• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.365-370
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• 2009

LCA is a tool to support for making decisions by offering information of environmental aspects of products or services. It can be used to make decisions to consumers and NGOs as well as government and enterprises. LCA evaluates the environmental aspects throughout the entire life cycle of a product. Therefore it can quantify and assess environmental impacts from raw material acquisition, manufacturing, distribution, use and disposal to end of life and recycling. The demands of the recycling rate increase and the use of suitable materials for RoHS, REACH, WEEE, ELV which are linked trade with environmental regulation have increased the worldwide. Global warming is the critical challenge of the world facing. And under post-Kyoto protocol each country has to prepare for target reduction, so it became essential to save energy and resources. In addition that, the carbon mark has been run as the way of showing example of CO2 reduction in domestic and it will be extended gradually. And also through the introduction of Eco-label, environmentally-friendly product will be promoted. When those systems are operated, global warming gases (i.e. CO2) can be calculated throughout the entire life of the products by LCA. And the environmental impacts such as harmful material emission in the process of manufacturing, energy consumption, distribution and so on, can also be assessed. Therefore, The basic concepts of LCA technique and various cases and the practical application in the future will be review in this study.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.1125-1127
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• 2008

Recently, the tilting train has been developed to increase speed in conventional line. Due to global environmental changes, it is necessary to investigate quantitatively the environment of tilting train. This study evaluated the environmental impacts of tilting train to grasp a key issue environmentally. The related data were collected from bill of material (BOM). The system boundary of tilting train was determined by its cumulative weight. In addition, the $CO_2$ emission in the operation phase of tilting train was calculated. Based on this basic study, the environment of tilting train will be assessed exactly through the establishment of life cycle inventory database for its main components.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.301-306
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• 2012

Rapidly growing mobile machines such as tablet PC and smart phone are equipped with touch screen panel using a sturdy material for products surface protection. Therefore, surge of chemically strengthened glass was increased and the amount of waste matter is proportional to demand. The purpose of this study is environmental impact assessment on touch screen panel of chemically strengthened glass by material life cycle assessment (MLCA). We used CES of Granta, SimaPro and Gabi software for MLCA. Chemically strengthened glass (2.7, 5.7 and 10.3 inch) was calculated to environmental impact assessment by Granta software under two cases. One case is Landfill and the other case is Reuse. As a result, in case of reuse, energy values of 2.7, 5.7 and 10.3 inches were reduced by an average of 51.4%, $CO_2$ values were reduced by an average of 46.6% than Landfill case, respectively. We assessed impact categories of 11 types using SimaPro software. As a result, the contents of fossil fuels, inorganics and climate change have a huge impact than the other impact categories. And the main cause of environmental impact is antimony and hydrogen fluoride in Gabi results.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.898-903
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• 2010

This study was carried out to estimate carbon emission using LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and to establish LCI (Life Cycle Inventory) database of soybean production system. Based on collecting the data for operating LCI, it was shown that input of organic fertilizer was value of 3.10E+00 kg $kg^{-1}$ soybean and it of mineral fertilizer was 4.57E-01 kg $kg^{-1}$ soybean for soybean cultivation. It was the highest value among input for soybean production. And direct field emission was 1.48E-01 kg $kg^{-1}$ soybean during soybean cropping. The result of LCI analysis focussed on greenhouse gas (GHG) was showed that carbon footprint was 3.36E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq $kg^{-1}$ soybean. Especially $CO_2$ for 71% of the GHG emission. Also of the GHG emission $CH_4$, and $N_2O$ were estimated to be 18% and 11%, respectively. It might be due to emit from mainly fertilizer production (92%) and soybean cultivation (7%) for soybean production system. $N_2O$ was emitted from soybean cropping for 67% of the GHG emission. In $CO_2$-eq. value, $CO_2$ and $N_2O$ were 2.36E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ soybean and 3.50E-01 kg $CO_2$-eq. $kg^{-1}$ soybean, respectively. With LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) for soybean production system, it was observed that the process of fertilizer production might be contributed to approximately 90% of GWP (global warming potential). Characterization value of GWP was 3.36E+00 kg $CO_2$-eq $kg^{-1}$.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.129-142
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• 2012

This study was carried out to evaluate carbon footprint during unhulled rice production and to compare mitigation technologies of methane, main carbon source during rice production, Carbon footprint of unhulled rice was a sum of $CO_2$ emission of agri-materials manufacture, rice cultivation and waste treatment. It was emitted 1.40 kg $CO_2$ during unhulled rice production, its distribution was 71.1% by $CH_4$ emission of rice cultivation, 11.8% of $N_2O$ emission by nitrogen application and 7.6% of complex fertilizer manufacture. $CH_4$ emission could be mitigated by some technologies; cultivation of the early maturing rice variety emitted lower by 44.4% than the mid maturing variety, intermittent drainage of submerged water by 43.8% than the continuous flooding condition, direct seeding by 32.0% than transplanting cultivation, no-ploughing by 20.9% than ploughing cultivation. It means that LCA on Global Warming Potential and the statistical data on innovated technical practice are key tools to systemize Measurable-Reportable-Verifiable (MRV) system for carbon footprint and carbon emission trade in the farm base.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.74-83
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• 2018

This study conducted the Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) on waste rubber recycling technology for recovering rubber product from the waste tires. Environmental impacts were assessed for the five categories of impacts: global warming, resource depletion, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical oxide production, and ozone layer depletion. When recycling 1ton of waste tire containing rubber, global warming impact was 1.77E+02 kg $CO_2-eq.$, resource depletion impact was 1.23E+00 kg Sb-eq., acidification impact was 5.92E-01 kg $SO_2-eq.$, eutrophication impact was 1.23E-01 kg $PO{_4}^{3-}-eq.$, photochemical oxide production impact was 3.42E-01 kg $C_2H_4-eq.$, and ozone layer depletion impact was 1.87E-04 kg CFC11-eq. In terms of overall environmental impacts, carbon, softener and electricity the greatest impact, so it is necessary to compare the environmental impacts of the raw materials to replace carbon and softener, and a method to reduce the filler usage in the process is needed. In addition, it is necessary to improve energy efficiency, change to low-energy sources, and apply renewable energy.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.17 no.sup
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• pp.1-6
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• 2011

Korean Government announced 'The Roadmap to realize a low carbon green society on year 2020' on July 12, 2011 in order to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Non-energy category of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (FAFF) should mitigate 1,349 kilo $CO_2$-equivalent ($CO_2$-eq.) tonnes which is 7.1% of Business-As-Usual on year 2020. The mitigation from animal manure treatment system (AMTS) comprises ca. 45% of the total mitigated amount of Non-energy category of FAFF. Hence, the precise evaluation of GHG emissions from AMTS is important to find effective mitigation measures. Life cycle assessment was used to evaluate GHG emissions from AMTS. The most GHG emitter was a composting/liquid fertilizer/activated sludge system (1,649.45 kg $CO_2$-eq./head/year) and the least GHG emitter was a activated liquid fertilizer system (1,024.46 kg $CO_2$-eq./head/year). Thermophilic oxic process showed the highest ratio (34.9%) of GHG emissions by the use of electricity to total GHG emissions from systems. Energy efficiency should be considered to mitigate GHG emissions from AMTS.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.449-456
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• 2016

This study was aimed to quantify the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and to suggest suitable plans which consider the carbon emission reduction in the manufacturing process of the domestic structural glued laminated timber. Field investigation on two glued laminated timber manufacturers was conducted to find out material flow input values such as raw materials, transportation, manufacturing process, and energy consumption during manufacturing process. Based on the collected data and the relevant literatures about life cycle inventory (LCI), the amount of carbon dioxide emission per unit volume was quantified. Results show that the carbon dioxide emissions for sawing, drying and laminating process are 31.0, 109.0, 94.2 kg $CO_2eq./m^3$, respectively. These results show 13% lesser amount of total carbon dioxide emissions compared with the imported glued laminated timber in Korea. Furthermore, it was decreased about 37% when the fossil fuel would be replaced with biomass fuel in drying process. Findings from this study is effectively used as the basic data on the life cycle assessment of wooden building.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.111-116
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• 2018

The environmental impacts of a 1 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system are quantitatively assessed by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. A PEMFC system produces electricity and heat simultaneously, so an appropriate allocation of associated inputs and outputs is performed between the electricity and heat produced. The environmental impacts of the PEMFC system on the impact categories such as global warming (GW), abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), and eutrophication (EU) are assessed from the life cycle impact assessment. The impact indicator results of the impact assessment on these impact categories are obtained as $3.70E-01kg\;CO_2\;eq./kWh$, 1.86E-03 kg Sb eq./kWh, $4.09E-04kg\;SO_2\;eq./kWh$, and $1.88E-05kg\;PO_4{^{3-}}/kWh$, respectively. For all impact categories studied the most influential stage is the operation stage, which accounts for 98.8%, 98.7%, 70.3%, and 62.3% of the total impact on GW, AD, AC, and EU, respectively. For the impact categories of AD, AC, and EU, most of the environmental impacts during the operation stage is attributed to the production of city gas. However, for the impact category of GW, $CO_2$ emission from the reforming process of city gas is the main reason for the largest contribution of the operation stage to the total impact results.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.502-509
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• 2013

To estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, we established inventory of conventional rice cultivation from farmers in Gunsan and Iksan, Jeonbuk province in 2011~2012. This study was to calculate carbon footprint and to analyse the major factor of GHGs. We carried out a sensitivity analysis using the analyzed main factors of GHGs and estimated the mitigation potential of GHGs. Also we tried to suggest agricultural methods to reduce GHGs that farmers of this case study can apply. Carbon footprint of rice production unit of 1 kg was 2.21 kg $CO_2.-eq.kg^{-1}$. Although amount of $CO_2$ emissions is largest among GHGs, methane had the highest contribution of carbon footprint on rice production system after methane was converted to carbon dioxide equivalent ($CO_2$-eq.) multiplied by the global warming potential (GWP). Source of $CO_2$ in the cultivation of rice farming is incomplete combustion of fossil fuels used by agricultural machinery. Most of the $CH_4$ emitted during rice cultivation and major factor of $CH_4$ emission is flooded paddy field in anaerobic condition. Most of the $N_2O$ emitted from rice cultivation process and major sources of $N_2O$ emission is application of fertilizer such as compound fertilizer, urea, orgainc fertilizer, etc. As a result of sensitivity analysis due to the variation in energy consumption, diesel had the highest sensitivity among the energies inputs. If diesel consumption is reduced by 10%, it could be estimated that $CO_2$ potential reduction is about 2.5%. When application rate of compound fertilizer reduces by 10%, the potential reduction is calculated to be approximately 1% for $CO_2$ and approximately 1.8% for $N_2O$. When drainage duration is decreased until 10 days, methane emissions is reduced by approximately 4.5%. That is to say drainage days, tillage, and reducing diesel consumption were the main sources having the largest effect of GHG reduction due to changing amount of inputs. Accordingly, proposed methods to decrease GHG emissions were no-tillage, midsummer drainage, etc.