• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2017

Recently usage of biomass is increased in pulverized coal power plants for reduction of $CO_2$ emission. Many problems arise when thermal share of the biomass is increased, and milling of the biomasses is one of the most important problems due to their low grindability when existing coal pulverizer is used. Grindability of coal can be measured through the HGI (Hardgrove grindability index) equipment as a standard, but method of measuring biomass grindability has not been established yet. In this study, grinding experiment of coal and biomass was performed using a lab-scale ball mill. One type of coal (Adaro coal) and six biomasses (wood pellet (WP), empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm kernel shell (PKS), walnut shell (WS), torrefied wood chip (TBC) and torrefied wood pellet (TWP)) were used in the experiment. Particle size distributions of the fuels were measured after being milled in various pulverization times. Pulverization characteristics were evaluated by portion of particles under the diameter of $75{\mu}m$. As a result, about 70% of the TBC and TWP were observed to be pulverized to sizes of under $75{\mu}m$, which implies that they can be used as alternative biomass fuels without modification of the existing mill. Other biomass was observed to have low grindability compared with torrefied biomass. Power consumption of the mill for various fuels was measured as well, and the results show that lower power was consumed for torrefied biomasses. This result can be used for characterization of biomass as an alternative fuel for pulverized coal power plants.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.161-171
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• 2023

The medium-large cladoceran species Simocephalus spp. predominantly occur in habitats with developed aquatic vegetation. Accordingly, due to Simocephalus' high contribution to zooplankton community biomass in the lake's littoral zone and wetland habitats, estimating their biomass is important to understand the matter cycling based on biological interactions within the aquatic food web. In this study, we reviewed the length-weight regression equations used previously to estimate Simocephalus biomass, directly measured S. serrulatus' body specification (length, width and area) and their biomass(dry weight) using instruments such as a microscopic digital camera and a microscale, and performed regression analysis between each other. When S. serrulatus biomass was estimated using the equation (Kawabata and Urabe, 1998) presented in 『Biomonitoring Survey and Assessment Manual』, Korea, errors between estimates and measures were relatively large compared to the S. serrulatus species-specific biomass estimate equation developed by Lemke and Benke (2003). In addition, both equations showed not only increasing trends in error (estimate-measure) with increasing S. serrulatus' body length, but also in error variance among similar-sized individuals. The results of regression analysis with dry weight by body specifications indicated that the most appropriate equation for estimating the biomass of S. serrulatus was derived from the width-dry weight exponential regression equation (R²=0.9555). The review and development study of such species-specific biomass estimation equations for zooplankton can be used as a tool to understand their role and function in aquatic ecosystem food webs.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.523-532
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR) on microbial characteristics and treatment efficiency in sewage treatment using aerated submerged biological filter (ASBF) reactor. This reactor combines biodegradation of organic substrates by fixed biomass with a physical separation of biomass by filtration in a single reactor. Both simulated wastewater and domestic wastewater were used as feed solutions. The experimental conditions were a temperature of 17 to $27^{\circ}C$, a hydraulic retention time of 1 to 9hr, an organic loading rate of 0.47 to $3.84kg\;BOD/m^3{\cdot}day$ in ASBF reactor. This equipment could obtain a stable effluent quality in spite of high variation of influent loading rate. Total biomass concentration. biofilm thickness and biofilm mass increased an exponential function according to the increasing OLR. The relationships between water content and biofilm density were in inverse proportion. The percentage of backwash water to influent flow was almost 9%. The separation efficiency of biomass was the percentage of 91 to 92 in ASBF reactor. The sludge production rates in feed solutions of simulated wastewater and domestic wastewater were 0.14~0.26 kg VSS/kg BODrem, 0.43~0.48 kg VSS/kg BODrem, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.107.1-107
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• 2003

The fermentation process and subsequent processing determine the efficacy of a bioherbicide propagule. Large batches of biomass of the mycoherbicide agent for white clover, Sclerotium sp.(BWC98-105) was produced in simple liquid fermentator in 5 gallons vessels(Model No. 8087, Dabo Inc., Korea) with oxygen supply(DPH16000, FineTech Inc., Korea) simulating industrial conditions by utilizing commercially available, inexpensive ingredients (10 ％ rice bran), The maximum biomass yield of Sclerotium sp.(BWC98-105) was obtained after 5 days of air pumped incubation at room temperature condition(22-28$^{\circ}C$). By using this simple facility, it could get fragmented or proliferated greatly and attained maximum mycelia biomass. The biomass of mycoherbicide agent consisted of hyphae devoid of spores. Biomass mycelia of the fungus 99％ survival at room temperature after 2 me. A thorough understanding of the effects of fermentation and formulation on viability and virulence is required to guide these processes. After an economical yield level of bioherbicide propagule has been achieved in a fermentation process, formulation becomes a critical factor which influences product efficacy. Because the fermentation must be stopped at a point when virulence/viability are optimum, the live bioherbicide propagule must be stabilized, formulated, and packaged.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.247-250
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• 2008

Biomass gasification is a promising technology for producing a fuel gas which is useful for power generation systems. In biomass gasification processes, tar formation often causes some problems such as pipeline plugging. Thus, proper tar treatment is necessary. So far, nickel (Ni)-based catalysts have been intensively studied for the catalytic tar removal. However, the deactivation of Ni-based catalysts takes place because of coke deposition and sintering of Ni metal particles. To overcome these problems, we have been using ruthenium (Ru)-based catalyst for tar removal. It is reported by Okada et al., that a Ru/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst is very effective for preventing the carbon deposition during the steam reforming of hydrocarbons. Also, this catalyst is more active than the Ni-based catalyst at a low steam to carbon ratio (S/C). Benzene was used for the tar model compound because it is the main constituent of biomass tar and also because it represents a stable aromatic structure apparent in tar formed in biomass gasification processes. The steam reforming process transforms hydrocarbons into gaseous mixtures constituted of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), carbon monoxide (CO), methane ($CH_4$) and hydrogen ($H_2$).

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.109-116
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• 2017

Biomass gasification produces syngas or producer gas as low calorific fuel gas that can be used as a fuel for combustion or prime movers as well as chemical synthesis. Internal combustion engines are readily available with lower costs and easily used for producing distributed power using biomass syngas. In this study, a dual fuel diesel engine was used to evaluate its performance when biomass syngas is used for fuel. The engine was originally developed for biogas application with a diesel engine with a 2,607 cc displacement. Both diesel fuel and syngas consumptions were observed at the different load conditions. The results indicate that the dual fuel engine showed a reasonably good performance and up to 63 % of diesel fuel saving.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2024

Zooplankton biomass is essential for understanding the quantitative structure of lake food webs and for the functional assessment of biotic interactions. In this study, we aimed to propose a biomass (dry weight) estimation method using the body length of cyclopoid copepods. These copepods play an important role as omnivores in lake zooplankton communities and contribute significantly to biomass. We validated several previously proposed estimation equations against direct measurements and compared the suitability of prosomal length versus total length of copepods to suggest a more appropriate estimation equation. After comparing the regression analysis results of various candidate equations with the actual values measured on a microbalance-using the coefficient of variation, mean absolute error, and coefficient of determination-it was determined that the Total Length-DW exponential regression equation [W=0.7775×e^2.0183L; W (㎍), L (mm)] could be used to calculate biomass with higher accuracy. However, considering practical issues such as the morphological similarity between species and genera of copepods and the limitations of classifying copepodid stages, we derived a general regression equation for the pooled copepod community rather than a species-specific regression equation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Fisheries and Ocean Technology
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.217-223
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• 2018

Overfishing capacity has become a global issue due to over-exploitation of fisheries resources, which result from excessive fishing intensity since the 1980s. In the case of Korea, the fishing effort has been quantified and used as an quantified index of fishing intensity. Fisheries resources of coastal fisheries in the Korean waters of the East Sea tend to decrease productivity due to deterioration in the quality of ecosystem, which result from the excessive overfishing activities according to the development of fishing gear and engine performance of vessels. In order to manage sustainable and reasonable fisheries resources, it is important to understand the fluctuation of biomass and predict the future biomass. Therefore, in this study, we forecasted biomass in the Korean waters of the East Sea for the next two decades (2017~2036) according to the changes in fishing intensity using four fishing effort scenarios; $f_{current}$, $f_{PY}$, $0.5{\times}f_{current}$ and $1.5{\times}f_{current}$. For forecasting biomass in the Korean waters of the East Sea, parameters such as exploitable carrying capacity (ECC), intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) and catchability (q) estimated by maximum entropy (ME) model was utilized and logistic function was used. In addition, coefficient of variation (CV) by the Jackknife re-sampling method was used for estimation of coefficient of variation about exploitable carrying capacity ($CV_{ECC}$). As a result, future biomass can be fluctuated below the $B_{PY}$ level when the current level of fishing effort in 2016 maintains. The results of this study are expected to be utilized as useful data to suggest direction of establishment of fisheries resources management plan for sustainable use of fisheries resources in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.439-449
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• 2014

RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) has increased wood pellet demand dramatically in recent years in Korea where self-supply rate of wood pellet is not more than 10%. However global production capacity of wood pellet is prospected to be unable to meet the global demand after 2020. Therefore it is urgently needed to develop new sustainable biomass energy resources which can replace wood pellet at lower cost. As a result of this study EFB (empty fruit bunch) and MF (mesocarp fiber), the representative solid palm biomass, are estimated to be generated at the rate of 20 and 28 million tons per year (based on 10% moisture content) in Malaysia and Indonesia, respectively in 2012. Total annual generation rate of EFB and MF is estimated as 48 million tons per year only in Malaysia and Indonesia in 2012. With calorific value of over 90% of wood pellet EFB is expected to be a excellent biomass energy resource which can replace wood pellet. EFB can be utilized as fuel for power generation or industrial purpose. However EFB may not be a proper fuel for domestic and greenhouse heating because of its high ash content.