• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 1996

For the effective ethanol fermentation, the high concentration of sugar as the substrate of microbial fermentation is required. The most important reason in the inefficient hydrolysis; the easy deactivation of enzyme by temperature or shear stress and the severe inhibition effects of its products. In our work, we comprehended the kinetic characteristics of cellulose and ${\beta}$-glucosidase in the progress of hydrolysis, and observed the potential inhibitory effects of the hydrolyzed products and the deactivation of enzymes. We also tried to present the kinetic model of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose, which is applicable to process at the high concentration of sugar. Cellulase and ,${\beta}$-glucosidase exhibit diverse kinetic behaviors. At a level of only 5g/$\ell$ of glucose, the ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity was reduced by more than 70%. This result means that ${\beta}$-glucosldase was the most severely inhibited by glucose. Also at l0g/$\ell$ of cellobiose, the cellulose lost approximately 70% of its activity. ${\beta}$-glucosldase was more sensitive to deactivation than cellulose by about 1.6 times. The comprehensive kinetic model in the range of confidence was obtained and the agreement between the model prediction and the experimental data was reasonably good, testifying to the validity of the model equations used and the associated parameters.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.81-86
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• 2011

Xylanase is a class of enzymes that hydrolyze the linear polysaccharide ${\beta}$-1,4-xylan into xylose. This enzyme is applied in the process of paper making and may be used for the process of biofuel production in the future. The Paenibacillus donghaensis JH8, isolated from Donghae deepsea sediment and reported as a novel bacterium, was known to degrade xylan and its xylanase was characterized in this study. The enzyme was maximally induced in the presence of 0.1% xylan. The production of xylanase was started at early logarithmic phase and reached about 55 miliunit at stationary phase of growth. The optimal temperature and pH of extracellular xylanase were found to be $40^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0, respectively. The activity of xylanase was inhibited by the presence of $Ca^{2+}$, $Mn^{2+}$, $Fe^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Al^{3+}$ or EDTA, and activated by $K^+$, $Ag^+$ or DTT. This xylanase was stable at $40^{\circ}C$ for 120 min, but lost almost their activity in 30 min at $60^{\circ}C$. Zymography analysis of concentrated culture supernatant revealed one major band at 42 kDa and two faint bands at 68 and 120 kDa.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.68-72
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• 2010

The ${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase gene of Bacillus licheniformis B1 was expressed in Esherichia coli BL21, and a protein with a mass of 50 kDa that was soluble was overproduced. A protein with a mass of 37 kDa was secreted from B. licheniformis. It seems that the ${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase produced in E. coli contained the leader peptide and unprocessed carboxy-terminal region, but its processing occurred in the carboxyterminal in Bacillus. The optimal temperature of ${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase was $40^{\circ}C$. The enzyme still had 76% maximal activity at $60^{\circ}C$. The optimal pH of the enzyme was 7. The enzyme retained considerable activities over the weak-acidic, neutral, and weak-basic pH range. Acidic fungal cellulases are used in food, detergent, pulp, paper, textile industries. However, studies about neutral and alkaline cellulase are not enough. The cellulase developed in this study may be useful for industrial applications in the fields of biofuel development.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.305-312
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• 2010

During a last decade, the introduced traits in commercialized GM crops have been diversified from a simple trait such as herbicide resistance gene or insectresistance gene which are related to the crop production into more complicated traits such as modification of fatty acid or essential amino acid composition, modified coloring pattern of flower. In addition, it was investigated that several other GM crops bearing more refined traits expected to lead next generation are also awaiting for risk assessment (RA) or under field test for the preparation of RA in the near future. These GM crops include abiotic stress resistance including drought or cold, increased biomass, production of bioethanol or diesel, production of pharmaceuticals or functional materials for industrial. In particular, in 2008 and 2009, it was reported that the highest number of GM crops for molecular farming are under developed in laboratory or green house level in all the world. Likewise, in Korea, 171 events from 49 plant species are under developed to introduce several important traits. At present, about 10 events are under field test to select elite lines for RA application. For the first time, herbicide resistance turfgrass developed by Korean research team has been submitted for RA and currently under requested for additional data. Moreover, GM rice resistant to leaf roll (folder) disease is expected as a next event to be submitted for RA application.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.381-389
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• 2015

In this study, the effects of moisture content and particles size of ground particles of torrefied larch chips on the pelletizing process were investigated depending on torrefaction conditions ($220^{\circ}C$-50 min, $250^{\circ}C$-50 min, $250^{\circ}C$-120 min). The moisture content in the torrefied chip decreased to 0.69~1.75%, while ash content and calorific value increased compared to untreated chip. In addition, weight loss significantly increased during torrefaction due to hemicellulose degradation. The carbon content in torrefied larch chip increased compare to untreated larch chip, while the hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased. The lignin and glucan contents in torrefied larch chip increased with increasing severity of the torrefaction condition, while hemicellulose decreased. In the particle size distribution of ground particles of torrefied larch chip, larch torrefied at severe conditions was found to produce smaller particles (~1 mm) than that of the larch torrefied at mild conditions. Macropore (over $500{\AA}$) in the torrefied particle was produced during torrefaction. During the pelletizing using ground particles of torrefied larch chip, the pressure needed in pelletizing decreased and pellet length increased with increasing moisture content, regardless of the particle size.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.395-400
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• 2017

Coke strength was increased by adding ash-free coal (AFC) binder. In this study, the effect of the AFC binder on the physical and chemical properties of coke was experimentally investigated to understand the molecular mechanism for the improved coke strength. For reduced $CO_2$ emission in steelmaking industry, torrefied biomass fuel mixed with coal binder is also considered. The interface between the base coal and AFC was thus examined using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The coke strength was commonly measured by performing the indirect tensile test and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ modes. For comprehensive mechanism study of the enhanced coke strength thus obtained, ordinary coal for thermal power plant use was carbonized with AFC for subsequent SEM examination. The NMR spectroscopy results of coke samples positively revealed that the tensile strength was proportional to the average number of aromatic rings.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.227-238
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• 2016

This review article highlights different types of nano-sized catalysts for the selective alcohol oxidation to form aldehydes (or ketones) with supported or immobilized metal nanoparticles. Metal nanoparticle catalysts are obtained through dispersing metal nanoparticles over a solid support with a large surface area. The nanocatalysts have wide technological applications to industrial and academic fields such as organic synthesis, fuel cells, biodiesel production, oil cracking, energy conversion and storage, medicine, water treatment, solid rocket propellants, chemicals and dyes. One of main reactions for the nanocatalyst is an aerobic oxidation of alcohols to produce important intermediates for various applications. The oxidation of alcohols by supported nanocatalysts including gold, palladium, ruthenium, and vanadium is very economical, green and environmentally benign reaction leading to decrease byproducts and reduce the cost of reagents as opposed to stoichiometric reactions. In addition, the room temperature alcohol oxidation using nanocatalysts is introduced.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.229-249
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• 2012

At present, global warming and depletion of fossil fuels have been one of the big issues which should be solved for sustainable development in the future. CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) technology as the post $CO_2$ reduction technology has been considered as a promising solution for global warming due to increased carbon emission. However, the environmental and ecological effects of CCS have drawn concerns. There are needs for noble post reduction technology. More recently, CCU (carbon capture and utilization) Technology, which emphasizes transforming carbon dioxide into value-added chemicals rather than storing it, has been attracted attentions in terms of preventing global warming and recycling the renewable carbon source. In this paper, various technologies developed for carbon dioxide conversion both in gas and liquid phase have been reviewed. For the thermochemical catalysis in gas phase, the development of the catalytic system which can be performed at mild condition and the separation and purification technology with low energy supply is required. For the photochemical conversion in liquid phase, efficient photosensitizers and photocatalysts should be developed, and the photoelectrochemical systems which can utilize solar and electric energy simultaneously are also in development for more efficient carbon dioxide conversion. The energy needed in CCU must be renewable or unutilized one. CCU will be a key connection technology between renewable energy and bio industry development.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.132-143
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• 2015

Water is an essential resource for humans, but fresh water becomes scarce due to population growth and contamination of limited resources. Membrane technology has been widely used for water treatment, and forward osmosis is a process which does not need high hydraulic pressure for the operation. However, there are needs for (1) development of novel draw solutes causing low internal concentration polarization and reverse salt flux for high water flux, and (2) development of economic recovery method of the draw solutes in the diluted draw solution. Previous researches on the draw solute include $NaHCO_3$ which can be regenerated by about $60^{\circ}C$ heating, sucrose which can make potable water without additional process, and magnetic nanoparticles which can be regenerated by external magnetic field. Using the principles of forward osmosis process, sea water desalination, wastewater treatment, refinement of proteins, energy generation using pressure retarded osmosis process, preparation of diluted fertilizer, and growing algae for biofuel can be conducted. This paper summarizes characteristics of ideal draw solutes, recovery method of the draw solutes, and various application examples.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.349-353
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• 2014

Succinic acid is an important precursor in industries producing biopolymers, pharmaceutical and food additives and green solvents. However, due to the high price of petroleum and the global $CO_2$ emission, the biological production of succinic acid from renewable biomass is a novel process due to the fixation of $CO_2$ into succinate during fermentation. In this study, aqueous two phase systems based on imidazolium ionic liquids/$K_2HPO_4$ were used as an effective separation and concentration process for succinic acid. Experimental results show that aqueous two phase systems can be formed by adding appropriate amount of imidazolium ionic liquids to aqueous $K_2HPO_4$ solutions in the presence of succinic acid. It can be found that the ability of imidazolium ionic liquids for phase separation followed the order [HMIm][Br]${\fallingdotseq}$[OMIm][Br]>[BMIm][Br]>[EMIm][Br]. The maximum value of extraction efficiency for succinic acid was about 90% and the amount of coextracted water into top phase is proportional to the chain length of cation in imidazolium ionic liquids. It was concluded that the aqueous two phase systems composed of imidazolium ionic liquids/$K_2HPO_4$ was effective for the selective extraction and concentration of succinic acid.