• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2014

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is regarded as an alternative fuel for spark ignition engine due to similar or even higher octane number. In addition, LPG has better fuel characteristics including high vaporization characteristic and low carbon/hydrogen ratio leading to a reduction in carbon dioxide emission. Recently, development of LPG direct injection system started to improve performance of vehicles fuelled with LPG. However, spray characteristics of LPG were not well understood, which is should be known to develop injector for LPG direct injection engines. In this study, effects of operation condition including ambient pressure, temperature, and injection pressure on spray properties of n-butane were evaluated and compared to gasoline in a multi-hole injector. As general characteristics of both fuels, spray penetration becomes smaller with an increase of ambient pressure as well as a reduction in the injection pressure. However, it is found that evaporation of n-butane was faster compared to gasoline under all experimental condition. As a result, spray penetration of n-butane was shorter than that of gasoline. This result was due to higher vapor pressure and lower boiling point of n-butane. On the other hand, spray angle of both fuels do not vary much except under high ambient temperature conditions. Furthermore, spray shape of n-butane spray becomes completely different from that of gasoline at high ambient temperature conditions due to flash boiling of n-butane.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.327-336
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• 2013

Approximately 70% of the Korean peninsula is composed of mountains, around 99,274 $km^2$. Even worse, population rate of Korea is the No.3 in the world now. Accordingly, it is necessary to develop the potential underground space actively with the concept of another territory to be utilized. The development of underground space should be considered not a choice but an indispensable issue. Since 1970s, many large-scale underground structures have been constructed like as crude-oil storage bins, liquefied petroleum gas storage caverns, and underground pumped storage powerplants. Also, In urban area, the underground facilities such as subway networks, underground shopping mall, underground pedestrian network, electric power tunnels, and car parking lots have been used extensively. The scale of Yeosu oil and gas underground storage facility and Seoul subway systems are one of the massive scale in the world. Recently, the trend of the development of underground space becomes more diverse and larger scale. The current status of Korean underground space developments and strategy are described in this paper.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.477-485
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• 2013

The major source of harmful air pollutants in Korea have been shifted as economy grows. Particulate matter(PM) and Sulfur dioxide ($SO_2$) emitted from industries and coal-fired domestic sectors were important pollutants in 1970's and later industrializing period of Korea. Then the characteristic of pollution was changed into so-called "developed country type pollution". Vehicles have been responsible for significant amount of Nitric oxide ($NO_x$) pollution and consequent Ozone formation in urban area since 1990's. Variety of control measures have been introduced to deal with the vehicle emissions in Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). Emission control technologies have successfully reduced pollutants from vehicles. Three-way catalyst for vehicles fueled by gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), for example, has achieved large amount of pollutants. Compressed natural gas (CNG) urban bus have penetrated existing diesel bus market and reduces PM and $NO_x$ emissions in many Korean cities. However, diesel vehicles are still reaming as a critical emission source of urban area. Diesel vehicles gain more popularity than ever because of their better fuel efficiency and driving power. Unfortunately, it is widely known that the pollutant emissions of diesel vehicles are much larger than those of gasoline and LPG vehicles. In this note, we briefly introduce the trends of emission control strategies which are accomplished by automotive industries for about last ten years. Emission regulation, cleaner fuel, diesel particulate filter (DPF) and other measures are discussed from technical as well as legislative perspectives.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.33-41
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• 2015

Dimethyl ether (DME) can be used as a clean diesel alternative fuel due to the high cetane number and low emission, it can also be applied to automotive fuel as a blended liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) because physical properties are similar to those of LPG. In this study, feasibility test of LPG vehicle using blended DME-LPG fuel was investigated. Three types of fuel supply such as LPLi (Liquid phase LPG injection), LPGi (Liquid phase gas injection) and mixer type were selected to consider the LPG fuel-injection system. The performance characteristics of LPG vehicle were examined by using LPG and blended DME-LPG fuel in order to compare the exhaust emissions (CO, THC, $NO_X$) and fuel economy. The emissions and fuel economy of DME-LPG blend fuel were comparable to those of LPG with increasing driving distance.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2012

Finding an alternative fuel and reducing environmental pollution are the main goals for future internal combustion engines. The purpose of this study is to obtain low-emission and high-efficiency by hydrogen enriched LPG fuel in constant volume chamber. An experimental study was carried out to obtain fundamental data for the combustion and emission characteristics of pre-mixed hydrogen and LPG in a constant volume chamber (CVC) with various fractions of hydrogen-LPG blends. To maintain equal heating value of fuel blend, the amount of LPG was decreased as hydrogen was gradually added. Exhaust emissions were measured using a HORIBA exhaust gas analyzer for various fractions of hydrogen-LPG blends. The results showed that the rapid combustion duration was shortened, and the rate of heat release elevated as the hydrogen fraction in the fuel blend was increased. Moreover, the maximum rate of pressure rise also increased. These phenomena were attributed to the burning velocity which increased exponentially with the increased hydrogen fraction in the $H_2$-LPG fuel blend. Exhaust HC and $CO_2$ concentrations decreased, while NOX emission increased with an increase in the hydrogen fraction in the fuel blend. Our results could facilitate the application of hydrogen and LPG as a fuel in the current fossil hydrocarbon-based economy and the strict emission regulations in internal combustion engines.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.336-341
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• 2019

The gas adsorption isotherm requires accurate measurement for the analysis of porous materials and is used as an index of surface area, pore distribution, and adsorption amount of gas. Basically, adsorption isotherms of porous materials are measured conventionally at 77K and 87K using liquid nitrogen and liquid argon. The cold volume calibration in this conventional method is done simply by splitting a sample cell into two zones (cold and warm volumes) by controlling the level sensor in a Dewar filled with liquid nitrogen or argon. As a result, BET measurement for textural properties is mainly limited to liquefied gases (i.e. $N_2$ or Ar) at atmospheric pressure. In order to independently investigate other gases (e.g. hydrogen isotopes) at cryogenic temperature, a novel temperature control system in the sample cell is required, and consequently cold volume calibration at various temperatures becomes more important. In this study, a cryocooler system is installed in a commercially available BET device to control the sample cell temperature, and the automated cold volume calibration method of temperature variation is introduced. This developed calibration method presents a reliable and reproducible method of cryogenic measurement for hydrogen isotope separation in porous materials, and also provides large flexibility for evaluating various other gases at various temperature.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.534-540
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• 2022

Liquid hydrogen has the best storage capacity per unit mass and is economical among storage methods for using hydrogen as fuel. As the demand for hydrogen increases, the need to develop a storage and supply system of liquid hydrogen is emphasizing. In order to liquefy hydrogen, it is necessary to pre-cool it to a maximum inversion temperature of -253℃. The Gifford-McMahon (GM) refrigerator is the most reliable and commercialized refrigerator among small-capacity cryogenic refrigerators, which can extract high-efficiency hydrogen through liquefied hydrogen production and boil of gas re-liquefaction. Therefore, in this study, the optimal conditions for liquefying gas hydrogen were sought using the GM cryocooler. The process was simulated by PRO/II under various cooling capacities of the GM refrigerator. In addition, the flow rate of hydrogen was calculated by comparing with specific refrigerator capacity depending on the pressure and flow rate of a refrigerant medium, helium. Simulations were performed to investigate the optimal values of the liquefaction flow rate and compression pressure, which aim for the peak refrigeration effect. Based on this, a liquefaction system can be selected in consideration of the cycle configuration and the performance of the refrigerator.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.54-65
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• 2022

We are developing a compact ignition device that can provide a multi-ignition capability for an upper stage methane engine of a two staged small satellite launch vehicle. Firstly, the multi-ignition device is designed and built as an integral part of an additively manufactured mixing head. Secondly, the ignition device requires no separate high-pressure vessels to store ignition propellants as they are branched out from the main feed lines for the mixing head. We performed experiments at various levels, including igniter autonomous tests, thrust chamber ignition and combustion tests on the new compact ignition device which is integrated in the thrust chamber of one-tonf class liquid oxygen/liquid methane engine, and confirmed stable ignition performance.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2023

In this study, the performance of high-pressure fuel pumps was compared to find a high-pressure pump suitable for dimethyl ether (DME) fuel, and to establish a database of basic data on flow rates. The use of DME in compression ignition engines can reduce pollutant emissions. The cetane value of DME is higher than that of diesel fuel. The physical properties of DME are similar to liquefied gasoline gas (LPG), and when pressurized at a pressure of 6 bar or more, it changes from gas to liquid. Two types of high pressure pumps used in this study were independent injection type pump and a wobble plate type pump. Two high-pressure pumps with different injection types were compared. By measuring and comparing the performance changes of the two high-pressure pumps, a pump suitable for DME was selected and performance improvement measures were proposed. The changed experimental conditions to measure the performance change of the high pressure pump were increased in the units of 100 to 1,000 rpm and 100 rpm, and the experiment was performed at common rail pressures 300 and 400 bar. it was confirmed that the DME inside the fuel supply system remained in a liquid state through temperature sensors, pressure sensors, and pressure gauges. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the flow rate discharged from the high-pressure fuel pump increased as the motor rotational speed increased, and the flow rate of the high-pressure fuel pump

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.345-358
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• 2021

This study focuses on the development of the liquid air production process that uses LNG (liquefied natural gas) cold energy which usually wasted during the regasification stage. The liquid air can be transported to the LNG exporter, and it can be utilized as the cold source to replace certain amount of refrigerant for the natural gas liquefaction. Therefore, the condition of the liquid air has to satisfy the available pressure of LNG storage tank. To satisfy pressure constraint of the membrane type LNG tank, proposed process is designed to produce liquid air at 1.3bar. In proposed process, the air is precooled by heat exchange with LNG and subcooled by nitrogen refrigeration cycle. When the amount of transported liquid air is as large as the capacity of the LNG carrier, it could be economical in terms of the transportation cost. In addition, larger liquid air can give more cold energy that can be used in natural gas liquefaction plant. To analyze the effect of the liquid air production amount, under the same LNG supply condition, the proposed process is simulated under 3 different air flow rate: 0.50 kg/s, 0.75 kg/s, 1.00 kg/s, correspond to Case1, Case2, and Case3, respectively. Each case was analyzed thermodynamically and economically. It shows a tendency that the more liquid air production, the more energy demanded per same mass of product as Case3 is 0.18kWh higher than Base case. In consequence the production cost per 1 kg liquid air in Case3 was $0.0172 higher. However, as liquid air production increases, the transportation cost per 1 kg liquid air has reduced by $0.0395. In terms of overall cost, Case 3 confirmed that liquid air can be produced and transported with $0.0223 less per kilogram than Base case.