• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.157-162
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• 2018

In the study, herbaceous biomass waste including giant miscanthus, corn stalk, and wheat stalk were used to prepare commercially valuable activated carbons by KOH activation. The waste biomass predominantly consists of cellulose/hemicellulose and lignin, in which decomposition after carbonization and activation contributed to commercially valuable specific surface areas (>$2000m^2/g$) and specific capacitances (>120 F/g) that exceeded those of commercial activated carbon. The significant electrochemical performance of the herbaceous biomass-derived activated carbons indicated the feasibility of utilizing waste biomass to fabricate energy storage materials. Furthermore, with respect to both economic and environmental perspectives, it is advantageous to obtain activated carbon from herbaceous biomass waste given the ease of handling biomass and the low production cost of activated carbon.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.70-78
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• 2022

To respond to global warming, there is an increasing interest in eco-friendly alternative energy sources. Therefore, unused forest biomass that has been neglected due to a lack of marketability is attracting attention. With the introduction of the "unused forest biomass certification system" in 2019, ways of determining quantity of unused forest biomass have steadily increased. However, there have been reported cases whereby unused forest biomass weighed more than the amount of harvested trees. It was found that it was possible that forest resources that can be used as round wood were mixed with unused forest biomass. In this context, this study aimed to estimate the amount of mixed round wood in the unused forest biomass supply. The relative expression of growing stock/ha versus the amount of final clearing/ha collected was modeled (y=1.490x-94.341, R²=0.861). As a result, it was found that round wood was mixed into the unused forest biomass, contributing to the disparity observed between the weighted forest biomass and the amount of trees harvested. In conclusion, proper declaration and certification procedures should be carried out for the use of forest resources and promoting unused forest biomass usage.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.297-302
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• 2015

With the intention to solve environmental problems caused by synthetic plastics from petroleum resources, biodegradable polyurethane foams and thermosetting moldings were prepared from biomass, such as wood and wheat bran by liquefaction method. Biodegradability of these biomass-based polymeric materials was investigated. In activated sludge, polyurethane foams from liquefied wheat bran and thermosetting molding from phenolated wood were decomposed approximately 14% and 29% for 20 days, respectively. One of the wood fungi, Coriolus versicolor was able to grow without supplemental nutrition, only with distilled water and polyurethane foam as a nutrition source. Risk assessments were also conducted and results showed that estrogenicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity were not observed in the extractives of biomass- based polymeric materials.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.27-34
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• 2023

In this study, various plant-based biomass are recycled into carbon materials to employ as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Firstly, various biomass of rice husk, chestnut, tea bag, and coffee ground are collected, washed, and ground. The carbonization process is followed under a nitrogen atmosphere at 850℃. The morphological and chemical properties of materials are investigated using FE-SEM, EDS, and FT-IR to compare the characteristic differences between various biomass. It is noticeable that biomass-derived carbon materials vary in shape and degree of carbonization depending on their precursor materials. These materials are applied as anode materials to measure the electrochemical performance. The specific capacities of rice husk-, chetnut-, tea bag-, and coffee ground-derived carbon materials are evaluated as 65.8, 80.2, 90.6, and 104.7 mAh g^-1 at 0.2C. Notably, coffee ground-based carbon exhibited the highest specific capacity owing to the difference in elemental composition and the degree of carbonization. Conclusively, this study suggests the possibility of utilizing as energy storage devices by employing various plant-based biomass into active materials for anodes.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.32-42
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• 2012

Wood biomass including forest residues, waste wood, and construction residuals has been widely generated in Korea, but forest biomass from the National Forest Management Operation Project plays a big role in generating wood biomass. Unfortunately the promotion policy of woody energy organized by the Forest Service in Korea concentrates more on demand creation rather than on supply expansion. Therefore, in order to utilize insufficient wood resources effectively, it is greatly required to develop uses for maximizing their added value. In particular, more attention to the use of the second generation biomass has been paid in foreign countries because there is a threshold that the first generation biomass cannot produce enough biofuel without threatening food supplies and biodiversity. In Korea, wood pellets are regarded as the alternative clean fuels to oils and coals that emit green house gases into the atmosphere. However, using wood as pellet raw materials can not be an economic way because the value of wood disappears right after burning in the boiler in spite of its contribution to the decrease of carbon emission. Differently from wood pellets, kraft pulping process using woody biomass produces black liquor as a by-product which can be used to generate electricity, bioenergy and biochemicals through gasification. Thus, it can be more economical to make a torrefaction of lignocellulosic biomass such as low-quality wood and agricultural leftovers as raw materials of pellets.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.85-92
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• 2004

Biomass is considered to be a major potential fuel and renewable resource for the future. In fact, there is high potential to produce significant amount of energy from biomass around the world. In spite of the potential, there are a few efforts in biomass utilization in this nation. In this study, elemental biomass data was obtained with respect to the amount and calorific values of agricultural residues. Rice straw and husks were not included in the evaluation due to their demand from alternative uses such as livestock feedings, bedding materials, and so forth. Dry basis high calorific values are about 4,500 kcal/kg for all the agricultural residues investigated, similar to literature data. Energy densities or unit area energy value, from pepper and sesame were significant and comparable to those of woody biomass. These elemental data for biomass resources will Provide the background of Planning and development of biomass energy Program, which is getting more feasible along with advances in energy conversion technologies such as micro gas turbines.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.662-665
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• 2007

Since biomass is given the status of "renewable resource" in contrast to "exhaustible resource" e.q., fossil fuels, it plays a significant role in the sustainable development in future. We installed a downdraft gasifier for power generation from biomass materials. The biomass raw materials were wood chips with a moisture content of 18-23 wt.%, supplied at 40-50kg/h. This paper describes on the optimum gasification air ratio that is defined as the ratio of the oxygen mole supplied into the gasifier to the oxygen mole required for complete combustion for producing syngas supplied into a gas engine. The results showed that, lower heating value of the syngas was 1200 $kcal/m^3$ $_N-dry$ and cold gas efficiency of the gasification system was 72% under optimum operating conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.289-296
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• 2011

Recently, much of forest biomass has been obtained from the national forest management operation. Unfortunately, Korean Forest Services has a plan to use this forest biomass as energy fuels for wood pellets. Considering unhappy situation that about 80% of wood pulps has been imported, it is regarded as unwise decision. If forest biomass can be used to make pulps or other valuable woody products, we are able to double its economic value than the raw materials for wood pellets. In this study, we explored alternative raw materials for wood biomass used to make wood pellets. For this, fresh technology such as torrefaction was applied with the other lignocellulosic biomass.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.25-32
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• 2009

Forest biomass can be used as various types of raw materials such as pulp, wood pellets, solid charcoals and so on. This paper estimates the nation wide amount of forest biomass based on the projection of forest areas for its effective and economic use. Several trend equations are used in projecting the forest areas. In 2009, the forest biomass arising from thinning is estimated be 6,591,575 $m^3$. The estimates of forest biomass in 2015 and 2018 are 6,375,627 $m^3$ and 6,284,779 $m^3$, respectively. Since the forest areas are projected to be declining, the biomass generated by thinning will decrease. This implies that the new alternatives for supplying raw materials for biofuels must be prepared before then.