• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.95-103
• /
• 2014

During the international effort to develop the next generation nuclear reactor technologies, many new power cycle concepts were derived to improve efficiency and reduce the capital cost. Among many innovative power cycles, it was identified that the supercritical $CO_2$ (S-$CO_2$) Brayton cycle technology has a big potential to outperform the existing steam cycle and eventually replace it. The S-$CO_2$ cycle achieves high efficiency with very compact size, which is the ultimate advantage for a power cycle to have. The S-$CO_2$ cycle has a great potential not only for the future nuclear applications but also for general heat sources such as coal, natural gas, and concentrated solar. In this paper, a brief introduction to the S-$CO_2$ power cycle technologies will be first provided, and a short summary of current research and development status of the power cycle technology around the world will be followed. Especially the research works performed by KAIST, KAERI and several related research institutions in Korea will be reviewed in more detail, since they have recently developing a strong infrastructure to test these ideas by constructing a demonstration facility while producing many innovative ideas to improve and realize the concept.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.279-286
• /
• 2018

The use of eco-friendly energy in the offshore plant system is expanding because conventional generators are operated by fossil fuel or natural gas. Eco-friendly energy, which replaces existing power generation methods, should be capable of generating the power for lighting protection equipment, airborne fault indication, parameter measurement, and others. Most of the eco-friendly energy used in offshore plant facilities is solar and wind power. In the case of using photovoltaic power, because the structure must be constructed based as flat solar panels, it can be damaged easily by the wind. Therefore, there is a need for a new generation system composed of a spherical structure that does not require a separate structure and is less influenced by the wind. Considering these characteristics, in this study we designed, fabricated, and tested a unit that could provide the most efficient spherical photovoltaic power generation considering wind direction and wind pressure. Our test results indicated that the proposed system reduced costs because it did not require any separate structure, used eco-friendly energy, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and expanded the proportion of eco-friendly energy use by offshore plant facilities.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.23 no.4
• /
• pp.382-389
• /
• 2012

Power generation cycle using ammonia-water mixture as working fluid has attracted much attention because of its ability to efficiently convert low-temperature heat source into useful work. If an ammonia-water power cycle is combined with a power cycle using liquefied natural gas (LNG), the conversion efficiency could be further improved owing to the cold energy of LNG at $-162^{\circ}C$. In this work parametric study is carried out on the thermodynamic performance of a power cycle consisted of an ammonia-water Rankine cycle as an upper cycle and a LNG cycle as a bottom cycle. As a driving energy the combined cycle utilizes a low-temperature heat source in the form of sensible heat. The effects on the system performance of the system parameters such as ammonia concentration ($x_b$), turbine 1 inlet pressure ($P_{H_1}$) and temperature ($T_{H_1}$), and condenser outlet temperature ($T_{L_1}$) are extensively investigated. Calculation results show that thermal efficiency increases with the increase of $P_{H_1}$, $T_{H_1}$ and the decrease of $T_{L_1}$, while its dependence on $x_b$ has a downward convex shape. The changes of net work generation with respect to $P_{H_1}$, $T_{H_1}$, $T_{L_1}$, and $x_b$ are roughly linear.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.445-466
• /
• 2007

As the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) tank contains cryogenic liquid, realistic thermal analyses are of a primary importance for a successful design. The structural details of the LNG tank are so complicated that some strategies are necessary to reasonably predict its temperature distribution. The proposed heat transfer model can consider the beneficial effects of insulation layers and a suspended deck on temperature distribution of the outer concrete tank against cryogenic conditions simply by the boundary conditions of the outer tank model. To this aim, the equilibrium condition or heat balance in a steady state is utilized in a various way, and some aspects of heat transfer via conduction, convection and radiation are implemented as necessary. Overall thermal analysis procedures for the LNG tank are revisited to examine some unjustifiable assumptions of conventional analyses. Concrete and insulation properties under cryogenic condition and a reasonable conversion procedure of the temperature-induced nonlinear stress into the section forces are discussed. Numerical examples are presented to verify the proposed schemes in predicting the actual temperature and stress distributions of the tank as affected by the cryogenic LNG for the cases of normal operation and leakage from the inner steel tank. It is expected that the proposed schemes enable a designer to readily detect the effects of insulation layers and a suspended deck and, therefore, can be employed as a useful and consistent tool to evaluate the thermal effect in a design stage of an LNG tank as well as in a detailed analysis.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.135-140
• /
• 2022

In addition to the stack that directly generates electricity by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, the fuel cell power generation system has a reformer that generates hydrogen from various fuels such as methanol and natural gas. It also consists of a power converter that converts the DC voltage generated in the stack into a stable AC voltage. The fuel cell output of such a system is direct current, and in order to be used at home, an inverter device that converts it into alternating current through a power converter is required. In addition, a DC-DC step-up converter is used to boost the fuel cell voltage to about 30~70V, which is the inverter operating voltage, to about 380V. The DC-DC step-up converter is a DC voltage variable device that exists between the fuel cell output and the inverter. Accordingly, since a constant output voltage of the converter is generated in response to a change in the output voltage of the fuel cell, the inverter can receive constant power regardless of the voltage change of the fuel cell. Therefore, in this paper, we discuss the detailed hardware design of the full-bridge converter, which is the main power source of the inverter that receives the fuel cell output voltage (30~70V) as an input and is applied to the grid among the members of the fuel cell power generation system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.11
• /
• pp.1955-1968
• /
• 2000

Thermal gravimetric change characteristics and gas phase product - CO, NO, $NO_2$, VOCs - generated in the process of pyrolysis and oxidation. were investigated with variation of process parameters including furnace reactor temperature both in pyrolytic and oxidative conditions. For the thermal gravimetric change characteristics. paper and wood were mainly decomposed at lower temperatures and they had similar thermal gravimetric change trend due to their similar compositions; plastics were mainly decomposed at higher temperatures; in the case of textile. natural compounds were decomposed at lower temperatures and synthetic compounds at relatively higher temperatures; food was decomposed in the wide range of temperatures possibly due to their different kinds of components. For the analysis results of gas phase product. the concentrations of NO, $NO_2$ were detected at higher level at the oxidative conditions than at the pyrolytic conditions except that of CO, which is due to complete combustion with sufficient oxygen at the oxidative condition; food gave off CO, NO, $NO_2$ more than the other wastes. VOCs were emitted more at the pyrolytic conditions than at the oxidative conditions.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.506-512
• /
• 2013

Biomass and low-grade coals are known to be better potential sources of energy compared to crude oil and natural gas since these materials are readily available and found to have large reserves, respectively. Gasification of these carbonaceous materials produced syngas for chemical synthesis and power generation. Woodchip, sawdust and lignite were gasified with steam in a thermobalance reactor under atmospheric pressure in order to evaluate their kinetic rate information. The effects of gasification temperature ($600{\sim}900^{\circ}C$) and partial pressure of steam (20~90 kPa) on the gasification rate were investigated. The three different types of gas-solid reaction models were applied to the experimental data to predict the behavior of the gasification reactions. The modified volumetric model predicted the conversion data well, thus the model was used to evaluate kinetic parameters in this study. The observed activation energy of biomass, sawdust and lignite gasification reactions were found to be in reasonable range and their rank was found to be sawdust > woodchip > lignite. The expression of apparent reaction rates for steam gasification of the three solids was proposed to provide basic information on the design of coal gasification processes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
• /
• 2022.11a
• /
• pp.158-159
• /
• 2022

Due to the climate crisis, various environmental regulations including greenhouse gas reduction are in effect. This is not limited to any specific industry sector, but is affecting the entire industry worldwide. For this reason, the IMO and governments of each country are announcing strategies and policies related to the shipbuilding and shipping industries. The current regulations can be partially resolved through additional facilities such as scrubbers while using existing fossil fuels, but ultimately, the emission of greenhouse gases such as CO2 from the exhaust gases generated by ships must be restricted through energy conversion. To this end, it is necessary to develop fuels that can replace traditional fuels such as oil and natural gas. Among them, hydrogen is attracting attention as a clean energy that does not emit pollutants when used as a fuel. However, hydrogen has a wide explosive range and a fast dispersion speed, so research on this is necessary. Therefore, in this paper, when hydrogen leakage occurs in the fuel preparation room of a hydrogen-powered ship, the trend was analyzed and the ventilation characteristics were investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.36 no.10
• /
• pp.1279-1286
• /
• 2007

We investigated the effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on the fatty acid composition in the plasma and liver, and the expressions of delta-5 desaturase (D5D) and fatty acid desaturase2 (FADS2) genes in ICR male mice using two different sources of fats in the diets. The experimental groups were divided into four groups: beef tallow (BT) and fish oil (FO), BT with CLA supplementation (BTC), and FO with CLA supplementation (FOC) groups. Ten mice in each group were fed with the experimental diets for 4 weeks. All mice were fed experimental diets containing 12% of total dietary fat (w/w) either with or without 0.5% CLA (w/w). Fatty acid compositions were analyzed in the plasma and liver using gas chromatography. The levels of D5D and FADS2 expression were analyzed by RT-PCR in the liver The results showed that CLA participates competitively with C18:2 in the elongation and desaturation processes, leading to significant increase in the levels of C20:4 and C22:6 in BTC group (p<0.05). The expression levels of D5D and FADS2 were higher in BT and BTC group than those of FO and FOC group. In particular, the expression of D5D gene was greatly upregulated in BTC group. Furthermore, the conversion ratios from C18:2 to C20:4 in the liver were higher in BTC group than those in other groups. Thus our results suggest that increased expressions of DSD and FADS2 genes may be responsible for the enhanced CLA effects on the desaturation in the BT containing saturated fatty acids rather than the FO rich in n-3 PUFA.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.365-384
• /
• 2012

Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms that are highly productive in the presence of basic renewable natural sources (light, $CO_2$, water and nutrients). They can synthesize lipids, carbohydrates and proteins in a small number of days. Subsequently, these carbon-captured products can be processed into both biofuels and valuable co-products. Additionally, microalgae would be an ideal feedstock for replacing land-based food crops with cellular products as high energy density transportation fuels. These microscopic organisms could contribute a significant amount of renewable energy on a global scale. In Korea, microalgae biofuel research was common in the early 1990s. The research activities were unfortunately stopped due to limited governmental funds and low petroleum prices. Interest in algal biofuels in Korea has been growing recently due to an increased concern over oil prices, energy security, greenhouse gas emissions, and the potential for other biofuel feedstock to compete for limited agricultural resources. The high productivity of microalgae suggests that much of the Korean transportation fuel requirements can be met by biofuels at a production cost competitive with the increasing cost of petroleum seen in early 2008. At this time, the development of microlalgal biomass production technology remains in its infancy. This study reviewed microalgae culture systems and biomass production, harvesting, oil extraction, conversion, and technoeconomical bottlenecks. Many technical and economic barriers to using microalgal biofuels need to be overcome before mass production of microalgal-derived fuel substitutes is possible. However, serious efforts to overcome these barriers could become a large-scale commercial reality. Overall, this study provides a brief overview of the past few decades of global microalgal research.