• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.203-209
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• 2022

An environmental evaluation was conducted by employing LCA methodology for a mechanical seal manufacturing process that uses recycled silicon recovered from end-of-cycle PV modules. The recycled silicon was purified and reacted with carbon to synthesize β-SiC particles. Then the particles underwent compression molding, calcination and heat treatment to produce a product. Field data were collected and the potential environmental impacts of each stage were calculated using the LCI DB of the Ministry of Environment. The assessment was based on 6 categories, which were abiotic resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone depletion and photochemical oxidant creation. The environmental impacts by category were 45 kg CO₂ for global warming and 2.23 kg C₂H₄ for photochemical oxide creation, and the overall environmental impact by photochemical oxide creation, resource depletion and global warming had a high contribution of 98.7% based on weighted analysis. The wet process of fine grinding and mixing the raw silicon and carbon, and SiC granulation were major factors that caused the environmental impacts. These impacts need to be reduced by converting to a dry process and using a system to recover and reuse the solvent emitted to the atmosphere. It was analyzed that the environmental impacts of resource depletion and global warming decreased by 53.9% and 60.7%, respectively, by recycling silicon from end-of-cycle PV modules. Weighted analysis showed that the overall environmental impact decreased by 27%, and the LCA analysis confirmed that recycling waste modules could be a major means of resource saving and realizing carbon neutrality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.117-124
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• 2012

Recent years, many industries acknowledge that environmental substantiality of products must be an essential role and it is one of the major importances for industries to consider the environmental impacts of products at the early stages of product development. This study investigated eco-design parameters and $CO_2-eq$. emissions in each stage of raw material acquisition, manufacturing, transportation, use and disuse in life cycle of touch monitor stand based on Eco-Design. In this study, to fulfill of Eco-Design, the environmental impact assessment of through LCA(Life cycle assessment) was carried out with benchmarking monitor stand and we suggested the direction of new design of touch monitor stand mechanism based on eco-friendly considerations. New design based on LCT(Life Cycle Thinking) showed that the following eco-friendly considerations at the early stage of design to be helpful to reduce GWP(Global Warming Potential) [kg $CO_2-eq$.] in new monitor stand development and it is necessary for Eco-Design process of the product.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2022

Recently, in the concrete industry, the development and commercialization of low-carbon products of ready-mixed concrete have emerged as part of the efforts to realize carbon neutrality. This study aims to investigate the current status of environmental product declaration(EPD) of ready-mixed concrete and to analyze the characteristics of carbon emissions by compressive strength, life cycle stage, and region. To this end, the related certification system requiring the calculation of carbon emissions in the concrete industry was analyzed. The target of analyzing the current status of carbon emissions was set as a product of ready-mixed concrete that acquired EPD certification based on the life cycle assessment method. In addition, the trend of carbon emissions according to each characteristic was reviewed by analyzing carbon emissions by the life cycle of ready-mixed concrete products, analyzing carbon emissions by standard, and analyzing carbon emissions by region. As a result, the carbon emissions in the pre-production stage were 99% compared to total carbon emissions., and as it increased from 18MPa to 40MPa, carbon emissions also increased. Even with the same specifications, the carbon emissions in the capital region were higher than in the southern region.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2016

This study aims at evaluating environmental impacts on recycling process of used small household appliances. The recycling process mainly consists of manual dismantling, crushing and various sorting processes to effectively recover valuable resources and to minimize environmental impact. In this study, life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to analyze major environmental parameters such as GWP, ADP, POCP, EP, etc. One of the major impact categories on the weight basis in the recycling process is global warming (GWP) 57.1%, next to ADP 35.4% and POCP 4.8%, respectively. As a result of environmental impact on recovery of valuable resources/ton, the GWP of plastics for ABS is highest (33.7%) compared to ferrous metals (9.4%). The effects of environmental and economical benefit are also analyzed to compare with the amount of virgin materials to be recycled by recycled materials. In addition, recycled materials are also more economical in comparison to virgin materials due to the environmental avoiding effect by recycling. In conclusion, the key environmental issues related to the recycling of e-wastes are analyzed and therefore, the effective recycling process will contribute to mitigate global warming potential in the near future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.763-769
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• 2021

In this study, ionic liquids were synthesized to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) on a laboratory scale. The vapor-liquid absorption equilibrium device (VLE) was used to investigate the carbon dioxide absorption capacity. In the regeneration study, the absorption capacity after regeneration was reduced by approximately 7% for all ionic liquids, in which the anion was sulfite-based, showing excellent regeneration. Ethyl sulfite showed the highest absorption capacity of CO2 among the ionic liquids based on the sulfite anion. In particular, the absorption capacity of [beim] ethyl sulfite was 1.1 mol CO2 / mol IL at an absorption equilibrium pressure of 22 bar. In the regeneration study, the absorption capacity after regeneration was reduced by approximately 7% for all ionic liquids, in which the anion was sulfite-based, from which regeneration is outstanding. After the absorption experiment, the viscosity of the sample tended to decrease by approximately 8% compared to that before the absorption experiment. On the other hand, the absorbent was synthesized in the first step. Moreover, the raw material used is also inexpensive and has excellent reproducibility and highly stable absorbent capacity.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.728-733
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• 2010

This study was carried out to estimate carbon emission using LCA and to establish LCI database of potato production system. Potato production system was categorized into the fall season potato and the spring season potato according to potato cropping type. The results of collecting data for establishing LCI D/B showed that input of fertilizer for fall season potato production was more than that for spring season potato production. Input of pesticide for spring season potato production was much more than that for fall season potato production. The value of field direct emission ($CO_2$, $CH_4$, $N_2O$) were 2.17E-02 kg $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 2.47E-02 kg $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato, respectively. The result of LCI analysis focussed on the greenhouse gas (GHG), it was observed that carbon footprint values were 8.38E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 8.10E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato; especially for 90% and 6% of $CO_2$ emission from fertilizer and potato production, respectively. $N_2O$ was emitted from the process of N fertilizer production (76%) and potato production (23%). It was observed that characterization of values of GWP were 8.38E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for spring season potato and 8.10E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ for fall season potato.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.247-255
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• 2011

Currently, there is database for per unit requirements of major construction materials in terms of energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission based on the input-output table published by the Bank of Korea in 2000, but no database for per unit requirements based on input-output tables was published in 2005 and 2007. The purpose of this study was to calculate the unit requirement values of major construction materials in terms of energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission generated by using the input-output tables published in 2005 and 2007. To estimate the unit requirement values, a database building method with the input-output tables was adopted by selecting 16 types of construction materials in wide use on construction sites. When the study results were compared with existing unit requirement values based on the input-output table of 2000, there were small discrepancies, from which it can be interpreted that the method used in the study is reasonable. Unit requirement values estimated based on input-output tables of 2005 and 2007 tended to decrease, and the highest value of energy consumption and $CO_2$ emission were found in the materials using cement and rebar.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.132-140
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• 2012

Along with the increasing interest in environmental problems such as global warming, the South Korean government has established policies and regulations to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, targeting a 30% reduction of $CO_2$ compared to business-as-usual levels by 2020. Thus, there have been many studies in construction field to control and reduce the amount of $CO_2$ emitted from buildings. $CO_2$ emission from the building construction could be obtained by using the life cycle assessment(LCA) methodology. In LCA, it is essential to have life cycle inventory(LCI) data of construction materials consisting of $CO_2$ emission data that have been defined and examined in a detailed way in order to obtain more accurate and detailed $CO_2$ emission of buildings. To date, however, the LCI data have been acquired only for the representative materials. Accordingly this study aimed to propose detailed $CO_2$ emission data for steel rebar and H-beam, which are the essential structural steel materials, by strength and type. To accomplish the objective, this study used Input-Output LCA methodology which is based on the Input-Output table. It is believed that the $CO_2$ emission data of steel materials acquired from this study would allow a more accurate assessment of $CO_2$ emission for diverse structural design alternatives.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.119-127
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• 2014

This study aims to determine whether or not the input output life cycle assessment (I-O LCA) model can be used to assess the carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of buildings in initial planning phase. To ensure this end, this study proposed I-O LCA model which is the simplified LCA model and Hybrid LCA model which is the detailed LCA model, and then assessed and compared the CO2 emission of six case projects (three apartment complexes and three educational facilities) using the two LCA model. The results of the case study showed that the CO2 emissions assessed by the I-O LCA is significantly similar to the CO2 emission assessed by the Hybrid LCA model. The similarity of results from both LCA models was 78.2-86.3% in apartment complexes and 59.9-84.8% in educational facilities. However, the CO2 emissions from I-O LCA model were smaller than the CO2 emissions from Hybrid LCA model in case study. Nevertheless, the case study showed that the I-O LCA model was capable of assessing the CO2 emission of buildings quite appropriately although the I-O LCA model is the simplified LCA model which considers only the construction cost. The I-O LCA model is expected to be a useful tool for assessing the CO2 emission of buildings in initial planning phase.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.475-490
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• 2012

Since 1997, Korean Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Ministry of Environment have established data on some 400 basic raw and subsidiary materials and process like energy, petro-chemical, steel, cement, glass, paper, construction materials, transportation, recycling and disposal etc by initiating establishment of LCI database. Regarding agriculture, Rural Development Administration has conducted establishment of LCI database for major farm products like rice, barley, beans, cabbage and radish etc from 2009, and released that they would establish LCI database for 50 items until 2020 later on. The domestic LCI database for seeds, seedling, agrochemical, inorganic, fertilizer and organic fertilizer etc is only at initial stage of establishment, so overseas LCI databases are brought and being used. However, since the domestic and overseas natural environments differ, they fall behind in reliability. Therefore, this study has the purpose to select organic farming materials, survey the production process for various types of organic farming materials and establish LCI database for the effects of greenhouse gas emitted by each crop during the process. As for selecting methods, in this study organic farming materials were selected in the method of direct observation of material and bottom-up method a survey method with focus on the organic farming materials admitted into rice production. For the basic unit of carbon emission amount by the production of 1kg of organic farming material, the software PASS 4.1.1 developed by Korea Accreditation Board under Ministry of Knowledge Economy was used. The study had the goal to ultimately provide basic unit to calculate carbon emission amount in executing many institutions like goal management system and carbon performance display system etc in agricultural sector to be conducted later on. As a result, emission basic units per 1kg of production were calculated to be 0.04968kg-$CO_2$ for oystershells, 0.004692kg-$CO_2$ for expanded rice hull, and 1.029kg-$CO_2$ for bordeaux mixture liquid.