• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.115-124
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• 2020

Sustainable plastics can be mainly categorized into (1) biodegradable plastics decomposed into water and carbon dioxide after use, and (2) biomass-derived plastics possessing the carbon neutrality by utilizing raw materials converted from atmospheric carbon dioxide to biomass. Recently, biomass-derived engineering plastics (EP) and natural nanofiber-reinforced nanocomposites are emerging as a new direction of the industry. In addition to the eco-friendliness of natural resources, these materials are competitive over petroleum-based plastics in the high value-added plastics market. Polyesters and polycarbonates synthesized from isosorbide and 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid, which are representative biomass-derived monomers, are at the forefront of industrialization due to their higher transparency, mechanical properties, thermal stability, and gas barrier properties. Moreover, isosorbide has potential to be applied to super EP material with continuous service temperature over 150 ℃. In situ polymerization utilizing surface hydrophilicity and multi-functionality of natural nanofibers such as nanocellulose and nanochitin achieves remarkable improvements of mechanical properties with the minimal dose of nanofillers. Biomass-derived tough-plastics covered in this review are expected to replace petroleum-based plastics by satisfying the carbon neutrality required by the environment, the high functionality by the consumer, and the accessibility by the industry.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.361-367
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• 1996

An inverse fluidized-bed biofilm reactor (IFBBR) was used for the treatment of highly-emulsified oily wastewater. When the concentration of biomass which was cultivated in the synthetic wastewater reached to 6000 mg/1, the oily wastewater was employed to the reactor with a input COD concentration range of 50 mg/1 to 1900 mg/l. Virtually the IFBBR showed a high stability during the long operation period although soma fluctuation was observed. The COD removal efficiency was maintained over 9% under the condition that organic loading rate should be controlled under the value of 1.5 kgCOD/$m^3$/day, and F/M ratio is 1.0 kgCOD/kgVSS/day at $22{\circ}C$ and HRT of 12 hrs. As increasing organic loading rates, the biomass concentration was decreased steadily with decreasing of biofilm dry density rather than biofilm thickness. Based on the experimental jesuits, it was suggested that the decrease in biofilm dry density was caused by a loss of biomass inside the biofilm.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.35-44
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• 2010

Biofuel based on available biomass in rural area could contribute to increase the vitality and income of rural residents. This study estimates the potential production and environmental benefits of biofuel production from surplus rice, rice straw, cow manure, and food waste in South Korea. We could produce about 2.4 billion liters of ethanol using surplus rice and rice straw and 841 million $m^3$ of methane from cow manure and food waste. 1.7 billion liters of gasoline and 800 million liters of diesel could be replaced with these potential biofuel productions, which can annually reduce 4.9 million ton $CO_2$ eq. GHGs.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.675-683
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• 2016

One osmotolerant strain from among 44 yeast isolates was selected based on its growth abilities in media containing high concentrations of sucrose. This selected strain, named SK-ENNY, was identified as Meyerozyma guilliermondii by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer regions and partial D1/D2 large-subunit domains of the 26S ribosomal RNA. SK-ENNY was utilized to produce high-fructose glucose syrup (HFGS) from sucrose-containing biomass. Conversion rates to HFGS from 310-610 g/l of pure sucrose and from 75-310 g/l of sugar beet molasses were 73.5-94.1% and 76.2-91.1%, respectively. In the syrups produced, fructose yields were 89.4-100% and 96.5-100% and glucose yields were 57.6-82.5% and 55.3-79.5% of the theoretical values for pure sucrose and molasses sugars, respectively. This is the first report of employing M. guilliermondii for production of HFGS from sucrose-containing biomass.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.40-47
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• 2014

This study is intended to analyze the appropriate scope for 9.9MW biomass cogeneration, feasibility and sensitivity according to changing market situation. In the study, the heat load is classified into three types to predict heat sales and find out the appropriate scope of thermal business that is operated in CHP 34.42 Gcal/h, PLBwg 70 Gcal/h of cogeneration. the feasibility is estimated based on internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value(NPV). the sensitivity is analyzed in terms of biomass fuel cost, unit price of heating cost, investment cost, SMP unit price and REC unit price.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.89-97
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• 2008

A downdraft gasifier was manufactured for biomass gasification. The gasifier was designed based on the principles of gasification presented in previous studies. The pipes of 25mm diameter were used for both supplying air and discharging producer gas. Wood charcoals were mostly used for fuels. The concentration of CO ranged from 25 to 35%, comparable to the values presented in other studies. The temperature outside wall of the gasifier was measured up to $400^{\circ}C$, indicating a great heat loss. When glass wool was cover over the wall, some parts of wire mesh located in the bottom of the reactor were molten down. There were several modifications that should be made in order to improve its efficiency and obtain more stable continuous gasification, including insulation, reduction in pressure loss, durable bottom meshes, the optimum length of reaction part, and safety.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.15-23
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• 2010

Bio-ethanol is the most potential next generation automotive fuel for reducing both consumption of crude oil and environmental pollution from renewable resources such as wood, forest residuals, agricultural leftovers and urban wastes. Lignocellulosic based materials can be broken down into individual sugars. Therefore, saccharification is one of the important steps for producing sugars, such as 6-C glucose, galactose, mannose and 5-C xylose, mannose and rhamnose. These sugars can be further broken down and fermented into ethanol. The main objective of this research is to study the feasibility and optimize saccharification and fermentation process for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to low cost bioethanol.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2013

The entire land of Southern Iran faces problems arising out of various types of land degradation of which vegetation degradation forms one of the major types. The present work introduces a model developed for assessing the current status of hazard of vegetation degradation using Geographic Information System (GIS). This kind of assessment differs from those assessments based on vulnerability or potential hazard assessments. The Sadra watershed which covers the upper reaches of Marharlu basin, Fars Province, has been chosen for a hazard assessment of this type of degradation. The different kinds of data for indicators of current status of vegetation degradation were gathered from collecting of field data and also records of the governmental offices of Iran. Taking into consideration three indicators of current status of vegetation degradation the model identifies areas with different hazard classes. By fixing the thresholds of severity classes of the three indicators including per cent of vegetation cover, biomass production and ratio of actual biomass to potential biomass production, a hazard map for each indicator was first prepared in GIS. The final hazard map of current status of vegetation degradation was prepared by intersecting three hazards in the GIS. Results show areas under severe hazard class have been found to be widespread (89 %) while areas under moderate and very severe hazard classes have been found less extensive in the Sadra watershed. The preparation of hazard maps based on the GIS analysis of these indicators will be helpful for prioritizing the areas to initiate remedial measures.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.389-401
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• 2011

Most nations around the world have expressed significant concern in the climate change due to a rapid increase in green-house gases and thus reach an international agreement to control total amount of these gases for the mitigation of global warming. As the most important absorber of carbon dioxide, one of major green-house gases, forest resources should be more tightly managed with a means to measure their total amount, forest biomass, efficiently and accurately. Forest biomass has close relations with forest areas and tree height. Airborne LiDAR data helps extract biophysical properties on forest resources such as tree height more efficiently by providing detailed spatial information about the wide-range ground surface. Many researchers have thus developed various methods to estimate tree height using LiDAR data, which retain different performance and characteristics depending on forest environment and data characteristics. In this study, we attempted to investigate such various techniques to estimate tree height, elaborate their advantages and limitations, and suggest future research directions. We first examined the characteristics of LiDAR data applied to forest studies and then analyzed methods on filtering, a precedent procedure for tree height estimation. Regarding the methods for tree height estimation, we classified them into two categories: individual tree-based and regression-based method and described the representative methods under each category with a summary of their analysis results. Finally, we reviewed techniques regarding data fusion between LiDAR and other remote sensing data for future work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2005.08a
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• pp.100-113
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• 2005

Leaf color and plant vigor are key indicators of crop health. These visual plant attributes are frequently used by greenhouse managers, producers, and consultants to make water, nutrient, and disease management decisions. Remote sensing techniques can quickly quantify soil and plant attributes, but it requires humans to translate such data into meaningful information. Over time, scientists have used reflectance data from individual wavebands to develop a series of indices that attempt to quantify things like soil organic matter content, leaf chlorophyll concentration, leaf area index, vegetative cover, amount of living biomass, and grain yield. The recent introduction of active sensors that function independent of natural light has greatly expanded the capabilities of scientists and managers to obtain useful information. Characteristics and limitations of active sensors need to be understood to optimize their use for making improved management decisions. Pot experiments involving sand culture were conducted in 2003 and 2004 in a green house to evaluate corn and red pepper biomass. The rNDVI, gNDVI and aNDVI by ground-based remote sensors were used for evaluation of corn and red pepper biomass. The result obtained from the case study was shown that ground remote sensing as a non-destructive real-time assessment of plant nitrogen status was thought to be a useful tool for in season crop nitrogen management providing both spatial and temporal information.