• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.32-42
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• 2012

Wood biomass including forest residues, waste wood, and construction residuals has been widely generated in Korea, but forest biomass from the National Forest Management Operation Project plays a big role in generating wood biomass. Unfortunately the promotion policy of woody energy organized by the Forest Service in Korea concentrates more on demand creation rather than on supply expansion. Therefore, in order to utilize insufficient wood resources effectively, it is greatly required to develop uses for maximizing their added value. In particular, more attention to the use of the second generation biomass has been paid in foreign countries because there is a threshold that the first generation biomass cannot produce enough biofuel without threatening food supplies and biodiversity. In Korea, wood pellets are regarded as the alternative clean fuels to oils and coals that emit green house gases into the atmosphere. However, using wood as pellet raw materials can not be an economic way because the value of wood disappears right after burning in the boiler in spite of its contribution to the decrease of carbon emission. Differently from wood pellets, kraft pulping process using woody biomass produces black liquor as a by-product which can be used to generate electricity, bioenergy and biochemicals through gasification. Thus, it can be more economical to make a torrefaction of lignocellulosic biomass such as low-quality wood and agricultural leftovers as raw materials of pellets.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.3-9
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• 1988

Infrared (IR) spectroscopic techniques for the analysis of wood samples and the absorbance spectra of solid woods were presented. KBr pellets were prepared by throughly mixing approximately 300 mg of dried KBr and 1 mg of finely milled wood powder extracted with ethanol-cyclohexane previously. This mixture was made into a transparent disc by means of a pellet-making die (10 ton/$cm^2$ for 10 min). This IR techniques were applied for the analysis of archaeological wood samples. The most notable difference in the IR spectra between the recent and the archaeological waterlogged woods is that the absorption band centered at $1,730cm^{-1}$ was significantly diminished in the waterlogged ones. Total loss of absorption in $1,730cm^{-1}$ might be mainly due to the result of hemicellulose degradation. Another feature indicated by IR spectral comparision are that the degraded waterlogged wood samples showed 1) the increased intensity of the 1,600, 1,500 and $1,270cm^{-1}$ due to the residual lignin and the increased intensity at 1,470 and $1,425cm^{-1}$ due to the degradation of hemicellulose and 2) to the emergence of single band around $1,050cm^{-1}$ instead of three bands at 1,110, 1,060 and $1,040cm^{-1}$ in recent wood due to the degradation of cellulose crystalline. It was revealed from the IR examinations that the first change of wood in the waterlogged situation was the lysis of hemicellulose and the second the lysis of cellulose. It was also suggested that IR spectroscopy could serve a fast method for the investigation on the chemical characteristics of archaeological wood samples.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.77-86
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• 2017

Globally, use of affordable fuels such as briquettes, woods and wood pellets has increased. Organic pollutants emitted from non-point sources using solid fuels may have contributed to air pollution in urban environment. In this study, we utilized simulated incinerator proposed by U.S. EPA and investigated concentrations of PM, $PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, OC/EC, CO, $SO_x$, $NO_x$, VOCs and PAHs emitted while cooking meat and fish using briquettes, woods and wood pellets, and developed emission factors. As a result, wood combustion produced more air pollutants than the others. Particulate matter emission factors for woods and wood pellets were 13.54 g/kg and 9.15 g/kg, respectively. Total VOCs emission factors for briquettes, woods and wood pellets were 36.12mg/kg, 46.13mg/kg and 18.26mg/kg, respectively. Additionally, total PAHs emission factors for briquette, woods and wood pellets were 0.44 mg/kg, 18.84mg/kg and 101.62mg/kg, respectively.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.80-89
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• 2017

The bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) reactor with a diameter of 0.1 m and a height of 1.2 m was used for experimental study of co-firing and emission characteristics fueled by sewage sludge (SS) and wood pellet (WP). The facility consists of a fluidized bed reactor, feeding system, cyclone, condenser and gas analyzer, The mean particle diameter and minimum fluidization velocity are $460{\mu}m$ and $0.21ms^{-1}$ respectively. SS produced from Korea and WP from Canada were examined. The various mixing ratios of WP were 20, 50, and 80% based on HHV. The equivalence ratio of 1.65, reactor temperature of $800^{\circ}C$, air flow rate of $100Lmin^{-1}$, and fluidization number of 4 were fixed in the BFB experiment. In TGA, the range of combustion temperature of SS was wider than that of WP. It represents that the combustibility of WP is higher than that of SS. The BFB reactor temperature was maintained between 800 and $900^{\circ}C$. CO emission of SS was high because of lower combustibility. $NO_X$ and $SO_X$ formation of SS were higher than that of WP since high nitrogen and sulfur contents of SS. CO, $NO_X$, and $SO_X$ formation were suppressed as the mixing ratio of WP was increased. The slagging and fouling tendencies show high in all test conditions.

• Clean Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.323-331
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• 2018

The results of an experimental investigation on the co-firing characteristics and slagging behavior of dried and hydrothermal carbonization sewage sludge, sub-bituminous coal, and wood pellet in a fluidized bed were presented. Combustion tests were conducted in a lab-scale bubbling fluidized bed system at the uniform fuel-air equivalence ratio, air flow rate, and initial bed temperature to measure bed temperature distribution and combustion gas composition. 4 different fuel blending cases were prepared by mixing sewage sludge fuels with coal and wood pellet with the ratio of 50 : 50 by the heating value. $NO_x$ was mostly NO than $NO_2$ and measured in the range of 400 to 600 ppm in all cases. $SO_2$ was considered to be affected mostly by the sulfur content of the sewage sludge fuels. The cases of hydrothermal carbonization sewage sludge mixture showed slightly less $SO_2$ emission but higher fuel-N conversion than the dried sewage sludge mixing cases. The result of fly ash composition analysis implied that the sewage sludge fuels would increase the possibility of slagging/fouling considering the contents of alkali species, such as Na, K, P. Between the two different sewage sludge fuels, dried sewage sludge fuel was expected to have the more severe impact on slagging/fouling behavior than hydrothermal carbonization sewage sludge fuel.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.109-122
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• 2018

This study was conducted to investigate the removal characteristics of heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage by porous zeolite-slag ceramics (ZS ceramics) that was prepared by adding wood flour as pore-foaming agent while calcining the mixtures of natural zeolite and converter slag. The batch test showed that the removal efficiency of heavy metals by pellet-type porous ZS ceramics increased as the particle size of wood flour was decreased and as the weight mixing ratio of wood flour to ZS ceramics was increased. The optimal particle size and weight mixing ratio of wood flour were measured to be $75{\mu}m$ and 7~10%, respectively. The removal test with the porous ZS ceramics prepared in these optimal condition showed very high removal efficiencies: more than 98.4% for all heavy metals and 73.9% for sulfate ion. Relative to nonporous ZS ceramics, the increment of removal efficiency of heavy metals by porous ZS ceramics with $75{\mu}m$ and 10% wood flour was 5.8%, 60.5%, 36.9%, 87.7%, 10.3%, and 57.4% for Al, Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn, respectively. The mechanism analysis of removal by the porous ZS ceramics suggested that the heavy metals and sulfate ion from acid mine drainage are eliminated by multiple reactions such as adsorption and/or ion exchange as well as precipitation and/or co-precipitation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.80-86
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• 2024

This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of rape stalk (RAS) as a raw material for the production of solid bio-fuels. RAS was immersed in an aqueous solution with acetic acid concentration of 1 percent, The content of reducing sugars separated from the RAS was analyzed. Glucose showed the highest content followed by xylose, galactose, arabinose and mannose. The immersed and non-immersed RAS were used for producing pellets with a pilot-scaled flat-die pellet mill. Bulk density and calorific values of the pellets improved with the use of the immersed RAS and the addition of wood particles. The values exceeded the minimum requirements for the A-grade of non-woody pellets (≧600 kg/m³ & ≧ 14.5 MJ/kg) designated by the ISO. Ash content of the pellets reduced with the immersion of RAS and the value satisfied the A-grade level (≦6.0%) of the ISO standard. The durability of the immersed RAS-based pellets was much higher than that of non-immersed IRS-based pellets, and the values were increased with the addition of wood particles. However, the durability did not meet the acceptance level for the B-grade of non-woody pellets (≧96.0%) designated by the ISO. These results suggested that the addition of binders in the production of non-woody pellets using an RAS immersed in acetic acid-based aqueous solution is required for the commercialization of the pellets.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.258-264
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• 2023

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emission assessment of kenaf pellet, produced from locally generated kenaf residues in South Korea, has been studied based on the EU RED-II methodology for calculating GHG impact of biomass fuels. Based on the production pathway of kenaf residue pellet and emission coefficients from EU JRC report, the life cycle GHG emission of kenaf residue pellet is assessed as 3.0 gCO₂eq/MJ_pellet and the life cycle GHG emission of electricity generated from kenaf residue pellet is assessed as 11.9 gCO₂eq/MJ when electrical efficiency of final conversion is 25%. The potential GHG emission reduction of electricity produced from kenaf pellet is 90.3% compared to the domestic electricity emission factor 42.8 kgCO₂eq/MWh. Also, the electricity produced from kenaf pellet can reduce at least 59.6% of GHG emission compared to the electricity produced from imported wood pellets.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.757-767
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• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of moisture content and particle size of sawdust on the fuel characteristics of wood pellets produced with Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica, QUM), red pine (Pinus densiflora, PID) and larch (Larix kaempferi, LAK) sawdust using a flat-die pelletizer. Prior to produce wood pellets, the sawdust was controlled to the moisture content of 8, 11, 12% and was screened to the particle size of 2 and 4 mesh. In the analysis of its chemical composition, QUM had a high ash content, and PID and LAK contained large amount of lignin. In case of the fuel characteristics, PID pellets had the lowest moisture content of pellets (P-MC), and LAR pellets was found to have the highest bilk density (BD) and durability (DU). With the increase of moisture content of sawdust (S-MC), P-MC and DU of QUM, PID and LAK pellets increased, but BD of QUM and LAK pellets decreased. When size of sawdust used for the production of wood pellets decreased, P-MC and BD of LAK pellets and BD of QUM pellets increased. Decrease of particle size contributed to the increase of DU of QUM, PID and LAK pellets. In addition, BD and DU of QUM pellets produced with 12% S-MC sawdust increased as its particle size reduced. For LAK pellets, DU was not influence by particle size in the S-MCs of 10% and 12%, but increased with the decrease of particle size in the S-MC of 8%. Based on the results and economical aspects, 10% MC and 2 mesh paricle size for QUM sawdust and 12% MC and 2 mesh particle size for PID sawdust might be optimal conditions for pellets production, and fuel characteristics of wood pellets produced by the conditions greatly exceeded the minimum requirements for the $1^{st}$-grade wood pellets of the standard designated by Korea Forest Research Institute.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.4
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• pp.426-434
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• 2009

This study was carried out to derive the most optimal production process for the wood fuels(chip and pellet), by collecting cost data on each procedure through the life cycle assessment approach, and to compare between the profitability and efficiency, from the view points of producers and consumers, irrespectively. The costs accounted in this analysis were based on the opportunity cost. The results show that wood chips are cheaper than wood pellets in production costs. In respect to the process with the lowest production cost, while wood chips should be to crush collected residues into pieces on the spot for merchandizing, wood pellets need to be transported to manufactory for pelletizing. The study findings also include that the profits, which is estimated by subtracting expenses from gained sale revenue, were a bit higher for wood chips than wood pellets. Additionally, the price ratio of wood pellets to wood chips for getting the same caloric value appears to be 1.27. Despite of economic benefits of processing wood chips, there are several problems in practice. For producers, there is a possible increase in not only transportation cost for conveying crushers to the dispersed places, but storage cost due to the lack of the marketplaces in the immediate surroundings. For consumers, on the other hand, there are some challenging issues, such as bulky storage facility requirement, additional labor for fuel supplement, frequent ashes disposal, and decomposition in summer and freezing in winter caused by wood chips' own moisture.