• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.18-25
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• 2019

In order to recover the cerium contained in the spent nickel metal hydride batteries (NiMH battery), the recovered rare earth complex precipitates from NIMH were converted into rare earth hydroxides through ion exchange reaction to react with NaOH aqueous solution at a reaction temperature of 70 ℃, for 4 hours. Rare earth hydroxides were oxidized by injecting air at 80 ℃ for 4 hours to oxidize Ce³⁺ to Ce⁴⁺. The oxidation rate of cerium was confirmed to be about 25 % through XPS, and the oxidized powder was separated from the rest of the rare earth using the difference in solubility in dilute sulfuric acid. The finally recovered powder has a crystal phase of cerium hydroxide (Ce(OH)₄). The cerium purity of the final product was about 94.6 %, and the recovery rate was 97.3 %.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.67-75
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• 2015

The content distributions of some rare metals and rare earthe metals in coal ash (fly ash, bottom ash and pond ash) and leachate from coal-fired power plants were investigated. In case of Yttrium (Y) and Neodymium (Nd) which were strategic critical elements, their contents were ranged from about 23 ~ 75 mg/kg and it is shown they are worth to be developed for the recovery and separation method. Considering the annual amount of fly ash and bottom ash and pond ash, coal-fired power plants have great value of about 1,670 billion KRW and it is regards they are worthy as urban mines.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.78-82
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• 2015

Hollow silica particles were prepared using sodium silicate and organic templates. Polystyrene latex (PSL) particles produced by dispersion polymerization were used as organic templates. PSL particles ranged from $1{\mu}m$ to $3{\mu}m$ in diameter were synthesized by adjusting the amount of 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN). The PSL/$SiO_2$ core-shell particles were prepared by coating of silica nanoparticles originated from sodium silicate using sol-gel method. The organic templates were removed by the organic solvent, tetrahydrofuran (THF). Morphology of hollow silica particles was investigated with respect to types of the reaction medium and pH during the process. By changing the solvent from ethanol to water, hollow silica particles were successfully formed. Hollow silica particles with the uniform shell thickness were produced at low pH as well. The reflectivity of the as-prepared silica particles was measured in the range of the wavelength of UV and visible light. Hollow silica particles showed much better reflective properties than the commercial light reflector, Insuladd.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.60-68
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• 2012

Silicon wafer for making semiconductor devices and solar cell is used in the semiconductor and solar industry, respectively. Silicon wafer is produced by cutting with silicon ingot and sludge contains silicon occurs from cutting process. Generation of silicon sludge is increasing on developing all industry sectors which have need of semiconductor device. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the silicon sludge from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents and paper on the recycling technologies of the silicon sludge were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EU), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1982 to 2011. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.133-143
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• 2008

On the basis of chemical composition of granite, gneiss and their weathering products, in this paper, rare earth elements (REEs) was estimated as tracer for clarifying a geochemical variance of earth surface material during weathering process. The chemical composition of clay, clay ware and pottery also were measured for testifying usefulness of REE geochemistry in clarifying the source material of pottery. It was observed that there was no systematic variation of chemical composition among source rock, weathered rock and soil during weathering process. The chemical composition of clay, clay ware and pottery also did not show systematic variation by baking pottery. However, PAAS (Post Archean Australian Shale)-normalized REE patterns of rock-weathered rock-soil and clay-clay ware-pottery are similar regardless of weathering process or ceramic art. Our results confirm that REE geochemistry is powerful tool for clarifying the source materials of surface sediment or archaeological ceramic products.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.400-410
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• 2015

Juniperus chinensis (Cupressaceae) is a valuable woody plant resource, but this rare plant is only distributed in restricted regions in Korea. In this study, we surveyed the geographic distribution regions, variation of sex ratio and the dynamics of natural populations of J. chinensis. in order to establish conservation strategies for the sustainable conservation of this important resource tree. The 17 natural populations of J. chinensis are restrictively distributed in the shore cliffs of (1) Ulleungdo island, (2) Gyeongju-si to Gangneung-si of the eastern coast, the riverside cliff along (3) Donggang-river of Jungsun-gun and Pyeongchang-gun and (4) branch of Nakdonggang-river in Uiseong-gun. The populations in Ulleungdo island showed continuous population distribution of over 200 individuals, but populations in other regions had discontinuous population distribution of under 200. The population of J. chinensis surveyed in Korea was estimated in ca. 3,200 individuals. The sex ratio (male/female) among populations of J. chinensis was diverse with variation from 0.46~1.67 range, but showed no significance. The sex ratio of the total individuals by species level was 0.74, and the percentage of female tree was significantly higher than the male. The results of dynamics analysis within population among regions showed that seedlings and saplings of J. chinensis in three regions surveyed were continuously regenerating. The distribution of DBH class showed a stable population structure of inverse J shape graph, but fragmentation and decrease in populations because of invading broad-leaved shrubs and trees from the surroundings were concerned. Further studies, and in situ and ex situ conservation strategies for the sustainable conservation on natural populations of this rare resources woody plant, J. chinensis in Korea are recommended.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.915-922
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• 2018

Metallic fuel has been considered for sodium-cooled fast reactors because it can maximize the uranium resources. It generates rare earth elements as fission products, where it is reported by aggravating the fuel-cladding chemical interaction at the operating temperature. Rare earth elements form a multicomponent alloy (Ce-Nd-Pr-La-Sm-etc.) during reactor operation, where it shows a higher reaction thickness than a single element. Experiments have been carried out by simplifying multicomponent alloys for mono or binary systems because complex alloys have difficulty in the analysis. In previous experiments, xCe-yNd was fabricated with two elements, Ce and Nd, which have a major effect on the fuel-cladding chemical interaction, and the thickness of the reaction layer reached maximum when the rare earth elements ratio was 1:1. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect and relationship of rare earth elements on such synergistic behavior. Single and binary rare earth model alloys were prepared by selecting five rare earth elements (Ce, Nd, Pr, La, and Sm). In the single system, Nd and Pr behaviors were close to diffusion, and Ce showed a eutectic reaction. In the binary system, Ce and Sm further increased the reaction layer, and La showed a non-synergy effect.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.39-47
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• 2017

In this study, the precipitation of rare earth-sodium sulfate with sodium sulfate was conducted in order to separate rare earth from Fe in rare earth sulfate solution. Neodymium (Nd) was easily precipitated as Nd-sulfate salt with sodium sulfate, on the other hand, excessive sodium sulfate was needed for the precipitation of Dy-sulfate salt. Also neodymium not only promoted the precipitation of dysprosium sulfate salt but also increased recovery of dysprosium sulfate salt in sulfuric acid solution. At the condition of $60^{\circ}C$ precipitation temperature, 3 h reaction time, 7 equivalents sodium sulfate, the recovery of neodymium and dysprosium sulfate salt was 99.7% and 94.3% respectively from the sulfuric acid solution containing Nd of 23.39 mg/ml and Dy of 8.67 mg/ml. Lastly, from the results of separation of Dy to Nd by the method of sulfate double salt, the effect of salting out with NaCl is important to increase the grade of Dy, and 98.7% of Dy grade could be obtained in this study.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.201-211
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the vascular plants which can be an indicator of environmental change in Seseok of Jirisan National Park. The purpose of this study was to find out the basic information for the subalpine species. This study showed that the area had a total 295 taxa including 63 families, 177 genus, 252 species, 2 subspecies, 36 variants 5 forms and Pte-Q was 1.7. Among them, Korea endemic plants were 15 taxa such as Abies koreana. Rare plants were 14 taxa such as Viola diamantiaca. Naturalized plants consisted of 5 taxa such as Rumex crispus. The floristic regional indicator plants found in surveyed area were 72 taxa comprising 3 taxa of grade V, 7 taxa of grade IV and 24 taxa of grade III. In summary, The subalpine plants of the survey region consisted of 37 taxa including Abies koreana and Gymnadenia cucullata. As rare plants distributed in subalpine zone respond sensitively to climate change, accuracy distribution range, environmental characteristics of habitat and population dynamics of rare plants should be evaluated quantitatively.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.3-10
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• 2017

The special properties of silver are often indispensable in the manufacture of advanced materials. Therefore, it is of importance to develop a process to recover silver which is necessary for the production of advanced materials from diverse resources. In this manuscript, the developed processes for the leaching of silver from diverse resources are reviewed. For this purpose, the advantages and disadvantages of using some inorganic acids (nitric and sulfuric acid) and their mixture with other oxidizing agents (ozone, oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and ferric ion) were investigated. Moreover, the leaching of silver with thiourea and thiosulfate was compared over those by inorganic acids in terms of environmental effect.