• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.1534-1539
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• 2021

This study reports on the dissolution behavior of SrO in LiCl at varying SrO concentrations from low concentrations to excess. The amount of SrO dissolved in the molten salt and the species present upon cooling were determined. The thermal behavior of LiCl containing various concentrations of SrO was investigated. The experimental results were compared with results from the simulated results using the HSC Chemistry software package. Although the reaction of SrO with LiCl in the standard state at 650 ℃ has a slightly positive Gibbs free energy, SrO was found to be highly soluble in LiCl. Experimentally determined SrO concentrations were found to be considerably higher than those present in used nuclear fuel (<2 g/kg). As Sr-90 is one of the most important heat-generating nuclides in used nuclear fuel, this finding will be impactful in the development of fast, simple, and proliferation-resistant heat reduction processes for used nuclear fuel without the need for separating nuclear materials. Heat reduction is important as it decreases both the volume necessary for final disposal and the worker handling risk.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 2008

This study is aimed at substantially reducing the particulate matter (dust) emission during the combustion of heavy fuel in boilers by addition of combustion improver. The combustion improver used were the oil-soluble organometallic compounds that were found to be more effective than the dispersing agents that are generally used for reducing the particulate emission. The dust reduction effect was found to depend on the active materials (metals) as well as on the organic ligand part of organometallic compounds. Acetylacetonoate and naphthenate of Fe and Ca were found to be most effective for dust reduction. Addition of Fe and Ca organometallic compounds as combustion improver in concentration of 30 ppm (metal basis) to heavy fuel oil, caused dust reduction by 50 wt% to 80 wt%.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.450-457
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• 2018

To design the practical core-shell electrocatalysts, combination of core and shell materials is important to meet catalytic activity and durability target. In general, Pd is considered as a good core material due to its best activity caused by strain/ligand effect. Preparing Pd nanoparticles can be a starting point in fabricating core-shell type electrocatalysts, much simplified Pd preparing process is suggested by using carbon monoxide (CO) as a reducing agent and/or capping agent. The solvent composition and reaction temperature can control to nanosheet, tetrahedron, and sphere without using additional stabilizer. Among them, Pd nanosheet which has mainly (111) plane showed about 3 times higher electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to the spherical Pd nanoparticles. The enhanced ORR activity of Pd nanosheets can be attributed to the exposure of Pd (111) surface and the high electrochemical surface area. Therefore, we demonstrated that the shape of Pd nanomaterials is easily controlled via a facile reduction method using CO, and (111) plane-oriented Pd nanosheets can be a promising ORR catalysts and core material for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.183-190
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• 2008

Pyroprocessing is the optimal means of treating spent metal fuels from metal fast fuel reactors and is proposed as a potential option for GNEP in order to meet the requirements of the next generation fuel cycle. Currently, efforts for research and development are being made not only in the U.S., but also in Asian countries. Electrorefining, cathode processing by distillation, injection casting for fuel fabrication, and waste treatment must be verified by the use of genuine materials, and the engineering scale model of each device must be developed for commercial deployment. Pyroprocessing can be effectively extended to treat oxide fuels by applying an electrochemical reduction, for which various kinds of oxides are examined. A typical morphology change was observed following the electrochemical reduction, while the product composition was estimated through the process flow diagram. The products include much stronger radiation emitter than pure typical LWR Pu or weapon-grade Pu. Nevertheless, institutional measures are unavoidable to ensure proliferation-proof plant operations. The safeguard concept of a pyroprocessing plant was compared with that of a PUREX plant. The pyroprocessing is better adapted for a collocation system positioned with some reactors and a single processing facility rather than for a centralized reprocessing unit with a large scale throughput.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2020

It is necessary to fabricate uniformly dispersed nanoscale catalyst materials with high activity and long-term stability for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent electrochemical characteristics of the oxygen reduction reaction and hydrogen oxidation reaction. Platinum is known as the best noble metal catalyst for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells because of its excellent catalytic activity. However, given that Pt is expensive, considerable efforts have been made to reduce the amount of Pt loading for both anode and cathode catalysts. Meanwhile, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method shows excellent uniformity and precise particle size controllability over the three-dimensional structure. The research progress on noble metal ALD, such as Pt, Ru, Pd, and various metal alloys, is presented in this review. ALD technology enables the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with excellent reactivity and durability.

• 연구논문집
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• s.31
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• pp.45-51
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• 2001

One of emerging technologies under development in the advanced countries is considered as RDF(Refuse Derived Fuel) power generation, which could meet both the requirement of an alternative energy resource utilization and $CO_2$ reduction. This paper deals with the effect to the thermal effiency and CO2 reduction of RDF firing power generation. The statistical data of domestic MSW generation in last year in small and medium cities for evaluating the merits of the RDF power generation were used. The analysis for RDF power generation compared to the existing incinerator w/o(or w/) power generation shows around 20.6%(10.0%) up in the total thermal efficiency and 57.0%(31.4%) up in the $CO_2$ reduction respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.116-125
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• 2007

This article is concerned with synthesis, characterisation and electrochemical application of the mixed conducting perovskite type oxide to electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cell. First, this review provides a comprehensive survey of the various synthetic methods such as solid state reaction, Pechini, glycine nitrate process and sol-gel methods for the preparation of perovskite type oxide powders. Subsequently, the electrical and microstructural properties of the mixed conducting oxides were discussed in detail. Finally, as electrochemical applications of the mixed conducting perovskite type oxides to electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cell, fundamentals of theoretical ac-impedance model for porous mixed conducting electrodes were introduced. Furthermore, the ac-impedance behaviour of porous and dense mixed conducting electrodes prepared by various synthetic methods was discussed.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.279-285
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• 1998

The $UO_2$ pellets are usually sintered under hydrogen gas atmosphere. Hydrogen gas may cause unexpected early failure of the refractory bricks in the sintering furnace. In this work, nitrogen was mixed with hydrogen to investigate the effect of nitrogen gas on a failure machanism of the refractory bricks and on the microstructure of the $UO_2$ pellet. The hydrogen-nitrogen mixed gas experiments show that the larger nitrogen the mixed gas contains, the less the refractory materials are reduced by hydrogen. The weight loss measurements at $1400^{\circ}C$ for fire clay and chamotte refractories containing high content of $SiO_2$ indicate that the weight loss rate for the mixed gas is about half of that for the hydrogen gas. Based on the thermochemical analyses, it is proposed that the weight loss is caused by hydrogen-induced reduction of free $SiO_2$ and/or $SiO_2$ bonded to $Al_2O_3$ in the fire clay and chamotte refractories. However, the retardation of the hydrogen-induced $SiO_2$ reduction rate under the mixed gas atmosphere may be due to the reduction of the surface reaction rate between hydrogen gas and refractory materials in proportion to volume fraction of nitrogen gas in the mixed gas. On the other hand, the mixed gas experiments show that the test data for $UO_2$ pellet still meet the related specification values, even if there exists a slight difference in the pellet microstructural parameters between the cases of the mixed gas and the hydrogen gas.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.593-600
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• 2019

The combustion characteristics of methane/hydrogen pre-mixed flame have been investigated with swirl stabilized flame in a laboratory-scale pre-mixed combustor with constant heat load of 5.81 kW. Hydrogen/methane fuel and air were mixed in a pre-mixer and introduced to the combustor through a burner nozzle with different degrees of swirl angle. The effects of hydrogen addition and swirl intensity on the combustion characteristics of pre-mixed methane flames were examined using particle image velocimetry (PIV), micro-thermocouples, various optical interference filters and gas analyzers to provide information about flow velocity, temperature distributions, and species concentrations of the reaction field. The results show that higher swirl intensity creates more recirculation flow, which reduces the temperature of the reaction zone and, consequently, reduces the thermal NO production. The distributions of flame radicals (OH, CH, C₂) are dependent more on the swirl intensity than the percentage of hydrogen added to methane fuel. The NO concentration at the upper part of the reaction zone is increased with an increase in hydrogen content in the fuel mixture because higher combustibility of hydrogen assists to promote faster chemical reaction, enabling more expansion of the gases at the upper part of the reaction zone, which reduces the recirculation flow. The CO concentration in the reaction zone is reduced with an increase in hydrogen content because the amount of C content is relatively decreased.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.667-673
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• 2009

The electrocatalytic characteristics of oxygen reduction reaction of the $PtxM_{(1-x)}$ (M = Co, Cu, Ni) supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been evaluated in a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). The $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs catalysts with a Pt : M atomic ratio of about 3 : 1 were synthesized and applied to the cathode of PEMFC. The crystalline structure and morphology images of the $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ particles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. The results showed that the crystalline structure of the Pt alloy particles in Pt/MWNTs and $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs catalysts are seen as FCC, and synthesized $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ crystals have lattice parameters smaller than the pure Pt crystal. According to the electrochemical surface area (ESA) calculated with cyclic voltammetry analysis, $Pt_{0.77}Co_{0.23}$/MWNTs catalyst has higher ESA than the other catalysts. The evaluation of a unit cell test using Pt/MWNTs or $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$/MWNTs as the cathode catalysts demonstrated higher cell performance than did a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Among the MWNTs-supported Pt and $Pt_xM_{(1-x)}$ (M = Co, Cu, Ni) catalysts, the $Pt_{0.77}Co_{0.23}$/MWNTs shows the highest performance with the cathode catalyst of PEMFC because they had the largest ESA.