• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.432-438
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• 2018

Microalgae hold promise as a renewable energy source for the production of biofuel, as they can convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. However, cost-efficient harvest of microalgae remains a major challenge to commercial-scale algal biofuel production. We first investigated the potential of electrolytic water as a flocculant for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) is produced at the cathode through water electrolysis. It contains mineral ions such as $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ that can act as flocculants. The flocculation activity with AEW was evaluated via culture density, AEW concentration, medium pH, settling time, and ionic strength analyses. The flocculation efficiency was 88.7% at 20% AEW (pH 8, 10 min) with a biomass concentration of 2 g/l. The initial biomass concentration and medium pH had significant influences on the flocculation activity of AEW. A viability test of flocculated microalgal cells was conducted using Evans blue stain, and the cells appeared intact. Furthermore, the growth rate of Tetraselmis sp. in recycled flocculation medium was similar to the growth rate in fresh F/2 medium. Our results suggested that AEW flocculation could be a very useful and affordable methodology for fresh biomass harvesting with environmentally friendly easy operation in part of the algal biofuel production process.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.43-48
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• 2011

Filler loading at thick stock was carried out in order to verify if the dual addition of filler can be used as a means to reduce the detrimental effects of filler on the strength properties of paper. PCC was added to 3.5% pulp slurry blended with HwBKP, BCTMP and SwBKP. Cationic starch was used as a fixing agent. The mixture of PCC and pulp was stirred for 5, 10 and 20min. at 1,000 rpm. The remaining PCC was washed out before handsheet making. PCC particles were flocculated and fixed on the pulp fiber and/or space between fibers. It is expected that the flocculation and inclusion of PCC can be helpful to improve the strength properties of paper due to the reduction of detrimental effect in fiber bonding. The distinct tendency in PCC flocculation and fixing on pulp fiber was not observed by the change of cationic starch dosage and treatment time.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 1999.11b
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• pp.109-114
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• 1999

The deposition kinetics of fines on fibres was studied to elucidate the flocculation mechanism of a PAM/bentonite retention aid. It is shown that polymer-induced co-flocculation is not permanent. This phenomenon is attributed to a stabilising effect of polymer transfer between surfaces. The resulting polymer layers have a reduced bridging ability with naked surfaces. The addition of bentonite increases the bond strength between fibres and fines, and links non-briding layers. These results explain the positive influence of bentonite on fines retention.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.53-60
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• 2015

The effects of stirring speed during filler modification by dual polymers on flocculation and reflocculation of PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate) particles and its effect on handsheet properties were elucidated. PCC surface was modified by adsorbing A-PAM (anionic polyacrylamide) and C-starch (cationic starch) in series at various stirring speeds. It was found that increasing stirring speed during filler modification decreased the initial floc size of PCC. Continuous stirring with the same speed for filler modification resulted in the decrease of a floc size, eventually reached a steady state. The variations in a floc size was influenced by the stirring speed during filler modification: the lower the stirring speed during filler modification, the larger the floc size variations. Conclusively, the stability of PCC floc could be improved by increasing the stirring speed. In addition, the stirring speed influenced the handsheet properties. The smaller the PCC floc, the lower the strength of handseet. However, too much larger floc size also deteriorated paper strength. There exists an optimum floc size in term of paper strength which shall be controlled by stirring speed during filler modification.

• Water for future
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.115-121
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• 1994

Cohesie sediment movement in estuarine systems is strongly affected by the phenomena of aggregation and flocculation. Aggregation is the process where primary particles are clustered together in tightly-packed formations; flocculation is the process where aggregates and single particles are bonded together to form large particle groups of very low specific density. The size, shape and strength of the flocculants control the rate of deposition and the processes of pollutant exchange between suspended sediments and ambient water. In estuarine waters, suspended sediments above the lutocline form the mobile suspension zone while below the lutocline they form the stationary suspension zone. Suspended particles in the mobile zone are generally in a dispersed state and the controlling forces are the Brownian motion and the turbulent flow fluctuations. In the stationary suspension zone, the driving force is the gravity. This paper discusses the settling and particle flocculation characteristics under quiescient flow conditions. Particles are entering the study domain randomly. Particles in the mobile suspension zone are simulated by using the Smoluchowski's model. Flocs created in the mobil suspension zone are moving into the stationary suspension zone where viscosity and drag effects are important. Utilizing the concepts of the maximum Feret's diameter and the Minkowski's sausage logic, the fractal dimension of the flocs within the stationary suspension is estimated and then compared with results obtained by other studies.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.76-80
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• 2015

In filler loaded paper, the size of the filler affects its strength, optical and surface properties. As the size of the filler increases, tensile strength and bulk usually increases, opacity decreases, and smoothness becomes worse. Pre-flocculation of GCC (grounded calcium carbonate) makes large diameter flocs at aqueous medium that consists of multiple GCC particles, but they collapse to 2-dimensional shape in dried paper and makes low bulk paper. The hybrid calcium carbonate (HCC) that was made by in-situ $CaCO_3$ formation between GCC in aqueous medium made high bulk paper without harming tensile strength, bulk, opacity, and smoothness. The GCC that has equivalent size as HCC failed to make high opacity and smoothness as much as HCC.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.282-286
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• 1997

The floc strength of Escherichia coli was enhanced by adding water soluble polymer flocculants (BPA-5020 and BPA-5000) to the particulate flocculant (BPA-1000) as indicated by the increase in the shear index. The shear index of the E. coli flocs increased from 0.39 with the particulate flocculant alone to 0.94 with the particulate flocculant in conjunction with the water soluble polymer flocculant. In addition, the sedimentation rate of flocs was higher and the sedimented volume of flocs was smaller when the particulate flocculant was used with the water soluble polymer flocculant. When E. coli was flocculated first with the water soluble flocculant and the particulate flocculant was added later into the E. coli flocs formed, the sedimentation rate of the flocs was greater than that of any other combination. The shear index of the flocs was, however, independent of the sequence of the flocculant addition.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.8-16
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• 2003

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential application of the separated refining system in the papermaking process using cotton pulps. The cotton staple and linter fibers were expected to show a great difference in their refining responses due to their morphological and physical differences. Experiments were conducted to examine the differences in flocculation tendency, CED viscosity, fiber length, handsheet properties and the SEM surface images between staple and linter fibers at a given refining degree. These fibers were also subjected to separated refining in a laboratory-scale beater and in a mill-scale refiner as well. The effect of the separated refining on the refining rates and papermaking properties were evaluated. Results obtained are summarized as follows: 1. Fiber flocculation tendency of cotton staple was estimated to be significantly greater than that of linter fibers; 2. The staple fibers showed higher cellulose DP, longer fiber length and higher sheet strength at a given refining degree compared to linter fibers, but remarkably slower refining rate was observed; 3. The separated refining system exhibited a significant increase in sheet strengths, especiauy in folding endurance, with an increase in the fibrillation on the surface of staple fibers, but slightly lower or comparable fiber length after refining to the mixed refining system; 4. Similar results were also obtained from the machine trial in which about 7-8％ energy saving effects were achived in the separated refining system. On the basis of the results observed in this study, it was concluded that a significant increase in paper strength and a substantial reduction in refining energy consumption could be achieved using the separated refining system for the cotton staple and linter fiber stock refining.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.97-106
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• 2007

In this study, experiments are conducted to find out the effect of waste leachate on landfill clay liner system. Tensile test, hydrometer analysis and crack pattern test were conducted on sand-bentonite mixtures with different pH values of water. The tensile strength of specimen compacted with pH 9 of water is smaller than that of specimen compacted with for pH 3 and 6 of water. That is, the higher the pH value, the smaller the tensile strength, because a higher pH solution decreases flocculation phenomenon. The percent finer also increased with high pH value in particle size distribution of fine grained soil (<0.075 mm), because the velocity of particles settling decreases. This trend becomes the clearer as the content of bentonite, becomes the larger, because the higher pH value decreases flocculation structure of fine soils. The results of the crack pattern tests also showed the effect of pH values of water.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.375-384
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• 2018

Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of high plasticity clayey soil mixed with 5 and 10 % of Portland cement and four chemical agents such as sodium hexametaphosphate, aluminum sulfate, sodium carbonate, and sodium silicate with 0, 5, 10, and 20% concentrations was comparatively evaluated. The individual and combined effects of the cement and chemical agents on the UCS of the soil mixture were investigated. The strength of the soil-cement mixture generally increases with increasing the cement content. However, if the chemical agent is added to the mixture, the strength of the cement-chemical agent-soil mixture tends to vary depending on the type and the amount of the chemical agent. At low concentrations of 5% of aluminum sulfate and 5% and 10% of sodium carbonate, the average UCS of the cement-chemical agent-soil mixture slightly increased compared to pure clay due to increasing the flocculation of the clay in the mixture. However, at high concentrations (20%) of all chemical agents, the UCS significantly decreased compared to the pure clay and clay-cement mixtures. In the case of high cement content, the rate of UCS reduction is the highest among all cement-chemical agent-soil mixtures, which is more than three times higher in comparison to the soil-chemical agent mixtures without cement. Therefore, in the mixture with high cement (> 10%), the reduction of the USC is very sensitive when the chemical agent is added.