• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.115-124
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• 2020

Sustainable plastics can be mainly categorized into (1) biodegradable plastics decomposed into water and carbon dioxide after use, and (2) biomass-derived plastics possessing the carbon neutrality by utilizing raw materials converted from atmospheric carbon dioxide to biomass. Recently, biomass-derived engineering plastics (EP) and natural nanofiber-reinforced nanocomposites are emerging as a new direction of the industry. In addition to the eco-friendliness of natural resources, these materials are competitive over petroleum-based plastics in the high value-added plastics market. Polyesters and polycarbonates synthesized from isosorbide and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, which are representative biomass-derived monomers, are at the forefront of industrialization due to their higher transparency, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and gas barrier properties. Moreover, isosorbide has potential to be applied to super EP material with continuous service temperature over 150 ℃. In situ polymerization utilizing surface hydrophilicity and multi-functionality of natural nanofibers such as nanocellulose and nanochitin achieves remarkable improvements of mechanical properties with the minimal dose of nanofillers. Biomass-derived tough-plastics covered in this review are expected to replace petroleum-based plastics by satisfying the carbon neutrality required by the environment, the high functionality by the consumer, and the accessibility by the industry.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.872-879
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• 2010

Layered copper hydroxides [LCHs, $Cu_2(OH)_3{\cdot}NO_3$] has the agricultural potentials as a fungicide because of its high crystallinity, excellent anion exchange capacity, and its regular layered particle size. The study, for the first time, has synthesized LCHs in highly concentrated solution and evaluated its physicochemical properties including the crystallinity and suspension stability. Optimal synthetic condition of LCHs was determined by crystallinity and stability of suspension as follow; 1) concentrations of $Cu(NO_3)_2$ and NaOH solutions were 3.0 M respectively, 2) reaction temperature and solution pH were $25^{\circ}C$ and 6.0, respectively, and 3) aging time after reaction was 2hr. Crystallinity of LCHs enhanced with increase in pH up to 9.0. Whereas, stability of suspension was decrease by increase in crystal size. Especially, increase in reaction temperature decreased stability of suspension. XRD patterns and SEM images exhibited that LCHs had regular layered particle size with 0.2~0.8 ${\mu}m$ and high crystallinity in optimal synthetic condition. The particle size was increased with increase in reaction temperature and pH. These results showed that LCHs synthesized in highly concentrated solution exhibited high stability of suspension as well as high crystallinity suitable to their potential as a fungicide.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.197-203
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of chlorine water and plasma gas treatment on the quality and microbial control of Latuca indica L. baby Leaf during storage. Latuca indica L. baby leaves were harvested from a plant height of 10cm. They were sterilized with $100{\mu}L{\cdot}L^{-1}$ chlorine water and plasma-gas (1, 3, and 6hours), and packaged with $1,300cc{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}day^{-1}{\cdot}atm^{-1}$ films and then stored at $8{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ and RH $85{\pm}5%$ for 25days. During storage, the fresh weight loss of all treatments were less than 1.0%, and the carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in packages were 6-8% and 16-17%, respectively for all treatments in the final storage day. The concentration of ethylene in the packages fluctuated between $1-3{\mu}L{\cdot}L^{-1}$ during the storage and the highest concentration of ethylene was observed at 6 hours plasma treatment in the final storage day. The off-odor of all treatments were almost odorless, the treatments of chlorine water and 1 hour plasma maintained the marketable visual quality until the end of storage. Chlorophyll content and Hue angle value measured at the final storage day were similar to those measured before storage in chlorine water and 1 hour of plasma treatments. E. coli was not detected immediately after sterilization in all sterilization treatments. After 6 hours of plasma treatment, the total bacteria fungus counts were lower than the domestic microbial standard for agricultural product in all sterilization treatments. The total aerobic counts in the end storage day increased compared to before storage, whereas E. coli was not detected in all sterilization treatments. The sterilization effect against bacteria and fungi was the best in chlorine water treatment. Plasma treatment showed sterilization effects, but within a prolonged period of time. In addition, the sterilization effect decreased gradually. These results suggest that chlorine water and plasma treatment were effective in maintaining Latuca indica L. baby Leaf commerciality and controlling microorganisms during postharvest storage.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.51-61
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• 2013

To address the problems associated with climate change and energy shortage, Korea has been making efforts to turn waste materials into usable energy. Due to the ongoing efforts to convert waste materials into energy, waste incineration is expanding to utilize the heat generated, and the subsequent greenhouse gas emissions from these waste material incineration are expected to increase. In this study, a municipal waste incineration plant that generates heat and electricity through heat recovery was selected as a subject facility. Methods for estimating the greenhouse gas emissions in the municipal waste incineration plant that was selected as a subject plant were sought, and the greenhouse gas emissions and emission factor were estimated. The $CO_2$ concentrations in discharge gas from the subject facility were on average 6.99%, and the result from calculating this into greenhouse gas emissions showed that the total amount of emissions was $254.60ton\;CO_2/day$. The net emissions, excluding the amount of greenhouse gas emitted from biomass incineration, was shown to be $110.59ton\;CO_2/day$. In addition, after estimating the emissions by separating the heat and electricity generated in the incineration facility, greenhouse gas emission factors were calculated using the greenhouse gas emissions produced per each unit of output. The estimated emission factor for heat was found to be $0.047ton\;CO_2/GJ$ and the emission factor for electricity was found to be $0.652ton\;CO_2/MWh$. The estimated emission factor was shown to be about 17% lower than the $0.783ton\;CO_2/MWh$ emission factor for thermal power plants that use fossil fuels. Waste material types and fossil carbon contents were evaluated as being the factors that have major effects on the greenhouse gas emissions and emission factor.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.311-330
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• 2023

Development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technique is becoming increasingly important as a method to mitigate the strengthening effects of global warming, generated from the unprecedented increase in released anthropogenic CO₂. In the recent years, the characteristics of basaltic rocks (i.e., large volume, high reactivity and surplus of cation components) have been recognized to be potentially favorable in facilitation of CCS; based on this, research on utilization of basaltic formations for underground CO₂ storage is currently ongoing in various fields. This study investigated the feasibility of underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, based on the examination of the CO₂ storage mechanisms in subsurface, assessment of basalt characteristics, and review of the global research on basaltic CO₂ storage. The global research examined were classified into experimental/modeling/field demonstration, based on the methods utilized. Experimental conditions used in research demonstrated temperatures ranging from 20 to 250 ℃, pressure ranging from 0.1 to 30 MPa, and the rock-fluid reaction time ranging from several hours to four years. Modeling research on basalt involved construction of models similar to the potential storage sites, with examination of changes in fluid dynamics and geochemical factors before and after CO₂-fluid injection. The investigation demonstrated that basalt has large potential for CO₂ storage, along with capacity for rapid mineralization reactions; these factors lessens the environmental constraints (i.e., temperature, pressure, and geological structures) generally required for CO₂ storage. The success of major field demonstration projects, the CarbFix project and the Wallula project, indicate that basalt is promising geological formation to facilitate CCS. However, usage of basalt as storage formation requires additional conditions which must be carefully considered - mineralization mechanism can vary significantly depending on factors such as the basalt composition and injection zone properties: for instance, precipitation of carbonate and silicate minerals can reduce the injectivity into the formation. In addition, there is a risk of polluting the subsurface environment due to the combination of pressure increase and induced rock-CO₂-fluid reactions upon injection. As dissolution of CO₂ into fluids is required prior to injection, monitoring techniques different from conventional methods are needed. Hence, in order to facilitate efficient and stable underground storage of CO₂ in basalt, it is necessary to select a suitable storage formation, accumulate various database of the field, and conduct systematic research utilizing experiments/modeling/field studies to develop comprehensive understanding of the potential storage site.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.853-860
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• 2012

To estimate potential use of fly ash in reducing $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ emission from soil, $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ fluxes from a paddy soil mixed with fly ash at different rate (w/w; 0, 5, and 10%) in the presence and absence of fertilizer N ($(NH_4)_2SO_4$) addition were investigated in a laboratory incubation for 60 days under changing water regime from wetting to drying via transition. The mean $CH_4$ flux during the entire incubation period ranged from 0.59 to $1.68mg\;CH_4\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$ with a lower rate in the soil treated with N fertilizer due to suppression of $CH_4$ production by $SO_4^{2-}$ that acts as an electron acceptor, leading to decreases in electron availability for methanogen. Fly ash application reduced $CH_4$ flux by 37.5 and 33.0% in soils without and with N addition, respectively, probably due to retardation of $CH_4$ diffusion through soil pores by addition of fine-textured fly ash. In addition, as fly ash has a potential for $CO_2$ removal via carbonation (formation of carbonate precipitates) that decreases $CO_2$ availability that is a substrate for $CO_2$ reduction reaction (one of $CH_4$ generation pathways) is likely to be another mechanisms of $CH_4$ flux reduction by fly ash. Meanwhile, the mean $CO_2$ flux during the entire incubation period was between 0.64 and $0.90g\;CO_2\;m^{-2}day^{-1}$, and that of N treated soil was lower than that without N addition. Because N addition is likely to increase soil respiration, it is not straightforward to explain the results. However, it may be possible that our experiment did not account for the substantial amount of $CO_2$ produced by heterotrophs that were activated by N addition in earlier period than the measurement was initiated. Fly ash application also lowered $CO_2$ flux by up to 20% in the soil mixed with fly ash at 10% through $CO_2$ removal by the carbonation. At the whole picture, fly ash application at 10% decreased global warming potential of emitted $CH_4$ and $CO_2$ by about 20%. Therefore, our results suggest that fly ash application can be a soil management practice to reduce green house gas emission from paddy soils. Further studies under field conditions with rice cultivation are necessary to verify our findings.