• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.50-60
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• 2021

This study investigated the reference case in the UK where legality and sustainability were systematically established for forest biomass represented by wood pellets. The UK is the country that best utilizes the trade value of wood pellets based on sustainability, with bioenergy accounting for 31% of total renewable energy production. The UK imported wood pellet, estimated 8,697 thousand tons in 2019. The UK government has continuously improved the renewable generation policy system to ensure the sustainability of wood pellets. The weighted average greenhouse gas emissions of a UK biomass power plant that received a Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) in 2018-19 was 26.71 gCO2e/MJ. These power plants are expected to meet the upper limit of 72.2 gCO2e/MJ by 2025. To issue an ROC, the biomass power plant must demonstrate that 70% of its total biofuel usage is sustainable. The UK uses the Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) certification system, which is gradually expanding to other European countries, to prove the sustainability of biomass energy fuels. Global wood pellet production with SBP certification in 2019 was 10.5 Mt. This trend has significant implications for introducing additional sustainability into the wood pellet policy of South Korea.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

This study analyzed the anticipated supply-and-demand of forest biomass energy (through wood pellets) until 2050, in South Korea. Comparing the utilization rates of forest resources of five countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Japan, and S. Korea), it was found that S. Korea does not nearly utilize its forest resources for energy purposes. The total demand for wood pellets in S. Korea (based on a power generation efficiency of 38%) was predicted to be 3,629 and 4,371 thousand tons in 2034 and 2050, respectively. The anticipated total wood pellet power generation ratio to target power consumption is 1.13% (5,745 GWh), 1.17% (6,336 GWh), and 1.25% (7,631 GWh) in 2020, 2030, and 2050, respectively. Low value-added forest residues left unattended in forests are called "Unused Forest Biomass" in S. Korea. From the analysis, the total annual potential amount of raw material, sustainably collectible amount, and available amount of wood pellet in 2050 were estimated to be 6,877, 4,814, and 3,370 thousand tons, respectively. The rate of contribution to Nationally Determined Contributions was up to 0.64%. Through this study, the authors found that forest biomass energy will contribute to a carbon neutral society in the near future at the national level.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.10-22
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• 2022

Forest biomass energy is based on scientific evidence in response to carbon neutrality and the climate crisis, international consensus, and environmental-geographic characteristics of each nation. In this study, the authors aimed to analyze macroscopic forest biomass energy policies for ten major countries. They categorized them into six detailed categories (Sustainable utilization, Cascading Uutilization, Replacement of fossil fuel/Carbon intensive products, Utilization of forest by-products/residues as the source of energy, Contribution to carbon-neutral/climate change, and Biomass combined with CCS/CCUS ). In addition, the surveyed nations have developed a policy consensus on the active use of forest biomass with sustainable forest management except for the cascading utilization category. Furthermore, the authors evaluated the mid to long-term plans of the Korean government for improvements in the policy and legal aspects. As a result, the authors derived four major directions that South Korea should approach strategically in the future (1) secure financial resources for sustainable forest management and stimulating investment in the timber industry, (2) promote unified policies to establish a bio-economy, (3) enhancement of the forest biomass energy system, and (4) reorganization and promotion of strategy centered on the opinions of field experts in internal and external instability.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.99 no.4
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• pp.597-602
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• 2010

The most basic matter to establish forest carbon circulation village is statistic on greenhouse gas emissions. But currently, although there is statistic on greenhouse gas emissions in the level of city or province, there is not statistic on greenhouse gas emission in village unit. According to the results, The model area is located in Seobyeok-ri, Chunyang-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, the total $CO_2$emissions caused by energy used in the model area was $1,755tCO_2$. Heating accounts for 55% of total emissions followed by 23% for power and 22% for vehicles. The model area emitted $572tCO_2$ due to rice growing and livestock raising, accounting for approximately 24.5% of total $CO_2$ emissions. It is expected that a reduction of as much as $884tCO_2$ emissions will be made from the current $964tCO_2$ to a level of 1/12th that amount, or $80tCO_2$ by replacing heating energy currently used in the model area with wood bioenergy such as wood chips or pellets. In addition, carbon emission reduction is expected for both heating and power by replacing the power consumption in houses, buildings, and street lights with solar power.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.135-143
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• 2015

This study evaluated fuel properties of composite materials which were prepared by mixing a waste activated carbon from the used purifier filter with torrefied wood powder. Wood species of the raw material of torrefied wood powder are oak wood (Quercus serrata Thunb. ex Murray) and pine wood (Pinus densiflora Siebold & Zucc). And the treatment conditions used for this study were 300 s, 450 s, and 600 s at $200^{\circ}C$ for the wood roaster. Also, the mixing ratios are 5 : 95, 10 : 90, 15 : 85, 20 : 80, 40 : 60, 60 : 40 and 80 : 20 (waste activated carbon : torrefied wood powder). The fuel properties such as highly heating value (HHV), elementary analysis and ash content were evaluated. The results obtained are followings; 1. Despite the same treatment condition of wood roasting, pine wood has higher carbon contents than oak wood. Therefore, pine wood indicated the optimum carbonization at low temperature and short treatment times. 2. The gross calorific value and ash content increased as the mixing ratio of waste activated carbon increased. 3. Mixtures of the waste activated carbon and torrefied wood powder showed greater gross calorific value than those of the mixtures of waste activated carbon and the untreated wood powder. Also, the pine wood resulted in higher heating value that thaose of the oak wood. 4. When composite fuels that were composed waste activate carbon and wood powder are used, higher temperature conditions are required because the combustion is incomplete at $800^{\circ}C$ and 4 hours. 5. The increasing rate of the gross calorific value of mixtures of waste activated carbon and untreated wood powder is higher than does the mixtures of waste activated carbon and torrefied wood powder. Also, this phenomenon is more obvious for pine woods. Therefore, an optimal mixing ratio of waste activated carbon was determined to be between 5% and 10% (wt%). Also, this condition satisfied the requirement of the No.1 grade of wood pellet.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.67-76
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• 2022

The furniture industry has a high possibility to create value-added and a high potential to create new occupations due to the characteristics of the industry, which mainly consists of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, the used furniture, which has sufficient reuse value, is also crushed and used as solid refuse fuel (SRF) recently. Besides, the number of waste treatment companies continues to decrease, and it occurs congestion of wood waste. As a way to solve the issue, a business model development of remanufacturing used furniture can be suggested as an alternative due to its high circular economic efficiency. Remanufacturing business including furniture industry creates positive effects in various aspects such as economic, environmental and job creation. In other words, remanufacturing is an effective recycling way to reduce input resources and energy in the production process. The results of economic analysis show that the expected annual revenue from the single worker furniture remanufacturing site was 104 million won which is 3.11 times more than the average income of a single-worker household in Korea and its B/C ratio was estimated about 30 which means high business feasibility. Revenue through furniture remanufacturing also showed 320 times higher than that of SRF production from the perspective of weight. In addition, it is shown that the GHGs reduction from the furniture remanufacturing is 2.2 ton CO₂-eq. per year, which is similar to the amount of GHGs absorption effect of 937 pine trees or 622 Korean oak trees annually. Thus the results of this study demonstrate that it is important to adopt an appropriate recycling method considering the economic and environmental effects at the end-of-life stage.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.660-667
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• 2018

This study examined the optimal manufacturing conditions of RDF using heat-dried sludge from sewage treatment plant in Cheonan with the oil-drying method. The amounts of oil evaporation and oil drying of the heat-dried sludge were measured at different temperatures to evaluate the value of the product. The performance of the product was then measured using a calorimeter and TGA. In addition, the concentration of odor, NH3, H2S, and TVOC during drying was determined using a portable odor-meter. Ingredient analysis was performed by EDS. Considering mass-production, the oil to heat-dried sludge weight ratio was fixed to 4:1. At $130^{\circ}C$, only physical mixing occurred after the instantaneous drying of internal water. Considering the eco-friendly aspects, there was no significant difference in the drying efficiency between $160^{\circ}C$ and $190^{\circ}C$. Therefore, the optimal conditions were a drying temperature of $160^{\circ}C$ within 5 minutes. Finally, the RDF manufactured in this study and fuel used in the thermal power plants were compared. The calorific value was 4,449kcal/kg, the water content was 2% and the ash content was 34%, which is higher than the fuel of thermal power plants. Therefore, it is believed that coal energy as well as wood pellets can be replaced.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.365-374
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• 2010

The ash reduction effects and fuel property changes of spent mushroom substrates by acid solution extraction, and the production possibilities of wood pellet fuel using them were studied. The ash weight of spent Pleurotus eryngii substrates was reduced from 8.81%(w/w) to 3.33%(w/w), and calorific value was increased from 3,958.3 kcal/kg to 4219.2 kcal/kg when extracted with a mixture of Acetic acid 2%(w/w) and Anhydrous citric acid 1%(w/w) in condition of liquid ratio 1:8, extraction temperature $55^{\circ}C$ and extraction time 180 min. The ash weight of spent Flammulina velutipes substrates was reduced from 14.91%(w/w) to 4.07%(w/w), and calorific value was increased from 4,190.3 kcal/kg to 4,219.2 kcal/kg when extracted with a mixture of Acetic acid 3%(w/w) and Anhydrous citric acid 1%(w/w) in condition of liquid ratio 1:8, extraction temperature $65^{\circ}C$ and extraction time 180 min. The ash weight of spent Pleurotus osteratus substrates was reduced from 3.31%(w/w) to 0.59%(w/w), and the smallest reduction was in calorific value from 4,558.6 kcal/kg to 4,216.2 kcal/kg when extracted with a mixture of Acetic acid 1%(w/w) and Anhydrous citric acid 1%(w/w) in condition of liquid ratio 1:8, extraction temperature $65^{\circ}C$ and extraction time 180 min.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.385-389
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• 2012

In this study, torrefaction of mixed softwood chips under anoxic condition was performed to improve energy density and maintain consistent quality of biomass. Characteristics of torrefied biomass depending on reaction time (30 min) and temperature (240, 260,$280^{\circ}C$) were investigated. Torrefaction of mixed softwood chips significantly improved the heating value compared to that of untreated biomass. As the torrefaction temperature was increased, the carbon content of torrefied biomass increased from 46.55 to 55.73%, while its hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased from 6.00 to 5.87% and from 30.55 to 27.21%, respectively. Most of hemicelluloses and volatile compounds were removed during torrefaction. The highest heating value was 5132 kcal/kg when torrefaction was performed at$280^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. It implied that the heating value increased by 13% compared to that of original biomass. However, the condition of effective torrefaction was at $240^{\circ}C$ for 30 min when weight loss and energy yield was considered.