• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.738-744
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• 2018

Fuel failure due to debris is a major cause of failure in pressurized water reactors. Fuel vendors have developed various filtering devices to reduce debris-induced failure and have evaluated filtering performance with their own test facilities and methods. Because of the different test facilities and methods, it is difficult to compare filtering performances objectively. This study presents an improved filtering test and an efficiency calculation method to fairly compare fuel-filtering efficiency regardless of the vendor's filtering features. To enhance the reliability of our evaluation, we established requirements for the test method and had a facility constructed according to the requirements. This article describes the debris specimens, the amount of debris, and the replicates for the proposed test method. A calculation method of comprehensive debris-filtering efficiency using a weighted mean is proposed. The test method was verified by repeated tests, and the tests were carried out using the PLUS7 and 17ACE7 test fuels to calculate the comprehensive debris-filtering efficiencies. The evaluation results revealed that the filtering performance of PLUS7 is better than that of 17ACE7. The proposed method can be used on any kind of debris-filtering devices and is appropriate for use as a standard.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.486-487
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• 2005

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.493-520
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• 2009

During the last four decades, 16 Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) and 4 Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) have been constructed and operated in Korea, and nuclear fuel technology has been developed to a self-reliant state. At first, the PWR fuel design and manufacturing technology was acquired through international cooperation with a foreign partner. Then, the PWR fuel R&D by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has improved fuel technology to a self-reliant state in terms of fuel elements, which includes a new cladding material, a large-grained $UO_2$ pellet, a high performance spacer grid, a fuel rod performance code, and fuel assembly test facility. The MOX fuel performance analysis code was developed and validated using the in-reactor test data. MOX fuel test rods were fabricated and their irradiation test was completed by an international program. At the same time, the PWR fuel development by Korea Nuclear Fuel (KNF) has produced new fuel assemblies such as PLUS7 and ACE7. During this process, the design and test technology of fuel assemblies was developed to a self-reliant state. The PHWR fuel manufacturing technology was developed and manufacturing facility was set up by KAERI, independently from the foreign technology. Then, the advanced PHWR fuel, CANFLEX(CANDU Flexible Fuelling), was developed, and an irradiation test was completed in a PHWR. The development of the CANFLEX fuel included a new design of fuel rods and bundles.. The nuclear fuel technology in Korea has been steadily developed in many national R&D programs, and this advanced fuel technology is expected to contribute to a worldwide nuclear renaissance that can create solutions to global warming.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.69-79
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• 2004

To correctly simulate performance characteristics of fuel cells with a modeling method, various physical and chemical phenomena must be considered in fuel cells. In this study, performance characteristics of planar solid oxide fuel cells were simulated by a commercial CFD code, CFD-ACE+. Through simultaneous considerations for mass transfer, heat transfer and charge movement according to electrochemical reactions in the 3-dimensional planar SOFC unit stack, we could successfully predict performance characteristics of solid oxide fuel cells under operation for structural and progress variables. In other words, we solved mass fraction distribution of reactants and products for diffusion and movement, and investigated qualitative and quantitative analysis for performance characteristics in the SOFC unit stack through internal temperature distribution and polarization curve for electrical characteristics. Through this study, we could effectively predict performance characteristics with variables in the unit stack of planar SOFCs and present systematic approach for SOFCs under operation by computer simulation.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.95-101
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• 2019

The cremation rate of Korea in 2016 was 82.7% which is four times greater than 20.5% in 1994. As increasing the cremation rate gradually, it cause a shortage of cremation facilities resulting in building more cremation facilities to meet the increasing inquiries on cremation or a large amount of fuels for the longer operation of the crematory. In this study, the crematory system optimizing its thermal efficiency characteristics and also responding to increasing inquiries on cremation was proposed in order for solving such problems, In particular, the heat flow characteristics including a heat transfer coefficient by performing a simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was investigated. The CFD model was validated with on-site experiments for a cremation facility. As a result of the simulation, the fuel consumption decreased nearly 25% and residence time increased in the main combustor. Also, the improved crematory was constructed with an expanded combustor, heat exchanger, second combustion air system, refractory and insulation material. From on-site experiments, the energy consumption was saved to approximately 54.4%, while the burning time reduced nearly 20 minutes.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.74-80
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• 2019

$Nafion/TiO_2$ composite membranes were prepared via an in-situ sol-gel process with different immersing periods from 1 day to 7 days for the low humidifying proton exchange membrane fuel cell. As the immersing time increased, the $TiO_2$ content within the Nafion membrane increased. The contact angle decreased with the increased $TiO_2$ content in the composite membrane due to the increased hydrophilicity. The water uptake and proton conductivity reached to the highest level for 4 day immersing period, then decreased as the immersing period increased. A 7 days of immersing time was shown to be too long because too much $TiO_2$ aggregates were formed on the membrane surface as well as interior of the membrane, interfering the proton transfer from anode to cathode. Cell performance results were in good agreement with those of the water uptake and proton conductivity; current densities under a relative humidity (RH) of 40% were 0.54, 0.6, $0.63A/cm^2$ and $0.49A/cm^2$ for the immersing time of 1, 3, 4 and 7 days, respectively at a 0.6 V. The composite membrane prepared via the in-situ sol-gel process exhibited the enhancement in the cell performance under of RH 40% by a maximum of about 66% compared to those of using the recasting composite membrane and Nafion 115.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2024

Due to the structural characteristic of a double roller, the double roller can have various deformation behaviors depending on a gap block design, even if dimensions and loading conditions for the double roller are the same. Based on this feature, we propose a strategy for designing the gap block of the carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) double roller to minimize defects (e.g., sagging and wrinkling), which can be raised during the product conveying process, with the pursue of the lightweight design. In the suggested strategy, analysis cases are first selected by considering main design parameters and engineering tolerances of the gap block, and then deformation behaviors of these selected cases are extracted using the finite element method (FEM). Here, to obtain the optimal gap block parameters that satisfy the purpose of this study, deformation deviations in the contact area are calculated and compared using the extracted deformation behaviors. Note that the contact area in this work is located between the product and the roller. As a result, through the design method of the gap block proposed in this work, it is possible to construct the CFRP double roller that can significantly decrease the defects without changing the overall sizes of the roller. A detailed method is suggested herein, and the results are evaluated in a numerical way.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.205-209
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• 2015

CCU (Carbon Capture & Utilization) has a potential technology for the reduction and usage of carbon dioxide which is greenhouse gas emitting from a fossil fuel buring. To decompose the carbon dioxide, a three phase gliding arc plasma-catalytic reactor was designed and manufactured. Experiments of carbon dioxide reduction was performed by varying the gas flow rate with feeding the $CO_2$ only as well as the input power, the catalyst type and steam supply with respect to the injection of the mixture of $CO_2$ and $CH_4$. The $CO_2$ decomposition rate was 7.9% and the energy efficiency was $0.0013L/min{\cdot}W$ at a $CO_2$ flow rate of 12 L/min only. Carbon monoxide and oxygen was generated in accordance with the destruction of carbon dioxide. When the injection ratio of $CH_4/CO_2$ reached 1.29, the $CO_2$ destruction and $CH_4$ conversion rates were 37.8% and 56.6% respectively at a power supply of 0.76 kW. During the installation of $NiO/Al_2O_3$ catalyst bed, the $CO_2$ destruction and $CH_4$ conversion rates were 11.5% and 9.9% respectively. The steam supply parameter do not have any significant effects on the carbon dioxide decomposition.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.126-130
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• 2023

In response to environmental demands, pyrolysis is one of the practical methods for obtaining reusable oils from waste plastics. However, the waste plastic pyrolysis oils (WPPO) are consumed as low-grade fuel oil due to their impurities. Thus, this study focused on the upgrading method to obtain naphtha catalytic cracking feedstocks from WPPO by the hydroprocessing, including hydrotreating and hydrocracking reaction. Especially, various transition metal sulfides supported catalysts were investigated as hydrotreating and hydrocracking catalysts. The catalytic performance was evaluated with a 250 ml-batch reactor at 370~400 ℃ and 6.0 MPa H₂. Sulfur-, nitrogen-, and chlorine-compounds in WPPO were well eliminated with nickel-molybdenum/alumina catalysts. The NiMo/ZSM-5 catalyst has the highest naphtha yield.