• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.1678-1686
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• 2020

This study attempted to derive the possibility of using wood pellet using rice husk, which is an agricultural byproduct, and tried to improve the lower calorific value of rice hulls thorough expansion technology and combustion additives. In the physical and chemical analysis of rice husk, the result was obtained that the chlorine content was 0.09%, which did not meet the wood pellet quality standard of Korea. When making rice hulls into expanded rice husk through the expansion technology, the chlorine content decreased, resulting in a product of 0.02%, which is equivalent to the wood pellet standard of Korea, and the calorific value was also increased to 4,280 kcal/kg compared to the existing 3,780 kcal/kg. To obtain a product of 5,000 kcal/kg or more, borax, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium hydroxide was used as combustion improver. However the improvement in calorific value was insufficient. After conversion to coffee oil path using coffee grounds, which is a waste resource biomass, it is mixed into an expanded rice husk, and when the product is analyzed, the coffee oil 15 wt% mixed product shows an excess of 4,949 kcal/kg. When using rice husk, an agricultural byproduct, as wood pellets, it is considered desirable to use waste resources to improve the calorific value, and according to the results of this study, when mixing coffee oil, rice husk can be sufficiently used as wooden pellets.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.469-497
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• 2020

More than one-third of the world's population still has no access to clean cooking facilities despite global interest and efforts to expand the accessibility of clean cooking fuels. They use traditional biomass, i.e., crops, animal dung and firewood, as their cooking fuel, and the health and economic damage from it is severe. As many studies have been conducted to understand the choice and transition of cooking fuel in developing countries, characteristics of household head have been addressed as one of the main fuel determinants. However, decision-making in households is not only made by household head and can vary depending on the relative characteristics of household members. Thus, this study analyses the determinants of cooking fuel choice through the samples of Cambodian couples(household head and his/her spouse) considering both characteristics of husbands and wives. As a result, it is confirmed that the effects of characteristics, such as employment, education levels, and frequency of media use, between husbands and wives on cooking fuel choice were different. This study is expected to contribute to the development of more sophisticated policies to increase clean fuel in Cambodia, given that it takes into account the characteristics of spouses who have not previously been dealt with in analyzing the determinants of cooking fuel choice and that it is difficult to find research on Cambodia.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.247-257
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• 2021

In this work, Iron Nano-Particles Impregnated BioChar/bead (INPBC/bead) soil amendment was developed to increase biochar's reactivity to As in soil and preventing possible wind loss. Prior to preparation of INPBC/bead, INPBC was produced utilizing lignocellulosic biomass and Fe(III) solution in a hydrothermal method, followed by a calcination process. Then, the bead type amendment, INPBC/bead was produced by cross-linking reaction of alginate with INPBC. FT-IR, XRD, BET, and SEM-EDS analyses were utilized to characterize the as-synthesised materials. The particle size range of INPBC/bead was 1-4 mm, and different oxygen-containing functional groups and Fe3O4 crystalline phase were produced on the surface of INPBC/bead, according to the characterization results. The soil cultivation test was carried out in order to assess the stabilization performance of INPBC/bead utilizing As and Pb-contaminated soil obtained from an abandoned mining location in South Korea. After 4 weeks of culture, TCLP and SPLP extraction tests were performed to assess the stabilization efficacy of the amendment. The TCLP and SPLP findings revealed that raising the application ratio improved stabilizing efficiency. The As stabilization efficiency was determined to be 81.56 % based on SPLP test findings for a 5% in (w/w) INPBC/bead treatment, and the content of Pb in extracts was reduced to the limit of detection. According to the findings of this study, INPBC/bead that can maintain pH of origin soil and minimize wind loss might be a potential amendment for soil polluted with As and heavy metals.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.125-132
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• 2021

Fresh PM_2.5 smokes emitted from combustion of four biomass materials (pellet, palm fruit fiber (PFF), PKS, and sawdust) in a laboratory-controlled environment were characterized using an attenuated total reflectance-fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) technique. In smoke samples emitted from combustion of pellets, PFF and PKS, which is being used as boiler fuels for greenhouses in rural areas, the organic carbon/elemental carbon (OC/EC) ratios in PM_2.5 were very high (14.0-35.5), whereas in sawdust smoke samples they were significantly low (<4.0) due to the combustion method close to flaming combustion. ATR-FTIR analysis showed that OH(3400-3250 cm^-1), CH₃(2958-2840 cm^-1), CH₂(2910 cm^-1 and 2850 cm^-1), ketone(1726-1697 cm^-1), C=C(1607-1606 cm^-1 and 1515-1514 cm^-1), lignin (1463-1462 cm^-1 and 1430-1428 cm^-1) and -NO₂(1360-1370 cm^-1) peaks were identified in all biomass burning (BB) smoke samples. However, additional peaks appeared depending on the type of biomass. Among the four types of biomass materials, an additional peak of the methylene group CH₃(2872-2870 cm^-1) appeared only in PFF and PKS smoke samples, and a peak of C=O(1685 cm^-1) was also confirmed. And in the case of PKS smoke samples, a peak of aromatic C=C(1593 cm^-1 and 1476 cm^-1) that did not appear in other BB samples was also observed. This indicates that the molecular structure of organic compounds emitted during BB differs depending on the type of biomass materials. The results of this study are expected to provide valuable information to more specifically reveal the effect of BB on PM_2.5 collected in the atmospheric environment.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.71-77
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• 2022

To increase biomass utilization, rice husk-based activated carbon (RHAC) followed by nitrogen plasma surface treatment was prepared and the electric double-layer capacitor performance was investigated. Through nitrogen plasma surface treatment, up to 2.17% of nitrogen was introduced to the surface of RHAC, and in particular the sample reacted for 5 min with nitrogen plasma showed dominant formation of pyrrolic/pyridine N functional groups. In addition, mesopores were formed on the RHAC material by the removal of silica, and the surface roughness of the carbon material increased by nitrogen plasma surface treatment, resulting in the formation of many micropores. As a result of cyclic voltammetry measurement, at a scan rate of 5 mV/s, the specific capacitance of the RHAC treated with nitrogen plasma increased up to 200 F/g, showing an 80.2% improvement compared to that of using untreated RHAC (111 F/g). This is attributed to the synergetic effect of the introduction of pyrrolic/pyridine-based nitrogen functional groups and the increase of the micropore volume on the surface of the carbon material. This study has a positive effect on the environment in terms of recycling waste resources and using plasma surface treatment.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.275-284
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• 2022

Changes in air temperature, CO₂ concentration and precipitation due to climate change are expected to have a significant impact on soybean productivity. This study was conducted to evaluate the climate change impact on growth and development of determinate soybean cultivar in the southern parts of Korea. The high temperature during vegetative period, which does not accompany the increase of CO₂ concentration, increased the canopy photosynthetic rate in soybean, but after flowering, the high temperature above the optimal ranges interrupts the photosynthetic metabolism. In yield and yield components, high temperature reduced both the pod and seed number and single seed weight, resulting in a reduction of total seed yield. On the other hand, the increase in CO₂ concentration dramatically increased the canopy photosynthetic rate over the whole growth period. In addition, high CO₂ concentration increased the number of pods and seeds, which had a positive effect on total seed yield. Under concurrent elevation of air temperature and CO₂ concentration, canopy photosynthesis increased significantly, but enhanced canopy photosynthesis did not lead to an increase in soybean seed yield. The increase in biomass and branch by enhanced canopy photosynthesis seems to be attributed to an increase in the total number of pods and seeds per plant, which compensates for the negative effects of high temperature on pod development. However, Single seed weight tended to decrease rapidly by high temperature, regardless of CO₂ concentration level. Elevated CO₂ concentration did not compensate for the poor distribution of assimilations from source to sink caused by high temperature. These results show that the damage of future soybean yield and quality is closely related to high temperature stress during seed filling period.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.29-42
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• 2022

The government promotes the 2050 carbon-neutral policy. Therefore, the concern to convert livestock manure into energy is increasing for the reduction of greenhouse gases generated in the livestock industry sector. In this study, the economic feasibility of the livestock manure solid fuel power generation facility, which is a major consumer of livestock manure solid fuel, was assessed to expand the demand for livestock manure solid fuel. The production cost of livestock manure solid fuel showed the lowest production cost of 97.4 thousand won/ton when dried using solid fuel at a 200 ton/day scale bio-drying facility. The livestock manure solid fuel power generation facility showed economic feasibility at a REC weight of 1.5 in the case of the bio-drying facility, so it was necessary to set a REC weight of 1.5 or more to expand the demand for livestock manure solid fuel. The conversion of livestock manure into solid fuel has various environmental benefits, such as the reduction of greenhouse gases and the effect of reducing non-point pollutants in the water system. Therefore, in order to expand livestock manure solid fuel production facility, it was required to review the feasibility including various environmental benefits.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 2022

The lignite and bituminous coal are mainly used in thermal power plant. They exhaust green house gas (GHG) such as CO₂, and become deplete, thus require alternative energy resources. To solve the problem, the hydrochar production from biomass is suggested. In this study, both hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and solvothermal carbonization (STC) were used to produce high quality hydrochar. To improve the reactivity of water solvent process in HTC, STC process was conducted using ethanol solution. The experiments were carried out by varying the solid-liquid ratio (1:4, 1:8, 1:12), reaction temperature (150~300 ℃) and retention time (15~120 min) using kenaf. The characteristic of hydrochar was analyzed by EA, FT-IR, TGA and SEM. The carbon content of hydrochar increased up to 48.11%, while the volatile matter decreased up to 39.34%. Additionally, the fuel characteristic of hydrochar was enhanced by reaction temperature. The results showed that the kenaf converted to a fuel by HTC and STC process, which can be used as an alternative energy source of coal.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.91-99
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• 2023

Plus tree selection is the essential first step in a tree improvement program. This study was carried out to select plus trees of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) for tree improvement in Korea. The candidate plus trees of black locust were selected from twenty-one places in the four provinces (Gangwon, Gyeonggi, Chungcheong and Gyeongsang) following comparison selection. The trees were examined for qualitative and quantitative traits of economic interest like tree height (H), diameter at breast height (DBH), clear bole height (CBH), stem straightness (SS), crown size (CS) and disease resistance. The 64 selected trees showed higher quality in growth characteristics than control trees. Average of height, DBH, CBH, SS and CS were 20.5 m, 31.1 cm, 10.1 m, 1.2 and 5.2 m respectively. In particular, it was shown that the growth characteristics were higher in Chungcheong population. The superiority percentage of selected candidate plus trees of black locust over their respective check trees ranged from 7.3% to 18.9% in height, 20.0% to 40.6% in DBH, 32.8% to 73.5% in CBH, 42.9% to 55.2% in SS and -11.1% to 9.4% in CS, respectively. The selected black locust will be useful in future tree breeding programs based on their clonal and progeny performance.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.163-171
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• 2023

Hydrogen has been gaining a lot of attention as a possible clean energy source that can aid in reaching carbon neutrality. Currently, hydrogen production has relied on the steam reforming of fossil fuels. However, due to the carbon dioxide emissions caused by this process, hydrogen production based on the steam reforming of bio-oil derived from biomass has been proposed as an alternative approach. In order to use this alternative approach efficiently, one of the key issues that must be overcome is that the complexity of bio-oil, which has a large molecular weight and diverse functional groups of hydrocarbons, promotes the catalytic deactivation of nickel-based catalysts. In this review, research efforts to improve nickel-based catalysts for the steam reforming of bio-oil have been discussed in terms of the active phase, support, and promoters. The active phases are involved in activating C-C and C-H bonds of high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons, and noble and transition metals can be utilized. In terms of the support and promoters, the catalytic deactivation of Ni-based catalysts can be inhibited by utilizing reactive lattice oxygen for support or by suppressing the acidity. The development of active and stable Ni-based reforming catalysts plays a critical role in clean hydrogen production based on bio-oils.