levelling agent, 1.5 wt% antifoaming agent, 3.0 wt% matting agent) into the optimum waterborne polyurethane-urea also enabled good stability, levelling, antifoaming and non-glossy.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.237-242
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• 2015

The use of calcite-forming bacteria (CFB) in crack remediation and durability improvements in construction materials creates a permanent and environmentally-friendly material. Therefore, research into this type of application is stimulating interdisciplinary studies between microbiology and architectural engineering. However, the mechanisms giving rise to these materials are dependent on calcite precipitation by the metabolism of the CFB, which raises concerns about possible hazards to cement-based construction due to microbial metabolic acid production. The aim of this study was to determine target microorganisms that possibly can have bio-corrosive effects on cement mortar and to assess multi-functional CFBs for their safe application to cement structures. The chalky test was first used to evaluate the $CaCO_3$ solubilization feature of construction sites by fungi, yeast, bacterial strains. Not all bacterial strains are able to solubilize $CaCO_3$, but C. sphaerospermum KNUC253 or P. prolifica KNUC263 showed $CaCO_3$ solubilization activity. Therefore, these two strains were identified as target microorganisms that require control in cement structures. The registered patented strains Bacillus aryabhatti KNUC205, Arthrobacter nicotianae KNUC2100, B. thuringiensis KNUC2103 and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KNUC2106, reported as multifunctional CFB (fungal growth inhibition, crack remediation, and water permeability reduction of cement surfaces) and isolated from Dokdo or construction site were unable to solubilize $CaCO_3$. Notably, B. aryabhatti KNUC205 and A. nicotianae KNUC2100 could not hydrolyze cellulose or protein, which can be the major constituent macromolecules of internal materials for buildings. These results show that several reported multi-functional CFB can be applied to cement structures or diverse building environments without corrosive or bio-deteriorative risks.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.406-413
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• 2012

Effect of three additives, chitosan, ferric chloride, and MPE50 on membrane fouling reduction was studied. They were introduced with various dosing rate into activated sludge, and changes in filtration resistance measured by the batch cell filtration test were evaluated. Both the filtration resistance and the specific cake resistance were minimized at 20 mg/g-MLSS with chitosan, 70 mg/g-MLSS with ferric chloride, and 20 mg/g-MLSS with MPE50 addition, respectively. Introduction of the additives into the activated sludge resulted in reduction of not only cake resistance, but also fouling resistance. However, the chitosan addition to three different activated sludge resulted in three different optimal dose of 10, 20, 30 mg/g-MLSS, respectively. This implies that the optimal dose is dependent on sludge characteristics rather than a constant value. Overdose above the optimal dosage always aggravated filterability in all cases. Zeta potential of sludge flocs, relative hydrophobicity, floc size distribution, soluble EPS concentration and supernatant turbidity were measured in order to analyze fouling reduction mechanism. Nearly neutral surface charge along with the largest particle size was observed at the optimal dose. This could be explained by particle destabilization and restabilization mechanism as positively charged additives were injected into sludge flocs of negative surface charge. Both soluble EPS concentration and supernatant turbidity also showed the lowest value at the optimal dose. These foulants are believed to be coagulated and entrapped in sludge flocs during flocculation. Chitosan and MPE50 which are cationic polymeric substances showed higher reduction in both soluble EPS and fine particles comparing with ferric chloride.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2013

In this study, polyaniline (PANI)-based $TiO_2$ (PANI-$TiO_2$) composites calcined at different temperatures were prepared and their applications for control of trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (TTCE) at indoor air levels were investigated. For these target compounds, the photocatalytic control efficiencies of PANI-$TiO_2$ composites did not exhibit any trend with varying calcination temperatures (CTs). Rather, the average control efficiencies of PANI-$TiO_2$ composites over 3-h photocatalytic process increased from 61 to 72% and from 21 to 39% for TCE and TTCE, respectively, as the CT increased from 350 to $450^{\circ}C$. However, for both the target compounds, the average control efficiencies of PANI-$TiO_2$ composites decreased gradually as the CT increased further to 550 and $650^{\circ}C$. These results were ascribed to contents of anatase crystal phase and specific surface area of different particle sizes in the PANI-$TiO_2$ composites, which were demonstrated by the X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy images, respectively. At the lowest input concentration (IC, 0.1 ppm), average control efficiencies of TCE and TTCE were 72 and 39%, respectively, whereas at the highest IC (1.0 ppm) they were 52 and 18%, respectively. As stream flow rate increased from 0.1 to 1.0 L $min^{-1}$, the average control efficiencies of TCE and TTCE decreased from ca. 100 to 47% and ca. 100 to 18%, respectively. In addition, the average control efficiencies of TCE and TTCE decreased from ca. 100 to 23% and ca. 100 to 8%, respectively as the relative humidity increased from 20 to 95%. Overall, these findings indicated that as-prepared PANI-$TiO_2$ composites could be used efficiently for control of chlorinated compounds at indoor air levels;if operational conditions were optimized.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.670-678
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• 1994

The effects of amylase addition during extrusion cooking of rice on the physico-chemical properties of the extrudates were investigated in order to develop rice-based Korean style weaning food products. A laboratory-built single screw extruder was used, the enzymes used were Termamyl 120LS(amylase from Bacillus licheniformis, NOVO Co.), BAN 240L(amylase from Bacillus amylolichuefaciens, NOVO Co.) and malt powder. By the addition of enzymes, the water soluble index of the extrudates increased by 3 times compared to that of the extrudates without enzyme and the concentration of reducing sugar in the extrudates increased drastically at 28 feed moisture. The gel permeation chromatographic pattern showed that the large molecular starch fractions diminished by the addition of enzyme during extrusion and the low molecular fraction increased. The residual enzyme activity in the extrudate were 27% for the most thermo-resistance enzyme by treating at $140^{\circ}C$ in the metering section of the extruder. The sediment volume of the extrudate dispersion increased as the metering section temperature increased to $140^{\circ}C$ . By the addition of enzymes the viscosity of extrudate dispersion was redused $1/4{\sim}1/200$ of that of the extrudates without enzyme. It allowed to use 1.8 times of solid material to the weaning food formulation to attain the same level of consistency as the commercial products. It proves that the addition of amylase during rice extrusion is effective to increase the energy density of weaning food by starch degradation, which results in the increases of water solubility, reducing sugar content, dispersibility and fluidability.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.62-69
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• 2003

The aim of research is the evaluation of the $Cr^{6+}$ emission features of the liquid injection through emission experiments in varying conditions, based on a field-mixing ratio. The results showed that the content of $Cr^{6+}$ content in cement measured had an Ordinary Potland Cement (OPC) of 25.3 mg/kg, which constitute the largest portion among the other materials. Likewise, the emission experiment of homo-gel and sand-gel generally satisfied the standard of KSLT (Korea Standard Leaching Test) in waste of 1.5 mg/L, but in case of the standard of KSLT in soil the emission of OPC $Cr^{6+}$ of 4.85 mg/kg. These conditions is a little exceeded the criteria in the ‘Ga’ area in terms of Korea Soil Environmental Preservation Law. In addition, results generated by the mock-up injection facilities revealed that $Cr^{6+}$ emission increased as Water/Cement and injection pressure increased. At injection pressure higher than 4 kg/㎤, $Cr^{6+}$ emission exceeded the water preservation standard of 0.5 mg/L. Similarly, a pattern experiment of C $r^{6+}$ emission according to pH was conducted, in order to evaluate the $Cr^{6+}$ emission features of grout materials in leachate below pH 5 such as pH 4 acid rain or landfill. Results show that $Cr^{6+}$ emission dramatically increased in high acidic or basic state. It indicates that $Cr^{6+}$ emission will probably increase in an environment where grout materials are injected. On the other hand, concentration of leachate was determined in areas where grout materials are used. The results show that the concentration of emission in an ultra purity condition does not manifest intensity, and is affected in the OPC>MC>SC order. It means that the pollutants or $Cr^{6+}$ emission increases with decreasing concentration. As such, $Cr^{6+}$ emission will probably exceed the countermeasure criteria according to the types of gout materials. Similarly, high pressure or injection will cause increased $Cr^{6+}$ emission. Therefore, the selection of materials or mixing ratio should be considered in general as well as according to specific industries, based on the strength and pH of $Cr^{6+}$ emission.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2007

Purpose: The estrogen receptor (ER), which is over-expressed in ER-positive breast tumors, has been imaged by positron emission tomography (PET) using $[^{18}F]$ labeled estrogen ligands, especially $[^{18}F]FES$. However, $[^{18}F]$ has relatively short-lived half-life ($t_{1/2}$ =1.8 h) and the labeling yield of radio-fluorination is usually low compared with $^{64}Cu\;(t_{1/2}=12.7\;h)$. 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (cyclen) is used to form stable metal complexes with copper, indium, gallium, and gadolinium. With these in mind, we prepared cyclen-based Cu complexes which mimic estradiol in aspect of two hydroxyl groups. Materials and Methods: 1.7-Protected cyclen, 1.7-bis (benzyloxycarbonyl)-cyclen was synthesized according to the reported procedure. After introducing two 4-benzyloxybenzyl groups at 4,10-positions, the benzyloxycarbonyl and benzyl groups were removed at the same time by hydrogenation on Pd/C to give 1,7-bis(4-hydroxybenzyl)-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane (1). Results: The prepared ligand 1 was fully characterized by $^1H,\;^{13}C$ NMR, and mass spectrometer. The synthesized ligand was reacted with copper chloride and copper perchlorate to give copper complexes $[Cu(1)]^{2+}2(CIO_4^-)\;and\;[Cu(1)Cl]^+Cl^-$ which were confirmed by high-resolution mass (FAB). Conclusion: We successfully synthesized a cyclen derivative of which two phenol groups are located on trans position of N-atoms. And, two Cu(ll) complexes of +2 and +1 overall charge, were prepared as a potential PET tracers for ER imaging.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.372-380
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• 2009

After supercritical water treatment of poplar wood meals (passed through 60 mesh) for 60s between 325 and $425^{\circ}C$ at the fixed pressure at $220{\pm}10atm$, some solid residues were present in the degradation products. They mainly consisted of chemically modified lignin and fibrous materials. Glucose and xylose were identified as main sugar components of fibrous materials, and the highest ratio of glucose/xylose was achieved at the highest reaction temperature. As reaction temperature was elevated, the portion of fibrous materials decreased in the solid residues, while lignin was further accumulated. The H : G : S ratio of lignin in solid residues was estimated by analytical pyrolysis. Irrespective of reaction temperatures, the H:G:S ratios were not significantly changed in the lignin in solid residues. Compared to poplar milled wood lignin (MWL), it was remarkable that H type monomers were further lowered, while portion of S type monomers increased. The amount of G type monomers were relative stable. In presence of HCl catalyst, lowering H type as well as enhancing S type was further distinguishable. According to the result of nitrobenzene oxidation (NBO), ca. 265 mg of vanillin and syringaldehyde was yielded from poplar MWL as main products. However, remarkably reduced amount of NBO products were determined from solid residues by raising operating temperature as well as by the addition of HCl catalyst. These results strongly indicate that $\beta$-O-4 linkage could be easily cleaved during supercritical water treatment, so that the lignins in the solid residues seem to be condensed phenol polymers, which are mainly formed by carbon-carbon linkages rather than $\beta$-O-4 linkage.