• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.626-629
• /
• 2018

Fuel cell is one of the promising electrochemical technologies enabling power production with various fuel sources such as hydrogen, hydrocarbon and even solid carbon. However, its long-term performance is often unstable and unpredictable. In this work, we observed that gasification-driven hydrocarbons were the culprit of unpredictability. Therefore, we controlled the presence of hydrocarbons with the help of external gas supply, i.e. argon and carbon dioxide, and suggested the optimal amount of carbon dioxide required for predictable fuel cell operations. Our optimization strategy was based upon the following observations; carbon dioxide can work as both an inert gas and a fuel precursor, depending on its amount present in the reactor. When deficient, the carbon dioxide cannot fully promote the reverse Boudouard reaction that produces carbon monoxide fuel. When overly present, the carbon dioxide works as an inert gas that causes fuel loss. In addition, the excessive carbon monoxide may result in coking on the catalyst surface, leading to the decrease in the power performance.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.905-912
• /
• 2011

In this study, the novel concept catalytic reactor was designed for water-gas shift reaction (WGS) under high pressure. The novel concept catalytic reactor was composed of an autoclave, the catalyst, and liquid water. Cu-ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ as the low temperature shift catalyst was used for WGS reaction. WGS in the novel concept catalytic reactor was carried out at the ranges of 150~$250^{\circ}C$ and 30~50 atm. The liquid water was filled at the bottom of the autoclave catalytic reactor and the catalyst of pellet type was located at the gas-liquid water interface. It was concluded that WGS reaction occurred over the surface of catalysts partially wetted with liquid water. The conversion of CO for WGS was also controlled with changing content of Cu and ZnO used as the catalytic active components. Meanwhile, the catalyst of honey comb type coated with Cu-ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ was used in order to increase the contact area between wet-surface of catalyst and the reactants of gas phase. It was confirmed from these experiments that $H_2$/CO ratio of the simulated coal gas increased from 0.5 to 0.8 by WGS at gas-liquid water interface over the wet surface of honey comb type catalyst at $250^{\circ}C$ and 50 atm.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.60-69
• /
• 1998

Methane, the major constituent of natural gas, had been converted to higher hydrocarbons by microwave and radio-frequency plasma in vacuum condition. Methane had been activated to plasma by suppling high energy then converted to ethane, ethylene, acetylene. The direct conversion process of methane had produced few by-products and demanded low-energy. The plasma sources were microwave and radio-frequency. Two types of reactor had been used to activate methane. One is common single tubular-type reactor and the other is series coil-type reactor which used for the first time in this study. To produce more C2 products, methane had been converted by a plasma and catalyst. The results of this study could be used to study mechanism of plasma reaction of methane, design the plant-scale reactor.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2005.04a
• /
• pp.247-251
• /
• 2005

This research was performed for developing of biological treatment process of odor gas such as MEK, $H_{2}S$, and toluene, which is generated from the food waste recycling process. To establish the operational conditions of odor gas removal by small-scale biofiltration equipment, it was continuously operated by using toluene as a treating odor object. When the odor treating microorganisms were adhered to fibril form biofilter, high removal efficiency over 93% was obtained by biofilm formation. At 400 ppm of inlet odor gas concentration and 10 sec of retention time, the removal efficiency was 76% and 93% in 1st stage reactor and 2nd stage reactor, respectively. However, the removal efficiency remained over 97% at the operational conditions above 15 sec of retention time.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.51-58
• /
• 2002

Destruction process of toluene using a wire-cylindrical BBD (Dielectric Barrier Discharge) reactor packed with catalysts was investigated to characterize the synergetic effects of non-thermal plasma and catalyst process. The catalysts used in the present study were ${\gamma}$-Al$_2$BO$_3$ and Pt/${\gamma}$-Al$_2$O$_3$. Under the numerous test conditions, specific energy density (SED (J/L)) and the conversion of toluene, defined as (1 -[C$_{f}$]/[C$_{i}$]), were measured. The test results showed that toluene decomposition efficiency followed the pseudo-first order in the case of plasma only process. The pseudo-first order process, however, was modified to pseudo-zeroth order reaction in the case of catalyst-assisted plasma process. This modification of the reaction order was verified based on a simple kinetic model proposed in the present study. Owing to the modification of reaction order, which resulted from the catalytic process, the specific energy to achieve the high removal efficiencies, i.e. 80~90%, was reduced significantly.y.y.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.81-88
• /
• 1998

The determination of appropriate parameters and parameter conditions is very important for the optimization of production of target materials. Taguchi's method has been used widely as the basis for development trials and optimization during industrial process design. Reaction variables which influence product yield are easily determined and their effects are revealed by just a few reactions, negating the need for extensive experimental investigation. There are usually some factors that are responsible for variations in process characteristics, so called noise factors. Controlling noise factors is very costly and difficult or impossible. Taguchi's experimental design method was examined to determine the control factor's level that is less sensitive to the changes in environmental conditions and other noise factors without control of noise factors. In this study, optimization of lipase-catalyzed production of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) which has various physiological functions was performed by Taguchi's method. We obtained LPA yields ($66.5\%$) with low variance (5.32) at 400 RPM, molar ratio of 40 : 3 (mol) (fatty acid: G-3-P), 48 h, and $50^{\circ}C$. Thus, bioactive LPA with a desired fatty acid moiety could be produced with high yields and low variance despite various environmental noise factors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.195-204
• /
• 2013

While structured packing modules are known to be efficient for surface wetting and gas-liquid exchange in abiotic surface catalysis, this model study explores structured packing as a growth surface for catalytic biofilms. Microbial biofilms have been proposed as selfimmobilized and self-regenerating catalysts for the production of chemicals. A concern is that the complex and dynamic nature of biofilms may cause fluctuations in their catalytic performance over time or may affect process reproducibility. An aerated continuous trickle-bed biofilm reactor system was designed with a 3 L structured packing, liquid recycling and pH control. Pseudomonas diminuta established a biofilm on the stainless steel structured packing with a specific surface area of 500 $m^2m^{-3}$ and catalyzed the oxidation of ethylene glycol to glycolic acid for over two months of continuous operation. A steady-state productivity of up to 1.6 $gl^{-1}h^{-1}$ was achieved at a dilution rate of 0.33 $h^{-1}$. Process reproducibility between three independent runs was excellent, despite process interruptions and activity variations in cultures grown from biofilm effluent cells. The results demonstrate the robustness of a catalytic biofilm on structured packing, despite its dynamic nature. Implementation is recommended for whole-cell processes that require efficient gas-liquid exchange, catalyst retention for continuous operation, or improved catalyst stability.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.416-424
• /
• 2007

In adsorption/catalytic process, numerical analysis has been performed to identify the flow characteristics of flue gas in the cyclone and to estimate the residence time of activated carbon using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. To consider flue gas and activated carbon particles simultaneously, Euler-Lagrangian model was employed so that residence time could be obtained from the numerical analysis directly. The numerical analysis has been performed with different three particle sizes and compared each flow characteristics with particle’ size. Fundamental flow patterns of flue gas and activated carbon particles, pressure distribution, residence time of flue gas, and activated carbon particles and distribution of activated carbon have been obtained from the numerical analysis.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.418-425
• /
• 2013

The catalytic conversion of ethanol to aromatic compounds ETA was studied over ZSM-5 heterogeneous catalysts. The effect of reaction temperature, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), and addition of water and methanol, which are the potential impurities of bio-ethanol, on the catalytic performance was investigated in a fixed bed reactor. Commercial ZSM-5 catalysts having different Si/$Al_2$ ratios of 23 to 280 and modified ZSM-5 catalysts by addition of metal (Zn, La, Cu, and Ga) were used for the activity and stability tests in ETA reaction. The catalysts were characterized with ammonia temperature programmed desorption ($NH_3$-TPD) and nitrogen adsorption-desorption techniques. The results of catalytic performance revealed that the optimal Si/$Al_2$ ratio of ZSM-5 is about 50~80 and the selectivity to aromatic compounds decreases in the order of Zn/La > Zn > La > Cu > Ga for the modified ZSM-5 catalysts. Among these catalysts from the ETA reaction, Zn-La/ZSM-5 showed the best catalytic performance for the ETA reaction. The selectivity to aromatic compounds was 72% initially and 56% after 30 h over the catalysts at reaction temperature of $437^{\circ}C$ and WHSV of $0.8h^{-1}$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.328-334
• /
• 2000

The photocatalyst of $TiO_2$coated on glass bead was prepared from sol-gel method to remove the VOC (vola-tile organic compounds) by the photocatalytic reaction. The coated films were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), specific surface area(BET), and scanning electron microscopy observation (SEM), The gas-phase photocatalytic degradation of trichloroethylene(TCE) and benzene with coated titanium dioxide on glass beads was in-vestigated using a fixed bed reactor. The degradation was calculated by the concentration difference with the retained on the reactor with aid of gas chromatography. At steady state, conversion yields were obtained for 80% of trichloroeth-vlene in 400 ppmv concentration and 65% on benzene in the range of concentration from 50 to 300 ppmv, respectively.