• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.393-401
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• 2024

Epoxy is a thermosetting polymer with excellent properties such as heat and chemical resistance, making them essential in various industrial fields including electronics. The performance of epoxy is highly dependent on the type of curing agent used. Among them, sulfonium-based latent curing agents are notable for their fast curing speed, high curing hardness, and specificity to certain temperatures, making them attractive for manufacturing anisotropic conductive films in electronic materials where single-component epoxy is required. However, sulfonium-based latent curing agents face challenges in industrial application due to issues with low yield and purity. This study optimized the synthesis conditions for benzyl and naphthyl-type sulfonium curing agents (B-Sul⁺SbF6^-, N-Sul⁺NCyF^-, N-Sul⁺NFSI^-). By adjusting reaction time, reaction temperature, and reactant ratios, yield was maximized, significantly reducing both reaction time and temperature. The three optimized curing agents were evaluated for their thermal and mechanical properties to assess curing behavior and storage stability. The results confirmed that stable curing performance was maintained even after mixing. This study aims to expand the industrial applicability of sulfonium curing agents.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.147-163
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• 2013

The world faces several issues of energy crisis and environmental deterioration due to over-dependence on single source of which is fossil fuel. Though, fuel is needed as ingredients for industrial development and growth of any country, however the fossil fuel which is a major source of energy for this purpose has always been terrifying thus the need for alternative and renewable energy sources. The search for alternative energy sources resulted into the acceptance of a biofuel as a reliable alternative energy source. This work presents the study of optimization of process of transesterification of vegetable oil to biodiesel using NaOH as catalyst. A $2^4$ factorial design method was employed to investigate the influence of ratio of oil to methanol, temperature, NaOH concentration, and transesterification time on the yield of biodiesel from vegetable oil. Low and high levels of the key factors considered were 4:1 and 6:1 mole ratio, 30 and $60^{\circ}C$ temperatures, 0.5 and 1.0 wt% catalyst concentration, and 30 and 60 min reaction time. Results obtained revealed that oil to methanol molar ratio of 6:1, tranesetrification temperature of $60^{\circ}C$, catalyst concentration of 1.0wt % and reaction time of 30 min are the best operating conditions for the optimum yield of biofuel from vegetable oil, with optimum yield of 95.8%. Results obtained on the characterizzation of the produced biodiesel indicate that the specific gravity, cloud point, flash point, sulphur content, viscosity, diesel index, centane number, acid value, free glycerine, total glycerine and total recovery are 0.8899, 4, 13, 0.0087%, 4.83, 25, 54.6. 0.228mgKOH/g, 0.018, 0.23% and 96% respectively. Results also indicate that the qualities of the biodiesel tested for are in conformity with the set standard. A model equation was developed based on the results obtained using a statistical tool. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of data shows that mole ratio of ground nut oil to methanol and transesterification time have the most pronounced effect on the biodiesel yield with contributions of 55.06% and 9.22% respectively. It can be inferred from the results various conducted that vegetable oil locally produced from groundnut oil can be utilized as a feedstock for biodiesel production.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.320-325
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• 2021

In this study, an optimization for the production of water emulsion was designed by adding an extract of wheat sprout, which is known to contain a large amount of antioxidants. The central composite design of reaction surface analysis method (CCD-RSM) was used for the optimization process. The amount of emulsifier, emulsification time, and added amount of wheat sprout extract were selected as independent variables based on our preliminary experiments. The mean droplet size (MDS), viscosity, and emulsion stability index (ESI) were set as the responses to evaluate the stability of the emulsion. For each independent variable, the P-value and coefficient of determination were evaluated to verify the reliability of the experiments. From the result of CCD-RSM, optimum conditions for the emulsification were determined as 23.6 min, 7.7 wt.%, and 3.9 wt.% for the emulsification time, amount of emulsifier, and amount of sprout, respectively. From the optimized condition obtained, MDS, viscosity, and ESI after 7 days from reaction were estimated as 252.3 nm, 616.7 cP, and 88.7%, respectively. The overall satisfaction was 0.9137, which supported the validity of the experiments, and the error rate was measured at 0.5% or less by advancing the experiments. Therefore, an optimized process for producing an emulsion by adding the malt extract was designed by the CCD-RSM.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.35 no.10
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• pp.1161-1170
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• 2011

This paper presents a solution to the inverse problem for the service boundary conditions of thermal-flow and structure analysis in a catalyst substrate. The exhaust-gas purification efficiency of a catalyst substrate is influenced by the shape parameter, catalyst ingredients and so on and is estimated by the thermal flow uniformity. The formulations of the inverse problem of obtaining the thermal-flow parameters (inlet temperature, velocity, heat of reaction, convective heat-transfer coefficient) and the direct problem of estimating from a given outlet temperature distribution are described. An experiment was designed and the response-surface optimization technique was used to solve the proposed inverse problem. The temperature distribution of the catalyst substrate was obtained by thermal-flow analysis for the predicted thermal-flow parameters. The thermal stress and durability assessments for the catalyst substrate were performed on the basis of this temperature distribution. The efficiency and accuracy of the inverse approach have been demonstrated through the achievement of good agreement between the thermal-flow response surface model and the results of experimental vehicle tests.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.428-435
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• 2018

In this study, we isolated and identified bacteria from freshwater and soil collected from Osang reservoir, to screen antimicrobial bacteria against various pathogenic bacteria. 38 strains were isolated and assigned to the class Proteobacteria (22 strains), Actinobacteria (7 strains), Bacteroidets (6 strains), and Firmicutes (3 strains) based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Among them, strain OS17 showed a good growth inhibition against 5 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus strains and Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Filobasidium neoformans. As a result of the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain OS17 show the high similarity with Burkholderia ambifaria $AMMD^T$, B. diffusa $AM747629^T$, B. tettitorii $LK023503^T$ 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.6%, respectively. We investigated cell growth and antimicrobial activity according to commercial culture medium, temperature, pH for culture optimization of strain OS17. Optimal conditions for growth and antimicrobial activity in strain OS17 were found to be: YPD medium, $35^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.5. When the strain was cultured in LB, NB, TSB, R2A media at $20^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$, the antimicrobial activity did not show. Culture filtrate of strain OS17 showed antimicrobial activity against 5 MRSA strains, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, and Filobasidium neoformans with inhibition zones from 2 to 8 mm. Optimal reaction time was 48 h in YPD medium, 100 rpm and 0.3 vvm in 2 L-scale fed-batch fermentation process for antimicrobial activity. Culture optimization of strain OS17 can be improved on antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the antimicrobial activity of Burkholderia sp. OS17 had potential as antibiotics for pathogens including MRSA.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.110-114
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• 2004

The optimized RAPD-PCR conditions, that can be utilized as a basic information for analysis of the gelletic characteristics were developed for genetic analysis of four mulberry varieties, named Milsung, Chungil, Suil, and Hansung using a primer, OPY15 (5'-AGTCGCCCTT-3') from Operon company. We tested several different factors for best PCR condition including concentrations of DNA, primer, Mgclu annealing temperature, number of PCR cycle, and prosence/absence of pre-heating time at the begining of PCR reaction in the $25 \mul$volume. The best RAPD profiles were obtained using 50 ng of DNA, 1 $\mu$M of primer, $1 \mum$of $MgCl_2\;,45^{\circ}C$ of annealing temperature and an absence of pre-heating time. An establishment of the stable and reproducible RAPD-PCR conditions are expected to be useful for the subsequent RAPD-related investigation, such as genetic characterization of the mulberry varieties, re-establishment of phylogenetic relationships and development of new varieties.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.134-142
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• 2012

The competition to deliver ultra-low emitting vehicles at a reasonable cost is driving the automotive industry to invest significant manpower and test laboratory resources in the design optimization of increasingly complex exhaust after-treatment systems. Optimization can no longer be based on traditional approaches, which are intensive in hardware use and laboratory testing. The CFD is in high demand for the analysis and design in order to reduce developing cost and time consuming in experiments. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive practical model based on experiments for simulating the performance of automotive three-way catalytic converters, which are employed to reduce engine exhaust emissions. An experiment is conducted to measure species concentrations before and after catalytic converter for different loads on engine. The model simulates the emission system behavior by using an exhaust system heat conservation and catalyst chemical kinetic sub-model. CFD simulation is used to study the performance of automotive catalytic converter. The substrate is modeled as a porous media in FLUENT and the standard k-e model is used for turbulence. The flow pattern is changed from axial to radial by changing the substrate model inside the catalytic converter and the flow distribution and the conversion efficiency of CO, HC and NOx are achieved first, and the predictions are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. It is found that the conversion from axial to radial flow makes the catalytic converter more efficient. These studies help to understand better the performance of the catalytic converter in order to optimize the converter design.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.471-484
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• 2019

The complex combination of organic contaminants in the wastewater made water treatment challenging; hence, organic matter in water bodies is usually measured in terms of organic carbon. Since it is important to identify the types of compounds when deciding suitable treatment methods, this study implemented a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the organic matter content in an actual graywater sample from Ulsan, Republic of Korea using mass spectroscopy (MS). The graywater was treated using adsorption to remove the organic contaminants. Using orbitrap MS, the organic matter content between an untreated graywater and the treated effluent were compared which yielded a significant formula count difference for the samples. It was revealed that CHON formula has the highest removal count. Isotherm studies found that the Freundlich equation was the best fit with a coefficient of determination ($R^2$) of 0.9705 indicating a heterogenous GAC surface with a multilayer characteristic. Kinetics experiments fit the pseudo-second order equation with an $R^2$ of 0.9998 implying that chemisorption is the rate-determining step between the organic compounds and GAC at rate constant of $52.53g/mg{\cdot}h$. At low temperatures, the reaction between GAC and organic compounds were found to be spontaneous and exothermic. The conditions for optimization were set to achieve a maximum DOC and TN removal which yielded removal percentages of 94.59% and 80.75% for the DOC and TN, respectively. The optimum parameter values are the following: pH 6.3, 2.46 g of GAC for every 30 mL of graywater sample, 23.39 hrs contact time and $38.6^{\circ}C$.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.402-407
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• 2022

Statistical design of experiments was used to optimize the MOF-5 synthesis process. A mixture design was employed to optimize precursor concentration. The optimal composition of three chemical materials, terephthalic acid, zinc acetate dihydrate, and N,N-dimethylformamide for MOF-5 synthesis was determined by extreme vertices design methods as follows; 1 mol : 2.7 mol : 40 mol. A multilevel factorial design was selected to screen the significance of synthesis reaction conditions such as temperature, time, and stirring speed. Statistical analysis results suggested excluding stirring speed from further investigation. Using a central composition design, the synthesis time and temperature were optimized. The quadratic model equation was derived from 13 synthesis experiments. The model predicted that MOF-5 synthesized at 119 ℃ for 10.4 h had the highest crystallinity.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.82-90
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• 2019

The Box-Benhken Design (BBD) model of response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize fluoride adsorption conditions in water using a 350℃ thermally treated cow bone. Water temperature, pH, contact time, and initial fluoride concentration were selected as variables to be optimized. A second order reaction equation was obtained from a Box-Behnken Design DoE experimental matrix of 29 runs. R² and p-value of the model were 0.9242 and <0.0001, respectively, indicating that the selected variables had a very substantial effect on the adsorption results. The optimized adsorption capacity of the thermally synthesized bone char was estimated to be 6.46 mgF/g at the water temperature of 39.68℃, pH 6.25, contact time of 88.81 minutes and an initial fluorine concentration of 14.64 mgF/L.