• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2003

Approx. 200.000 bpd vacuum residue oil is produced from oil refineries in Korea, and is supplied to use asphalt, high sulfur fuel oil and for upgrading at the residue hydro-desulfurization unit. Vacuum residue oil has high energy content, however its high sulfur content and high concentration of heavy metals represent improper low grade fuel. To meet growing demand for effective utilization of vacuum residue oil from refineries, recently some of the oil refinery industries in Korea, such as SK oil refinery and LG Caltex refinery, have already proceeded feasibility study to construct 435~500 MWe IGCC power plant and hydrogen production facilities. Recently, KIER (Korea Institute of Energy Research) are studying on the Vacuum Residue gasification process using an oxygen-blown entrained-flow gasifier. The experiment runs were evaluated under the reaction temperature: 1.100~l,25$0^{\circ}C$, reaction pressure: 1~6 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$G, oxygen/V.R ratio: 0.8~0.9 and steam/V.R ratio: 0.4~0.5. Experimental results show the syngas composition (CO+H$_2$): 85~93%, syngas flow rate: 50~l10 Nm$^3$/hr, heating value: 2,300~3,000 k㎈/Nm$^3$, carbon conversion: 65~92, cold gas efficiency: 60~70%. Also equilibrium modeling was used to predict the vacuum residue gasification process and the predicted values were compared reasonably well with experimental data.

• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.341-349
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• 2021

In combustion facilities, the nitrogen and sulfur in fossil fuels react with oxygen to generate air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO_X) and sulfur oxides (SO_X), which are harmful to the human body and cause environmental pollution. There are regulations worldwide to reduce NO_X and SO_X, and various technologies are being applied to meet these regulations. There are commercialized methods to reduce NO_X and SO_X emissions such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD), but due to the disadvantages of these methods, many studies have been conducted to simultaneously remove NO_X and SO_X. However, even in the NO_X and SO_X simultaneous removal methods, there are problems with wastewater generation due to oxidants and absorbents, costs incurred due to the use of catalysts and electrolysis to activate specific oxidants, and the harmfulness of gas oxidants themselves. Therefore, in this research, microbubbles generated in a high-pressure disperser and reducing agents were used to reduce costs and facilitate wastewater treatment in order to compensate for the shortcomings of the NO_X, SO_X simultaneous treatment method. It was confirmed through image processing and ESR (electron spin resonance) analysis that the disperser generates real microbubbles. NO_X and SO_X removal tests according to temperature were also conducted using only microbubbles. In addition, the removal efficiencies of NO_X and SO_X are about 75% and 99% using a reducing agent and microbubbles to reduce wastewater. When a small amount of oxidizing agent was added to this microbubble system, both NO_X and SO_X removal rates achieved 99% or more. Based on these findings, it is expected that this suggested method will contribute to solving the cost and environmental problems associated with the wet oxidation removal method.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.537-542
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• 1999

Removal of sulfur compounds in the petroleum products is essential for the prevention of sulfur oxides. However, conventional methods involving catalytic reactions are found to have some limitations in complete removal of harmful sulfur compounds and to require relatively high cost. Recently, desulfurization process using microorganisms is known to be promising in terms of excellent sulfur removal efficiency and reasonably low treatment cost. For the biodesulfurization process to be effective, the solubilization of sulfur compounds into aqueous solution is a prerequisite. In this study, polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants were used in order to enhance the solubilization of sulfur spectrophotometer. The solubilization of sulfur compounds was found to increase with temperature and to bo abruptly increased at above 1 wt % surfactant solutions. It was also observed that the longer the hydrophobic chain of the surfactant molecule, the higher solubilizing power of a nonionic surfactant. It was found that the Tergitol series surfactants showed higher solubilizing capacity than Neodol series presumably due to the disruption of the regular packing in the hydrocarbon region of the surfactant aggregates.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.898-904
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• 2021

This experimental study aims to investigate the use of a wet electrostatic precipitator as a post-treatment device to satisfy the strict emission regulations for sulfur oxides and particulate matter (PM). The inlet/outlet of a wet electrostatic precipitator was installed in a funnel using a marine four-stroke diesel engine (STX-MAN B&W) consuming marine heavy fuel oil (HFO) with a sulfur content of about 2.1%. Measurements were then obtained at the outlet of the wet electrostatic precipitator; an optical measuring instrument (OPA-102), and the weight concentration measurement method (Method 5 Isokinetic Train) were used for the PM measurements and the Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR; DX-4000) approach was used for the sulfur oxide measurements. The experimenst were conducted by varying the engine load from 50%, to 75% and 100%; it was noted that the PM reduction efficiency was a high at about 94 to 98% under all load conditions. Additionally, during the process of lowering the exhaust gas temperature in the quenching zone of the wet electrostatic precipitator, the sulfur dioxide (SO₂) values reduced because of the cleaning water, and the reduction rate was confirmed to be 55% to 81% depending on the engine load.