• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.345-357
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• 2023

The present study conducted a stem analysis to trace growth information of Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi) and predict the future changes in growth volume. For this purpose, six L. kaempferi trees over 47 years old were cut at 1-2 m intervals from a height of 0.2 m, and circular plates of 5 cm thickness were collected for stem analysis. The analysis indicated that approximately 1-8 years are required to grow up to chest height. The annual height and diameter growth increased rapidly until the trees are 15 years old and gradually decreased after 20 years. The volume of 30-year-old trees in Oegam-ri forests, which were well-managed after artificial reforestation, was 0.4837 m³, whereas that in unmanaged Singi-ri forests was 0.1956 m³. Although the volume of individual trees differed greatly depending on the forest management status, it was found that the volume increased by 1.67-1.76, 2.49, and 3.49 times at 40, 50, and 60 years age, respectively, compared to the legal harvesting age 30. Therefore, factors such as the carbon dioxide reduction effect, forest management benefits, and the condition of trees at the site should be considered before harvesting trees.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.89 no.5
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• pp.453-466
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• 2024

In this study, the optimization of the composite floor system with cellular beams is investigated. The objective function is the minimization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions and the optimal solution is defined by 19 design variables for the beam's topology, beams fabricated process, steel deck characteristics, columns. The requirements of the ultimate and serviceability state limits are considered for the composite floor system design. The program is developed within the MATLAB platform. A number of the benchmark test problems of composite floor systems with full web beams are optimized with cellular beams to verify the reduction of total CO₂ emission. The optimum results are obtained by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Bonobo Algorithm (BO). A comparison of the performance of these algorithms shows that the BO algorithm has a higher search capability and results in better solutions than PSO and GA algorithms in the optimization of the composite floor system with the cellular beams and the use of cellular beams can reduce the total CO₂ emissions of the floor above 20%.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.245-255
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• 2024

The problem of carbonation-induced corrosion has become a concern in recent times, especially in the 21^st century, due to the increase in global temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration in the atmosphere possessing a significant threat to the durability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures worldwide, especially in inland tropical regions where carbonation is the most significant concrete degradation mechanism. Therefore, a study was conducted to predict the impact of global warming on the carbonation of RC structures in Lusaka, Zambia, and Tokyo, Japan. The Impact was estimated based on a carbonation meta-model that applies the analytic solution of Fick's 1st law using literature-based concrete mix design data and forecasted local temperature and CO₂ concentration data over a 100-year period with relative humidity assumed constant. The results showed that CO₂ diffusion increased between 17-31%, effecting a 40-45% rise in carbonation coefficient and a significant reduction in corrosion initiation time of 50-52% in the two cities. Moreover, for the same water-cement ratio, Lusaka showed almost twice higher carbonation coefficient values and one third shorter corrosion initiation time compared to Tokyo, mainly due to its higher temperature and low relative humidity. Additionally, the carbonation propagation depth at the end of 100 years was between 12-22 mm in Tokyo and 18-40 mm in Lusaka. These findings indicate that RC structures in these cities are at risk of rapid deterioration, especially in Lusaka, where they are more vulnerable.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.8
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• pp.3043-3066
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• 2024

In various small modular reactor (SMR) designs currently under development, the conventional concrete containment building has been replaced by a metal containment vessel (MCV). In these systems, the gap between the MCV and the reactor pressure vessel is filled with gas or vacuumed weakly, effectively suppressing conduction and convection heat transfer. However, thermal radiation remains the major mode of heat transfer during normal operation. The objective of this study was to investigate the heat-transfer mechanisms in integral pressurized water reactor (IPWR)-type SMRs under various gas-filled conditions using computational fluid dynamics. The use of thermal radiation shielding (TRS) with a much lower emissivity material than the MCV surface was also evaluated. The results showed that thermal radiation was always the dominant contributor to heat loss (48-97%), while the conjugated effects of the gas candidates on natural convection and thermal radiation varied depending on their thermal and radiative properties, including absorption coefficient. The TRS showed an excellent insulation performance, with a reduction in the total heat loss of 56-70% under the relatively low temperatures of the IPWR system, except for carbon dioxide (13%). Consequently, TRS can be utilized to enhance the thermal efficiency of SMR designs by suppressing the heat loss through the MCV.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.293-305
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• 2009

Methane, as a greenhouse gas, is some 21~25 times more detrimental to the environmental than carbon dioxide. Landfills generally constitute the most important anthropogenic source, and methane emission from landfill was estimated as 35~73 Tg per year. Biological approaches using biocover (open system) and biofilter (closed system) can be a promising solution for older and/or smaller landfills where the methane production is too low for energy recovery or flaring and installation of a gas extraction system is inefficient. Methanotrophic bacteria, utilizing methane as a sole carbon and energy source, are responsible for the aerobic degradation (oxidation) of methane in the biological systems. Many bench-scale studies have demonstrated a high oxidation capacity in diverse filter bed materials such as soil, compost, earthworm cast and etc. Compost had been most often employed in the biological systems, and the methane oxidation rates in compost biocovers/boifilters ranged from 50 to $700\;g-CH_4\;m^{-2}\;d^{-1}$. Some preliminary field trials have showed the suitability of biocovers/biofilters for practical application and their satisfactory performance in mitigation methane emissions. Since the reduction of landfill methane emissions has been linked to carbon credits and trading schemes, the verified quantification of mitigated emissions through biocovers/biofilters is very important. Therefore, the assessment of in situ biocovers/biofilters performance should be standardized, and the reliable quantification methods of methane reduction is necessary.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.196-205
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• 2016

The exhaust gas discharged by cars not only threatens the health of the human body, but also contributes to global warming, due to the resulting increase in the concentrations of ozone, fine dust and carbon dioxide. Therefore, the government has steadily implemented careful inspection systems for exhaust emissions, in order to efficiently regulate the exhaust gas of cars. Studies on reducing the exhaust emissions of automobiles have been conducted in various fields, including ones designed to reduce the generation of HC, NOx, and $CO_2$ in the exhaust emission of vehicles. However, there have been insufficient studies on the reduction of the exhaust emission for old diesel vehicles. To develop careful inspection systems for the exhaust emissions of old diesel vehicles, studies on the reduction of the exhaust emissions and improvement of power are necessary by cleaning the carbon sediment in both the intake manifold and injector. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed and compared the amounts of gas emitted when simultaneously cleaning or not cleaning the intake manifold and injector of diesel automobiles with mileages over 80,000 km and operating periods over 5 years. The experimental results showed that in the case where the intake manifold and injector were simultaneously cleaned, there was a decline of 75.2% in the gas emission compared to the cases where only the manifold or injector is cleaned. Also, it was found that simultaneously cleansing the intake manifold and injector enabled the exhaust standard to be satisfied for less than 30% within 8.5 sec.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2018

This paper presents an integrated photochemical reaction system (i.e., an artificial leaf) that uses earth-abundant catalysts for artificial photosynthesis with a carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) fixation process. The performance of the system was investigated in terms of the energy capture and conversion capabilities. A wireless configuration was achieved by directly doping cobalt oxide as an oxygen-evolving catalyst for water splitting reaction on the illuminated surface of photovoltaic (PV) cell, as well as molybdenum disulfide ($MoS_2$) as an efficient catalyst for $CO_2$ reduction on the back substrate surfaces of the PV cell. The system produces hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO) as sustainable fuels (i.e., synthesis gas) at around 4.5% efficiency, which implies more than 75% catalytic efficiency at the cathode. The process of solar-driven $CO_2$ conversion and water-splitting reaction is contained in one system, which is one step closer to the successful realization of artificial photosynthesis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.368-375
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• 2016

This study examined the criteria for efficient LEDs used throughout the experiment of an LED with another light color growth to be used in a plant factory. The experiment was confirmed by measuring the Red-LED, Blue-LED, plant growth, and amount of carbon reduction in a White-LED environment. The white-LED showed a similar growth trend to the Red-LED. Blue-LED showed the lowest growth. Measurements of the carbon dioxide levels, showed that the Red-LED and blue LED produced the lowest levels. The combination of the ratio of the LED showed four Red-LEDs and one blue LED to be the higher of the two. In addition, three Red-LED and one Blue-LED produced equal growth to that of the white-LED. In addition, as much as possible, red is the light color that obtains the result suitable for plant factories.

• ALGAE
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.49-59
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• 2016

Ulva pertusa, a common bloom-forming green alga, was used as a model system to examine the effects of elevated carbon dioxide (CO₂) and temperature on growth and photosynthetic performance. To do this, U. pertusa was grown under four temperature and CO₂ conditions; ambient CO₂ (400 μatm) and temperature (16℃) (i.e., present), elevated temperature only (19℃) (ET; i.e., warming), elevated CO₂ only (1,000 μatm) (EC; i.e., acidification), and elevated temperature and CO₂ (ET and EC; i.e., greenhouse), and its steady state photosynthetic performance evaluated. Maximum gross photosynthetic rates (GP_max) were highest under EC conditions and lowest under ET conditions. Further, ET conditions resulted in decreased rate of dark respiration (R_d), but growth of U. pertusa was higher under ET conditions than under ambient temperature conditions. In order to evaluate external carbonic anhydrase (eCA) activity, photosynthesis was measured at 70 μmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹ in the presence or absence of the eCA inhibitor acetazolamide (AZ), which inhibited photosynthetic rates in all treatments, indicating eCA activity. However, while AZ reduced U. pertusa photosynthesis in all treatments, this reduction was lower under ambient CO₂ conditions (both present and warming) compared to EC conditions (both acidification and greenhouse). Moreover, Chlorophyll a and glucose contents in U. pertusa tissues declined under ET conditions (both warming and greenhouse) in conjunction with reduced GP_max and R_d. Overall, our results indicate that the interaction of EC and ET would offset each other’s impacts on photosynthesis and biochemical composition as related to carbon balance of U. pertusa.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.30-50
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• 2017

Currently, exhaust gas emitted from thermal power plants and various combustion facilities that consume large amounts of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas contains high concentrations of $CO_2$ and is a major cause of global warming. Conventionally, as a countermeasure against this problem, research and development are being carried out from various fields, and it is considered to be one of the most promising methods for separating and recovering $CO_2$ in the exhaust gas. One of the reasons for the low use of carbon dioxide is oxidized among the carbon compounds and is present in the most stable state. From the viewpoint of $CO_2$ emissions, $CO_2$ immobilization technology, which converts $CO_2$ into chemically useful compounds, is considered to be more important.