• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.53-58
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• 2023

This study shows the summary of the economic performance of excess electricity conversion to hydrogen as well as methane and returned conversion to electricity using a fuel cell. The methane production process has been examined in a previous study. Here, this study focuses on the conversion of methane to electricity. As a part of this study, capital expenditure (CAPEX) is estimated under various sized plants (0.3, 3, 9, and 30 MW). The study shows a method for economic optimization of electricity generation using a fuel cell. The CAPEX and operating expenditure (OPEX) as well as the feed cost are used to calculate the discounted cash flow. Then the levelized cost of returned electricity (LCORE) is estimated from the discounted cash flow. This study found the LCORE value was ¢10.2/kWh electricity when a 9 MW electricity generating fuel cell was used. A methane production plant size of 1,500 Nm³/hr, a methane production cost of $11.47/mcf, a storage cost of $1/mcf, and a fuel cell efficiency of 54% were used as a baseline. A sensitivity analysis was performed by varying the storage cost, fuel cell efficiency, and excess electricity cost by ±20%, and fuel cell efficiency was found as the most dominating parameter in terms of the LCORE sensitivity. Therefore, for the best cost-performance, fuel cell manufacturing and efficiency need to be carefully evaluated. This study provides a general guideline for cost performance comparison with LCORE.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.385-385
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• 2009

Uniform polyaniline nanofibers (PANI NFs), and chemically doped sulfamic acid(SFA) PANI NFs, synthesized via template free interfacial polymerization process, were used as new counter electrodes materials for the fabrication of the highly-efficient dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The PANI NFs based fabricated DSSCs exhibited a solarto-electricity conversion efficiency of ~ 4.02% while, the SFA doped PANI NFs based DSSC demonstrated ~ 27% improvement in the solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency. The obtained solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency for SFA doped PANI NFs based DSSC was 5.47% under 100mW/$cm^2$(AM1.5). The enhancement in the conversion efficiency was due to the incorporation of SFA into the PANI NFs which resulted to the higher electrocatalytic activity for the $I^{3-}/I^-$ redox reaction.

• Plant Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.26-32
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• 2020

The performance monitoring system in the power plant should have the capability to estimate power generation efficiency accurately. Several power generation efficiency models have been proposed for the combined heat and power (CHP) plant which produces both electricity and process steam(or heating energy, hereinafter expressed by process steam only). However, most of the models are not sufficiently accurate due to the wrong evaluation of the process steam value. The study suggests Electricity Conversion Efficiency (ECE) model with determination of the heat rate of process steam using operational data. The suggested method is applied to the design data and the resulted trajectory curve of power generation efficiency meets the data closely with R2 99.91%. This result confirms that ECE model with determination of the model coefficient using the operational data estimate the efficiency so accurately that can be used for performance monitoring of CHP plant.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.177-186
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• 2017

This study concerned the analysis on the efficiency of the conversion of water tank type supply system to direct water supply system to examine the feasibility of the conversion, as well as the calculation of optimal conversion range that enables the supply of safe, high-quality water at stable pressure in accordance with the standards of water supply facility. The results of this research showed that when converting water supply system from water tank type supply system to direct water supply system, more nodal points could be properly converted and more reduction of electricity usage was expected in case water pressure rather than residence time was fixed. This means that higher efficacy can be obtained by fixing water pressure when converting water supply system. However, since the number of the locations that received on-spot inspection was small and the electricity usage measured was not exclusively by water supply facility, it is difficult to judge that such reduction of electricity usage accurately represents reduced electricity usage by water supply facility alone. therefore, after having secured on-spot information about a larger number of locations in apartment complexes that have converted water supply system, and utilizing information about electricity usage exclusively by water supply facility, the proposed method of this research could be applied to accurately deducing expected reduction of electricity usage by water supply facilities of various other apartment complexes. It is also considered possible to deduce an effective operation method of water supply system by finding out an area that shows low pressure or low residual chlorine concentration in the optimal conversion range of water supply, followed by estimating the proper location of pumping station or the proper chlorine dosage at the power purification plant that supply water to the target area.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.22-28
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• 2014

The thermoelectric generator using solar heat was applied to the device (heat-electricity conversion device) to produce small-scale electricity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics and performance of the device, which equipped with heat pipe as heat source. The experimental results showed that efficiency of circular single evacuated solar collector was higher 2.7 times than that of rectangular solar collector. Furthermore maximum power of 5 watt was obtained when 2 devices with series array were used and it could be more improved by increasing the number of device or measurement time.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.225-234
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• 2006

Characteristics of electricity production from major fermentation products (acetate, propionate and butyrate) were evaluated in a microbial fuel cell (MFC). For each substrate, batch and continuous experiments were performed. The batch test result indicated that coulombic efficiency depended on the resistance connected in MFC circuit. With acetate, coulombic efficiency were 87% at $20{\Omega}$, but decreaced to 45% at$220{\Omega}$. In continuous tests, maximum power densities obtained was 220 Q with acetate. The maximum power densities of butyrate, acetate and propionate were 6.8, 6.1, and $5.2mW/m^2$, respectively. Propionate and butyrate were converted into acetate producing high currents. $H_2$ produced during butyrate and propionate probably used to produce electricity. In conclusion, butyrate conversion into acetate was faster than that of propionate with higher electricity production. If the production of propionate is inhibited during fermentation, anaerobically fermented liguor may be effectively applied for MFC.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.1125-1128
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• 2009

Conversion of light energy to electrical energy by using a solar cell has long been considered as one of the option for an electrical energy supply in the future. In the past, commercial use was restricted largely to remote area applications where conventional electricity is expensive. Recently, the major application of the solar cells changed to become generation of residential electricity in urban areas where the electricity is already supplied by the conventional grid. This paper covers the current market and technology status of the solar cells and future prospect of their terrestrial applications. Reviewing market trend, this paper discusses high efficiency approach in silicon solar cells, low cost approach in silicon solar cells and finally covers future prospects of silicon solar cells.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.513-517
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• 2007

To elucidate possible challenges for outdoor practical use of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), we compared conventional Si solar cells with DSCs. DSC modules still require a larger area than conventional Si solar modules to attain the same rated output because of lower photoelectron-chemical conversion efficiency. However, in backup systems by using batteries, the measured data shows that DSCs generated 15% more electricity than Si solar cells of the same rated output power in the same interval of cloudy daylight. Moreover, the battery charging time of DSCs is about 1 hour faster than the same rate of Si solar cells under outdoor cloudy daylight. This result also indicates that conversion efficiency obtained by the certified condition less than AM 1.5 condition does not always coincide with the electricity generated outdoors daily, and it is not a crucial measure to evaluate the performance of solar cells.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.201-229
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• 2019

This paper estimates the effects of generation mix changes in the $7^{th}$ and $8^{th}$ Basic Plan for Long-term Power Supply and Demand from two aspects: economic efficiency through electricity prices and environmental performance through $CO_2$ and air pollutants(NOx, SOx, PM) emissions. Particularly, we examined additional generation mix conversion paths that take into account the trade-off between economic efficiency and environmental performance through scenario analysis. According to our results, the conversion from the $7^{th}$ plan to the $8^{th}$ plan should increase the electricity prices in the mid- and long-term, while reducing GHG and air pollutants emissions at the same time. The alternative generation mix that combines $7^{th}$ and $8^{th}$ plans shows that there exists a path to mitigate the trade-off between economic and environmental in the long-term. It will be next to impossible to derive a optimal generation mix that simultaneously considers the core values, such as supply stability, environmental performance, economic efficiency, energy safety and energy security, when establishing the power supply and demand plan. However, by exploring the effects of various generation mix paths and suggesting near-optimal paths, people can best choose their direction after weighhing all the paths when deciding on a forward-looking generation mix in the long term.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2148-2153
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• 2007

The electricity conversion-efficiency of solar cell for commercial application is about 6-15%. More than 85% of the incoming solar energy is either reflected or absorbed as heat energy. Consequently, the working temperature of the photovoltaic cells increases considerably after prolonged operations and the cell's efficiency drops significantly. PV/T refers to the integration of a PV module and a solar thermal collector in a single piece of equipment. By cooling the PV module with a fluid steam like air or water, the electricity yield can be improved. At the same time, the heat pick-up by the fluid can be to support space heating or service hot-water systems. In this study, a pulsating heat pipe solar heat collector was combined with single-crystal silicon photovoltaic cell in hybrid energy-generating unit that simultaneously produced low temperature heat and heat and electricity. This experiment was investigating thermal and electrical efficiency for evaluation of a PV/T system.