• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.185-199
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• 2017

Methane, which is emitted from natural and anthropogenic sources, is a representative greenhouse gas for global warming. Methanotrophs are widespread in the environment and play an important role in the biological oxidation of methane via methane monooxygenases (MMOs), key enzymes for methane oxidation with broad substrate specificity. Methanotrophs have attracted attention as multifunctional bacteria with promising applications in biological methane mitigation technology and environmental bioremediation. In this review, we have summarized current knowledge regarding the biodiversity of methanotrophs, catalytic properties of MMOs, and high-cell density cultivation technology. In addition, we have reviewed the recent advances in biological methane mitigation technologies using methanotrophs in field-scale systems as well as in lab-scale bioreactors. We have also surveyed information on the dynamics of the methanotrophic community in biological systems and discussed the various challenges pertaining to methanotroph-related biotechnological innovation, such as identification of suitable methanotrophic strains with better and/or novel metabolic activity, development of high-cell density mass cultivation technology, and the microbial consortium (methanotrophs and non-methanotrophs consortium) design and control technology.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.191-200
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• 2014

Gas hydrates play a significant role in the global carbon cycle and climate change because methane, a greenhouse gas, can be released from the dissociation of gas hydrate. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an important process that consumes more than 90% of the methane released into the hydrosphere and atmosphere. In this study, the microbial community associated with the methane gas hydrate sediment in the Ulleung basin, East Sea of Korea (UBGH) was analyzed by phylogenetic analysis of the mcrA and 16S rRNA gene libraries. A vertical stratification of the dominating anaerobic methane oxidizer (ANME)-1 group was observed at the surface and the sulfate methane transition zone (SMTZ). The ANME-2c group was found to be dominant in the high methane layer. The archaea of marine benthic group B, which is commonly observed in the AOM region, accounted for more than 50% of the identifications in all sediments. Nitrate reducing bacteria were predominant at SMTZ (Halomonas: 56.5%) and high methane layer (Achromobacter: 52.6%), while sulfate reducing bacteria were not found in UBGH sediments. These results suggest that the AOM process may be carried out by a syntrophic consortium of ANME and nitrate reducing bacteria in the gas hydrates of the Ulleung Basin of the East Sea.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.139-148
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• 1994

The partial oxidation of methane with nitrous oxide on silica-supported metal-oxygen cluster compounds, known as heteropoly acids, has been studied. The effects of several variables such as reaction temperature, partial pressure of reactants, residence time, loading of the catalysts, and pretreatment temperature, on the conversion and product distribution were observed. The kinetics also has been studied. The conversion and yield of formaledehyde show maximum values at a loading of 20 wt%. The apparent reaction order of methane conversion is ca. 1.0 with respect to $CH_4$ and ca. 0.4 with respect to $N_2O$. In addition, the apparent activation energy is 30.78 kcal/mole. The addition of small quantities methane whereas water introduced to the reactant decreased the activity of catalyst under present study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.537-544
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• 2011

This work was conducted to investigate the oxidation characteristics of methane having the highest ignition temperature among the other hydrocarbon gases using transition metal catalysts. The catalyst used for methane oxidation was manganese oxide having a various oxidation number, such as MnO, $MnO_2$, $Mn_2O_3$, $Mn_3O_4$, $Mn_4O_5$. The manganese oxide(MnxOy) catalyst is impregnated on $TiO_2$, $Al_2O_3$ for methane oxidation. To enhanced both of activity and life time of catalysts, Ni and Co was used as a promoter. In this study, various co-catalysts were synthesized by using excess wet impregnation method. The effect of reaction temperature and space velocity was measured to calculate the activity of catalysts such as, activation energy of $T_{50}$, and $T_{90}$. The life time of bi-metallic manganese mixture, such as Mn-Co and Mn-Ni catalysts, were increased more 10 % than manganese oxide catalyst, but activity of those was decreased slightly.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-6
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• 1995

천연가스 자동차의 배출가스 정화특성은 가솔린보다 우수하며 대기오염물질이 전반적으로 매우 낮아 천연가스 자동차의 저공해성을 확인할 수 있다. 이를 위한 촉매개발 기술에서는 Pb촉매가 메탄의 산화에 유리하며, 촉매구조는 Single-bed 보다 Dual-bed type이 메탄의 정화율에 유리하다는 것을 알았다. 각종 배기성분의 공존영향에서는 공존하는 NOx, H$_{2}$O가 메탄의 산화반응을 억제하는 요인으로 작용함을 알았다. 그리고, 천연가스 전용촉매는 초기 내구성이 급격히 저하하는 특성이 있는데, 이는 Lanthanoid 조촉매를 사용하므로써 개선의 가능성을 보이고 있다.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 2012

This study was aimed at the development of catalysts for the direct methanol synthesis by partial oxidation of methane. Mo-Bi-V-Al mixed oxide catalysts were prepared and characterized and used in the direct methanol synthesis reaction. The catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method had much larger surface areas than those prepared by the co-precipitation method. The larger the surface area was, the less the methanol selectivity was. The catalysts having larger surface area facilitate the complete oxidation of methane, decreasing the selectivity of methanol. The catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method showed higher methanol selectivity of 13% at $20^{\circ}C$ lower temperature than those prepared by the co-precipitation method. Through XRD analysis, it was revealed that the structures of the catalysts prepared by the two methods were different. In the reaction, methanol selectivity increased and carbon dioxide selectivity decreased with pressure due to the suppression of complete oxidation reaction at a high pressure.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.269-275
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• 2021

In this study, ordered mesoporous silica-supported Ni catalysts were prepared for catalytic partial oxidation of methane (CPOM) by using electroless nickel plating method. Unlike conventionally impregnated catalysts, the electrolessly-plated nickel catalyst showed that nickel was highly dispersed and formed stably on silica-supported surface. It was verified by TEM-EDS analysis. During the activity tests, the electrolessly-plated nickel was barely sintered and the amount of carbon deposition was very small. Consequently, the catalyst was far less deactivated, while the sintering was significantly observed in the cases of the catalysts prepared by the conventional impregnation method. Regarding the palladium-promoted catalysts, the reducibility of nickel was increased, and the reaction performances were enhanced in terms of CH4 conversion and H2/CO ratio of produced syngas.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.902-905
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• 2009

축사 또는 쓰레기장에서 에서 발생되는 있는 물질인 암모니아, 아민, 메탄, 탄화수소류 등에 대한 처리를 위한 촉매 개발을 수행하였다. 암모니아를 금속산화물형태의 촉매를 사용하여 산화하였을 경우 $N_2$, NO, $NO_2$, $N_2O$가 일정 비율로 생성되게 된다. 이때의 NO, $NO_2$는 악취는 발생하지 않으나 유독성 가스이므로 이에 대한 선택성이 낮은 촉매를 선별하고 온도에 따른 활성능을 시험하여 최적의 촉매조성을 도출하였다. 다양한 산화가를 지닌 망간을 대상으로 각종 조촉매의 혼합에 따른 실험을 수행하여 최적 조성을 도출 하였다. 촉매 선별작업에서는 충전층을 사용하고, 선별된 촉매에 대하여 모노리스에 코팅하여 사용할 수 있는 모노리스형태의 반응기를 장착하여 모노리스 형태 촉매의 반응성 및 피독특성을 실험하였다.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.618-624
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• 2007

thermochemical methane reforming consisting of two steps on Cu/Fe/Zr mixed oxide media was carried out using a fixed bed infrared reactor. In the first step, the metal oxide was reduced with methane to produce CO, $H_2$ and the reduced metal oxide in the temperature of 1173 K. In the second step, the reduced metal oxide was re-oxidized with steam to produce $H_2$ and the metal oxide in the temperature of 973 K. The reaction characteristics on the added amounts of Cu in Cu/Fe/Zr mixed oxide media and the cyclic tests were evaluated. With the increase of the added amount of Cu in Cu/Fe/Zr mixed oxide media, the conversion of $CH_4$, the selectivity of $CO_2$ and the $H_2/CO$ molar ratio were increased, while the selectivity of CO was decreased in the first step. On the other hand, the evolved amount of $H_2$ was decreased with increasing the added amount of Cu in the second step. The $Cu_xFe_{3-x}O_4/ZrO_2$ medium added with Cu of x = 0.7 showed good regeneration properties in the 10th cyclic tests indicating that the medium had high durability. In addition, the gasification of the deposited carbon in the water splitting step was promoted with the addition of Cu in the media.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.619-623
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• 1998

The influences of reaction temperature, HF/DCM mole ratio, contact time and catalyst type on activity and selectivity of difluoromethane synthesis via hydrofluoriation of dichloromethane over fluorinated catalyst have been studied. It has been found that fluorinated $Cr/Al_2O_3$ catalysts, show better performance compared to pure fluorinated $Al_2O_3$ catalyst and then, non-treated catalysts demonstrate better than catalysts pretreated with hydrogen and air. The results show that the optimum reaction conditions are found as follows : reaction temperature at $340^{\circ}C$, mole ratio of HF/DCM 5 or above and contact time 20 sec. or above. With these conditions the maximum attainable yield of difluoromethane has been found to be greater than 80%. In particular, the activity and the selectivity of difluoromethane do not change with the reaction time on stream up to 8 hours.