• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.609-615
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• 2015

In this study, the combustion and exhaust emission characteristics in a gasoline direct injection engine with variations of the bio-ethanol-gasoline blending ratio and the excess air factor were investigated. To investigate the effects of the excess air factor and the bio-ethanol blends with gasoline, combustion characteristics such as the in-cylinder combustion pressure, rate of heat release (ROHR), and the fuel consumption rate were analyzed. The reduction of exhaust emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (HC), and nitrogen oxides ($NO_x$) were compared with those of gasoline fuel with various excess air factors. The results showed that the peak combustion pressure and ROHR of bio-ethanol blends were slightly higher and were increased as bio-ethanol blending ratio is increased. Brake specific fuel consumption increased for a higher bio-ethanol blending ratio. The exhaust emissions decreased as the bio-ethanol blending ratio increased under all experimental conditions. The exhaust emissions of bio-ethanol fuels were lower than those of gasoline.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-87
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• 2008

We have a lot of interest in alternative fuels to provide energy independence from oil producing country and to reduce exhaust emissions for air pollution prevention. Biodiesel, which can be generated from natural renewable sources such as new or used vegetable oils or animal fats, may be used as fuel without change of engine structure in diesel engine of compression ignition engine. In this paper, the test results on specific fuel consumption and exhaust emissions of neat diesel oil and biodiesel blends(10 vol.% biodiesel and 20 vol.% biodiesel) were presented using four stroke, direct injection diesel engine. Especially this biodisel was produced from rape oil at our laboratory by ourselves. This study showed that specific fuel consumption and NOx emission were slightly increased, on the other hand CO emission and Soot were tolerably decreased more in the case of biodiesel blends than neat diesel oil.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.207-213
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• 2009

Starch serves not only as an energy source for plants, animals, and humans but also as an environmentally friendly alternative for fossil fuels. Progress in understanding of starch biosynthesis, and the isolation of many genes involved in this process have enabled the genetic modification of crops in a rational manner to produce novel starches with improved functionality. Starch is composed of two glucose polymers, amylose and amylopectin. The amylose and amylopectin ratio in starch affects its physical and physicochemical properties. Alteration in starch structure can be achieved by modifying genes encoding the enzymes responsible for starch biosynthesis and starch hydrolysis. Here, we describe recent findings concerning the starch modification in sweetpotato. Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] ranks seventh in annual production among food crops in the world as an important starch source. To develop transgenic sweetpotato plants with modifying starch composition, we constructed transformation vectors overexpressing granule bound starch synthase I and inhibiting amylopectin synthesis genes such as starch branching enzyme and isoamylase under the control of 35S promoter, respectively. Transformation of sweetpotato (cv. Yulmi) is in progress.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 2011

The interest about new and renewable energy is increasing to reduce the burden of problems by depletion of fossil fuels and air pollutions. For example, LNG/CNG and LPG are expected to be replaced, especially in transportation use, by HCNG mixture and DME-LPG mixture, respectively. Because these new energies are still flammable gases, it is not inherently safe from the explosion. In this research, the quantitative risk analysis for using alternative mixtures in existing recharging facilities has been studied by using three types of explosion models (TNT equivalency model, PHAST and CFD-based FLACS) to manage the risk effectively. The differences of results by models were compared against, and the practical ways of when and how to use these models were suggested. It was also predicted that conventional gas filling stations would be converted as new energy stations without additional explosion risk.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.41 no.10
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• pp.941-948
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• 2017

Recently, hydrogen energy has been in the spotlight as an alternative to diminishing fossil fuels and as a potential solution to environmental pollution. The development of hydrogen-fueled vehicles and the demands for improved fuel efficiencies have resulted in the need to increase the volume of the hydrogen pressure vessels. Pressure vessels having an elliptical bottom, as opposed to one that is hemispherical, allow for a greater capacity. However, there are insufficient studies on the feasibility of the forming process required for an elliptical bottom. In this study, the liner capacity is calculated according to the ratios of the major to the minor axes of the elliptical bottom part in a hydrogen pressure vessel. Structural safety is verified through finite element analyses, and the results are compared to the theoretical results. The feasibility of the proposed elliptical shape of the pressure vessel bottom, while filled to maximum capacity, is validated through forming analysis.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.470-478
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• 2016

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by fossil fuels consumption is one of the challenging issues worldwide. Renewable energy source (RES)-based energy supply system can be a promising alternative to the current fossil fuel-based system. In this study, we propose an optimization approach for designing a stand-alone hybrid energy supply system using RES and evaluating economic performances of the energy systems. The suggested approach is used to answer the questions; i) what technology is suitable to various demand sectors in different regions, and ii) how does it cost to meet the demand in term of the levelized costs of energy (LCOE). We illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach by applying to the design problem of energy supply systems for residential, agricultural and commercial sectors of Korea. As the results of LCOE analysis, for the residential sector has the LCOE ranging of $0.37~$0.44/kWh, the agricultural sector of $0.15~$0.61/kWh and the commercial sector of $0.12~$0.28/kWh.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.3 s.110
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• pp.185-191
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• 2005

Importance of alternative energy has been increasing due to environmental issues and lack of fossil fuels. In addition, heating cost that occupies from 30 to $40\%$ of the total production cost in the protected cultivation sector in Korea needs to be reduced for profitability and global competition. But, study on geothermal energy to solve these problems has not been activated for Korean protected cultivation. This study was conducted to develop an optimized geothermal exchange system through fundamental test of heat transfer characteristics in soil such as thermal diffusivity, changes in soil temperature during heating and cooling operations, and restorations of soil temperature after the heater was fumed off, These issues were investigated using computer simulation for different depths. The simulated characteristics were evaluated through controlled tests. Simulated characteristics of heat transfer in the soil at different depths showed a reasonable agreement with the results of the controlled tests. All of computer simulation and controlled tests, soil temperatures changed at 10cm and 20cm distance from pipe. but don't change at more than 30cm distance. It means that distances of heat transfer of the soil ranged from 20 to 30cm a day. Based on these results, the optimum spacing between adjacent heat exchange pipes and the pitch were selected as 50 and 40cm, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2014

Biodiesel as alternative fuels has been widely studied due to biodiesel merits such as lower sulfur, lower aromatic hydrocarbon and higher oxygen content. But biodiesels could be easily oxidized by several conditions. In this study, various antioxidants such as propyl gallate, TBHA, TBHQ, DTBHQ, butyl-amin, aniline and pyrogallol were added in the biodiesel produced by the used cooking oil, then the material property test and the vehicle emissions test were conducted in accordance with test method. From the results of material property test, all antioxidants were suitable for the quality standard of density and kinematic viscosity, but Propyl gallate and Pyrogallol, as a type of Gallate additives, showed that the result of TAN increased rapidly according to the increase of the amount of additives. In the oxidation stability test, TBHQ, Butyl-amine and Aniline showed the excellent oxidation stability. Also, when considering the material property test, TBHQ was verified to the most excellent additives. In case of the vehicle emissions test, the testing was conducted by using the biodiesel added by TBHQ and was conducted by using two light duty diesel vehicles suitable for the EURO 4 and EURO 5 emission regulation. The result of testing showed that when the TBHQ was added, the amounts of CO, NOx and NMHC+NOx were decreased but the amount of $CO_2$ was increased.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.653-682
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• 2007

In this study, multi-sectoral partial equilibrium and computable general equilibrium models of Taiwan are used to investigate the direct and indirect effects of energy price increases on overall economies and agro-food sector in Taiwan. The results suggest that agricultural prices, production cost would increase between 0.27% to 1.88%, and a reduction in GDP around 0.39% to 0.54 %. The negative impact on livestock sector is slightly higher than that on the crop sector. Negative impacts are also observed in the employment and wages. The rising oil price has the potential to discourage production of energy-intensive activity because of the possibility of substitution and adaptations. The growth rate of real GDP will shrink by 0.64% to 1.06% and CPI will increase by 1.17% to 1,95%. Both the agriculture and non-agricultural sector also respond by raising output prices by 0.80% to 1.33%. The rising international oil price has urged the government to take policy actions like using alternative fuels such as biodiesel, bioethanol, and adopting measures to cut down on energy consumptions mainly in transportation sectors in response to public concern over economic shocks.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.231-239
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• 2017

Solar energy is attracting attention as an alternative to fossil fuels. However, there was a lack of discussion on the overall research direction and future direction of research in technology development. In order to develop more effective technology, we analyzed and discussed the technology trend of solar energy using patent data and thesis data. As an analysis method, topics were selected by using topic modeling and text mining, the increase of included keywords was analyzed, and the direction of development of solar technology was analyzed. Research on solar power generation technology is expected to proceed steadily, and it is analyzed that intensive research will be done especially on high efficiency and high performance technology. Future studies could be conducted by adding overseas patent data and various paper data.