• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2024

Upon direct/indirect exposure to flame or heat, composite structures may burn or thermally buckle. This issue becomes more important in the natural fiber-based composite structures with higher flammability and lower mechanical properties. The main goal of the present study was to obtain an optimal eco-friendly composite system with low flammability and high thermal buckling resistance. The studied composite consisted of polypropylene (PP) and short abaca fiber (AF) with eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) additives. An optimal base composite, consisting of 30 wt.% AF and 70 wt.% PP, abbreviated as OAP, was initially introduced based on burning rate (BR) and the Young's modulus determined by horizontal burning test (HBT) and tensile test, respectively. The effects of adding ESP to the base composite were then investigated with the same experimental tests. The results indicated that though the BR significantly decreased with the increase of ESP content up to 6 wt.%, it had a very destructive influence on the stiffness of the composite. To compensate for the damaging effect of ESP, small amount of HNT was used. The performance of OAP composite with 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT (OAPEH) was explored by conducting HBT, cone calorimeter test (CCT) and tensile test. The experimental results indicated a 9~23 % reduction in almost all flammability parameters such as heat release rate (HRR), total heat released (THR), maximum average rate of heat emission (MARHE), total smoke released (TSR), total smoke production (TSP), and mass loss (ML) during combustion. Furthermore, the combination of 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT reduced the stiffness of OAP to an insignificant amount by maximum 3%. Moreover, the char residue analysis revealed the distinct differences in the formation of char between AF/PP and AF/PP/ESP/HNT composites. Afterward, dilatometry test was carried out to examine the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of OAP and OAPEH samples. The obtained results showed that the CTE of OAPEH composite was about 18% less than that of OAP. Finally, a theoretical model was used based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to predict the critical bucking temperatures of the OAP and OAPEH composite plates. It was shown that in the absence of mechanical load, the critical buckling temperatures of OAPEH composite plates were higher than those of OAP composites, such that the difference between the buckling temperatures increased with the increase of thickness. On the contrary, the positive effect of CTE reduction on the buckling temperature decreased by raising the axial compressive mechanical load on the composite plates which can be assigned to the reduction of stiffness after the incorporation of ESP. The results of present study generally stated that a suitable combination of AF, PP, ESP, and HNT can result in a relatively optimal and environmentally friendly composite with proper flame and thermal buckling resistance with no significant decline in the stiffness.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.423-429
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• 2008

Currently, Ash-free clean coal producing process by solvent extraction is under development. The produced ash-free clean coal can be directly combusted in a gas turbine which results in substantial improvement of power generation efficiency. However, the clean coal produced by the solvent extraction still contain trace amount of alkali metal which may cause corrosion on turbine blades during the direct combustion. In present work ${\alpha},{\beta}$-metal (Zr and Ti) phosphates and H-Y zeolite were synthesized and their ion exchange characterizations were investigated for the application on alkali metal removal for clean coal production. $Na^+$ ion removal capacities of the metal phosphates and H-Y zeolite were measured and compared in both aqueous solution (100 ppmw, $Na^+$) and coal dissolved N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP, 12 ppmw $Na^+$) at elevated temperature. In aqueous solution, the ${\beta}$ form metal phosphates showed very high ion exchange capacities compared to ${\alpha}$ form. ${\beta}$ form metal phosphates also showed higher $Na^+$ removal capacities than H-Y zeolite. In ion exchange medium of NMP, all the ${\alpha}$ form metal phosphates showed over 90% of $Na^+$ ion removal efficiency in the temperature range of 200 to 400 while that of H-Y zeolite decreased as a half when the temperature was over 350. In addition, the regenerated metal phosphates by acid treatment showed no sign of degradation in $Na^+$ removal efficiency. Among the metal phosphates used, $Zr_{0.75}Ti_{0.25}(HPO_4)_2$ showed the best performance in $Na^+$ removal and is expected to be the most suitable inorganic ion exchanger for the alkali metal removal process.

• Clean Technology
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2016

The emission of SO₂ is inevitable in case of combustion of most fossil fuels except LNG in commercial power plant which has a bad effect on the durability of SCR catalyst. To develop a low temperature SCR catalyst which has a high NOx removal performance and excellent durability to SO₂, V₂O₅/TiO₂ catalysts were prepared by coating on the metal foam substrate with the impregnation amount of Sb₂O₃ as promotor. This study has evaluated the NOx removal performance and the durability to SO₂ on a laboratory scale atmospheric reactor and analyzed the properties of the prepared catalysts by means of porosimeter, BET, SEM (scanning electron microscope), EDX (energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). It was found that the surface area of catalyst increased with the impregnation amount of Sb₂O₃ and the NOx removal performance showed the highest value at the 2 wt% impregnation of Sb₂O₃. This results was considered to be due to the optimum active site on the catalyst surface. And also, Sb₂O₃ impregnated catalysts presented that NOx removal performance was maintained despite the exposure to SO₂ for 5 hours. Therefore it was confirmed that metal foam SCR catalyst for low temperature could be manufactured with the optimum control of Sb₂O₃ impregnation according to the SO₂ presence or not.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 2006

The precise estimation of total and organic carbon contents in sediments is fundamental to understand the benthic environment. To test the precision and accuracy of CHN analyzer and the procedure to quantify total and organic carbon contents(using in-situ acidification with sulfurous acid($H_2SO_3$)) in the sediment, the reference material s such as Acetanilide($C_8H_9NO$), Sulfanilammide($C_6H_8N_2O_2S$), and BCSS-1(standard estuary sediment) were used. The results indicate that CHN analyzer to quantify carbon and nitrogen content has high precision(percent error=3.29%) and accuracy(relative standard deviation=1.26%). Additionally, we conducted the instrumental comparison of carbon values analyzed using CHN analyzer and Coulometeric Carbon Analyzer. Total carbon contents measured from two different instruments were highly correlated($R^2=0.9993$, n=84, p<0.0001) with a linear relationship and show no significant differences(paired t-test, p=0.0003). The organic carbon contents from two instruments also showed the similar results with a significant linear relationship($R^2=0.8867$, n=84, p<0.0001) and no significant differences(paired t-test, p<0.0001). Although it is possible to overestimate organic carbon contents for some sediment types having high inorganic carbon contents(such as calcareous ooze) due to procedural and analytical errors, analysis of organic carbon contents in sediments using CHN Analyzer and current procedures seems to provide the best estimates. Therefore, we recommend that this method can be applied to measure the carbon content in normal any sediment samples and are considered to be one of the best procedure far routine analysis of total and organic carbon.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.394-401
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• 2005

A nonthermal plasma-assisted fuel reformer was developed and the effects of operating variables on the performance of this reformer were studied. The $H_2$-rich reformed gas from the reformer was injected into a diesel engine under an idle condition and the effects of the amount of injected gas on the NO and soot reduction were investigated. It was found that with increasing electric power consumption, the degree of facility of ignition of the reforming reaction in the reformer could be enhanced. The performance of the reformer including $H_2$ concentration, $H_2$ recovery, and energy conversion was affected only by the O/C mole ratio. This was because the equilibrium reaction temperature was governed by the O/C mole ratio. With increasing O/C mole ratio, the $H_2$ recovery and energy conversion passed through the maximum values of 33.4% and 66%, respectively, at an O/C mole ratio between 1.2 and 1.5. The reason why the $H_2$ recovery and energy conversion increased with increasing O/C mole ratio when the O/C mole ratio was lower than $1.2{\sim}1.5$ appeared to be that the complete oxidation reaction occurred more enough with increasing O/C mole ratio in this low O/C mole ratio range and accordingly the reaction temperature increased. Whereas the reason why the $H_2$ recovery and energy conversion decreased with increasing O/C mole ratio when the O/C mole ratio was higher than $1.2{\sim}1.5$ appeared to be that the complete oxidation reaction was further advanced and the $H_2$ recovery and energy conversion decreased. As the weight ratio of reformed diesel to total diesel which entered the diesel engine was increased to $18.2{\sim}23.5%$, NO and soot reduction efficiencies increased and reached as values high as 68.5% and 23.5%, respectively.

• Clean Technology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.256-262
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• 2019

Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN)-based liquid propellants are attracting attention as environmentally friendly propellants because they are not carcinogens and the combustion gases have little toxicity. The catalyst used to decompose the HAN-based liquid propellant in a thruster must have both low temperature activity and high heat resistance. The objective of this study is to prepare an Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst by supporting alumina slurry on the surface of NiCrAl metal foam using a washing coating method and then to support a ruthenium precursor thereon. The decomposition activity of a HAN aqueous solution of the Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst was evaluated. The effect of the number of repetitive coatings of alumina slurry on the physical properties of the alumina/metal foam was analyzed. As the number of alumina wash coatings increased, mesopores with a diameter of about 7 nm were well-developed, thereby increasing the surface area and pore volume. It was optimal to repeat the wash coating alumina on the metal foam 12 times to maximize the surface area and pore volume of the alumina/metal foam. Mesopores were also well developed on the surface of the Ru/alumina/metal foam catalyst. It was found that the metal form itself without the active metal and alumina can promote the decomposition reaction of the HAN aqueous solution. In the case of the Ru/alumina/metal foam-550 catalyst, the decomposition onset temperature was significantly lowered compared with that of the thermal decomposition reaction, and ${\Delta}P$ could be greatly increased in the decomposition of the HAN aqueous solution. However, when the catalyst was calcined at $1,200^{\circ}C$, the catalytic activity was lowered inevitably because the surface area and pore volume of the catalyst were drastically reduced and Ru was sintered. Further research is needed to improve the heat resistance of Ru/alumina/metal foam catalysts.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.223-231
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate basically the mechanism of heat transfer by the resolution of complex fluid flow inside a sophisticated designed screw dryer for the treatment of sewage sludge by using numerical analysis and experimental study. By doing this, the result was quite helpful to obtain the design criteria for enhancing drying efficiency, thereby achieving the optimal design of a multiple screw type dryer for treating inorganic and organic sludge wastes. One notable design feature of the dryer was to bypass a certain of fraction of the hot combustion gases into the bottom of the screw cylinder, by the fluid flow induction, across the delicately designed holes on the screw surface to agitate internally the sticky sludges. This offers many benefits not only in the enhancement of thermal efficiency even for the high viscosity material but also greater flexibility in the application of system design and operation. However, one careful precaution was made in operation in that when distributing the hot flue gas over the lump of sludge for internal agitation not to make any pore blocking and to avoid too much pressure drop caused by inertial resistance across the lump of sludge. The optimal retention time for rotating the screw at 1 rpm in order to treat 200 kg/hr of sewage sludge was determined empirically about 100 minutes. The corresponding optimal heat source was found to be 150,000 kcal/hr. A series of numerical calculation is performed to resolve flow characteristics in order to assist in the system design as function of important system and operational variables. The numerical calculation is successfully evaluated against experimental temperature profile and flow field characteristics. In general, the calculation results are physically reasonable and consistent in parametric study. In further studies, more quantitative data analyses such as pressure drop across the type and loading of drying sludge will be made for the system evaluation in experiment and calculation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2006

This study purposed to investigate air pollution in car shipping yards and, for this purpose, we selected an outdoor open-air yard and an indoor ramp into the ship and measured the concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM10, PM2.5 and heavy metals in the air. The results of this study are as follows. No significant difference was observed in temperature and humidity between the outdoor and indoor workshop, and the average air flow was 0.52 m/s in the indoor workshop, which is higher than 0.19 m/s in the outdoor workshop(p<0.01). The average concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM10 and PM2.5 according to workplace were 0.03 ppm(${\pm}0.01$), 0.03 ppm(${\pm}0.01$), 0.46 ppm(${\pm}0.22$), $39.44{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}2.45$) and $5.45{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}1.15$) respectively in the outdoor workshop, and 0.15 ppm(${\pm}0.05$), 0.22 ppm(${\pm}0.06$), 8.85 ppm(${\pm}3.35$), $236.39{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}58.21$) and $152.43{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}35.42$) respectively in the indoor workshop. Thus, the concentrations of gaseous substances in the indoor workshop were 4.9-19.2 times higher than those in the outdoor workshop, and the concentrations of fine dusts were 5.9-27.9 times higher(p<0.01). In addition, according to the result of investigating pollutant concentrations according to displacement and the number of car loaded when shipping gasoline cars into the ship, no significant relation between the number of cars loaded and pollutants was observed in shipping passenger cars, but the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide got somewhat higher with the increase of the number of cars loaded(p<0.05). In addition, the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM10 and PM2.5 in the air were significantly higher when shipping recreational vehicles, the displacement of which is larger than passenger cars, than when shipping passenger cars(p<0.01). On the other hand, the average heavy metal concentrations of the air in indoor workshop were: lead $-0.05{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}0.10$); chromium $-0.90{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}0.18$); zinc $-0.38{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}0.24$); copper $-0.18{\mu}g/m^3$(${\pm}0.22$); and manganese and cadmium not detected. In addition, the complaining rates of 'asthma,' a major symptom of chronic respiratory diseases, were 18.5% and 22.5% respectively in indoor workers and outdoor workers. Thus the rate was somewhat higher in indoor workers but the difference was not statistically significant. The complaining rates of 'chronic cough' and 'chronic phlegm' were very low and little different between indoor and outdoor workers. The results of this study show that the reason for the higher air pollution in indoor than in outdoor workshop is incomplete combustion of fuel due to sudden start and over-speed when cars are driven inside the ship. In order to prevent high air pollution, efficient management measures should be taken including the observance of the optimal speed, the improvement of old ships and the installation of efficient ventilation system.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2021

In combustion facilities, the nitrogen and sulfur in fossil fuels react with oxygen to generate air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO_X) and sulfur oxides (SO_X), which are harmful to the human body and cause environmental pollution. There are regulations worldwide to reduce NO_X and SO_X, and various technologies are being applied to meet these regulations. There are commercialized methods to reduce NO_X and SO_X emissions such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD), but due to the disadvantages of these methods, many studies have been conducted to simultaneously remove NO_X and SO_X. However, even in the NO_X and SO_X simultaneous removal methods, there are problems with wastewater generation due to oxidants and absorbents, costs incurred due to the use of catalysts and electrolysis to activate specific oxidants, and the harmfulness of gas oxidants themselves. Therefore, in this research, microbubbles generated in a high-pressure disperser and reducing agents were used to reduce costs and facilitate wastewater treatment in order to compensate for the shortcomings of the NO_X, SO_X simultaneous treatment method. It was confirmed through image processing and ESR (electron spin resonance) analysis that the disperser generates real microbubbles. NO_X and SO_X removal tests according to temperature were also conducted using only microbubbles. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NO_X and SO_X are about 75% and 99% using a reducing agent and microbubbles to reduce wastewater. When a small amount of oxidizing agent was added to this microbubble system, both NO_X and SO_X removal rates achieved 99% or more. Based on these findings, it is expected that this suggested method will contribute to solving the cost and environmental problems associated with the wet oxidation removal method.