• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2021

Today, plastic waste has become a critical social issue due to the increasing of plastic consumption. Korean annual per capita plastic consumption was 132 kg, the most plastic consuming country in the world. Internationally, Carbon Neutral Agreement is underway due to global warming, consumers' interest and needs for biomass-based plastics has also been increased. In this study, film was produced by adding composite use additives to the biomass-based plastics according to concentration, and the resulting changes in discharge volume, melt index, and tensile strength were investigated. Melt index (MI) was significantly higher in PLA and PBAT than in petroleum-based resin LLDPE and LDPE. Also, among the same resin or in the same treatment group, MI has been increased when the heating temperature is increased. The discharge volume and gravity of the BDP-2 to which 4% compatibilizer was added were found to be higher among all treatments, while the tensile strength of MD and TD was also higher. BDP-2 was suitable to the film producing methods for biodegradable film production.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.7-19
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• 2022

Hydrogen purification is generally performed through chemical and physical methods. Among various types of purification method PSA(Pressure Swing Adsorption) is widely used with its purification capacity and economic efficiency. In Korea, most of the hydrogen used in automobiles and power generation fuel cells is purified using PSA. Hydrogen produced in petrochemical complexes has difficulties in transportation. The government is planning to install hydrogen extractors that produce hydrogen directly from consumers in connection with the city gas supply chain, and companies are also installing related research and demonstration facilities one after another. Europe and others have recently established safety standards related to PSA and are making efforts for systematic safety management at the construction and operation stage, but domestic safety standards related to PSA are still insufficient. This study aims to identify problems of existing facilities through surveys and risk assessment by companies operating existing PSA, and to prepare domestic technical standards including them in overseas technical standards to promote the safety of new and existing PSA systems.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2022

It is necessarily required in developing Si-based anode materials for lithium ion batteries, and the related researches are actively working especially in Si-carbon composite material. On the other hand, the photovoltaic and semiconductor industries discard huge amount of Si resources, facing the environmental issue. In this study, recycled Si resource is adopted to obtain Si-carbon composite for LIB(Lithium-Ion Batteries). In order to improve high-capacity retention characteristics and cycle stability of a Si anode material for the LIB, two differenct composites having a mass ratio of silicon and pitch of 1:1 and 2:1 are synthesized and electrochemical characteristics of the anode material manufactured by simple self-assembly method. This result in excellent initial capacity with stable cycle life, and confirming the potential use of recycled Si material for LIB.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2022

Background: Chemical emissions in the environment have rapidly increased with the accelerated industrialization taking place in recent decades. Residents of industrial complexes are concerned about the health risks posed by chemical exposure. Objectives: This study was performed to suggest modeling methods that take into account multimedia and multi-pathways in human exposure and risk assessment. Methods: The concentration of benzene emitted at industrial complexes in Daesan, South Korea and the exposure of local residents was estimated using the Caltox model. The amount of human exposure based on inhalation rate was stochastically predicted for various activity stages such as resting, normal walking, and fast walking. Results: The coefficient of determination (R²) for the CalTOX model efficiency was 0.9676 and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) was 0.0035, indicating good agreement between predictions and measurements. However, the efficiency index (EI) appeared to be a negative value at -1094.4997. This can be explained as the atmospheric concentration being calculated only from the emissions from industrial facilities in the study area. In the human exposure assessment, the higher the inhalation rate percentile value, the higher the inhalation rate and lifetime average daily dose (LADD) at each activity step. Conclusions: Prediction using the Caltox model might be appropriate for comparing with actual measurements. The LADD of females was higher ratio with an increase in inhalation rate than those of males. This finding would imply that females may be more susceptible to benzene as their inhalation rate increases.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.147-155
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the benzene exposure levels in coal chemical and petrochemical refining industries during BTX turnaround (TA) processes where benzene was being produced. Three companies producing benzene were selected, one coal chemical and two petrochemical industries. TA processes were classified into three stages: shut down, maintenance, and start up. Data was analyzed by classifying the refining method into 2 groups (Petrochemistry, Coal chemistry) for 823 workers. Comparing the data from petrochemical industries with data from a coal chemical refining industry, while benzene concentration levels of long-term samples during TA were not statistically different (p> 0.05), those levels of short-term samples were significantly different (p< 0.001). About 4.79 % of data in petrochemical industries exceed the occupational exposure limits (OELs) of benzene, 1 ppm. In a coal refining methods, about 15.7% exceeded the benzene OELs. The benzene concentrations in maintenance and start up stage of TA for petrochemical refineries were higher than those in a coal chemical refinery (p <0.01). These findings suggest that the coal chemical refining site requires more stringent work practice controls compare to petrochemical refining sites during TA processes. Personal protective equipments including organic respirators should be used by TA workers to protect them from benzene overexposure.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.241-251
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• 2015

Recently, It became possible to transport freights and energy resources via Northern Sea Route(NSR) as global warming has been accelerated. As a result, all countries of the world and Korean local governments have had a struggle to take the advantageous position first in NSR development. However, this extreme competitions might have a negative effect on the national port industry and cause unnecessary social costs and economic losses. Therefore, the main target of this study is to find the most suitable port for NSR using AHP analysis. Most of the data was gained from previous literatures and public statistics and the weight of each factor was calculated by the result of expert survey. As a result, Busan port has the biggest competitiveness, followed by Yeosu Gwangyang, Ulsan and Incheon. From the result, this study suggested 3 possible scenarios. The first scenario specializing Busan port in NSR focuses more on developing the related businesses such as repair of ships, refueling, ship stores trade than attracting the more cargoes. the second is a strategy to make Ulsan port as a hub for energy resources, especially liquid cargo on NSR. the last is a mixed one to assign suitable roles to the ports according to their competitive capabilities.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.547-580
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• 2013

As energy conservation can be realized through changes in the composition of goods and services consumed, there is a need to assess indirect and total household energy consumption. The Korean household sector was responsible for more than 55% of Korea's total energy consumption in the 1995 to 2010 period. More than 69% of household energy consumption was indirect. Thus, not only direct but also indirect household energy consumption should be the target of energy conservation. Electricity consumption became in 2009 the main source of household energy consumption in Korea. Households consume more and more electricity intensive goods and services, a sign of increasing living standards. Decrease in energy intensities of products consumed by Korean households contributed greatly to reduce the increase in the total household energy consumption. However, switching took place towards more energy intensive products, thus the structure effect was negative. It is necessary to direct consumption and production towards much less energy intensive goods and services as to reduce energy consumption or its growth rate. The Korean government should readjust low energy and electricity prices to cost-reflective prices levels as these low prices are one of the main reasons for the consumption of more energy intensive products. This study differentiates prices of oil products and electricity between households and industries, as to allow more accurate estimation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.565-572
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• 2020

This study developed a software platform using machine learning of artificial intelligence to optimize the distillation column system. The distillation column is representative and core process in the petrochemical industry. Process stabilization is difficult due to various operating conditions and continuous process characteristics, and differences in process efficiency occur depending on operator skill. The process control based on the theoretical simulation was used to overcome this problem, but it has a limitation which it can't apply to complex processes and real-time systems. This study aims to develop an empirical simulation model based on machine learning and to suggest an optimal process operation method. The development of empirical simulations involves collecting big data from the actual process, feature extraction through data mining, and representative algorithm for the chemical process. Finally, the platform for the distillation column was developed with verification through a developed model and field tests. Through the developed platform, it is possible to predict the operating parameters and provided optimal operating conditions to achieve efficient process control. This study is the basic study applying the artificial intelligence machine learning technique for the chemical process. After application on a wide variety of processes and it can be utilized to the cornerstone of the smart factory of the industry 4.0.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2005

In previous report, we presented that petroleum based solvents used in dry cleaning shop was almost similar to stoddard solvent defined by ACGIH and NIOSH, and the occupational exposure standard of stoddard solvent could be used in total exposure assessment of those solvents. The specific aim of the this study was to evaluate of the solvent exposure used in commercial dry cleaning shops by using occupational exposure standard of stoddard solvent. We conducted first survey of 8 self-employed dry cleaning shops and 5 factory type dry cleaning shops from July to August, and second survey of the same shops from October to November in 2002. The exposure concentration to the solvent during loading and unloading activity of vented dry cleaning machine was 489.2ppm(GM), 270.3ppm(GM), respectively, which was almost excursion limit(500ppm) of ACGIH, and exceed the ceiling limit(312ppm) of NIOSH. The time-weighted average (TWA) worker exposure to the solvent was 21.3ppm(GM) at self-employed shops, 20.7ppm(GM) at factory type shops on first survey, and 31.1ppm(GM), 33.7ppm(GM), respectively on second survey. The TWA exposure concentration of workers with spotting and cleaning machine operating job was 25.4ppm(GM), which was 2.9 times higher than the TWA exposure concentration, 8.8ppm(GM) of press workers. All TWA exposure concentrations was lower than OEL(100ppm) of stoddard solvent. We found that the most heavy exposure process at dry cleaning was loading, unloading process, and the vent of dry cleaning machine was the main emission source for workers exposure to petroleum based solvent.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.134-141
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• 2014

As the concerns about environmental problems, climate change and limited fossil resources increase, bio-based production of chemicals and polymers from renewable resources gains much attention as one of the promising solutions to deal with these problems. To solve these problems, much effort has been devoted to the development of sustainable process using renewable resources. Recently, many chemicals and polymers have been synthesized by biorefinery process and these bio-based chemicals and plastics have been suggested as strong candidates to substitute petroleum-based products. In this review, we discuss current advances on the development of metabolically engineered microorganisms for the efficient production of bio-based chemicals and polymers.