• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.396-407
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• 2020

As fossil fuels are depleted worldwide, alternative resources is required to replace fossil fuels, and biofuels are in the spotlight as alternative resources. Biofuels are produced from biomass, which is a renewable resource to produce biofuels or bio-chemicals. Especially, in order to substitute fossil fuels, the research focusing the biofuel (biodiesel) production based on CO₂ and biomass achieves more attention recently. To produce biomass-based biodiesel, the development of a supply chain network is required considering the amounts of feedstocks (ex, CO₂ and water) required producing biodiesel, potential locations and capacities of bio-refineries, and transportations of biodiesel produced at biorefineries to demand cities. Although many studies of the biomass-based biodiesel supply chain network are performed, there are few types of research handled the uncertainty in CO₂ supply which influences the optimal strategies of microalgae-based biodiesel production. Because CO₂, which is used in the production of microalgae-based biodiesel as one of important resources, is captured from the off-gases emitted in power plants, the uncertainty in CO₂ supply from power plants has big impacts on the optimal configuration of the biodiesel supply chain network. Therefore, in this study, to handle those issues, we develop the two-stage stochastic model to determine the optimal strategies of the biodiesel supply chain network considering the uncertainty in CO₂ supply. The goal of the proposed model is to minimize the expected total cost of the biodiesel supply chain network considering the uncertain CO₂ supply as well as satisfy diesel demands at each city. This model conducted a case study satisfying 10% diesel demand in the Republic of Korea. The overall cost of the stochastic model (US$ 12.9/gallon·y) is slightly higher (23%) than that of the deterministic model (US$ 10.5/gallon·y). Fluctuations in CO₂ supply (stochastic model) had a significant impact on the optimal strategies of the biodiesel supply network.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2022

Eco-friendly materials, such as alternative vegan materials using various fungal resources, are being actively researched to reduce environmental pollution and facilitate a healthy lifestyle. The fungal mycelium-based mushroom mycelium mat is one such emerging material. In this study, the commonly used mushroom mycelium culture method was modified to reduce the time required to produce the mycelium mat, lower the possibility of contamination, and improve the properties and quality of the mat. Shortening the period required for the previously used primary bag culture and secondary mat production culture. A culture method in which the bag culture was omitted was attempted using a mycelium mutated by gamma irradiation to the mycelium of Trametes orientalis. In addition, various nutrients were added to the fungal solution to observe the change in physical properties of the fungal mat. High-quality mycelium mats were produced in the experimental group containing 1.5% CaCO₃ in sawdust medium, and the period was also reduced by more than 10 days compared to the existing production method. In the future, for mass producing mycelium mats, additional selection of medium components and optimization of culture conditions are essential.

• Clean Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2022

Biomass is a sustainable alternative resource for production of liquid fuels and organic compounds that are currently produced from fossil fuels including petroleum, natural gas, and coal. Because the use of fossil fuels can increase the production of greenhouse gases, the use of carbon-neutral biomass can contribute to the reduction of global warming. Although biological and chemical processes have been proposed to produce petroleum-replacing chemicals and fuels from biomass feedstocks, it is difficult to replace completely fossil fuels because of the high oxygen content of biomass. Production of petroleum-like fuels and chemicals from biomass requires the removal of oxygen atoms or conversion of the oxygen functionalities present in biomass derivatives, which can be achieved by catalytic hydrodeoxygenation. Hydrodeoxygenation has been used to convert raw biomass-derived materials, such as biomass pyrolysis oils and lignocellulose-derived chemicals and lipids, into deoxygenated fuels and chemicals. Multifunctional catalysts composed of noble metals and transition metals supported on high surface area metal oxides and carbons, usually selected as supports of heterogeneous catalysts, have been used as efficient hydrodeoxygenation catalysts. In this review, the catalysts proposed in the literature are surveyed and hydrodeoxygenation reaction systems using these catalysts are discussed. Based on the hydrodeoxygenation methods reported in the literature, an insight for feasible hydrodeoxygenation process development is also presented.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.977-982
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• 2008

The production of ethanol by microbial fermentation as an alternative energy source has been of interest because of increasing oil price. Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis are two of the most widely used ethanol producers. In this study, characteristics of ethanol fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae CHY1077 and Zymomonas mobilis CHZ2501 was compared. Brown rice, naked barley, and cassava were selected as representatives of the starch-based raw materials commercially available for ethanol production. The volumetric ethanol productivities by Saccharomyces cerevisiae from brown rice, naked barley and cassava were $0.68g/l{\cdot}h$, $1.03g/l{\cdot}h$ and $1.28g/l{\cdot}h$ respectively. But for the Zymomonas mobilis, $2.19g/l{\cdot}h$(brown rice), $2.60g/l{\cdot}h$(naked barley) and $3.12g/l{\cdot}h$(cassava) were obtained. Zymomonas mobilis was more efficient strain for ethanol production than S. cerevisiae.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.148-155
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• 2013

Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production from marine brown algae, Saccharina japonica, was investigated in anaerobic dark fermentation. In order to evaluate the VFAs productivity, various experimental parameters (i.e., physicochemical pre-treatment, microorganism inoculation ratio, substrate concentration, and pH) were evaluated. According to the physicochemical pre-treatment methods, the maximum concentrations of VFAs were obtained in the order of sulfuric acid, subcritical water and subcritical water with lipid-extraction. Also, we investigated the operating parameters such as microorganism inoculation ratio (MV/M = 10 to 30), the substrate concentration (18.0 to 72.0 g/L) and pH (6.0 to 7.0) in sulfuric acid pre-treatment method. When the substrate concentrations were 18.0, 36.0, 54.0 and 72.0 g/L at $35^{\circ}C$, microorganism inoculation ratio 15, pH 7.0 for 372 hours, the maximum concentrations of VFAs were respectively 9.8, 13.9, 18.6 and 22.3 g/L. The change in VFAs concentrations was detected that acetic- and propionic acids increased according to increasing pH, while the butyric acid increased with decreasing pH. The VFAs obtained from concentration and separation process may be used as basic chemistry materials and bio-fuel, and they will expect to produce alternative energy of fossil fuel.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.42-51
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• 2004

Wood veneer-bamboo zephyr composite board (WBCB) was manufactured to evaluate the properties of bamboo as alternative raw materials for the manufacture of composite panels. Bamboo zephyr was prepared using Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubesens Mazel. et Z), Giant timber bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides Sieb. et Zucc), and Hachiku bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra var. henosos Stapf). The effect of age and species of bamboo on zephyr production was investigated in terms of the pass number of bamboo split through the rollers, and the width increasing rate of bamboo split. Five-ply WBCBs were produced with Keruing veneers as face and back layers, leading to three layers of bamboo zephyr sheets as core layer. Each layer was placed so that its grain direction was at right angles to that of the adjacent layer and the layers were bonded together with phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin.The pass number of bamboo split was increased with an increase of the thickness of culm wall. At the same thickness, Moso bamboo showed no effect of the age of bamboo on the pass number. The pass number of split of Giant timber bamboo was lower than that of Moso bamboo. No significant effect of bamboo species and age on the width of zephyr produced was observed. The width of zephyr obtained could be expressed as a function of diameter multiplied by thickness of culm wall. The physical and mechanical properties of WBCB manufactured in all given conditions did not show any significant differences, and they were above the requirement of Korean Standard (KS).

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.147-164
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• 2022

This study aims to investigate the influence of scoria aggregate (SA) and silica fume (SF) as a replacement of conventional aggregate and ordinary Portland cement (OPC), respectively. Three types of concrete were prepared namely normal weight concrete (NWC) using limestone aggregate (LSA) and OPC (control specimen), lightweight concrete (LWC) using SA and OPC, and LWC using SA and partial SF (SLWC). The representative workability and compressive strength properties of the developed concrete were evaluated, and the results were correlated with non-destructive ultrasonic pulse velocity and Schmidt hammer tests. The LWC and SLWC yielded compressive strength of around 30 MPa and 33 MPa (i.e., 78-86% of control specimens), respectively. The findings indicate that scoria can be beneficially utilized in the development of structural lightweight concrete. Present renewable sources of aggregate will preserve the natural resources for next generation. The newly produced eco-friendly construction material is intended to break price barriers in all markets and draw attraction of incorporating scoria based light weight construction in Saudi Arabia and GCC countries. Findings of the SWOT analysis indicate that high logistics costs for distributing the aggregates across different regions in Saudi Arabia and clients' resistant to change are among the major obstacles to the commercialized production and utilization of lightweight concrete as green construction material. The findings further revealed that huge scoria deposits in Saudi Arabia, and the potential decrease in density self-weight of structural elements are the major drivers and enablers for promoting the adoption of lightweight concrete as alternative green construction material in the construction sector.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.100-109
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• 2015

Environmental problems from petroleum-based plastic wastes have been rapidly increasing in recent years. The alternative solution is focus on the development of environmental friendly plastic derived from renewable resource. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer synthesized from biomass having potential to replace the petroleum-based non-degradable polymers utilizations. PLA can be synthesized by two methods: (1) ring-opening of lactide intermediate and (2) direct polycondensation of lactic acid processes. The latter process has advantages on high yields and high purity of polymer products, materials handling and ease of process treatments. The polymerization process of PLA synthesis has been widely studied in a laboratory scale. However, the mass scale production using direct polycondensation of lactic acid has not been reported. We have investigated the kinetics and scale-up process of direct polycondensation method to produce PLA in a pilot scale. The order of reaction is 2 and activation energy of lactic acid to lactic acid oligomers is 61.58 kJ/mol. The pre-polymer was further polymerized in a solid state polymerization (SSP) process. The synthesized PLA from both the laboratory and pilot scales show the comparable properties such as melting temperature and molecular weight. The appearance of synthesized PLA is yellow-white solid powder.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.94-101
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• 2014

Approximately 240,000 tons of waste shells are produced annually in the south and west coast of South Korea. Some of these waste shells (oyster, cockle) are recycled as seeding collector and fertilizer, but most are dumped illegally near the coast. One of the alternative solutions that can economically utilize a large amount of these waste shells is to apply them to the production of construction materials. In this research, the basic physical properties of waste shells such as oyster, cockle, clam, manila clam were investigated, and were used to prepare cement mortar with a 25% replacement ratio of sand. According to the results, the 28 day compressive strength of cement mortar with cockle and manila clam shells was similar to that of plain cement mortar. The compressive strength decreased by about 18% when clam was used. However, the cement mortar with oyster shell showed about a 35% reduction in 28-day compressive strength, and two times the absorption capacity of plain cement mortar. The reduction in compressive strength and the increase in absorption capacity were mostly associated with the porous nature of the oyster shell.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2015

The objective of this study is to develop mixture proportioning approach of crack controlled lightweight foamed concrete without using high-pressure steam curing processes, as an alternative to autoclaved lightweight concrete blocks (class 0.6 specified in KS). To control thermal cracks owing to hydration heat of cementitious materials, 30% ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) was used as a partial replacement of ordinary portland cement (OPC). Furthermore, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyamid (PA) fibers were added to improve the crack resistance of foamed concrete. The use of 30% GGBS reduced the peak value of hydration production rate measured from isothermal tests by 28% and the peak temperature of foamed concrete measured from semi-adiabatic hydration tests by 9%. Considering the compressive strength development, internal void structure, and flexural strength of the lightweight foamed concrete, the optimum addition amount of PVA or PA fibers could be recommended to be $0.6kg/m^3$, although PA fiber slightly preferred to PVA fiber in enhancing the flexural strength of foamed concrete.