• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.98-112
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to provide basic information on the development of local governments and upcycling industries that want to establish centers in the future. The study investigated the current situation and programs of domestic upcycling centers for regional sustainable growth. As a result of comparing and analyzing the programs operated by the upcycling centers by region, they could be classified into culture and arts experience programs, resource circulation experience programs, and environmental culture education programs according to the nature of the operation programs that are more focused on in addition to the experience and education programs reflected by each center. Among the upcycling materials and items used in the operation program, fashion-related education was being operated in a more diverse manner in the area of culture and arts experience programs. As a result of the analysis, it was found that it was necessary to establish a smooth material supply network, develop an in-depth step-by-step upcycling fashion education program, and strengthen the upcycling center program using regional characteristics. The results of this study are significant in that they provide the local governments with basic information for the establishment of upcycling centers in areas where the upcycling centers have not been established. In addition, this study presents the types and directions of programs necessary for establishing upcycling centers in the future.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.125-138
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to develop and implement a step-by-step upcycling fashion education program that can be utilized within the local community. This program aims to provide basic data by analyzing the current state of community-based upcycling projects and upcycling center programs. To achieve this, the study first examined the meaning and value of upcycling in fashion through literature research and explored upcycling projects and programs in connection with local communities. Subsequently, an upcycling fashion education program platform was developed and applied using the design thinking process. The program involved students from nine high schools in Gwangju Metropolitan City. Depending on the school's circumstances, the time and difficulty level of the upcycling education program were adjusted accordingly. A unique eco-bag making kit, using jeans developed in this study, was employed. Following the completion of the program, a satisfaction survey was conducted among 167 participating students from the high school community class. The findings indicated that the majority of students experienced an increased appreciation, attraction, and interest in upcycling products. They also demonstrated an understanding of the environmental impact of upcycling products and the distinction between upcycling and recycling. It is believed that the educational program developed in this study can promote ethical fashion and foster a sense of value-based consumption. This program can be customized and flexibly adapted to different educational levels and institutional characteristics, making it accessible to a wide range of learners.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2023

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a plastic material commonly applied to beverage packaging used in everyday life. Owing to PET's versatility and ease of use, its consumption has continuously increased, resulting in considerable waste generation. Several physical and chemical recycling processes have been developed to address this problem. Recently, biological upcycling is being actively studied and has come to be regarded as a powerful technology for overcoming the economic issues associated with conventional recycling methods. For upcycling, PET should be degraded into small molecules, such as terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, which are utilized as substrates for bioconversion, through various degradation processes, including gasification, pyrolysis, and chemical/biological depolymerization. Furthermore, biological upcycling methods have been applied to biosynthesize value-added chemicals, such as adipic acid, muconic acid, catechol, vanillin, and glycolic acid. In this review, we introduce and discuss various degradation methods that yield substrates for bioconversion and biological upcycling processes to produce value-added biochemicals. These technologies encourage a circular economy, which reduces the amount of waste released into the environment.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.22-32
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• 2015

This study aims to discuss the concept of upcycling as it applies to diaper recycling. Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials into new products of better quality. Through benchmarking of upcycling examples, useless objects can be transformed into valuable materials. However, current upcycling examples determine value creation related to qualitative elements, so that it is difficult to establish any quantitative strategy of upcycled products. Therefore, this study expands a B2B (Business to business) product for improving market availability and establishes a direction using both recovered pulp and mixed plastic at the same time. As a result, the upcycling method for recovered pulp and mixed plastics, is the application of a cellulose insulator. Within the near future, the high quality insulator market will grow more than three times. An upcycling strategy targeting the high quality insulator market needs to be established.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.20-26
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• 2023

Emitted CO₂ is an attractive material for microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction. Microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction (i.e., microbial electrosynthesis, MES) using biocatalysts has advantages compared to conventional CO₂ reduction using electrocatalysts. However, MES has several challenges, including electrode performance, biocatalysts, and reactor optimization. In this study, an MES system was investigated for optimizing reactor types, counter electrode materials, and CO₂-converting microorganisms to achieve effective CO₂ upcycling. In autotrophic cultivation (supplementation of CO₂ and H₂), CO₂ consumption of Rhodobacter sphaeroides was observed to be four times higher than that with heterotrophic cultivation (supplementation of succinic acid). The bacterial growth in an MES reactor with a single-chambered shape was two times higher than that with a double chamber (H-type MES reactor). Moreover, a single-chambered MES reactor equipped with titanium mesh as the counter electrode (anode) showed markedly increased current density in the graphite felt as a working electrode (cathode) compared to that with a graphite felt counter electrode (anode). These results demonstrate that the optimized conditions of a single chamber and titanium mesh for the counter electrode have a positive effect on microbial electrochemical CO₂ reduction.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.29-35
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• 2015

A feasibility test was carried out for upcycling of waste jelly-filled communication cables together with the development of environmentally friendly processes and equipments. High pressure water injection is proved to be an exceptionally environmentally friendly and highly efficient mechanical process. A batch-type cable barking equipment is designed and built on the basis of computational fluid dynamics modelling. It is optimized in terms of energy consumption and productivity with very high copper recovery of 99.5%. Copper nano-powder is prepared by an electrical wire explosion in ethanol media in order to improve the value of final products, and the preliminary economical assessment is also conducted.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.2-10
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• 2023

The current mandatory domestic biodiesel blending ratio is 3.5%, which is planned to be gradually increased to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The aim of this study was to improve domestic self-sufficiency in biodiesel raw oil by conducting a technical review on the possibility of utilizing waste oils, such as soup oil, chicken oil, and leather oil, as biodiesel feedstocks. These waste oils have an acid value that is too high to be converted directly into biodiesel. Therefore, a pretreatment to reduce the acid value is necessary. The neutralization process was examined as a potential technology for reducing the acid value. The oil recovery rate of the soup oil after neutralization was significantly low at 37.6 wt%. The oil recovery rates of leather oil and chicken oil were 66.49 wt% and 79.08 wt%, respectively. Based on biodiesel conversion experiment using waste oil with a reduced acid value, the conversions were analyzed as 89 wt%, 91.1 wt%, and 90.5 wt% for soup oil, leather oil, and chicken oil, respectively. Thus, it is technically possible to use soup oil, leather oil, and chicken oil as raw materials for producing biodiesel.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.149-164
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• 2021

Since the existing mass production and consumption systems are no longer sustainable, countries are pushing for policies to make fisheries by-products as resources in an eco-friendly manner, and international standards are also being strengthened to increase the value of by-products. In Korea, economic and environmental perceptions of the by-products are rapidly changing, such as realizing carbon neutrality and enhancing circular resources by Korean Sustainable Development Goals. Raw materials derived from the by-products have been steadily imported from 2018. In particular, the number of imports of fish collagen peptides was only 16 number of times in 2017, but was rapidly increased to 483 number of times in 2020. Simultaneously, the demand for raw materials and nutrients for health functional food derived from fish by-products, which did not exist statistically until 2017, started to arise from 2018, and in 2019, consumption of high-value-added raw materials for fish by-products increased by 45% compared to the previous year. However, limitations are in legal and biotechnical industry aspects while its value as a biomaterial is recognized in the by-products-related industry. In this study, therefore, the status of by-products for upcycling biomaterials was reported and provided a scientific basis for supporting governmental strategies. In order to fulfill with the principles of a sustainable circular economy, the factors on hinder the marine bio-industrialization of the by-products were derived and suggested directions and plans for development into a high-value added the by-products as the marine bio-industry by substituting imported raw materials to support the development.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2023

In this study, to explore the possibility of using discarded by-products of corn as a wrinkle-improving functional material, the active ingredient contained in each part including kernel, cob, husk, and silk of 10 varieties of chodang and waxy corn was identified and the content was analyzed to suggest the possibility of corn by-products as upcycling materials. As a result of evaluating the collagen synthesis efficacy of extracts by part, the cob in chodang and waxy corns showed significant activity at 100 ㎍/mL concentration of 176.5 and 140.0%, respectively. The LC-MS/MS qualitative analysis resulted in the identification of 18 components in the cob, of which N, N'-diferuloylputrescine (DFP) was selected as an active ingredient, and the quantitative analysis was conducted by variety and part. As a result, DFP was confirmed only in the cob and kernel, and it was most frequently detected in the cob of the Goldsugar of chodang corn (39.6 ㎍/g) and Daehakchal of waxy corn (38.4 ㎍/g). The cob is a by-product left over from grain removal, and is expected to create new added value as a material that promotes collagen synthesis. Through this study, we propose the possibility of using discarded cob as a wrinkle-improving functional material.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.67-81
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• 2023

This study examines a business survey on the utilization of fishery by-products with the aim to assess the feasibility of incorporating these by-products into various industries. The research involved surveying 312 biocompanies across the country and conducting an empirical analysis based on the collected data. South Korea, a leading seafood-producing country with a developed seafood processing industry, provides conditions necessary to utilize seafood by-products as raw materials for the marine bioindustry. Among the surveyed biocompanies, 38.5% expressed their intention to engage in industrial activities involving the use of fishery by-products in the future, indicating a significant level of interest within the bioindustry in utilizing marine and fishery by-products. Companies showed interest in diverse materials, such as scales, fish bones, skin, and kelp holdfast beyond those currently defined under the Fisheries By-products Recycling Promotion Act (officially unnamed, 2021). This suggests a need for improvements in the regulatory framework to accommodate these diverse biomaterials. Furthermore, we propose enhancing the efficiency of fishery by-product utilization by focusing on regional specialization in marine bioindustry. This involves utilizing existing legal framework for upcycling fishery by-products and fostering a regionally specialized marine bioindustry.