• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.225-234
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• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.170-180
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• 2007

This paper deals with the economy of scale for domestic on-site hydrogen stations fueled with natural gas and naptha. We evaluate the economic feasibility of on-site hydrogen stations with hydrogen production capacities of $30Nm^3/hr,\;100Nm^3/hr\;and\;300Nm^3/hr$. We build a classical economic feasibility model and we make some sensitivity analyses by changing the values of input factors such as the hydrogen sale price and the discount rate. The estimated hydrogen prices of steam methane reforming stations with production capacities of $30\;Nm^3/hr,\;100\;Nm^3/hr\;and\;300\;Nm^3/hr$ are 18,472 won/kg, 10,689 won/kg and 7,758 won/kg, respectively. Also, the hydrogen prices are about the same if we use naptha as a raw material for hydrogen energy instead of natural gas. It turns out that small and medium size domestic on-site hydrogen stations will not be economical in the near future. This indicates that we need to construct large scale on-site hydrogen fueling stations even for the initial phase of the hydrogen economy.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.447-461
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• 2016

Recently, the Renewable Fuel Standard(RFS) has been commenced from July 31, 2015 in the New and Renewable Energy Act for expanding the supply of renewable energy and reduction of national GHG target in Korea. The biodiesel is only a means of implementation for the RFS, therefore the biodiesel supply expansion is important for fulfilling the RFS obligation policy. The major key points of the biodiesl supply are expanding domestic feedstocks due to the over 60% dependence on foreign feedstock and reducing the price of feedstock because of the over 70% occupation of feed stock price in the biodiesl production cost. Therefore, we estimated actual amount of potential feedstocks which are possible to use for biodiesl production in Korea and investigated technical and political improvements for expanding biodiesl. For estimating a potential feedstocks, first selected the potential biodiesl feedstocks by investigating the status of global biodiesl feedstocks and then analyzed the possible potential amount of each feedstock by surveying the generation situations, the distribution structures and the technical level.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.137-143
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• 2021

As an electrochemical water electrolysis for green hydrogen production, both polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and alkaline electrolyte are being developed extensively in various countries. The PEM electrolyzer with high current density (above 2 A/cm²) has the advantage of being able to design a simple structure. Also, it is known that it has high response to electrical output fluctuations. However, the cost problem of major components is the most important issue that a PEM electrolyzer must overcome. Instantly, there are platinum group metal (PGM)-based electrocatalysts, fluorine-based polyfluoro sulfuric acid (PFSA) membrane, Ti felt (porous transport layer, PTL) and so on. Another challenging issue is productivity. A securing outstanding productivity brings price benefits of the electrolytic cells. From this point of view, we conducted basic studies on manufacturing electrode and membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for PEM electrolyzer production.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.275-311
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• 2007

Hydrogen energy is emphasized as a substitutable energy of carbon-based energy system in the future, since it is non-depletable and clean energy. Long term vision of Korean government on the national energy system is to promote hydrogen energy by 15% of final energy demand until 2040. This study analyzes economic impacts of hydrogen energy development employing a dynamic CGE model for Korea. Frontier technology such as hydrogen energy is featured as slow diffusion at the initial stage due to the learning effect and energy complementarity. Without government intervention, hydrogen energy would be produced upto 6.5% of final energy demand until 2040. However, if government subsidizes sales price of hydrogen energy by 10%, 20%, and 30%, share of hydrogen energy would increase 9.2%, 15.2%, and 37.7% of final energy demand. This result shows that the slow diffusion problem of hydrogen energy as frontier technology could be figured out by market incentive policy. On the other hand, production levels of transportation sector would increase while growth rate of oil and electricity sectors would decline. Household consumption would be affected negatively since increase of consumption due to the price decrease would be overwhelmed by income reduction owing to the increase of tax. Overall, GDP would not decrease or increase significantly since total production, investment, and export would increase even if household consumption declines.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Interest in hydrogen productions that do not emit carbon dioxide and can produce hydrogen at a low price is increasing. Reforming and electrolysis are widely used, but they have limitations, such as carbon dioxide problems and costs. The methane can be decomposed as hydrogen and solid carbon without carbon dioxide emission at high temperatures. In this research, the methane pyrolysis experiment was conducted at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃ in a ceramic tube. The composition of the produced gas was measured by gas chromatography before carbon blocked the tube. The methane conversion rate and hydrogen selectivity were calculated based on the results. The hydrogen selectivity was derived as 60% and 55% at the highest point at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃, respectively. The produced solid carbon was expected to be carbon black and was analyzed using scanning electron microscope.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.412-419
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• 2012

Increasing demand for natural gas and higher natural gas prices in the recent decades have led many people to pursue unconventional methods of natural gas production. POSCO-Gwangyang synthetic natural gas (SNG) project was launched in 2010. As the market price of natural gas goes up, the increase of its price gets more sensitive due to the high cost of transportation and liquefaction. This project can make the SNG economically viable. In parallel with this project, KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation) joined in launching the SNG Quality Standard Bureau along with KOGAS (Korea Gas Corporation), POSCO and so on. KEPCO Research Institute is in charge of SNG fueled gas turbine combustion test. In this research, several combustion tests were conducted to find out the effect of hydrogen contents in SNG on gas turbine combustion. The hydrogen in synthetic natural gas did not affect on gas turbine combustion characteristics which are turbine inlet temperature including pattern factor and emission performance. However, flame stable region in ${\Phi}$-Air flow rate map was shifted to the lean condition due to autocatalytic effect of hydrogen.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2022

The Saudi Vision 2030 defined the directions of the national economy and market towards diversifying sources of income, and developing energy to become less dependent on oil. The study sought through a theoretical review to identify the reality of the energy sector and the areas of investment available in the field of renewable energy. Findings showed that investment in the renewable energy sector is a promising source according to solar, wind, hydrogen, geothermal energy and burning waste than landfill to extract biogas for less emission. The renewable energy sector faces challenges related to technology, production cost, price, quantity of production and consumption, and markets. The study revealed some recommendations providing and suggested electronic marketing system to provide investors and consumers with energy available from renewable sources.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.409-414
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• 2011

To promote the industry of PEMFC, the commercialization of its parts especially bipolar plate is needed. The bipolar plate is one of key parts for PEMFC, which occupies cost portion of 5~8% in the system. To replace the bipolar plate of machined graphite highly costly, the stamped thin matal or the molded carbon composite has been developed. According to the merits and demerits of each material and its forming process, the stamped metallic plate has been considered to the bipolar plate of PEMFC for automotive, and on the other hand, the molded composite plate has been considered to one for building applications. Hankook Tire Co., Ltd. has developed the carbon composite material and the manufacturing process for the bipolar plates. The developed bipolar plates were proved to be fully applicable to PEMFC of building applications in characteristics and performance, and so government strategic project to develop the mass-production technology for bipolar plates was started and is being conducted by the company. Through the government project for obtaining both the commercialization technology and production capacity for the bipolar plates, the price and the performance of domestic PEMFCs are expected to become competitive in international market.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.22-30
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• 2009

Energy environment has been changing rapidly such as the fluctuation of oil prices and the effect on UNFCCC. Oil price change affects Korea's economy heavily due to her poor natural resources and large dependence of consumed energy resources. Korea takes the 4th place of importing the crude oil and 9th place in $CO_2$ emissions with the 1st place of $CO_2$ emissions increasing rate. Considering the current statue of Korea including oil price change and UNFCCC, Korea will be expected to be the Annex I nation due to Korean energy environments and the quantity of $CO_2$ emission. Energy technology development is a crucial key to cope with Korea's national energy security and environments. In this study, we establish the framework, which allocates the relative weights of assessment criteria and sub-criteria, for assessing and selecting R&D programs of energy technologies strategically. We integrated fuzzy theory and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach since the fuzzy AHP approach reflects the vagueness of human thoughts and perception effectively as making pairwise comparisons of criteria and alternatives. The fundamental data of this research results will support R&D planning phase for policy-makers and the production of well focused R&D outcomes.