• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.59 no.4
• /
• pp.508-513
• /
• 2021

In order to improve the durability of a proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), it is essential to improve the durability of the polymer membrane. In order to improve the durability of the membrane, an e-PTFE support and a radical scavenger are added. In this study, the chemical durability of the reinforced membrane with ePTFE support and the non-reinforced membrane was compared by Fenton reaction. In the Fenton experiment of the polymer membrane without the addition of a radical scavenger, the absorption rate of hydrogen peroxide solution and iron ions through the cross section of the specimen cut into small pieces was higher in the reinforced membrane, so that the fluorine outflow concentration was higher. According to the type and amount of radical scavenger added, the fluorine outflow concentration of the reinforced membrane has a large difference of more than 3 times, indicating that the effect of the radical scavenger was stronger than that of the support.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.269-279
• /
• 2021

Palm Oil Fuel Ash(POFA) has been widely used to replace Portland cement to enhance the mechanical properties and durability of concrete. However, it reduces the workability of concrete due to the high content of unburnt carbon and its angular shape requiring the usage of superplasticizer to ensure a proper flowability. In this study, effects of different types and dosage of superplasticizer on the early mechanical and hydration properties of cement paste containing micro-POFA were evaluated using mini-slump test, early compressive strength, TGA, XRD, and SEM. The results indicated that the flowability of cement paste containing micro-POFA reduced as the replacement ratio of micro-POFA increased. As the dosage of superplasticizer increased, the flowability was also increased. In addition, the usage of superplasticizer reduced the early compressive strength, and the strength decreased with an increase in the dosage of superplasticizer. It was confirmed that superplasticizer hindered the formation of C-S-H leading to a relative increase in the formation of Ca(OH)₂.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.393-403
• /
• 2021

Enzymes are important class of catalyst for biotransformation. Stability and reusability of enzymes during the catalysis process is a key issue. Activity of enzyme can be enhanced by its immobilization on a suitable substrate by creation of specific microenvironment. A variety of membranes has been used as substrate due to the biocompatibility and simpler method to tune hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity property of the membrane surface. In this review, polymer membranes including cellulose, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethersulfone (PES) are introduced and discussed in detail. Biodegradation of organic contaminants by immobilized enzyme is an environmental friendly process to reduce the contamination of environment in pharmaceutical company and textile industries. The controlled hydrolysis of oil can be performed in enzyme immobilized membrane bioreactor (EMBR), resulting in reducing carbon emission and reduced environmental pollution. Bioethanol and biodiesel are considered alternative fossil fuels that can be prepared in EMBR.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.7-19
• /
• 2022

Hydrogen purification is generally performed through chemical and physical methods. Among various types of purification method PSA(Pressure Swing Adsorption) is widely used with its purification capacity and economic efficiency. In Korea, most of the hydrogen used in automobiles and power generation fuel cells is purified using PSA. Hydrogen produced in petrochemical complexes has difficulties in transportation. The government is planning to install hydrogen extractors that produce hydrogen directly from consumers in connection with the city gas supply chain, and companies are also installing related research and demonstration facilities one after another. Europe and others have recently established safety standards related to PSA and are making efforts for systematic safety management at the construction and operation stage, but domestic safety standards related to PSA are still insufficient. This study aims to identify problems of existing facilities through surveys and risk assessment by companies operating existing PSA, and to prepare domestic technical standards including them in overseas technical standards to promote the safety of new and existing PSA systems.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.60 no.3
• /
• pp.321-326
• /
• 2022

As the thickness of the polymer membrane of PEMFC(Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) is getting thinner for PEMFC performance and price reduction, research on improving durability has become more important. In the durability evaluation of membranes, the mechanical durability evaluation time is more than twice that of the chemical durability evaluation time, so it is necessary to select the durability evaluation conditions well. In this study, we tried to check how much the mechanical durability evaluation time changes when there is a difference in the inflow gas type and flow rate in the mechanical durability evaluation protocol (Wet/Dry). When nitrogen was used at a flow rate of 2,000 mL/min, the evaluation time increased by 1.25 times compared to when air was used. An increase in the degradation rate of the electrode Pt was the main factor when air was used. When the flow rate was reduced to 800 mL/min, the air and nitrogen evaluation times increased by 1.5 times and 1.2 times, respectively.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.13-22
• /
• 2022

Ever increasing global energy demand gives rise to uncontrollable environmental pollution. Demand on fossil fuel and consequent carbon emission leads to global warming and climate change. Nuclear energy is an alternative source to generate clean energy but mining of nuclear fuel is associated with harmful chemicals. Mining of valuable minerals from sea water by membrane separation process is a cost effective along with environmental friendly process. Separation and adsorption based mining of valuable minerals from sea water are another efficient process. Recovery of actinides from rare earth elements are very challenging and expensive process. Pressure driven membrane separation process is economically more viable along with environmental process. In this review membrane separation process are based on polyether sulfone, polyamide, polyimide, polyamidoxine and hybrid membranes. In case of adsorption process, mainly amidoxime kind of adsorbent are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
• /
• 2022.05a
• /
• pp.519-521
• /
• 2022

As appearance of diverse electric power supplies and fuel cells have been emerging, UAVs have capacity to prolong their flight missions. Nowadays, the rotary based UAVs that are commonly distributed on the open market, adapt rechargeable batteries and have around 50 centimeters in width and generally within 30 minutes in hovering flight capacities. UAV's flight time highly depends on the capacity and the weight of its batteries. To cope with the flight time, recharging methods are also being researched. their researches are mainly divided into coupled and decoupled in manner. In this article, we propose the method to refine the position more effectivly and precisely adapting QR Code and 3-D position estimation so that UAVs enable to land on the recharging system successfully.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.61 no.4
• /
• pp.561-569
• /
• 2023

Furfural is a platform chemical that is produced from xylose, one of the hemicellulose components of lignocellulosic biomass. Furfural can be used as an important feedstock for phenolic compounds or biofuels. In this study, we compared and optimized the conditions for producing furfural from xylose in a batch system using two types of catalysts: sulfuric acid, which is commonly used in the furfural production process, and formic acid, which is an environmentally friendly catalyst. We investigated the effects of xylose initial concentration (10 g/L~100 g/L), reaction temperature (140~200 ℃), sulfuric acid catalyst (1~3 wt%), formic acid catalyst (5~10 wt%), and reaction time on the furfural yield. The optimal conditions according to the type of catalyst were as follows. For sulfuric acid catalyst, 3 wt% of catalyst concentration, 50 g/L of xylose initial concentration, 180 ℃ of temperature, and 10min of reaction time resulted in a maximum furfural yield of 59.0%. For formic acid catalyst, 5 wt% of catalyst concentration, 50 g/L of xylose initial concentration, 180 ℃ of temperature, and 150 min of reaction time resulted in a furfural yield of 65.3%.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.324-332
• /
• 2019

Most countries including Korea and Indonesia have strong policy for implementing biofuels like biodiesel. Shortage of the oil feedstock is the main barrier for increasing the supply of biodiesel fuel. In this study, in order to improve the stability of feedstock supply and lower the biodiesel production cost, the feasibility of biodiesel production using two types of Indonesian tropical crop oils, pressed at different harvesting times, were investigated. R. Trisperma oils, a high productive non-edible feedstocks, were investigated to produce biodiesel by esterification and transesterification because of it's high impurity and free fatty acid contents. the kindly provided oils from Indonesia were required to perform the filtering and water removal process to increase the efficiency of the esterificaton and transesterification reactions. The esterification used heterogeneous acid catalyst, Amberlyst-15. Before the reaction, the acid value of two types oil were 41, 17 mg KOH/g respectively. After the pre-esterification reaction, the acid value of oils were 3.7, 1.8 mg KOH/g respectively, the conversions were about 90%. Free fatty acid content was reduced to below 2%. Afterwards, the transesterification was performed using KOH as the base catalyst for transesterification. The prepared biodiesel showed about 93% of FAME content, and the total glycerol content was 0.43%. It did not meet the quality specification(FAME 96.5% and Total glycerol 0.24%) since the tested oils were identified to have a uncommon fatty acid, generally not found in vegetable oils, ${\alpha}$-eleostearic acid with much contents of 10.7~33.4%. So, it is required to perform the further research on reaction optimization and product purification to meet the fuel quality standards. So if the biodiesel production technology using un-utilized non-edible feedstock oils is successfully developed, stable supply of the feedstock for biodiesel production may be possible in the future.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.163-170
• /
• 2013

Selective catalytic reduction of $NO_x$ by $NH_3$ ($NH_3$-SCR) over $V_2O_5/TiO_2$-based catalysts is recently reported to be an anthropogenic emitter of $N_2O$ that is a global warming gas with a global warming potential of 310. Therefore, this review will get a touch on significance of some parameters regarding $N_2O$ formation in the $deNO_xing$ reaction for fossil fuels-fired power plants applications. The $N_2O$ production in $NH_3$-SCR reaction with such catalysts occurs via side reactions between $NO_x$ and $NH_3$ in addition to $NH_3$ oxidation, and the extent of these undesired reactions depends strongly on the loadings of $V_2O_5$ as a primary active component and the promoter as a secondary one ($WO_3$ and $MoO_3$) in the SCR catalysts, the feed and operating variables such as reaction temperature, $NO_2/NO_x$ ratio, oxygen concentration, gas hourly space velocity, water content and thermal excursion, and the physical and chemical histories of the catalysts on site. Although all these parameters are associated with the $N_2O$ formation in $deNO_xing$ reaction, details of some of them have been discussed and a better way of suppressing the $N_2O$ production in commercial SCR plants has been proposed.