• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.208-215
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• 2005

The 10mm diameter aggregates made of clay, carbon and $Fe_2O_3$ were prepared to investigate the mechanism of black core formation. The specific gravity, absorption rate, percent of black core area, fracture strength, total Fe analysis, and XRF were measured at various compositions, sintering temperatures, sintering times, sintering atmospheres, and sintering methods. Small addition of $Fe_2O_3$ did not affect physical properties of the aggregates; however, the percent of black core area increased with increasing carbon contents and increasing sintering temperature. Specific gravity of the aggregates decreased and the water absorption ratio increased with increasing percent of black core area. The aggregates sintered at oxidation atmosphere showed clear border between shell and black core area. Hence, the aggregates sintered at reduction atmosphere showed only black core area in the cross-section of the aggregates. The specific gravity of the aggregates sintered at reduction atmosphere increased with increasing carbon contents and that was the lowest of all comparing other aggregates sintered at different atmospheres. Adsorption rate increased with increasing carbon contents at all atmospheres. The fast sintered aggregates showed lower specific gravity, higher absorption rate, and more black core area than the normally sintered aggregates. It was turned out that the aggregates having more black core area showed higher fracture strength than that of aggregates with no black core area. From the total Fe analysis, the concentration of Fe and FeO was higher at black core area than at shell. Because the concentration of $Fe_2O_3$ in the shell was higher than other area, the color of the shell appeared red. It was also turned out from the XRF analysis that carbon was exist only at black core area.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.426-438
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• 2023

Lithium-sulfur batteries, recently attracting attention as next-generation batteries, have high energy density but are limited in application due to sulfur's insulating properties, shuttle phenomenon, and volume expansion. This study used an economical and simple vacuum filtration method to prepare a freestanding electrode without a binder and collector. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are used to improve the electrical conductivity of sulfur, where CNT also acts as both collector and conductor. In addition, metal oxides (MO_x, M=Ni, Mg), which are easy to adsorb lithium polysulfide, are added to the CNT/S electrode to suppress the shuttle reaction in lithium-sulfur batteries, which is a result of suppressing the loss of active sulfur material due to the excellent adsorption of lithium polysulfide by metal oxides. The MO_x@CNT/S electrode exhibited higher capacity characteristics and cycle stability than the CNT/S electrode without metal oxides. Among the MO_x@CNT/S electrodes, the NiO@CNT/S electrode displayed a high discharge capacity of 780 mAh g^-1 at 1 C and an extreme capacity decrease to 134 mAh g^-1 after 200 cycles. Although the MgO@CNT/S electrode exhibited a low discharge rate of 544 mAh g^-1 in the initial cycle, it showed good cycle stability with 90% of capacity retention up to 200 cycles. Further, to achieve high capacity and cycle stability, the Ni_0.7Mg_0.3O@CNT/S electrode, mixed with Ni:Mg in the ratio of 0.7:0.3, manifested an initial discharge rate of 755 mAh g^-1 (1 C) and a capacity retention rate of more than 90% after 200 cycles. Therefore, applying binary metal oxides to CNT/S provides a freestanding electrode for developing economical and high-performance Li-S batteries, effectively improving lithium polysulfide's high capacity characteristics and dissolution.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2020

All coal ash, generated from coal-fired power plants, is entirely dumped onto a landfill site. As coal ash contains 80% fly ash, a clean floating process was developed in this study to recover useful components from coal ash and to use them as high value-added industrial materials. When the unburned carbon (UC) was recovered from the fly ash, soybean oil, an eco-friendly vegetable oil, was used as collector instead of a non-ionic kerosene collector to prevent the occurrence of odor from the kerosene. After the UC was separated by flotation, particulate ceramic microsphere (CM) was recovered, without generating acidic wastewater, through hydro-cyclone instead of sulfuric acid solution in order to separate ceramic microsphere (CM) and cleaned ash (CA) from the residue. By utilizing soybean oil as a collector, the recovery rate of UC turned high at 85.8% due to the increased adsorption of UC, the high viscosity of soybean oil, and the increase in floating properties caused by the linoleic acid contained in soybean oil. All of the combustible components contained in the recovered UC were carbon components, with the carbon content registering high when soybean oil was used. The recovered UC had many pores with a rough surface; thus, it could be easily ground and then used as an industrial material for its fine particles. The CM and CA recovered by the clean separation process using hydro-cyclone had a spherical shape, and the particles were clearly separated without clumping together. The average diameter (D₅₀) of the particles was 5 ㎛, so it was possible to realize the atomization of CM through a process change.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.593-599
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• 2017

In order to enhance ultra battery performances, the electrochemical characteristics of nano Pb/AC anode composite was investigated. Through nano Pb adsorption onto activated carbon, nano Pb/AC was synthesized and it was washed under vacuum process. The prepared anode materials was analysed by SEM, BET and EDS. The specific surface area and average pore size of nano Pb/AC composite were $1740m^2/g$ and 1.95 nm, respectively. The negative electrode of ultra battery was prepared by nano Pb/AC dip coating on lead plate. The electrochemical performances of ultra battery were studied using $PbO_2$ (the positive electrode) and prepared nano Pb/AC composite (the negative electrode) pair. Also the electrochemical behaviors of ultra battery were investigated by charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry, impedance and rate capability tests in 5 M $H_2SO_4$ electrolyte. The initial capacity and cycling performance of the present nano Pb/AC ultra battery were improved with respect to the lead battery and the AC-coated lead battery. These experimental results indicate that the proper addition of nano Pb/AC into the negative electrode can improve the discharge capacity and the long term cycle stability and remarkably suppress the hydrogen evolution reaction on the negative electrode.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.236-240
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• 2015

Previously we reported that the hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 is capable of producing hydrogen (H₂) from formate, CO or starch. In this study, we describe the immobilization of T. onnurineus NA1 as an alternative means of H₂ production. Amine-coated silica particles were effective in immobilizing T. onnurineus NA1 by electrostatic interaction, showing a maximum cell adsorption capacity of 71.7 mg-dried cells per g of particle. In three cycles of repeated-batch cultivation using sodium formate as the sole energy source, immobilized cells showed reproducible H₂ production with a considerable increase in the initial production rate from 2.3 to 4.0 mmol l⁻¹ h⁻¹, mainly due to the increase in the immobilized cell concentration as the batch culture was repeated. Thus, the immobilized-cell system of T. onnurineus NA1 was demonstrated to be feasible for H₂ production. This study is the first example of immobilized cells of hyperthermophilic archaea being used for the production of H₂.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.62-71
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• 2008

Soil quality standards (SQS) are necessary to protect the human health and soil biota from the exposure to soil pollutants. The current SQS in Korea contain only sixteen substances, and it is scheduled to expand the number of substances. Chemical ranking and scoring (CRS) system is very effective to screen the priority chemicals for the future SQS in terms of their toxicity and exposure potential. In this study, several CRS systems were extensively compared to propose the assessment factors that required for the screening of soil pollutants The CRS systems considered in this study include the CHEMS-1 (Chemical Hazard Evaluation for Management Strategies), SCRAM (Scoring and Ranking Assessment Model), EURAM (European Union Risk Ranking Method), ARET (Accelerated Reduction/Elimination of Toxics), CRSKorea, and other systems. The additional assessment factors of CRS suitable for soil pollutants were suggested. We suggest soil adsorption factor as an appropriate factor of CRS system to consider chemical transport from soil to groundwater. Other factors such as soil emission rate and cases of accident of soil pollutants were included. These results were reflected to screen the priority chemicals in Korea, as a part of the project entitled ‘Setting the Priority of Soil Contaminants'.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.223-230
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• 2000

A rearing experiment of the olive flounder was performed in a set of water-reuse system to test the reusability of the water in culture system with (i) a foam fractionator to separate particles from water and (ii) a culture tank contain mineral particles to filter the metabolic wastes by adsorption and/or decomposition. Two kinds of commercially processed loess particles and a dolomite particle (all 50 ${\mu}$diameter) were tested. The mineral particles were suspended in the culture tank and the water was pumped into the foam fractionator, where the particles were separated and drained out with foam from the system. In a circular culture tank of 4.8 m in diameter with 10 d water, the juvenile olive flounders (23.1 g/fish, 5,555 fish, 128 kg total body weight) were stocked. 90 % of the rearing water was reused and turnover rate of the water in the tank was two times per hour. Water temperature was maintained 17${\pm}$1$^{\circ}C$. At the end of 75 day-experimental rearing, 5,532 flounders, weighing 468 kg, were harvested. An individual flounder grew to 84.6 g of body weight. The final stocking density was 26.0 kg/$m^2$. No diseases were observed during the experiment.

• Proceedings of the KSEEG Conference
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• 2002.06a
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• pp.81-100
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• 2002

While most of regulatory communities in abroad recognize ' 'natural attenuation " to include degradation, dispersion, dilution, sorption (including precipitation and transformation), and volatilization as governing Processes, regulators prefer "degradation" because this mechanism destroys the contaminant of concern. Unfortunately, true degradation only applies to organic contaminants and short- lived radionuclides, and leaves most metals and long-lived radionuclides. The natural attenuation Processes may reduce the potential risk Posed by site contaminants in three ways: (i)contaminants could be converted to a less toxic form througy destructive processes such as biodegradation or abiotic transformations; (ii) potential exposure levels may be reduced by lowering concentrations (dilution and dispersion); and (iii) contaminant mobility and bioavailability may be reduced by sorption to geomedia. In this review, authors will focus will focul on "sorption" among the natural attenuation processes of hazardous inorganic contaminants including radionuclides. Note though that sorption and transformation processes of inorganic contaminants in the natural setting could be influenced by biotic activities but our discussion would limit only to geochemical reactions involved in the natural attenuation. All of the geochemical reactions have been studied in-depth by numerous researchers for many years to understand "retardation" process of contaminants in the geomedia. The most common approach for estimating retardation is the determination of distrubution coefficiendts ($K_{d}$) of contaminants using parametric or mechanistic models. As typocally used in fate and contaminant transport calculations such as predictive models of the natural attenuation, the $K_{d}$ is defined as the ratio of the contaminant concentration in the surrounding aqueous solution when the system is at equilibrium. Unfortunately, generic or default $K_{d}$ values can result in significant error when used to predict contaminant migration rate and to select a site remediation alternative. Thus, to input the best $K_{d}$ value in the contaminant transport model, it is essential that important geochemical processes affecting the transport should be identified and understood. Precipitation/dissolution and adsorption/desorption are considered the most important geochemical processes affecting the interaction of inorganic and radionuclide contaminants with geomedia at the near and far field, respectively. Most of contaminants to be discussed in this presentation are relatively immobile, i.e., have very high $K_{d}$ values under natural geochemical environments. Unfortunately, the obvious containment in a source area may not be good enough to qualify as monitored natural attenuation site unless owner demonstrate the efficacy if institutional controls that were put in place to protect potential receptors. In this view, natural attenuation as a remedial alternative for some of sites contaminated by hazardous-inorganic components is regulatory and public acceptance issues rather than scientific issue.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 1997

Since volcanic ash soils in Cheju island have high capacities of adsorption and immobilization of phosphate, a relatively high rate of P application has been recommended in citrus orchards for many years and such a large amount of P application could be problematic both in agricultural and environmental point of view. The objective of this study was to test whether arbuscular-mycorrhizae can be used to improve P availability in Cheju citrus orchard soils. Soil, root and leaf samples were taken from 14 citrus orchards of different location and soil texture. Mycorrhizal spore distribution in the soils, mycorrhizal infection ratio on the citrus roots, and mineral nutrients in leaf samples were determined. Numbers of mycorrhizal spore were in the range of $9,000{\sim}40,000/100g$ soil. The population level was not correlated with any of the soil characteristics examined. Mycorrhizae were found in all of the examined orchards and root infection ratio varied between $14{\sim}60%$. The mycorrhizae infection ratio differed substantially in different soils. Although root infection was high at soils with low extractable P level, it was not significantly correlated with other soil factors measured. Since a positive correlation was observed between leaf P concentration and root infection, enhancement of P uptake seemed to be associated with mycorrhizal infection. These results indicate that mycorrhizae could be a useful method to reduce P applications in Cheju citrus orchards.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 2006

Total suspended solids (TSS), five-day biochemical oxygen demand ($BOD_5$), total nitrogen (T-N), and total phosphorous (T-P) concentrations around and under a floating island were examined from October 2002 to September 2003. The island was installed in July 2002 on the surface of an agricultural irrigation reservoir located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. It was composed of six polyethylene panels. Each panel was 2 m (length) ${\times}$ 1 m (width) ${\times}$ 0.02 m (thick) and had about thirty-two holes each with a diameter of eight centimeters, through which plant roots grew down into the water. Coconut fibers of nine-centimeters in height were placed on the panel, which sustained plants rhizomes and roots. Both the fibers and the panel were raped with polyethylene wire mashes. About thirty irises (Iris pseudoacorus) were planted into the fibers of each panel. The concentrations of TSS, $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P below the island during the iris-growing season averaged 9.70, 2.59, 3.61 and 0.14 mg/L, respectively and those around it averaged 9.99, 2.83, 4.07 and 0.16 mg/L, respectively. The average concentrations of TSS, $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P below it during the iris non-growing season were 8.68, 2.37, 3.25 and 0.14 mg/L, respectively and those near it were 8.76, 2.43, 3.34 and 0.15 mg/L, respectively. At a significance level of ${\alpha}$=0.05, $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P concentrations under the island during the iris-growing season were significantly low when compared with those around it except TSS. No differences in TSS, $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P concentrations between around and near it were found at a significance level of ${\alpha}$=0.05 during the iris non-growing season. The removal of $BOD_5$, T-N, and T-P during the growing season were significantly high when compared with those during the non-growing season. TSS abatement of the floating island was very low during both the growing and non-growing seasons. The island's reductions of $BOD_5$, T-N and T-P were good during the growing season, especially T-N and T-P, which have been considered as primary pollutant sources causing the water quality degradation of reservoirs. The removal of T-N and T-P was primarily attributed to the absorption of nitrogen and phosphorous by the irises during the growing season.