• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.213-217
• /
• 2012

The amount of spent fuel from nuclear power plants has been increasing. An effective management plan of the spent fuel becomes a critical issue, because the storage capacity of each plant will reach its storage limit in a few years. The volume of high toxic spent fuel can be reduced through a fuel processing. Advanced Fuel Cycle (AFC) system is considered to be one of the options to reduce the toxicity and volume of the spent fuel. It is necessary to set up a test facility to demonstrate the feasibility of the process at the engineering scale. The objective of the work is a development of the safety evaluation technology for the AFC system. The evaluation technology of the AFC structural integrity and processes were surveyed and reviewed. Key evaluation parameters for the main processes such as electrolytic reduction, electrorefining, and electrowinning were obtained. The survey results may be used for the establishment of the AFC regulatory licensing procedure. The establishment of the licensing criteria minimizes the trials and errors of the AFC facility design. Issues taken from the survey on the regulatory procedure and design safety features for the AFC facility provide a chance to resolve potential issues in advance.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.30-44
• /
• 2011

This review describes the involvement of different microorganisms for the recovery of uranium from the ore. Mainly Acidithiobacillus forrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans are found to be the most widely used bacteria in the bioleaching process of uranium. The bioleaching of uranium generally follows indirect mechanism in which bacteria provide the ferric iron required to oxidize $U^{4+}$. Commercial applications of bioleaching have been incorporated for extracting valuable metals, due to its favorable process economics and reduced environmental problems compared to conventional metal recovery processes such as smelting. At present the uranium is recovered through main bioleaching techniques employed by heap, dump and in situ leaching. Process development has included recognition of the importance of aeration of bioheaps, and improvements in stirred tank reactor design and operation. Concurrently, knowledge of the key microorganisms involved in these processes has advanced, aided by advances in molecular biology to characterize microbial populations.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2015

Recycling technologies would be required in consideration of increasing demand in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, the leaching behavior of Ni, Co and Mn is investigated with ammoniacal medium for spent cathode active materials, which are separated from a commercial LIB pack in hybrid electric vehicles. The leaching behavior of each metal is analyzed in the presence of reducing agent and pH buffering agent. The existence of reducing agent is necessary to increase the leaching efficiency of Ni and Co. The leaching of Mn is insignificant even with the existence of reducing agent in contrast to Ni and Co. The most conspicuous difference between acid and ammoniacal leaching would be the selective leaching behavior between Ni/Co and Mn. The ammoniacal leaching can reduce the cost of basic reagent that makes the pH of leachate higher for the precipitation of leached metals in the acid leaching.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.62-68
• /
• 2020

In new millennium, wide-reaching demands for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst have been increased gradually in new millennium. SCR catalyst can prevent the NO_x emission to protect the environment. In SCR catalyst the main composition of the catalyst is typically TiO₂ (70~80%), WO₃ (7~10%), V₂O₅ (~1%) and others. When the SCR catalysts are used up and disposed to landfills, it is problematic that those should exist in the landfill site permanently due to their extremely low degradability. A new advanced technology needs to be developed primarily to protect environment and then recover the valuable metals. Hydrometallurgical techniques such as leaching and liquid-liquid extraction was designed and developed for the spent SCR catalyst processing. In a first stage, V and W selectively leached from spent SCR catalyst, then both the metals were processed by liquid-liquid extraction process. Various commercial extractants such as D2EHPA, PC 88A, TBP, Cyanex 272, Aliquat 336 were tested for selective extraction of title metals. Scrubbing and stripping studies were tested and optimized for vanadium and tungsten extraction and possible separation. 3^rd phase studies were optimized by using iso-decanol reagent.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.18-30
• /
• 2012

Zirconium is one of the most important material used as cladding of fuel rods in nuclear reactors because of its high dimensional stability, good corrosion resistance and especially low neutron-absorbing cross section. However, Hf free nuclear grade Zr sponge is commercially produced by only three countries including USA, France and Russia. So, Zr has been thoroughly managed as a national strategic material in Korea. Most of the zirconium is used for Korean nuclear industry as nuclear fuel cladding materials manufactured from Hf free Zr alloy raw material. Also, there are some other applications such as alloying element and detonator. In this review, zirconium production and recycling technologies have been reviewed and current industrial status was also analyzed. And recent achievements in innovative reduction technologies such as electrolytic reduction process and molten oxide electrolysis were also introduced.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.3-18
• /
• 2019

Due to the increasing demand for clean energy, the consumption of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is expected to grow steadily. Therefore, stable supply of lithium is becoming an important issue globally. Commercially, most of lithium is produced from the brine and minerals viz., spodumene, although various processes/technologies have been developed to recover lithium from other resources such as low grade ores, clays, seawaters and waste lithium ion batteries. In particular, commercialization of such recycling technologies for end-of-life LIBs being generated from various sources including mobile phones and electric vehicles(EVs), has a great potential. This review presents the commercial processes and also the emerging technologies for exploiting minerals and brines, besides that of newly developed lithium-recovery-processes for the waste LIBs. In addition, the future lithium-supply is discussed from the technical point of view. Amongst the emerging processes being developed for lithium recovery from low-grade ores, focus is mostly on the pyro-cum-hydrometallurgical based approaches, though only a few of such approaches have matured. Because of low recycling rate (<1%) of lithium globally compared to the consumption of lithium ion batteries (56% of lithium produced currently), processing of secondary resources could be foresighted as the grand opportunity. Considering the carbon economy, environment, and energy concerns, the hydrometallurgical process may potentially resolve the issue.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2015.11a
• /
• pp.314-315
• /
• 2015

티타늄은 높은 비강도로 알려지고 있어 항공기산업이나 군사산업에 주로 사용된다고 생각하기 쉽다. 그러나 해수와 같은 염화물이온을 함유한 수용액에 대해서는 뛰어난 내식성을 나타내며, 해양토목과 조선관계자는 초 내식성재료로 반영구적인 내구성을 갖는 재료로 보고 있다. 일반적인 페인트 방식법은 일정기간 후에 다시 칠해야 하는데다, 박리된 도료가 환경에 미치는 악영향도 염려되고 있다. 따라서 다시 칠하는 것이 곤란한 초대형 해양 부유구조물에는 티타늄이 매우 효과적인 것으로 기대할 수 있다. 그러나 티타늄은 광석을 제련하여 금속티타늄으로 제조하는 염화 환원공정이 곤란하고 고가여서 선체나 매우 큰 부유식의 해양구조물에는 보급되지 못했다. 따라서 티타늄재료를 선체 등의 구조재로 사용하지 않고 염가의 강판위에 도금하여 내식성을 향상시키는 방법을 생각할 수 있다. 또 해양구조물에 한정하지 않고, 대형 공공시설의 지붕재료나 해수담수화 설비, 화학플랜트 배관에 응용을 기대할 수 있고, 보급이 진전되면 스테인리스제품을 대체할 수도 있다. 티타늄의 평활전해석출 도금기술은 표면처리공학에서 최대의 새로운 개척분야인 것으로 사료된다. 본고에서는 티타늄의 평활피막전해석출 결과와 문제점에 대하여 기술하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.273-281
• /
• 2010

Nickel recovery method was studied by the wet process from the catalyst used in hydrogenation process. Nickel content in waste catalyst was about 16%. At the waste catalyst leaching system by the alkaline solution, selective leaching of nickel was possible by amine complex formation reaction from ammonia water and ammonium chloride mixed leachate. The best leaching condition of nickel from mixed leachate was acquired at the condition of pH 8. LIX65N as chelating solvent extractant was used to recover nickel from alkaline leachate. The purity of recovered nickel was higher than 99.5%, and the whole quantity of nickel was recovered from amine complex.

• Journal of Conservation Science
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.367-378
• /
• 2013

Microstructures and nonmetallic inclusions of five forged iron axes and one cast iron axe were analyzed. The axes were excavated from the Proto-Three Kingdom Period site located in Yangchon, Gimpo. The forging objects were made of almost pure iron and low carbon steel, and only one among five were quenched after its figuration. Malleable cast iron structures showing on the casting suggest that the decarbonized casting method were applied. According to the results of nonmetallic inclusion analysis, the axes were produced by hammering the iron bloom which was attained with low-temperature -solid-reduction-method. Showing higher Fe content over $SiO_2$, it is assumed that the re-collecting rate of Fe was low because of the insufficient forging temperature and the impurities were included during the smelting process. It is assumed that the lime was used as a preparation because of detecting high Ca contents.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.710-726
• /
• 2010

The main aim of this paper is to explore a strategy for the attraction of POSCO into Gangwon province through the collaborative network of industry-University institute-government. Although Gangwon province has abundant resources, the industrial development is stagnant owing to unfavorable conditions of industrial location. However, while attracting an magnesium smelting factory of POSCO into Gangneung city, the industrial development in the province faces a new phase for the industrialization in the region. Successful factors of the attraction are as follows; firstly, mutual collaborations of local government, research institutes, region-based firms; secondly, trust throughout rational proposals which are focused upon mutual regard of local government, POSCO and research institutes; thirdly, stategies for the attraction of POSCO which are based upon thorough analysis on such firm; finally, securing the demand market of forward industries.