• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.148-164
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• 2017

The focus on the issues surrounding spent nuclear fuel and lifetime extension of old nuclear power plants continues to grow nowadays. A transparent decision-making process to identify the best suitable nuclear fuel cycle (NFC) is considered to be the key task in the current situation. Through this study, an attempt is made to develop an equilibrium model for the NFC to calculate the material flows based on 1 TWh of electricity production, and to perform integrated multicriteria decision-making method analyses via the analytic hierarchy process technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution, preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation, and multiattribute utility theory methods. This comparative study is aimed at screening and ranking the three selected NFC options against five aspects: sustainability, environmental friendliness, economics, proliferation resistance, and technical feasibility. The selected fuel cycle options include pressurized water reactor (PWR) once-through cycle, PWR mixed oxide cycle, or pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle. A sensitivity analysis was performed to prove the robustness of the results and explore the influence of criteria on the obtained ranking. As a result of the comparative analysis, the pyroprocessing sodium-cooled fast reactor cycle is determined to be the most competitive option among the NFC scenarios.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.127-133
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• 2011

${\beta}$-Galactosidase was immobilized on chitosan bead by covalent bonding using glutaraldehyde. The characteristics of the immobilized enzyme were investigated. Maximum immobilization yield of 75% was obtained on chitosan bead. Optimum pH and temperature for the immobilized enzyme was 7.0 and $50^{\circ}C$, respectively. The immobilized enzyme showed a broader range of pH and temperature compared to a free one. A mathematical model for the operation of the immobilized enzyme in a packed-bed reactor was established and solved numerically. Under different inlet lactose concentrations and feed flow rate conditions, lactose conversion was measured in a packed-bed reactor. The experimental results of continuous operation in a packed-bed reactor were compared to theoretic results using Michaelis-Menten kinetics with competitive product inhibition and external mass transfer resistance. The model predicted the experimental data with errors less than 5%. Process optimization of continuous operation in a packed-bed reactor was also conducted. In a recirculation packed-bed operation, conversion of lactose was 97% in 3 hours. In a continuous packed-bed operation, the effect of flow rate and initial lactose concentration was investigated. Increasing flow rates and initial lactose concentration decreased the conversion of substrate.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.87-103
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• 2021

Anaerobic digestion (AD) refers to the biological process which can convert organic substrates to biogas in the absence of oxygen. The aim of this study was to determine the capability of feedstock to produce biogas and to quantify the biogas yield from different feedstocks. A co-digestion approach was carried out in a continuous stirred tank reactor operated under mesophilic conditions and at a constant organic loading rate of 0.0756 g COD/ L.day, with a hydraulic retention time of 25 days. For comparison, mono-digestion was also included in the experimental work. 2 L working volumes were used throughout the experimental work. The seed culture was obtained from composting as substrate digestion. When the feedstock was added to seeding, the biogas started to emit after three days of retention time. The highest volume of biogas was observed when the seeding volume used for 1000mL. However, the lowest volume of biogas yield was obtained from both co-digestion reactors, with a value of 340 mL. For methane yield, the highest methane production rate was 0.16 L CH4/mg. The COD with yield was at 8.6% and the lowest was at 0.5%. The highest quantity of methane was obtained from a reactor of Euphorbiaceae peel with added seeding, while the lowest methane yield came from a reactor of Euphorbiaceae stems with added seeding. In this study, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) was used as a buffering solution to correct the pH in the reactor if the reactor condition was found to be in a souring or acidic condition.

• Clean Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.116-121
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• 2009

In this paper, we investigated the effect of an indirect oxidation zone in an electrolysis reactor that used Ti/$IrO_2$ as the anode and SUS 316L as the cathode. Based on our preliminary results, the electrolysis reactor was operated with pole plate interval of 6 mm, current density 1.0 $A/dm^2L$ and electrolyte concentration 15%. The removal efficiency, COD (chemical oxygen demand), was additionally increased by 55% and 12.5${\sim}$15.0% in the direct and indirect oxidation zones, respectively. The removal efficiencies of T-N (total nitrogen) and T-P (total phosphorus) were found to be 88% and 75%, respectively. It was shown that the additional effect of the indirect oxidation zone on the removal was nearly negligible. Also, as the removal of COD,T-N and T-P took place during the initial2${\sim}$5 days of reaction, it was concluded that there was no need to extend the retention time of the electrolysis reactor.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Emitted CO₂ is an attractive material for microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction (i.e., microbial electrosynthesis, MES) using biocatalysts has advantages compared to conventional CO₂ reduction using electrocatalysts. However, MES has several challenges, including electrode performance, biocatalysts, and reactor optimization. In this study, an MES system was investigated for optimizing reactor types, counter electrode materials, and CO₂-converting microorganisms to achieve effective CO₂ upcycling. In autotrophic cultivation (supplementation of CO₂ and H₂), CO₂ consumption of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was observed to be four times higher than that with heterotrophic cultivation (supplementation of succinic acid). The bacterial growth in an MES reactor with a single-chambered shape was two times higher than that with a double chamber (H-type MES reactor). Moreover, a single-chambered MES reactor equipped with titanium mesh as the counter electrode (anode) showed markedly increased current density in the graphite felt as a working electrode (cathode) compared to that with a graphite felt counter electrode (anode). These results demonstrate that the optimized conditions of a single chamber and titanium mesh for the counter electrode have a positive effect on microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.577-585
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• 2014

A series of experiments using atmospheric-pressure non-thermal plasma coupled with transition metal catalysts were performed to remove ethylene from agricultural storage facilities. The non-thermal plasma was created by dielectric barrier discharge, which was in direct contact with the catalyst pellets. The transition metals such as Ag and $V_2O_5$ were supported on ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$. The effect of catalyst type, specific input energy (SIE) and oxygen content on the removal of ethylene was examined to understand the behavior of the hybrid plasma-catalytic reactor system. With the other parameters kept constant, the plasma-catalytic activity for the removal of ethylene was in order of $V_2O_5/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ > $Ag/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ > ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ from high to low. Interestingly, the rate of plasma-catalytic ozone generation was in order of $V_2O_5/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ > ${\gamma}-Al_2O_3$ > $Ag/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$, implying that the catalyst activation mechanisms by plasma are different for different catalysts. The results obtained by varying the oxygen content indicated that nitrogen-derived reactive species dominated the removal of ethylene under oxygen-lean condition, while ozone and oxygen atoms were mainly involved in the removal under oxygen-rich condition. When the plasma was coupled with $V_2O_5/{\gamma}-Al_2O_3$, nearly complete removal of ethylene was achieved at oxygen contents higher than 5% by volume (inlet ethylene: 250 ppm; gas flow rate: $1.0Lmin^{-1}$; SIE: ${\sim}355JL^{-1}$).

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.370-378
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• 2001

Characteristics and synergistic effects of the coliquefaction of Alaskan subbituminous coal, wasted tire, and polypropylene were investigated in a tubing-bomb reactor at 41$0^{\circ}C$, and the coliquefaction reactions were performed at 37$0^{\circ}C$~45$0^{\circ}C$ to evaluate the coliquefaction mechanism. The coliquefaction kinetic model based on the free-radical theory was proposed and simulated by the non-linear parameter estimation method. Simulated results represented experimental ones successfully with the correlation coefficient of 0.99. When a catalyst was not used, the conversions were decreased as tetralin increase due to the decrease of liquefaction of polypropylene. When naphthenate catalysts of Mo, Co, and Fe were used, the coliquefaction conversions were increased with the increase of the liquefaction of polypropylene. When Co-naphthenate catalyst was used, the increase of the coliquefaction conversion were as high as 21~23%.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.421-429
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• 2018

We performed process and CFD simulations of a 100 kW fuel cell system. By process simulation, we derived the input flow rate of each unit process and the recycle diesel flow rate. Through CFD simulation considering the recycle diesel flow, more efficient operational condition was found. Using 6 desulfurize reactors, a TSA process for a 100 kW fuel cell system was successfully constructed. Heat interference between reactors was found to be negligible. These results will contribute to increasing the efficiency of fuel cell system and the developed desulfurizing module design will contribute to the clean petrochemical technology as well as fuel cell systems.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.12 no.4 s.27
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• pp.253-259
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• 2006

This paper investigated on anti-corrosion characteristic in chemical decontamination at extremely severe condition{process model-2) of stainless steels used with reactor coolant pump. The electrochemical properties of stainless steel{STS) 304 with the lapse qf cycle is better than those of STS 415 and STS 431. The STS 304 in process model-1 and process model-2 present the lowest weightloss ratio. The experiment results for STS 304, STS 415, and STS 431 in process model-2 solution, it was ascertained that weightloss ratio of process model-2 solution for process model-1 solution show 2..908, 2.572, and 2.370 times, respectively. The reason suggests that process model-2 is higher concentration of chemical and temperature compare to process model-1.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.138-145
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• 1998

Synergistic effect and characteristics of coliquefaction with Alaskan subbituminous coal and polypropylene (PP) were investigated in a tubing-bomb reactor. Coliquefaction results showed considerable synergistic effect on conversions for various coal/PP compositions and tetralin addition. Therefore, coliquefactions conversions at 430$^{\circ}$C and 450$^{\circ}$C with (coal 2 g+PP 2g) and 4 ml tetralin appeared 20.0 and 11.6 per cent higher respectively compared to the conversion of (coal+tetralin) and (PP+tetralin) liquefactions. According to gas chromatographic analyses, hydrogen was not needed during PP liquefactions. On the other hand, 0.70~0.83 part of tetralin per part of coal was converted into naphthalene by donoring hydrogen to free radicals during liquefaction. Also, extraction results by decalin proved that synergistic effect of coliquefaction were mainly due to PP decomposition catalysed be coal.