• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.295-303
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• 2012

Based on the data observed and analyzed on a groundwater flow system in the KURT (KAERI Underground Research Tunnel) site, the transport of radionuclides, which were assumed to be released at the supposed position, was calculated on the time-domain. A groundwater pathway from the release position to the surface was identified by simulating the groundwater flow model with the hydrogeological characteristics measured from the field tests in the KURT site. The elapsed time when the radionuclides moved through the pathway is evaluated using TDRW (Time Domain Random Walk) method for simulating the transport on the time-domain. Some retention mechanisms, such as radioactive decay, equilibrium sorption, and matrix diffusion, as well as the advection-dispersion were selected as the factors to influence on the elapsed time. From the simulation results, the effects of the sorption and matrix diffusion, determined by the properties of the radionuclides and underground media, on the transport of the radionuclides were analyzed and a decay chain of the radionuclides was also examined. The radionuclide ratio of the mass discharge into the surface environment to the mass released from the supposed repository did not exceed $10^{-3}$, and it decreased when the matrix diffusion were considered. The method used in this study could be used in preparing the data on radionuclide transport for a safety assessment of a geological disposal facility because the method could evaluate the travel time of the radionuclides considering the transport retention mechanism.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.772-779
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• 2016

Silver nanoparticles were prepared by reacting silver nitrate and trisodium citrate in an aqueous solution. Their size and shape were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The synthesis was carried with different silver nitrate concentration, addition of TSC, solvent, surfactant, ultrasonication, and dispersing agent. With higher concentration of silver nitrate or TSC, the particles became large or agglomerated. The SEM results showed that the nanoparticles have spherical and pseudospherical shape with a narrow size distribution. The hydrophobic solvent did not affect the dispersibility, but the hydrophilic solvent enhanced it. The addition of HPMC surfactant caused the size to increase (50-100 nm) with non-uniform shapes and partial agglomeration. The dispersibility was significantly improved by ultrasonication for over 3 hours after the addition of a dispersing agent. Complete dispersion was achieved by adding the dispersant, and the nanoparticle sizes were as follows: 30-40 nm (BYK-182) < 42-78 nm (BYK-192) < 51-113 nm (BYK-142). The nanoparticles were 38.45-46.28 nm after the addition of 2-4 wt% TSC in 0.002 M silver nitrate solution.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2015

Ceramic foams are prepared as positive images corresponding to a plastic foam structure which exhibits high porosities (85-90%). This structure makes the ceramic foams attractive as a catalyst in a dry reforming process, because it could reduce a high pressure drop problem. This problem causes low mass and heat transfers in the process. Furthermore, the reactants would shortly contact to catalyst surface, thus low conversion could occur. Therefore, this research addressed the preparation of dry reforming catalysts using a sol-gel catalyst preparation via a polymeric sponge method. The specific objectives of this work are to investigate the effects of polymer foam structure (such as porosity, pore sizes, and cell characteristics) on a catalyst performance and to observe the influences of catalyst preparation parameters to yield a replica of the original structure of polymeric foam. To accomplish these objectives industrial waste foams, polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foams, were used as a polymeric template. Results indicated that the porosity of the polyurethane and polyvinyl alcohol foams were about 99% and 97%. Their average cell sizes were approximate 200 and 50 micrometres, respectively. The cell characteristics of polymer foams exhibited the character of a high permeability material that can be able to dip with ceramic slurry, which was synthesized with various viscosities, during a catalyst preparation step. Next, morphology of ceramic foams was explored using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and catalyst properties, such as; temperature profile of catalyst reduction, metal dispersion, and surface area, were also characterized by $H_2-TPR$ and $H_2-TPD$ techniques, and BET, respectively. From the results, it was found that metal-particle dispersion was relatively high about 5.89%, whereas the surface area of ceramic foam catalysts was $64.52m^2/g$. Finally, the catalytic behaviour toward hydrogen production through the dry reforming of methane using a fixed-bed reactor was evaluated under certain operating conditions. The approaches from this research provide a direction for further improvement of marketable environmental friendly catalyst production.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.65-65
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• 2012

Copper zinc tin sulfide ($Cu_2ZnSnS_4$, CZTS) is a very promising material as a low cost absorber alternative to other chalcopyrite-type semiconductors based on Ga or In because of the abundant and economical elements. In addition, CZTS has a band-gap energy of 1.4~1.5eV and large absorption coefficient over ${\sim}10^4cm^{-1}$, which is similar to those of $Cu(In,Ga)Se_2$(CIGS) regarded as one of the most successful absorber materials for high efficient solar cell. Most previous works on the fabrication of CZTS thin films were based on the vacuum deposition such as thermal evaporation and RF magnetron sputtering. Although the vacuum deposition has been widely adopted, it is quite expensive and complicated. In this regard, the solution processes such as sol-gel method, nanocrystal dispersion and hybrid slurry method have been developed for easy and cost-effective fabrication of CZTS film. Among these methods, the hybrid slurry method is favorable to make high crystalline and dense absorber layer. However, this method has the demerit using the toxic and explosive hydrazine solvent, which has severe limitation for common use. With these considerations, it is highly desirable to develop a robust, easily scalable and relatively safe solution-based process for the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of a high quality CZTS absorber layer with a thickness of 1.5~2.0 ${\mu}m$ and micrometer-scaled grains using two different non-vacuum approaches. The first solution-processing approach includes air-stable non-toxic solvent-based inks in which the commercially available precursor nanoparticles are dispersed in ethanol. Our readily achievable air-stable precursor ink, without the involvement of complex particle synthesis, high toxic solvents, or organic additives, facilitates a convenient method to fabricate a high quality CZTS absorber layer with uniform surface composition and across the film depth when annealed at $530^{\circ}C$. The conversion efficiency and fill factor for the non-toxic ink based solar cells are 5.14% and 52.8%, respectively. The other method is based on the nanocrystal dispersions that are a key ingredient in the deposition of thermally annealed absorber layers. We report a facile synthetic method to produce phase-pure CZTS nanocrystals capped with less toxic and more easily removable ligands. The resulting CZTS nanoparticle dispersion enables us to fabricate uniform, crack-free absorber layer onto Mo-coated soda-lime glass at $500^{\circ}C$, which exhibits a robust and reproducible photovoltaic response. Our simple and less-toxic approach for the fabrication of CZTS layer, reported here, will be the first step in realizing the low-cost solution-processed CZTS solar cell with high efficiency.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.518-525
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• 2013

To improve the mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) biocomposites reinforced with sulfuric acidtreated green algae (SGA), SGA/graphite nanoplatelets (GNP)/PP biocomposites were prepared and their properties were evaluated depending on the particle size and content of GNP. The flexural and impact strength of SGA/GNP/PP biocomposites decreased with the addition of GNP, whereas the flexrual and storage moduli were greatly improved with increasing GNP loading. SGA/GNP/PP biocomposites reinforced with GNP5 showed generally better mechanical properties compared to that reinforced with GNP15 mainly due to the improved dispersion of the smaller GNP. SGA/GNP/PP biocomposites reinforced with GNP5 showed a lower resistance to the thermal expansion because the relatively uniform dispersion of smaller GNP was responsible for the effective heat transfer to the polymer matrix. As a result, SGA/GNP/PP biocomposite was acceptable for the general purpose application due to the improved flexural resistance, storage moduli, and damping characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.928-936
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• 1995

In this research, the processing control of NiCuZn Ferrite has been developed. The mixing and the size reduction of raw materials have been proceeded. In order to produce NiCuZn Ferrite, highly concentrated slurry with fixed ratio and wet ball milling were used. First, the dispersion behavior of raw mixture at the region of pH4~pH11 has been studied. Using wet ball milling operation, the best conditions of mixing and size reduction have been determined. Further more, the most suitable conditions, such as, dispersant kind, dispersant amount, milling time, and slurry concentration have been studied. The poly acrylic ammonium salt (PAN) was chosen as a suitable dispersant to have effective dispersion in basic region. The slurry of raw mixture without dispersant, showed high viscosity and poor grindability. As 0.7 wt% of PAN was added, the concentrated slurry (up to 55 vol%) was possible, and showed well grindability. After 18 h ball milling of 30 vol% of mixture slurry with 0.7 wt% of PAN, the average particle size and specific surface area of raw mixture were $0.54\mu\textrm{m}$ and $12.92m^{2}/cc$, respectively. The ball milled raw mixture, calcined at $700^{\circ}C$ for 3h, was totally changed into NiCuZn Ferrite with spinel phase.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.258-265
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• 2009

An anionic polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) were synthesized from the poly (tetramethylene glycol) (PTMG, Mw = 2000 g/mol), mixed isocyanate of dicyclohexylmethane-4,4'-diisocyanate $(H_{12}-MDI)$ and 4,4'-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI), and dimethylol propionic acid (DMPA) as anionic site, following a prepolymer mixing process. Triethylamine (TEA) was used as a neutralization agent and the ethylenediamine (EDA) as the chain extender of the prepolymer. The effects of the DMPA molar ratio and aromatic diisocyanate content in the mixed isocyanate on the particle size and viscosity of PUD were studied. Also, the mechanical and thermal properties of the PUD cast films were discussed according to the molar ratio of DMPA and aromatic isocyanate content. It was found that the particle size and the viscosity of an anionic PUD decreased with increasing DMPA molar ratio but increased with increasing aromatic isocyanate (MDI) content in the mixed isocyanate at the constant DMPA content. Tensile strength of the PUD cast films increased and elongation at break decreased with increasing DMPA content at the constant mixed isocyanate molar ratios. In thermal degradation temperature of PUD cast films, the effect of DMPA contents was great but the effect of aromatic isocyanate contents at the low DMPA content was very slight respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2015

Recently, the importance of energy saving and alternative energy is significantly increasing due to energy depletion and the phase change material (PCM) research for saving energy is also actively investigating. In this research, the membrane emulsification using SPG membrane was used to make various microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) particles which were comprised of $Rubitherms^{(R)}$ (RT-21 and RT-24) core and silica coating. We investigated the pressure of the dispersion phase, the concentration of surfactant, and the ratio of $Rubitherm^{(R)}$ and silica to prepare various MPCM particles. The DSC and TGA were used to examine the heat stability and latent heat properties. Also, PSA, SEM, and optical microscopy were used to confirm the size of $Rubitherm^{(R)}$ particles and the thickness of silica shell. The average of particle size was $7-8{\mu}m$. And, FT-IR was also used to enforce the qualitative analysis. Finally, the MPCM particles obtained from membrane emulsification showed monodispersed size distribution and the heat stability and latent heat were kept up to 80% compared to pure $Rubitherm^{(R)}$. So, it can be effectively used for wallpaper, buildings and interior products for energy saving as PCMs.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.93-100
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• 1994

This study examined the mechanisms of lead transport in the groundwater system and those of irregular detections in groundwater in Door County, Wisconsin. During the spring recharge period in 1991, water-level movement and water-quality change were monitored from two monitoring wells equipped with three piezometers each and from five house wells, respectively. Water-level responses to recharge events were fast with a relatively short lag time ranging from 3 to 10 days, indicating that recharge of groundwater occurs through the high hydraulic conductivity (K) zones in the Silurian dolomite aquifer system. Lead was detected only on particles filtered from groundwater, but not in dissolved state. Concentrations ranged from 0.2 to $7.1{\mu}g/mg$, converted into the total lead concentration in groundwater ranging from $0.3{\mu}g/l$ to $4.7{\mu}g/l$. A lag time between recharge events and peak particle movement at the sampled wells was estimated to range from 19 to 22 days. Due to the particulate nature of lead in groundwater, only the wells connected with the high K zones detect lead, causing the spatial variation. In a given well, lead concentration varies at different sampling times due to the variation in the initial amounts of lead-carrying particles introduced into the groundwater system during recharge events, the lag in particle transport and the dispersion of lead-carrying particles along the advective flowpaths.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.692-699
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• 2013

In this study, isothermal (350, 375, 400, 425, 450, 500, $850^{\circ}C$) experiments were carried out using a custom-made thermobalance to analyze the thermal decomposition properties of refuse plastic fuel (RPF), which is to be used as a cofiring fuel with a sub-bituminous coal at commercial circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler in Korea. In isothermal pyrolysis results, no change in the reaction model was observed in the temperature range of $375{\sim}450^{\circ}C$ and it was revealed that the first order chemical reaction (F1) is the most suitable among 12 reaction models. The activation energy shows similar results irrespective of application of reaction model in that the activation energy was 39.44 kcal/mol and 36.96 kcal/mol when using Arrhenius equation and iso-conversional method ($0.5{\leq}X{\leq}0.9$) respectively. Mean-while, the devolatilization time ($t_{dev}$) according to particle size (d) of RPF could be expressed as $t_{dev}=10.38d^{2.88}$ at $850^{\circ}C$, operation temperature of CFB and for even distribution and oxidation of RPF in CFB boiler, we found that the relationship of average dispersion distance (x) and particle size was $x{\leq}1.58d^{1.44}$.