• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.547-553
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• 2024

Hydrogen is considered a key energy source to achieve carbon neutrality through the global goal of 'Net Zero'. Due to limitations in domestic green hydrogen production, Korean companies are interested in importing green hydrogen produced overseas. Because Australia and the Middle East possess high-quality renewable energy resources, they are attracting attention as suitable regions for producing green hydrogen using renewable energy. The cost of constructing and operating a green ammonia plant varies depending on the region. In this study, an economic feasibility comparison of green ammonia plant construction in Australia and the Middle East is conducted. Through this, it is expected to contribute to the economic analysis and feasibility analysis of the project to import hydrogen in the form of green ammonia into Korea.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.643-659
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• 2022

For the economic analysis of fuel cells, levelized cost of electricity was calculated according to the type, capacity, and annual production of the fuel cells. The cost of every component was calculated through the system component breakdown. The direct cost of the system included stack cost, component cost, assembly, test, and conditioning cost, and profit markup cost were added. The effect of capacity and annual production was analyzed by fuel cell type. Sensitivity analysis was performed according to stack life, capital cost, project period, and fuel cost. As a result, it was derived how much the economic efficiency of the fuel cell improves as the capacity increases and the annual production increases.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.251.2-251.2
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• 2013

Natural photosynthesis utilizes two proteins, photosystem I and photosystem II, to efficiently oxidize water and reduce NADP+ to NADPH. Artificial photosynthesis which mimics this process achieve water splitting through a two-step Z-schematic water splitting process using man-made synthetic materials for hydrogen fuel production. In this study, Z-scheme system was achieved from the hybrid materials which composed of hydrogen production part as photosystem I protein and water oxidizing part as semiconductor BiVO4. Utilizing photosystem I as the hydrogen evolving part overcomes the problems of existing hydrogen evolving p-type semiconductors such as water instability, expensive cost, few available choices and poor red light (>600 nm) absorbance. Some problems of photosystem II, oxygen evolving part of natural photosynthesis, such as demanding isolation process and D1 photo-damage can also be solved by utilizing BiVO4 as the oxygen evolving part. Preceding research has not suggested any protein-inorganic-hybrid Z-scheme composed of both materials from natural photosynthesis and artificial photosynthesis. In this study, to realize this Z-schematic electron transfer, diffusion step of electron carrier, which usually degrades natural photosynthesis efficiency, was eliminated. Instead, BiVO4 and Pt-photosystem I were all linked together by the mediator gold. Synthesized all-solid-state hybrid materials show enhanced hydrogen evolution ability directly from water when illuminated with visible light.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.623-635
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• 2022

As global warming accelerates, clean hydrogen production becomes more important to mitigate it. However, importing hydrogen is necessary for countries that have high energy demands but insufficient resources to produce clean hydrogen. In line with the trend, this study investigated both the economic and environmental viability of an overseas hydrogen supply chain between Australia and the Republic of Korea. Several possible methods of water electrolysis and hydrogen carriers are compared and effect of renewable electricity price on the cost of hydrogen production is evaluated.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.417-429
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• 2021

Due to fossil fuel depletion and environmental pollution, H2 production from organic waste has received an increased attention. In this study, we present an integrated process for the H2 production from biogas and evaluate the economic feasibility and sustainability via rigorous techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA). Through the TEA, we determine the minimum H2 selling price using discounted cash flow analysis and investigate the main cost drivers. The environmental impact of the proposed process is quantified via LCA.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.584-599
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• 2017

Biodiesel is renewable, eco-friendly, clean burning diesel replacement that is consisted of short chain alkyl ester. Biodiesel is derived from the transesterification of vegetables oils or animal fats with alcohol. The process has some technical problems that must be resolved to reduce the high operation cost. Eco-friendly physical technologies by using microwave have successfully improved the transesterification for biodiesel production. This paper attempts to extensively review microwave-assisted technology for biodiesel production. Additionally, different types of catalyst for biodiesel production have been summarized. It is concluded that the microwave-assisted technique improves the reaction rate significantly in comparison with conventional methods. Therefore it can be a suitable method of reducing the reaction time and can also decreases the cost of biodiesel production.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.184-187
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• 2007

Hydrogen could be produced from any substance containing hydrogen atoms, such as water, hydrocarbon (HC) fuels, acids or bases. Hydrocarbon fuels couold be converted to hydrogen-rich gas through reforming process for hydrogen production. Even though fuel cell have high efficiency with pure hydrogen from gas tank, it is more beneficial to generate hydrogen from city gas (mainly methane) in residential application such as domestic or office environments. Thus hydrogen is generated by reforming process using hydrocarbon. Unfortunately, the reforming process for hydrogen production is accompanied with unavoidable impurities. Impurities such as CO, $CO_2$, $H_2S$, $NH_3$, and $CH_4$ in hydrogen could cause negative effects on fuel cell performance. Those effects are kinetic losses due to poisoning of electrode catalysts, ohmic losses due to proton conductivity reduction including membrane and catalyst ionomer layers, and mass transport losses due to degrading catalyst layer structure and hydrophobic property. Hydrogen produced from reformer eventually contains around 73% of $H_2$, 20% or less of $CO_2$, 5.8% of less of $N_2$, or 2% less of $CH_4$, and 10ppm or less of CO. Most impurities are removed using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process to get high purity hydrogen. However, high purity hydrogen production requires high operation cost of reforming process. The effect of carbon dioxide on fuel cell performance was investigated in this experiment. The performance of PEM fuel cell was investigated using current vs. potential experiment, long run (10 hr) test, and electrochemical impedance measurement when the concentrations of carbon dioxide were 10%, 20% and 30%. Also, the concentration of impurity supplied to the fuel cell was verified by gas chromatography (GC).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 2001

Fossil fuel such as oil and natural gas has been used and will be no longer supplied enough to demand in the beginning of thisg century. The use of the fuel makes a lot of environmental pollution to threaten human being's health especially in big cities and produces a lot of $CO_{2}$ to make green house effect of the earth. It is the time to use clean fuel such as hydrogen to prevent the expected energy crisis and the pollution. A new engine such as fuel cell can be used instead of the conventional internal combustion engine with 2 to 3 times higher efficiency of the conventional engine. The fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen and produces electric energy and pure water, which is a calm engine without air pollution. In big cities the city buses and the taxies powered by hydrogen fuel cells are suggested to be operated for clean environment. The energy and cost analysis performed for hydrogen and electricity production from wind power and solar cell.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2005

Until recently, only perfluorinated ionomer membrane such as Nation and Aciflex practically could be successfully used in water splitting. However, these membrane are limited by high cost and loss of membrane performance such as proton conductivity at elevated temperature above 80$^{\circ}C$. The sulfonated aromatic polymers such as PEEK and PSf, polyimides, and polybenzimidazoles are expected to have lower production cost as well as satisfactory chemical and electrochemical properties. HPAs and sulfonated polymers could have a significant influence on water electrolysis performance at elevated temperatures above 80$^{\circ}C$, but these phenomena have received relatively little attention until now. Therefore, it would be desirable to investigate the interrelation between the HPA and sulfonated polymer, such as SPEEK. The SPEEK membrane were prepared by the sulfonation of PEEK, and HPA was blended with SPEEK to increase the mechanical strength and electrochemical characteristics. As a results, electrochemical characteristics such as proton conductivity and ion exchange capacity were improved with the addion of 0.5 g HPA. And the properties of polymer electrolyte, SPEEK/HPA were better than Nation membrane at elevated temperature above 80$^{\circ}C$.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.1037-1051
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• 2024

This paper presents the construction results and design of the UNIST Reactor Innovation platform for small modular reactors as a versatile testbed for exploring innovative technologies. The platform uses simulant fluids to simulate the thermal-hydraulic behavior of a reference small modular reactor design, allowing for cost-effective design modifications. Scaling analysis results for single and two-phase natural circulation flows are outlined based on the three-level scaling methodology. The platform's capability to simulate natural circulation behavior was validated through performance calculations using the 1-D system thermal-hydraulic code-based calculation. The strategies for evaluating cutting-edge technologies, such as the integration of a solid oxide electrolysis cell for hydrogen production into a small modular reactor, are presented. To overcome experimental limitations, the hardware-in-the-loop technique is proposed as an alternative, enabling real-time simulation of physical phenomena that cannot be implemented within the experimental facility's hardware. Overall, the proposed versatile innovation platform is expected to provide valuable insights for advancing research in the field of small modular reactors and nuclear-based hydrogen production.