• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.344-359
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• 2019

Effects of various types of zeolite on the catalytic performance of hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of bio-oil obtained from waste larch wood pyrolysis were investigated herein. Bifunctional catalysts were prepared via wet impregnation. The catalysts were characterized through XRD, BET, and SEM. Experimental results demonstrated that HDO enhanced the fuel properties of waste wood bio-oil, such as higher heating values (HHV) (20.4-28.3 MJ/kg) than bio-oil (13.7 MJ/kg). Water content (from 19.3 in bio-oil to 3.1-16.6 wt% in heavy oils), the total acid number (from 150 in bio-oil to 28-77 mg KOH/g oil in heavy oils), and viscosity (from 103 in bio-oil to $40-69mm^2/s$ in heavy oils) also improved post HDO. In our experiments, depending on the zeolite support, NiFe/HBeta exhibited a high Si/Al ratio of 38 with a high specific surface area ($545.1m^2/g$), and, based on the yield of heavy oil (18.3-18.9 wt%) and HHV (22.4-25.2 MJ/kg), its performance was not significantly affected by temperature and solvent concentration variations. In contrast, NiFe/zeolite Y, which had a low Si/Al ratio of 5.2, exhibited the highest improved quality for heavy oil at high temperature, with an HHV of 28.3 MJ/kg at $350^{\circ}C$ with 25 wt% of solvent.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.51-63
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• 2024

Polypropylene (PP) is a commodity plastic that is widely used owing to its cost-effectiveness, lightweight nature, easy processability, and outstanding chemical and thermomechanical characteristics. However, the imperative to address energy and environmental crises has spurred global initiatives toward a circular economy, necessitating sustainable alternatives to traditional fossil-fuel-derived plastics. In this study, we conducted a series of comparative investigations of bio-based polypropylene (bio-PP) blends with current PP of the same and different grades. An extrusion-based processing methodology was employed for the bio-PP composites. Talc was used as an active filler for the preparation of the composites. A comparative analysis with the current petroleum-based PP indicated that the thermal properties and tensile characteristics of the bio-PP blends and composites remained largely unaltered, signifying the feasibility of bio-PP as a potential substitute for the current PP. To achieve a higher Young's modulus, elongation at break (EAB), and melt flow index (MFI), we prepared different composites of PP of different grades and bio-PP with varying talc contents. Interestingly, at higher biomass contents, the composites exhibited higher MFI and EAB values with comparable Young's moduli. Notably, the impact strengths of the composites with various biomass and talc contents remained unaltered. In-depth investigations through surface analysis confirmed the uniform dispersion of talc within the composite matrix. Furthermore, the moldability of the bio-PP composites was substantiated by comprehensive rheological property assessments encompassing shear rate and shear viscosity. Thus, from these outcomes, the fabricated bio-PP-based composites could be an alternative to petroleum-based PP composites for sustainable automobile applications.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.941-953
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• 2019

Biodiesels are being explored as a clean energy alternative to regular diesel, which causes pollution. In this study, the optimum conditions for producing biodiesel (BD) by combining beef tallow, an animal waste resource with a high saturated fatty acid content, and corn oil, a vegetable oil with a high unsaturated fatty acid content, were investigated, and the fuel properties were analyzed. Furthermore, Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to verify the optimum conditions for producing biodiesel. The influences of control factors, such as the oil blend ratio and methanol to oil molar ratio, on the fatty acid methyl ester and biodiesel production yield were investigated. As a result, the optimum condition for producing blended biodiesel was verified to be tallow to corn oil blend ratio of 7 : 3 (TACO7) and a methanol to oil molar ratio of 14 : 1. Moreover, the interaction between the oil blend ratio and the methanol to oil molar ratio has the most crucial effects on the production of oil blended biodiesel. In conclusion, the analysis results of the fuel properties of TACO7 BD satisfied the BD quality standard, and thus, the viability of BD blended with waste tallow as fuel was verified.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.307-310
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• 2010

The research for production of jet fuel from petroleum displacement resources such as bio-mass, coal, natural gas mainly consists of three sub-research areas; the fisrt step is the pretreatment for producing a synthetic gas, and the next step is the Fischer-Trophsh reaction process for making hydrocarbons. The last is the upgrading technology for the hydrocarbons to fit a jet fuel specification via cracking and isomerization reactions. This talk presents reaserch trends and main technologies for production of jet fuel derived from petroleum displacement resources.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.447-452
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• 2016

It is imperative to develop an effective pathway to depolymerize lignin into liquid fuel that can be used as a bioheavy oil. Lignin can be converted into liquid products either by a solvent-free thermal cracking in the absence air, or thermo-chemical degradation in the presence of suitable solvents and chemicals. Here we show that the solvent-assisted liquefaction has produced promising results in the presence of metal-based catalysts. The supercritical ethanol is an efficient liquefaction solvent, which not only provides better solubility to lignin, but also scavenges the intermediate species. The concentrated sulfuric acid hydrolysis lignin (CSAHL) was completely liquefied in the presence of solid catalysts (Ni, Pd and Ru) with no char formation. The effective deoxy-liquefaction nature associated with scEtOH with aid hydrodeoxygenation catalysts, resulted in significant reduction in oxygen-to-carbon (O/C) molar ratio up to 61%. The decrease in oxygen content and increase in carbon and hydrogen contents increased the calorific value bio-oil, with higher heating value (HHV) of $34.6MJ{\cdot}Kg^{-1}$. The overall process is energetically efficient with 129.8% energy recovery (ER) and 70.8% energy efficiency (EE). The GC-TOF/MS analysis of bio-oil shows that the bio-oil mainly consists of monomeric species such as phenols, esters, furans, alcohols, and traces of aliphatic hydrocarbons. The bio-oil produced has better flow properties, low molecular weight, and high aromaticity.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.499-506
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• 2010

Recently, a great deal of attention have been directed to the use of alternative fuels as a means to reduce vehicular emissions. As one of the promising alternative fuels, bio-diesel has advantages of a wide adaptability without retrofit of diesel engine. It is also effective enough to reduce CO, THC, $SO_x$, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and PM. In this study, we investigated the emission characteristics of biofuels between different operating conditions, i.e., engine speed (1,400 rpm and 2,300 rpm), engine load (10% and 100%), bio-diesel blending (BD0, BD5 and BD20), and recirculation (EGR) rate of exhaust gas (0% and 20%). Relative performance of the system was evaluated mainly for the greenhouse gases ($CH_4$, $N_2O$ and $CO_2$). In addition, emission characteristics of ND-13 mode were also tested against both greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants under emission regulation. The relative composition of bio-diesel has shown fairly clear effects on the emission quantities of CO, THC, and PM emission, although it was not on $NO_x$ and greenhouse gases. EGR rate has shown trade-off characteristics between $NO_x$ and PM.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.4171-4175
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• 2011

Bio-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which bio-specifically interact with biotin-(strept)avidin, were investigated in this study. AuNPs were functionalized with a synthetically-provided biotin-linked thiol (BLT), which was synthesized by amidation of the active ester of biotin with 2-mercaptoethylamine. The BLT-attached AuNP was bio-specific for streptavidin, making it potentially useful for biosensor applications. To test the bio-specific interactions, the colors, absorption spectra and TEM images were investigated for proteins such as streptavidin, cytochrome C, myoglobin and hemoglobin. The colors and absorption spectra changed when streptavidin was added to the BLT-attached AuNP solution. However, the color and spectra did not change when the other proteins were added to the same solution. These results show that the AuNPs provided a colloidal solution with excellent stability and highly selective absorption characteristics for streptavidin as a target molecule. Proteins were also screened in order to identify a general strategy for the use of optical biosensing proteins based on AuNPs. In addition, TEM images confirmed that streptavidin led the BLT-attached AuNPs to aggregate or precipitate.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.306-311
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• 2013

Purpose: With the ever-rising energy prices, thermal energy heavily consuming facilities of the agricultural sector such as commercialized greenhouses and large-scale Rice Processing Complexes (RPCs) need to cut down their energy cost if they must run profitable businesses continually. One possible way to reduce their energy cost is to utilize combustible agricultural by-products or low-price oil instead of light oil as the fuel for their boiler systems. This study aims to analyze the heavy oil combustion characteristics of a newly developed hot water boiler system that can use both rice husk and heavy oil as its fuel convertibly. Methods: Heavy oil combustion experiments were conducted in this study employing four fuel feed rates (7.6, 8.5, 9.5, 11.4 $l/h$) at a combustion furnace vacuum pressure of 500 Pa and with four combustion furnace vacuum pressures (375, 500, 625, 750 Pa) at fuel feed rates of 9.5 and 11.4 $l/h$. Temperatures at five locations inside the combustion furnace and 20 additional locations throughout the whole hot water boiler system were measured to ascertain the combustion characteristics of the heavy oil. From the temperature measurement data, the thermal efficiency of the system was calculated. Flue gas smoke density and concentrations of air-polluting components in the flue gas were also measured by a gas analyzer. Results: As the fuel feed rate or combustion furnace vacuum pressure increased, the average temperature in the combustion furnace decreased but the thermal efficiency of the system showed no distinctive change. On the other hand, the thermal efficiency of the system was inversely proportionally to the vacuum level in the furnace. For all experimental conditions, the thermal efficiency remained in the range of 80.1-89.6%. The CO concentration in the flue gas was negligibly low. The NO and $SO_2$ concentration as well as the smoke density met the legal requirements. Conclusions: Considering the combustion temperature characteristics, thermal efficiency, and flue gas composition, the optimal combustion condition of the system seemed to be either the fuel feed rate of 9.5 $l/h$ with a combustion furnace vacuum pressure of 375 Pa or a fuel feed rate of 11.4 $l/h$ with a furnace vacuum pressure between 500 Pa and 625 Pa.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.73-82
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• 2007

World energy demand has been dramatically increasing because of using much energy of developing countries in Asia. The other side, conventional fossil fuels supply has been gradually decreasing due to the limitation of fossil fuel reserves and changing to the use of environmental-friendly energy for prevention the emission of carbon dioxide, NOx and SOx. Based on these times and status, we get the n necessity of the conversion of environmental-friendly energy and the high effective utilization of conventional and unconventional energy. Recently, promised DME fuel as environmental-friendly and substituted oils will be introduced the status of technology and market in domestic and foreign.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.146-151
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• 2004

The characteristics of combustion and emission of biodiesel fuel were investigated in a single cylinder DI diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. For investigating the effect of bio diesels, the experiments were conducted at various mixing ratio and engine operation conditions. Experimental results show that combustion pressure increased with the increase of mixing ratio and injection pressure. The HC and CO emissions are decreased and NOx emission is increased as the mixing ratio of biodiesels increases at 100MPa injection pressure. However the results of the emissions are shown the contrary to the results at 50MPa of injection pressure due to larger droplets of biodiesel sprays.