• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.81-91
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• 2022

The use of lithium-ion batteries increases significantly with the rapid spread of electronic devices and electric vehicle and thereby an increase in the amount of waste batteries is expected in the near future. Therefore, studies are continuously being conducted to recover various resources of cathode active material (Ni, Co, Mn, Li) from waste battery. In order to recover the cathode active material, black mass is generally recovered from waste battery. The general process of recovering black mass is a waste battery collection - discharge - dismantling - crushing - classification process. This study focus on the crushing/classification process among the processes. Specifically, the particle size distribution of various samples at each crushing/classification step were evaluated, and the particle shape of each particle fraction was analyzed with a microscope and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)-EDS(Energy Dispersive Spectrometer). As a result, among the black mass particle, fine particle less than 74 ㎛ was the mixture of cathode and anode active material which are properly liberated from the current metals. However, coarse particle larger than 100 ㎛ was present in a form in which the current metal and active material were combined. In addition, this study developed a PBM(Population Balance Model) system that can simulate two-species mixture sample with two different crushing properties. Using developed model, the breakage parameters of two species was derived and predictive performance of breakage distribution was verified.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.5B
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• pp.437-444
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• 2010

Soil moisture has been recognized as the essential parameter when understanding the complicated relationship between land surface and atmosphere in water and energy recycling system. It has been generally known that it is related with the temperature, wind, evaporation dependent on soil properties, transpiration due to vegetations and other constituents. There is, however, little research concerned about the relationship between soil moisture and these constitutes, thus it is needed to investigate it in detail. We estimated the soil moisture and then compared with field data using the hydrometerological data such as atmospheric temperature, specific humidity, and wind obtained from the Flux tower in Selmacheon, Korea. In the winter season, subterranean temperature showed highly positive correlation with soil moisture while it was negatively correlated from the spring to the fall. Estimation of seasonal soil moisture was compared with field measurements with the correlation of determination, R=0.82, 0.81, 0.82, and 0.96 for spring, summer, fall, and winter, respectively. Comprehensive relationship from this study can supply useful information about the downscaling of soil moisture with relatively large spatial resolutions, and will help to deepen the understanding of the water and energy recycling on the earth's surface.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.38-44
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• 2023

Leaching tests were conducted using sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide solutions to remove impurities from domestic graphite concentrate. As a result of the leaching experiment using sulfuric acid solution and sodium hydroxide solution, respectively, the difference of removal efficiency was insignificant when the concentration of sodium hydroxide or sulfuric acid was 2 mol/L or more. The fixed carbon content increased with increasing the temperature in the sulfuric acid solution leaching, while it remains constant above 150℃ in sodium hydroxide solution. For the repeated sequential leaching tests, the leaching conditions were 2 mol/L NaOH, 200℃, 1 hour in the sodium hydroxide solution leaching and 2 mol/L H₂SO₄, 100℃, 1 hour in the sulfuric acid solution leaching, respectively. When sulfuric acid leaching followed by sodium hydroxide solution leaching was repeated 5 times, the fixed carbon increased to 99.95% and ash content decreased to 0.048%, while the fixed carbon increased to 99.98% and ash content was reduced to 0.018 when sodium hydroxide solution leaching followed by sulfuric acid solution leaching was repeated 5 times.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2024

In this study, vinyl waste, which is the cause of environmental pollution, is recycled via an electrospinning method and applied as a separator that can be employed for energy storage devices. In detail, vinyl wastes are dissolved in a solution containing p-xylene and cyclohexanone, followed by electrospinning to obtain a vinyl waste-derived separator(VWS), and then the hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of VWS are introduced using a plasma treatment to improve wettability. Scanning electron microscopy analysis have verified that the shape and thickness of as-spun VWS vary depending on the concentration of vinyl waste. The surface hydrophility of VWS is modified by plasma treatment with applied powers ranging from 80 to 120W. The lowest contact angle is observed when the 100W power is applied to VWS(VWS-100W). In electrochemical analysis, the VWS-100W-based supercapacitor device shows the highest specific capacitance of 57.9 F g^-1. This is ascribed to the high porosity achieved by electrospinning as well as the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups by the oxygen plasma treatment. In conclusion, vinyl waste is successfully recycled into separators for energy storage devices, suggesting a new way to reduce environmental pollution.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2010

We(Hansol EME Co. Ltd.) proceeded anaerobic digestion test for domestic food wastewater applying to two operating method for increasing of OLR. The methods are as follows. One was the rapidity operating method which was increasing the OLR continuously and rapidly and the other was the terraced operating method which was increasing the OLR having adaptation period for each step. As a result of this tests, the ratio of VFA/Alkalinity of the process was very unstable under the rapidity operating method then the volume of produced biogas was dramatically decreased. However the process was shown stable performance under the terraced operating method maintaining the ratio of VFA/Alkalinity less than 0.4. Also, the process was performing the biogas recovery of $0.8Nm^3/kgVS_{rem}/d$ and the VS removal ratio of 85%. T-RFLP analysis about the community of bacteria and methanogen is also conducted to check the change of the microbial community according to the methods of OLR increasing operation. The microbial community was changed by the methods of OLR increasing operation according to the result of T-RFLP analysis. Although the anaerobic digestion test was executed by same pilot plant, the reactivity and the tolerance of microbial community for surrounding environment could be considerably changed by the operating method for the process.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.337-342
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• 2024

Thermosetting composite materials are applied in mobility and structural applications due to their high mechanical strength and thermal properties. Nevertheless, these materials are difficult to recycle or reprocess. Therefore, research is currently underway to introduce vitrimer as a solution to this challenge. In this study, to enable reprocessing and self-healing of structural epoxy, an epoxy containing disulfide bonds was synthesized and added. The addition of disulfide epoxy resulted in a decrease in tensile strength and Young's modulus, but an increase in tensile strain. Analysis of the fracture surface after tensile testing revealed that the addition of disulfide epoxy imparted characteristics of ductile materials. This is attributed to the structure of disulfide epoxy, which primarily involves alkyl chains and bond exchange occurring at the disulfide bonds. It was confirmed that the addition of disulfide epoxy enables self-healing through reprocessing. While reprocessing was not possible with disulfide epoxy content below 17 wt%, it was feasible up to four times with content above 0.25 wt%. This study is expected to contribute to extending the lifespan of structural composites and enhancing recycling possibilities through reprocessing.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2011

There are two types of nuclear reactors in Korea and they are PWR type and CANDU type. The safe management of the spent fuels from these reactors is very important factor to maintain the sustainable energy supply with nuclear power plant. In Korea, a reference disposal system for the spent fuels has been developed through a study on the direct disposal of the PWR and CANDU spent fuel. Recently, the research on the demonstration and the efficiency analyses of the disposal system has been performed to make the disposal system safer and more economic. PWR spent fuels which include a lot of reusable material can be considered being recycled and a study on the disposal of HLW from this recycling process is being performed. CANDU spent fuels are considered being disposed of directly in deep geological formation, since they have little reusable material. In this study, based on the Korean Reference spent fuel disposal System (KRS) which was to dispose of both PWR type and CANDU type, the more effective CANDU spent fuel disposal systems were developed. To do this, the disposal canister for CANDU spent fuels was modified to hold the storage basket for 60 bundles which is used in nuclear power plant. With these modified disposal canister concepts, the disposal concepts to meet the thermal requirement that the temperature of the buffer materials should not be over $100^{\circ}C$ were developed. These disposal concepts were reviewed and analyzed in terms of disposal effective factors which were thermal effectiveness, U-density, disposal area, excavation volume, material volume etc. and the most effective concept was proposed. The results of this study will be used in the development of various wastes disposal system together with the HLW wastes from the PWR spent fuel recycling process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.57-64
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• 2013

Sulfurization reaction characteristics of $Eu_2O_3$, uranium oxides($UO_2$, $U_3O_8$), mixture of $Eu_2O_3$ and uranium oxides, Eu-doped uranium oxides($(U,Eu)O_2$, $(U,Eu)_3O_8$), and phase-separated products prepared by HOX (High temperature OXidation) of $(U,Eu)O_2$ were investigated in the temperature range from 400 to $800^{\circ}C$. Only $Eu_2O_3$ in the mixture of $Eu_2O_3$ and uranium oxides was converted into $Eu_3S_4$ by sulfurization reaction at $450^{\circ}C$ without reaction between them. Sulfurization reaction behavior of $(U,Eu)_3O_8$ and $(U,Eu)O_2$ up to $600^{\circ}C$ was similar to $U_3O_8$ and $UO_2$, respectively, while they were sulfurized into Eu-rich $(U,Eu)S_x$ and ${\alpha}-US_2$ at $800^{\circ}C$. In the sulfurization of RE-rich $(U,Eu)_4O_9$ and $U_3O_8$ prepared by high temperature oxidation, it was confirmed that RE-rich $(U,Eu)S_x$ and UOS phases were formed at $600^{\circ}C$. For Eu-rich $(U,Eu)O_2$ and $UO_2$ prepared by reduction of HOX products, it was identified that Eu-rich (U,Eu)OS was formed at $450^{\circ}C$ by sulfurization of Eu-rich $(U,Eu)O_2$, while $UO_2$ remained unreacted.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.85-100
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• 2023

In this study, in order to improve the installation periodical inspection method of waste treatment facilities, we conducted on-site surveys of waste treatment facilities classified into six fields, grasped the problems of inspection methods, and made improvements accordingly. And revised the inspection method for waste treatment facilities. As a result, in the field of incineration and incineration heat recovery, inspection methods such as total temperature measurement and one-year TMS data comparison using a thermal imaging camera were established. And for the safety of the inspected person, it was applied so that the waste can be replaced with a document without opening it. In the case of landfill facilities, the details regarding the use of video information processing equipment and the management of facilities covering the upper part of the landfill facility are presented in the law, but the items that do not have a inspection methods were applied to the inspection method. In the case of Food Waste Treatment Facility, inspection methods were put in place to ensure compliance with standards for foul-smelling fish in odor control, a major cause of complaints. As a result, 10 out of 18 improvement proposals were reflected in the incineration and sterilization grinding, cement kiln, and incineration heat recovery facilities, and 11 out of 12 improvement proposals were reflected in the landfill facility. In the case of food distribution waste treatment facilities, 10 out of 12 improvement proposals were reflected, and a total of 31 inspection methods were improved.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.529-533
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• 2012

In this study, we compare various physicochemical properties of solvent extracted coals obtained at both mild and high temperature conditions. In order to characterize the extraction behavior, experiments were performed using a sub-bituminous coal (Kideco) and a polar solvent (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone, NMP), where the extraction temperature and the effect of solvent recycling were evaluated. As the extraction temperature increased up to $350^{\circ}C$, an extraction yield and a calorific value of the extracted coal increased, while an ash content of the extracted coal decreased. FT-IR results revealed that the surface of the coal extracted at $350^{\circ}C$ was found to contain more amide, aromatic ester, and aliphatic ether groups than that at the lower temperatures. The result of MALDI-TOF/MS analysis confirmed that the smaller molecules with 300~500 m/z were extracted at a mild condition, while the bigger molecules in the range of 500~1500 m/z were extracted at the high temperature.