• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2024

The impact of temperature on electrode reactions in 100 cm² molten carbonate cells operating as Fuel Cells (FC) and Electrolysis Cells (EC) was examined using the Reactant Gas Addition (RA) method across a temperature range of 823 to 973 K. The RA findings revealed that introduction of H₂ and CO₂, reduced the overpotential at Hydrogen Electrode (HE) in both the modes. However, no explicit temperature dependencies were observed. Conversely, adding O₂ and CO₂ to the Oxygen Electrode (OE) displayed considerable temperature dependencies in FC mode which can be attributed to increased gas solubility due to the electrolyte melting at higher temperatures. In EC mode, there was no observed temperature dependence for overpotential. Furthermore, the addition of O₂ led to a decrease in overpotential, while CO₂ addition resulted in an increased overpotential, primarily due to changes in the concentration of O₂ species.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.101-108
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• 2007

Fixation of lead contaminants in the solidification/stabilization using Portland cement has been investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and compressive strength. The presence of lead was observed to produce lead carbonate sulfate hydroxide ($Pb_4SO_4(CO_3)_2(OH)_2$), lead carbonate hydroxide hydrate ($3PbCO_3{\cdot}2Pb(OH)_2{\cdot}H_2O$) and two other unidentified lead salts in cavity areas and was observed to significantly retard the hydration of cement. By 28 days, howevere, the XRD peaks of most of the lead precipitates have essentially disappeared with only residual traces of lead carbonate sulfate hydroxide and lead carbonate hydroxide hydrate evident. After 28 days of curing, hydration appears well advanced with a strong portlandite peak present though C-S-H gel peaks are not particularly evident. Lead species produced with the dissolution of lead precipitates are fixed into the cement matrix to be calcium lead silicate hydrate (C-Pb-S-H) during cement-based solidification.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.421-427
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• 2019

Coastal erosion is becoming a significant problem in Greece, Bangladesh, and globally. For the prevention and minimization of damage from coastal erosion, combinations of various structures have been used conventionally. However, most of these methods are expensive. Therefore, creating artificial beachrock using local ureolytic bacteria and the MICP (Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation) method can be an alternative for coastal erosion protection, as it is a sustainable and eco-friendly biological ground improvement technique. Most research on MICP has been confined to land ureolytic bacteria and limited attention has been paid to coastal ureolytic bacteria for the measurement of urease activity. Subsequently, their various environmental effects have not been investigated. Therefore, for the successful application of MICP to coastal erosion protection, the type of bacteria, bacterial cell concentration, reaction temperature, cell culture duration, carbonate precipitation trend, pH of the media that controls the activity of the urease enzyme, etc., are evaluated. In this study, the effects of temperature, pH, and culture duration, as well as the trend in carbonate precipitation of coastal ureolytic bacteria isolated from two coastal regions in Greece and Bangladesh, were evaluated. The results showed that urease activity of coastal ureolytic bacteria species relies on some environmental parameters that are very important for successful sand solidification. In future, we aim to apply these findings towards the creation of artificial beachrock in combination with a geotextile tube for coastal erosion protection in Mediterranean countries, Bangladesh, and globally, for bio-mediated soil improvement.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.540-548
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• 2016

Microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (CCP) is a long-standing but re-emerging environmental engineering process for production of self-healing concrete, bioremediation, and long-term storage of CO₂. CCP-capable bacteria, two Bacillus strains (JH3 and JH7) and one Sporosarcina strain (HYO08), were isolated from two samples of concrete and characterized phylogenetically. Calcium carbonate crystals precipitated by the three strains were morphologically distinct according to field emission scanning electron microscopy. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry mapping confirmed biomineralization via extracellular calcium carbonate production. The three strains differed in their physiological characteristics: growth at alkali pH and high NaCl concentrations, and urease activity. Sporosarcina sp. HYO08 and Bacillus sp. JH7 were more alkali- and halotolerant, respectively. Analysis of the community from the same concrete samples using barcoded pyrosequencing revealed that the relative abundance of Bacillus and Sporosarcina species was low, which indicated low culturability of other dominant bacteria. This study suggests that calcium carbonate crystals with different properties can be produced by various CCP-capable strains, and other novel isolates await discovery.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.301-320
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• 2021

During a field survey of indigenous Korean ciliates, we collected 21 unrecorded species from aquatic (freshwater and brackish water [salinity about 1.0‰] samples) and terrestrial(moss and soil samples) habitats. The morphology of these species was studied based on live observation, protargol, silver carbonate and silver nitrate impregnation, and scanning electron microscope. These species belong to seven classes as follows: 1) class Heterotrichea - Blepharisma seculum; 2) class Spirotrichea - Birojimia terricola, Bistichella variabilis, Deviata bacilliformis, Oxytricha paragranulifera, Parabistichella cf. variabilis, Steinia sphagnicola, Stichotricha aculeata, Stylonychia cf. notophora, and Tetmemena bifaria minima; 3) class Armophorea - Metopus es; 4) class Litostomatea - Acropisthium mutabile, Pseudomonilicaryon japonicum, and Rimaleptus alpinus; 5) class Phyllopharyngea - Podophrya bivacuolata; 6) class Nassophorea - Drepanomonas pauciciliata; and 7) class Oligohymenophorea - Dexiostoma campylum, Frontonia atra, Histiobalantium natans viridis, Opisthonecta minima, and Tetrahymena rostrata. Here, we provide a brief diagnosis and remark for each species.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2012

SEI (solid electrolyte interphase) layers are generated on a graphite negative electrode from three different electrolytes and low-temperature ($-30^{\circ}C$) charge/discharge performance of the graphite electrode is examined. The electrolytes are prepared by adding 2 wt% of vinylene carbonate (VC) and fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) into a standard electrolyte solution. The charge-discharge capacity of graphite electrode shows the following decreasing order; FEC-added one>standard>VC-added one. The polarization during a constant-current charging shows the reverse order. These observations illustrate that the SEI film resistance and charge transfer resistance differ according to the used additives. This feature has been confirmed by analyzing the chemical composition and thickness of three SEI layers. The SEI layer generated from the standard electrolyte is composed of polymeric carbon-oxygen species and the decomposition products ($Li_xPF_yO_z$) of lithium salt. The VC-derived surface film shows the largest resistance value even if the salt decomposition is not severe due to the presence of dense film comprising C-O species. The FEC-derived SEI layer shows the lowest resistance value as the C-O species are less populated and salt decomposition is not serious. In short, the FEC-added electrolyte generates the SEI layer of the smallest resistance to give the best low-temperature performance for the graphite negative electrode.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.44.1-44.1
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• 2008

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.404-416
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• 2020

Bacteria that are resistant to high temperatures and alkaline environments are essential for the biological repair of damaged concrete. Alkaliphilic and halotolerant Bacillus sp. AK13 was isolated from the rhizosphere of Miscanthus sacchariflorus. Unlike other tested Bacillus species, the AK13 strain grows at pH 13 and withstands 11% (w/v) NaCl. Growth of the AK13 strain at elevated pH without urea promoted calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) formation. Irregular vaterite-like CaCO₃ minerals that were tightly attached to cells were observed using field-emission scanning electron microscopy. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analyses confirmed the presence of CaCO₃ around the cell. Isotope ration mass spectrometry analysis confirmed that the majority of CO₃^2- ions in the CaCO₃ were produced by cellular respiration rather than being derived from atmospheric carbon dioxide. The minerals produced from calcium acetate-added growth medium formed smaller crystals than those formed in calcium lactate-added medium. Strain AK13 appears to heal cracks on mortar specimens when applied as a pelletized spore powder. Alkaliphilic Bacillus sp. AK13 is a promising candidate for self-healing agents in concrete.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.896-904
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• 2011

The features of the capture reaction of $CO_2$ by ammonia solution have been investigated along with the effect of temperature on the reaction based upon computer program-utilizing calculation and thermodynamic estimation. The stable region of $CO{_3}^{2-}$ was observed to increase with temperature and the change of the stable region of $CO{_3}^{2-}$ with temperature was greater than the temperature variation of the stable region of other carbonate species. The distribution diagram for $NH_4{^+}-NH_3$ system was constructed and the rise of temperature resulted in the decrease of the stability of $NH_4{^+}$ ion, which was thought to be due to the endothermic nature of its acidic dissociation. Considering the introduction of $Ca^{2+}$ ion in the carbon capture reaction by $NH_4{^+}$, the temperature was observed to be important in the determination of the order of reaction between carbonate ion and these cations. The removal process of $CO_2$ gas by ammonia solution was presumed to occur in open system and the temperature variations of the concentration of carbonate system species along with their total concentration were calculated for the proper control and design of the real process.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2006

Anodic overpotential has been investigated with gas composition changes in a $100cm^2$ class molten carbonate fuel cell. The overpotential was measured with steady state polarization, reactant gas addition (RA), inert gas step addition (ISA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods at different anodic inlet gas compositions, i.e., $H_2:CO_2:H_2O=0.69:0.17:0.14\;atm\;and\;H_2:CO_2:H_2O=0.33:0.33:0.33\;atm$, at a fixed $H_2$ flow rate. The results demonstrate that the anodic overpotential decreases with increasing $CO_2\;and\;H_2O$ flow rates, indicating the anode reaction is a gas-phase mass-transfer control process of the reactant species, $H_2,\;CO_2,\;and\;H_2O$. It was also found that the mass-transfer resistance due to the $H_2$ species slightly increases at higher $CO_2\;and\;H_2O$ flow rates. EIS showed reduction of the lower frequency semi-circle with increasing $H_2O\;and\;CO_2$ flow rate without affecting the high frequency semi-circle.