• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.136-151
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• 2021

Biomass lignin, a waste produced during the paper and bio-ethanol production process, is a cheap material that is available in large quantities. Thus, the interest in the valorization of biomass lignin has been increasing in industrial and academic areas. Over the years, lignin has been predominantly burnt as fuel to run pulping plants. However, less than 2% of the available lignin has been utilized for producing specialty chemicals, such as dispersants, adhesives, surfactants, and other value-added products. The development of value-added lignin-derived co-products should help make second generation biorefineries and the paper industry more profitable by valorizing lignin. Another possible approach towards value-added applications is using lignin as a component in plastics. However, blending lignin with polymers is not simple because the polarity of lignin molecules results in strong self-interactions. Therefore, achieving in-depth insights on lignin characteristics and structure will help in accelerating the development of lignin-based products. Considering the multipurpose characteristics of lignin for producing value-added products, this review will shed light on the potential applications of lignin and lignin-based derivatives on polymeric composite production. Moreover, the challenges in lignin valorization will be addressed.

• 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.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.298-304
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• 2021

Photosynthetic conversion through cyanobacteria and microalgae is an increasingly serious concern in the global warming crisis. Many value-added substances are produced through strain improvement, and much research and development is being conducted to determine its potential as an actual industrial strain. Economic barriers throughout processing production can be overcome to produce value-added chemicals by microalgal strains. In this study, we engineered cyanobacteria strains for the photosynthetic production of squalene and confirmed the continuous cultivation of CO₂ and light conditions. The free-inducer system of gene expression was developed at the cyanobacterial strains. Then, the squalene production level and growth of the recombinant cyanobacteria were analyzed and discussed. For bio solar-cell factories, the ability to regulate genes based on the free-inducer gene expression system promotes metabolic engineering research and construction to produce value-added chemicals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.19 no.38
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• pp.117-129
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• 1996

This Study intends to analysis what 3 factors, which are indices of Capital, Labor and Distribution, really affect to Value-Added Productivity through Statistical Analysis. For this, We selected 12 indices of Value-Added from the edition of 'Annual report of Korean companies' published in 'Korea Investors Service., Inc', especially in parts of Chemicals and Chemical products of total 85 companies. Using this data, Multivariate Statistical Analysis such as Principal Component Analysis, Factor Analysis, Covariance Structure Analysis is taken for modeling the effect of 3 factor(Labor Productivity, Capital Productivity and the Index of Distribution) on Value-Added Productivity.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.65-79
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• 2003

More than 145 million tons of liquid whey is produced world-wide as dairy processing waste per year, and half of it is discarded without proper treatment. Due to its high nutrient value, the environmental impact can be significant. Bioconversion of cheese whey can provide an effective way to reduce the waste and, at the same time, generate economically attractive value-added chemicals. In this study, cheese whey was fermented with P. acidipropionici to produce propionic acid which has a high market value for chemical and pharmaceutical industries. In order to specifically enhance propionic acid production, acetic acid production was suppressed using o-iodosobenzoic acid as an enzyme inhibitor. When grown in the presence of the inhibitor, propionic acid production rate increased by a factor of 2 while acetic acid production rate decreased by a factor of 3. Furthermore, when 0.3 mM of o-iodosobenzoic acid was used, the incipient stage(creeping growth period) was considerably reduced. Therefore, the inhibitor helps the cells begin to grow earlier and speed up the production of propionic acid. Although the production rate of propionic acid effectively increased, the final concentration(or production yield) remained unchanged due to product inhibition. Methods that can reduce product inhibition are being tested combined with o-iodosobenzoic acid to optimize both the production rate and yield. The results are expected to be informative for controlling the other byproducts for other applications.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.152-152
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• 2006

Polyolefins show a very healthy growth rate among commodity polymer resins due to their low feedstock prices, recyclable and environmentally friendly characteristics and easily controllable performances. Capacity investment in polyolefin field is now moving from technology region to consumer region and feedstock region. Therefore, key success factors for polyolefin business in the other region such as Korea are cost reduction, development of highly value-added products and new applications and substitution of PVC, PS, PET and other EPs. To add additional value to commodity polyolefin products, high level of platform technology such as catalyst, process and structure-properties relationship is needed. Progress on polyolefin products has been very closely related to catalyst and process technology. According to this trend, SK Corporation has devoted a lot of research effort into development of new value-added polyolefin products based on the proprietary technology platform.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.408-417
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• 2005

Increasing numbers of value added chemicals are being produced using microbial fermentation strategies. Computational modeling and simulation of microbial metabolism is rapidly becoming an enabling technology that is driving a new paradigm to accelerate the bioprocess development cycle. In particular, constraint-based modeling and the development of genome-scale models of industrial microbes are finding increasing utility across many phases of the bioprocess development workflow. Herein, we review and discuss the requirements and trends in the industrial application of this technology as we build toward integrated computational/experimental platforms for bioprocess engineering. Specifically we cover the following topics: (1) genome-scale models as genetically and biochemically consistent representations of metabolic networks; (2) the ability of these models to predict, assess, and interpret metabolic physiology and flux states of metabolism; (3) the model-guided integrative analysis of high throughput 'omics' data; (4) the reconciliation and analysis of on- and off-line fermentation data as well as flux tracing data; (5) model-aided strain design strategies and the integration of calculated biotransformation routes; and (6) control and optimization of the fermentation processes. Collectively, constraint-based modeling strategies are impacting the iterative characterization of metabolic flux states throughout the bioprocess development cycle, while also driving metabolic engineering strategies and fermentation optimization.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.281-285
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• 2001

This technology Provides an economical Production of high value added goods applicable to electro chemicals by recycling of waste products in EGL(Electro Galvanizing Line). The waste products produced in EGL contain potassium chloride (KCI), nickel and zinc. Highly pure KCI and Zinc Chloride which are raw material of electro plating, can be produced by the development of the recycling process. The scope of this study ranges from laboratory experiments to pilot test in plant. We have developed the whole process of recycling technology such as purification method of waste products, fabrication methods of electro chemicals, basic design of plant, pilot scale production and evaluation of pilot goods, Developed electro chemicals were pure enough to satisfy the specification of steel company.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2007

As conventional light oil resources deplete, it is becoming necessary to develop unconventional resources. To meet the demand for petrochemical industry, heavier sources such as heavy oil and bitumen are being utilized. Bitumens, a complex hydrocarbon made up of a long chain of molecules, are found in oil sand. It is estimated that 830 billion barrels of oil are located in the oil sand in Alberta, Canada. This paper will review briefly (1) the basic concept of oil sand, bitumen, and heavy oil, (2) methods how to extract oil from oil sand, (3) methods how to upgrade to synthetic crude oil, and (4) economic evaluation of technology.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.519-530
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• 2009

Reducing the emission of carbon dioxide, which is the main contributor to the green house effect, is becoming a global hot issue. Great attention has been thus given to utilization of carbon dioxide rather than just capturing and isolating it because it could convert carbon dioxide to high-value chemicals. In this paper, recent research trends are investigated on the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to syngas in the context of $CH_4$, dry-reforming, trireforming, and the electro-catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide through SOFC(Solid Oxide Fuel Cell) system. Research trends for utilizing syngas to high-value-added useful products, mainly fuel such as DME(Dimethyl Ether) are also discussed.