• 한국산업융합학회 논문집
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• 제25권6_2호
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• pp.1111-1117
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• 2022

Recently, interest in the circular economy has emerged in the industry. As a result, interest in Re-manufacturing, which makes old equipment similar to new products, is growing. In the machine tool industry with many aging equipment, the Re-manufacturing industry is essential, and among them, research on the performance improvement of gear type oil pumps was conducted. The purpose was to achieve the target performance of flow rate and volume efficiency by changing the shape of the gear pump housing clearance and inlet/outlet, and Computational Fluid Analysis and Central Composite Design were conducted using ANSYS CFX 2022 R2 and MINITAB®. The level of each determined factor was determined. 20 design points were derived, and the Flow Rate at each design point was calculated, and the Theoretical Flow Rate was calculated to obtain Volumetric Efficiency. The optimal design point was obtained when the Flow Rate was 140 lpm and the Volumetric Efficiency was maximum, the optimal design point was obtained when both were maximum, and the Surface Plot for each factor was obtained to identify the tendency.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-14
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• 2023

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a plastic material commonly applied to beverage packaging used in everyday life. Owing to PET's versatility and ease of use, its consumption has continuously increased, resulting in considerable waste generation. Several physical and chemical recycling processes have been developed to address this problem. Recently, biological upcycling is being actively studied and has come to be regarded as a powerful technology for overcoming the economic issues associated with conventional recycling methods. For upcycling, PET should be degraded into small molecules, such as terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, which are utilized as substrates for bioconversion, through various degradation processes, including gasification, pyrolysis, and chemical/biological depolymerization. Furthermore, biological upcycling methods have been applied to biosynthesize value-added chemicals, such as adipic acid, muconic acid, catechol, vanillin, and glycolic acid. In this review, we introduce and discuss various degradation methods that yield substrates for bioconversion and biological upcycling processes to produce value-added biochemicals. These technologies encourage a circular economy, which reduces the amount of waste released into the environment.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• 제58권1호
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• pp.32-43
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• 2023

The worldwide use of polyurethane foam products generates large amounts of waste, which in turn has detrimental effects on the surroundings. Hence, finding an economical and environmentally friendly way to dispose of or recycle foam waste is an utmost priority for researchers to overcome this problem. In that sense, the glycolysis of waste flexible polyurethane foam (WFPF) from automotive seat cushions using different industrial-grade glycols and potassium hydroxide as a catalyst to produce recovered polyol was investigated. The effect of different molecular weight polyols, catalyst concentration, and material ratio (PU foam: Glycols) on the reaction conversion and viscosity of the recovered polyols was determined. The obtained recovered polyols are obtained as single or split-phase reaction products. Besides, the foaming characteristics and physical properties such as cell morphology, thermal stability, and compressive stress-strain nature of the regenerated flexible foams based on the recovered polyols were discussed. It was observed that the regenerated flexible foams displayed good seating comfort properties as a function of hardness, sag factor, and hysteresis loss compared to the reference virgin foam. With the growing demand for a sustainable and circular economy, a global valorization of glycolysis products from polyurethane scraps can be realized by transforming them into profitable substances.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• 제87권3호
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• pp.221-229
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• 2023

Urbanization and industrialization have significantly increased the amount of solid waste produced in recent decades, posing considerable disposal problems and environmental burdens. The practice of waste utilization in concrete has gained popularity among construction practitioners and researchers for the efficient use of resources and the transition to the circular economy in construction. This study employed Lytag aggregate, an environmentally friendly pulverized fuel ash-based lightweight aggregate, as a substitute for natural coarse aggregate. At the same time, fly ash, an industrial by-product, was used as a partial substitute for cement. Concrete mix M20 was experimented with using fly ash and Lytag lightweight aggregate. The percentages of fly ash that make up the replacements were 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%. The Compressive Strength (CS), Split Tensile Strength (STS), and deflection were discovered at these percentages after 56 days of testing. The concrete cube, cylinder, and beam specimens were examined in the explorations, as mentioned earlier. The results indicate that a 10% substitution of cement with fly ash and a replacement of coarse aggregate with Lytag lightweight aggregate produced concrete that performed well in terms of mechanical properties and deflection. The cementitious composites have varying characteristics as the environment changes. Therefore, understanding their mechanical properties are crucial for safety reasons. CS, STS, and deflection are the essential property of concrete. Machine learning (ML) approaches have been necessary to predict the CS of concrete. The Artificial Fish Swarm Optimization (AFSO), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and Harmony Search (HS) algorithms were investigated for the prediction of outcomes. This work deftly explains the tremendous AFSO technique, which achieves the precise ideal values of the weights in the model to crown the mathematical modeling technique. This has been proved by the minimum, maximum, and sample median, and the first and third quartiles were used as the basis for a boxplot through the standardized method of showing the dataset. It graphically displays the quantitative value distribution of a field. The correlation matrix and confidence interval were represented graphically using the corrupt method.

• 자원리싸이클링
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• 제32권6호
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• pp.79-89
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• 2023

최근 탄소 중립 이슈와 함께 가장 많은 조명을 받고 있는 환경 문제로는 폐플라스틱 처리 문제가 있다. 폐플라스틱의 재활용 기술 중에서도 고온의 조건에서 유기물을 전환하여 원료 및 에너지로 재활용하는 열화학적 재활용 기술은 그동안 폐플라스틱에 주로 이용되어 왔던 물질재활용의 한계를 넘어선 기술로 평가 받고 있다. 열화학적 재활용 기술은 폐플라스틱을 원래 플라스틱의 원료로 재순환할 수 있는 순환경제의 핵심 기술로 부각되고 있으며 후속공정 및 최종 생산품의 활용 방법에 따라서 원료(Chemical recycling) 및 에너지(Waste to energy)로 재활용이 가능한 장점을 가지고 국내 뿐 아니라 세계적으로 주목을 받고 있다. 본 논문에서는 열화학적 재활용의 대표적인 세가지 기술인 연소, 가스화, 열분해에 대하여 살펴보고 최근 주요 기술 동향을 제시하고자 한다.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제32권11호
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• pp.745-756
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• 2023

Growing stringent global regulations in Korea poses a threat to corporate sustainability. Companies must respond strategically to navigate these regulations and avoid greenwashing. Objective of this research was to analyze how Korean companies are responding to the global trend of reducing plastic use and propose improved management strategies. Seven indicators were developed to assess companies' post-plastic strategies and applied to analyze the sustainability reports of Amore Pacific and LG Household & HealthCare. These indicators included, 1) disclosure of plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 2) disclosure of recycled plastic raw materials used by weight or volume, 3) disclosure of waste recycling, reuse amounts, and disposal using waste treatment method 4) strategies to reduce environmental impact of plastics, 5) plastic packaging, reduce, recycle, reuse, and composting (in the real environment), 6) plastic management roadmap for the circular economy, and 7) education for sustainable plastic management. Based on the review of considered companies, we propose in-listed sustainable plastics management strategies: disclosing the ratio of plastic raw materials and recycled raw materials for all products, considering recycling rate throughout the product value chain, and not only for the production phase, reviewing carbon dioxide emissions based on life cycle assessment rather than reducing plastic consumption, studying the biodegradability of biodegradable plastics in natural environment such as soil, considering the consumer's perspective.

• 한국가스학회지
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• 제27권4호
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• pp.34-42
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• 2023

산업시설이 국가 경제에 기여하는 바를 고려할 때 지진에 대한 운전성 확보는 매우 중요하다. 그러나, 현행 내진설계의 기본 개념은 대규모 지진에 대해 주로 시설물의 연성거동을 허용하며 붕괴방지를 목적으로 구조적인 안전성만을 고려한다. 산업시설의 운전성 확보를 위해, 산업시설물의 구조거동 특성에 따라 운전성을 유지하기 위한 내진성능수준이 다양할 수 있으며, 이를 만족하기 위한 내진설계방법이 필요하다.본 연구에서는 평저형 저장탱크에 대한 비선형 응답이력 해석으로 비선형 지진거동 특성(R-μ-T)을 분석하고 이를 바탕으로 신뢰도 기반의 성능기반 내진설계 방법을 새롭게 제안하였다.

• 한국물환경학회지
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• 제40권3호
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• pp.131-139
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• 2024

This study investigated the chemical properties of Organic Soil Amendments (OSAs) made from organic waste. It also assessed the effectiveness of using these OSAs in the soil layer of Green Infrastructure (GI) to reduce stormwater runoff and non-point source pollutants. The goal was to improve the national environmental value through resource recycling and contribute to the circular economy transformation and carbon neutrality of urban GI. The OSAs used in this study consisted of spent coffee grounds and food waste compost. They were found to be nutrient-rich and stable as artificial soils, indicating their potential use in the soil layer of GI facilities. Applying OSAs to bio-retention cells and permeable pavement resulted in a reduction of approximately 11-17% in stormwater runoff and a decrease of about 16-18% in Total Phosphorus (TP) discharge in the target area. Increasing the proportion of food waste compost in the OSAs had a positive impact on reducing stormwater runoff and pollutant emissions. This study highlights the importance of utilizing recycled resources and can serve as a foundation for future research, such as establishing parameters for assessing the effectiveness of GI facilities through experiments. To enable more accurate analysis, it is recommended to conduct studies that consider both the chemical and biological aspects of substance transfer in OSAs.

• 문화기술의 융합
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• 제10권3호
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• pp.559-564
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• 2024

산업혁명 이래 쓰레기 배출은 증가해 왔으며 폐기물의 처리 문제는 오늘날 인류가 직면한 가장 대표적 환경문제 중 하나가 되었다. 그러나 쓰레기는 님비 운동을 촉발하는 등, 처리 문제를 둘러싸고 다양한 국가, 정부 및 사회 주체들 간의 갈등은 고조되고 있다. 국가와 지방정부 수준에서 쓰레기 문제의 처리 방식으로는 제도, 법, 규제, 시장적 접근법, 합의와 협력적 거버넌스 등 다양한 방안이 도입, 적용되어 왔다. 최근에는 순환 경제라는 개념 하에 과학 기술을 적용하여 폐기물을 재활용, 재자원화하는 등의 방안도 주목받고 있다. 그러나 쓰레기 문제 해결을 위한 사회적 지지는 여전히 불충분하며 이에 새로운 접근법과 대안 모색이 필요한 시점이다. 본 논문은 훈데르트바서라는 예술가가 설계한 오스트리아 수도 빈의 슈피텔라우 소각장과 일본 오사카의 마이시마 소각장을 사례연구(case study) 하였다. 이들 사례는 오스트리아 출신의 훈데르트바서가 예술과 기술의 창의적, 혁신적 융합을 통해 어떻게 폐기물과 같은 도시 환경문제이자 공공의 문제에 대한 새로운 대안과 접근법을 제시하였는지 보여준다. 이들 사례는 오늘날의 환경문제 해결에 있어 과학기술적. 경제적 접근법과 더불어 예술과 문화의 융합이 유용할 수 있음을 시사한다.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• 제59권2호
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• pp.51-63
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• 2024

Polypropylene (PP) is a commodity plastic that is widely used owing to its cost-effectiveness, lightweight nature, easy processability, and outstanding chemical and thermomechanical characteristics. However, the imperative to address energy and environmental crises has spurred global initiatives toward a circular economy, necessitating sustainable alternatives to traditional fossil-fuel-derived plastics. In this study, we conducted a series of comparative investigations of bio-based polypropylene (bio-PP) blends with current PP of the same and different grades. An extrusion-based processing methodology was employed for the bio-PP composites. Talc was used as an active filler for the preparation of the composites. A comparative analysis with the current petroleum-based PP indicated that the thermal properties and tensile characteristics of the bio-PP blends and composites remained largely unaltered, signifying the feasibility of bio-PP as a potential substitute for the current PP. To achieve a higher Young's modulus, elongation at break (EAB), and melt flow index (MFI), we prepared different composites of PP of different grades and bio-PP with varying talc contents. Interestingly, at higher biomass contents, the composites exhibited higher MFI and EAB values with comparable Young's moduli. Notably, the impact strengths of the composites with various biomass and talc contents remained unaltered. In-depth investigations through surface analysis confirmed the uniform dispersion of talc within the composite matrix. Furthermore, the moldability of the bio-PP composites was substantiated by comprehensive rheological property assessments encompassing shear rate and shear viscosity. Thus, from these outcomes, the fabricated bio-PP-based composites could be an alternative to petroleum-based PP composites for sustainable automobile applications.