• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.198-204
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• 2021

This study focused on a two-step process using heterogeneous catalysts to produce biodiesel using Nepalese jatropha oil as a raw material. As a first step, the effect of the repetitive regeneration number of Amberlyst-15 on the esterification reaction of FFA in jatropha oil was investigated. Second, the possibility of a transesterification reaction scale-up using a dolomite bead catalyst was tested. Using 120 kg of jatropha seeds from Nepal, 30 L (27 kg) of jatropha oil was obtained, and the jatropha oil yield from the seeds was about 25.0 wt%. The acid value and FFA content of jatropha oil were measured to be 11.3 mgKOH g^-1 and 5.65%, respectively. As a result of the esterification reaction of jatropha oil using the Amberlyst-15 catalyst in the form of beads, the acid value of the reaction product could be lowered to 0.26 mgKOH g^-1 when the fresh Amberlyst-15 catalyst was used. As the regeneration of the Amberlyst-15 catalyst is repeated, the catalyst has been deactivated, and the esterification reaction performance has deteriorated. The cause of the deactivation seems to be due to the catalyst being broken and impurities being deposited. It was confirmed that the Amberlyst-15 catalyst could be reused up to 5 times for the esterification reaction of jatropha oil. In the second step, the transesterification reaction, a dolomite catalyst, was mass-produced and used in the form of beads. By transesterifying the pretreated jatropha oil in a spinning catalyst basket reactor equipped with 90 g of dolomite bead catalyst, 89.1 wt% of biodiesel yield was obtained in 2 hours after the start of the reaction, which was similar to the transesterification of soybean oil under the same conditions.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.137-143
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• 2019

To manufacturing of solid fuel by reuse of the wastes, the drying unit which have 500 kg/hr of drying capacity was developed and experimentally evaluate the performance. The spinach grown in Nam-hae island were used for the experiments and investigated of the heated-air drying characteristics as the inlet amount of raw materials, raw material stirring status, conveying type and drying time. The drying air heated by the energy derived from the steam which is supplied from the incineration plant. The moisture contents of raw materials were measured 85.65%. The inlet flow rate of drying air made a difference as the depth of the raw materials loaded on the drying unit and temperature has showed 108~144℃. The drying speed of the mixed drying more than doubled as that of non mixed drying under the same drying type, inlet amount, drying time and drying air temperature. In each experiment, the drying capacity have showed over 500 kg/hr. A drying efficiency of the ratio of drying consumption energy to input energy was 33.46%, lower than the average of 57.76% for the 157 conventional dryers. Because developed dryer must have a drying time of less than one hour, it is considered that the dry efficiency has been reduced due to the loss of wind volume during drying. If waste heat from incineration plant is used as a direct heat source, the dry air temperature is expected to be at least 160℃, greatly improving the drying capacity.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.66 no.4
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• pp.307-317
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• 2021

In recent years, global warming has led to frequent climate change-related problems, and elevated temperatures, among adverse climatic factors, represent a critical problem negatively affecting crop growth and yield. In this context, the present study examined the physiological traits of wheat plants grown under high temperatures. Specifically, the effects of elevated temperatures on seed development after heading were evaluated, and the vegetation indices of different organs were assessed using hyperspectral analysis. Among physiological traits, leaf greenness and OJIP parameters were higher in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment. Similarly, the leaf photosynthetic rate during seed development was higher in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment. Moreover, temperature by organ was higher in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment; consequently, the leaf transpiration rate and stomatal conductance were higher in the control treatment than in the high-temperature treatment. On all measuring dates, the weight of spikes and seeds corresponding to the sink organs was greater in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment. Additionally, the seed growth rate was higher in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment 14 days after heading, which may be attributed to the higher redistribution of photosynthates at the early stage of seed development in the former. In hyperspectral analysis, the vegetation indices related to leaf chlorophyll content and nitrogen state were higher in the high-temperature treatment than in the control treatment after heading. Our results suggest that elevated temperatures after the booting stage positively affect wheat growth and yield.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.30-58
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• 2022

The deep geological repository for high-level radioactive waste disposal is a multi barrier system comprised of engineered barriers and a natural barrier. The long-term integrity of the deep geological repository is affected by the coupled interactions between the individual barrier components. Erosion and piping phenomena in the compacted bentonite buffer due to buffer-rock interactions results in the removal of bentonite particles via groundwater flow and can negatively impact the integrity and performance of the buffer. Rapid groundwater inflow at the early stages of disposal can lead to piping in the bentonite buffer due to the buildup of pore water pressure. The physiochemical processes between the bentonite buffer and groundwater lead to bentonite swelling and gelation, resulting in bentonite erosion from the buffer surface. Hence, the evaluation of erosion and piping occurrence and its effects on the integrity of the bentonite buffer is crucial in determining the long-term integrity of the deep geological repository. Previous studies on bentonite erosion and piping failed to consider the complex coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical-chemical behavior of bentonite-groundwater interactions and lacked a comprehensive model that can consider the complex phenomena observed from the experimental tests. In this technical note, previous studies on the mechanisms, lab-scale experiments and numerical modeling of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are introduced, and the future expected challenges in the investigation of bentonite buffer erosion and piping are summarized.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.285-297
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• 2021

Globally, nuclear-decommissioning facilities have been increased in number, and thereby hundreds of thousands of wastes, such as concrete, soil, and metal, have been generated. For this reason, there have been numerous efforts and researches on the development of technology for volume reduction and recycling of solid radioactive wastes, and this study reviewed and examined thoroughly such previous studies. The waste concrete powder is rehydrated by other processes such as grinding and sintering, and the processes rendered aluminate (C3A), C4AF, C3S, and ��-C2S, which are the significant compounds controlling the hydration reaction of concrete and the compressive strength of the solidified matrix. The review of the previous studies confirmed that waste concretes could be used as recycling cement, but there remain problems with the decreasing strength of solidified matrix due to mingling with aggregates. There have been further efforts to improve the performance of recycling concrete via mixing with reactive agents using industrial by-products, such as blast furnace slag and fly ash. As a result, the compressive strength of the solidified matrix was proved to be enhanced. On the contrary, there have been few kinds of researches on manufacturing recycled concretes using soil wastes. Illite and zeolite in soil waste show the high adsorption capacity on radioactive nuclides, and they can be recycled as solidification agents. If the soil wastes are recycled as much as possible, the volume of wastes generated from the decommissioning of nuclear power plants (NPPs) is not only significantly reduced, but collateral benefits also are received because radioactive wastes are safely disposed of by solidification agents made from such soil wastes. Thus, it is required to study the production of non-sintered cement using clay minerals in soil wastes. This paper reviewed related domestic and foreign researches to consider the sustainable recycling of concrete waste from NPPs as recycling cement and utilizing clay minerals in soil waste to produce unsintered cement.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.815-824
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• 2022

Among the main facilities of the power plant, the circulating water used for cooling the power generation system is supplied through the Circulation Water Intake Basin (CWIB). The vortexes of various types generated in the Pump Sump (PS) of CWIB adversely affect the Circulation Water Pump (CWP) and pipelines. In particular, the free surface vortex accompanied by air intake brings about vibration, noise, cavitation etc. and these are the causes of degradation of CWP performance, damage to pipelines. Then power generation is interrupted by the causes. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the hydraulic characteristics of CWIB through the hydraulic model experiment and apply an appropriate Anti Vortex Device (AVD) that can control the vortex to enable smooth operation of the power plant. In general, free surface vortex is controlled by Curtain Wall (CW) and the submerged vortex is by the anti vortex device of the curtain wall. The detailed specifications are described in the American National Standard for Pump Intake Design. In this study, the circulating water intake part of the Tripoli West 4×350 MW power plant in Libya was targeted, the actual operating conditions were applied, and the vortex reduction effect of the anti vortex device generated in the suction tank among the circulating water intake part was analyzed through a hydraulic model experiment. In addition, a floor splitter was basically applied to control the submerged vortex, and a new type of column curtain wall was additionally applied to control the vortex generated on the free surface to confirm the effect. As a result of analyzing the hydraulic characteristics by additionally applying the newly developed Column Curtain Wall (CCW) to the existing curtain wall, we have found that the vortex was controlled by forming a uniform flow. In addition, the vortex angle generated in the circulating water pump pipeline was 5° or less, which is the design standard of ANSI/HI 9.8, confirming the stability of the flow.

• Korea Science and Art Forum
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• v.28
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• pp.23-32
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the activation of sports for the disabled people in Korea through the localization of the road racing handcycles. Recently, there are no handcycles produced in Korea, and all the players are using products made in foreign countries. In the case of foreign products, it is made to fit the body shape of foreign athletes. Therefore, when domestic players are using them, they put additional parts to foreign products in order to fit their body shape. This not only adds to the cost burden, but also causes a decrease in the performance of the athletes. In order to overcome these problems, we developed the road racing handcycle in consideration of the body shape of the Koreans and conducted a comparative usability evaluation with the foreign products to evaluate the performance of the developed prototype. Therefore, we analyzed the quantitative and qualitative evaluation results of the prototype produced in the previous study, and developed the Korean road racing handcycle that can improve the competitiveness while considering the shape of domestic players. Based on the problems derived from the first prototype, this study additionally constructed a crank, an air intake part and a discharge part, and a rear anti-shake prevention device. In order to evaluate the usability, we conducted a comparative usability assessment with the foreign products used by the current standing handcycle athletes. The results were measured in the area of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, and the prototype developed through the research on efficiency and satisfaction excluding effectiveness was evaluated to be higher than those of foreign products. This study will contribute to the improvement of international competitiveness due to import substitution effects of foreign products and exports by lowering the handcycle cost of importing foreign handcycle.