• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.351-359
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• 2016

The Korean Prototype Gen-IV sodium-cooled fast reactor (PGSFR) is supposed to be loaded with a relatively-costly low-enriched U fuel, while its envisaged transuranic fuels are not available for transmutation. In this work, the U-enrichment reduction by improving the neutron economy is pursued to save the fuel cost. To improve the neutron economy of the core, a new reflector material, PbO, has been introduced to replace the conventional HT9 reflector in the current PGSFR core. Two types of PbO reflectors are considered: one is the conventional pin-type and the other one is an inverted configuration. The inverted PbO reflector design is intended to maximize the PbO volume fraction in the reflector assembly. In addition, the core radial configuration is also modified to maximize the performance of the PbO reflector. For the baseline PGSFR core with several reflector options, the U enrichment requirement has been analyzed and the fuel depletion analysis is performed to derive the equilibrium cycle parameters. The linear reactivity model is used to determine the equilibrium cycle performances of the core. Impacts of the new PbO reflectors are characterized in terms of the cycle length, neutron leakage, radial power distribution, and operational fuel cost.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2021

Batch type reduction-oxidation tests were performed to check effects of temperature, pressure, gas velocity, and capacity on reduction characteristics of mass produced particle in a 0.5 MWth chemical looping combustion system. The fuel conversion and the CO2 selectivity increased as the temperature increased and as the gas velocity decreased. However the CO2 selectivity showed the maximum and decreased as the capacity increased because the CO emission increased. The results show that high temperature, low gas velocity and low inert gas concentration are preferable to ensure high reactivity of oxygen carrier in the fuel reactor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.667-675
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• 2016

Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) has been effectively applied for environmental remediation due to its ability to reduce various toxic compounds. However, quantification of nZVI reactivity has not yet been standardized. Here, we adapted colorimetric assays for determining reductive activity of nZVIs. A modified indophenol method was suggested to determine reducing activity of nZVI. The method was originally developed to determine aqueous ammonia concentration, but it was further modified to quantify phenol and aniline. The assay focused on analysis of reduction products rather than its mother compounds, which gave more accurate quantification of reductive activity. The suggested color assay showed superior selectivity toward reduction products, phenol or aniline, in the presence of mother compounds, 4-chlorophenol or nitrobenzene. Reaction conditions, such as reagent concentration and reaction time, were optimized to maximize sensitivity. Additionally, pretreatment step using $Na_2CO_3$ was suggested to eliminate the interference of residual iron ions. Monometallic nZVI and bimetallic Ni/Fe were investigated with the reaction. The substrates showed graduated reactivity, and thus, reduction potency and kinetics of different materials and reaction mechanism was distinguished. The colorimetric assay based on modified indophenol reaction can be promises to be a useful and simple tool in various nZVI related research topics.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.107-116
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• 2014

This study aimed to synthesize dispersed and reactive nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) with poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate) (PVP/VA), nontoxic and biodegradable stabilizer. The nZVI used for the experiments was prepared by reduction of ferric solution in the presence of PVP/VA with specific weight ratios to iron contents. Colloidal stability was investigated based on the rate of sedimentation, hydrodynamic radius and zeta potential measurement. The characteristic time, which demonstrated dispersivity of particles resisting aggregation, increased from 21.2 min (bare nZVI) to 97.8 min with increasing amount of PVP/VA (the ratios of 2). For the most stable nZVI coated by PVP/VA, its reactivity was examined by nitrate reduction in a closed batch system. The pseudo-first-order kinetic rate constants for the nitrate reduction by the nanoparticles with PVP/VA ratios of 0 and 2 were 0.1633 and $0.1395min^{-1}$ respectively. A nitrogen mass balance, established by quantitative analysis of aqueous nitrogen species, showed that the addition of PVP/VA to nZVI can change the reduction capacity of the nanoparticles.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.248-254
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• 2006

The promotion effects of noble metals upon the activity and reducibility in steam methane reforming over $Ni/MgAl_2O_4$ catalysts were investigated. While $Ni/MgAl_2O_4$ catalysts require the pre-reduction by $H_2$, the noble metal-added catalysts show high catalytic activities without pre-treatment. According to $CH_4$-TPR, the addition of noble metal makes the $Ni/MgAl_2O_4$ catalyst easily reducible. The reduction degree of NiO in the noble metal-added catalysts after using at $650^{\circ}C$ without pre-reduction was $15{\sim}20%$, and was lower than that in the $H_2$-reduced $Ni/MgAl_2O_4$ catalyst(reduction degree=27%). The enhancement of the catalytic activity over noble metal-added catalysts results from easier reducibility by addition of noble metal and the synergy effect between noble metal and Ni.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.322-327
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• 2004

Ultrafine titanium carbide particles were synthesized by the reaction of liquid-magnesium and vaporized TiCl$_{4}$+C$_{x}$Cl$_{4}$(x = 1 and 2) solution. Fine titanium carbide particles with about 50 nm were successfully produced by combining Ti and C atoms released by chloride reduction of magnesium, and vacuum was then used to remove the residual phases of MgCl$_{2}$ and excess Mg. Small amounts of impurities such as O, Fe, Mg and Cl were detected in the product, but such problem can be solved by more precise process control. The lattice parameter of the product was 0.43267 nm, near the standard value. With respect to the reaction kinetics, the activation energy for the reactions of TiCl$_{4}$+C$_{2}$Cl$_{4}$and Mg was found to 69 kJ/mole, which was about half value against the use of TiCl$_{4}$+CCl$_{4}$, and such higher reactivity of the former contributed to increase the stoichiometry until the level of TiC$_{0.96}$ and decrease the free carbon content below 0.3 wt.%.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2018

Reaction characteristics and kinetics of a oxygen carrier (OCN717-R1SU) for chemical looping combustion (CLC) have been investigated using TGA by changing gas concentration (10-30 vol.% $CH_4$) and reaction temperature ($825-900^{\circ}C$). Reaction rate of OCN717-R1SU increased as temperature increased and it was found that reaction is delayed at the initial reaction regime. Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) model was adopted to explain the reaction phenomenon. The activation energy (E) determined by JMA model in reduction reaction of OCN717-R1SU is $151.7{\pm}2.03kJ/mol$ and pre-exponential factor and JMA exponent were also obtained. The parameters calculated in this study will be applied in design of the reactor and operation conditions for CLC process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2009.05b
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• pp.113-117
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• 2009

Fly ash (called FA hereafter) that results from thermal power plants is a long-term strength improving substance with reactivity to pozzolan and has been used for long. However, large amount of FA shows many advantages such as reduction of hydratio energy, long-term improvement in strength and economic feasibility and also has difficulties from reduction in initial strength and durability. In a preceding study, fine particle cement was applied to test the effects on initial strength. Therefore in this study, the effects of fine particle cement on the quality of FA concrete were reviewed. The results can be summarized as follows. Liquidity was increased by the most at FC substitution ratio of 15%. Air capacity was reduced according to increasing substitution ratio of FA and FC. Compressive strength showed high strength expression at all ages when FC was substituted at 45%. Synthesizing the above results, appropriate mixing of FC in FA concrete can improve liquidity, reduce unit quantity and show improvement in strength. In particular, mixed use of FC seems effective in improving early quality of concrete.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2012

Thin client computing trades local processing for network bandwidth consumption by offloading application logic to remote servers. User input and display updates are exchanged between client and server through a thin client protocol. On wireless devices, the thin client protocol traffic can lead to a significantly higher power consumption of the radio interface. In this article, a cross-layer framework is presented that transitions the wireless network interface card (WNIC) to the energy-conserving sleep mode when no traffic from the server is expected. The approach is validated for different wireless channel conditions, such as path loss and available bandwidth, as well as for different network roundtrip time values. Using this cross-layer algorithm for sample scenario with a remote text editor, and through experiments based on actual user traces, a reduction of the WNIC energy consumption of up to 36.82% is obtained, without degrading the application's reactivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.127-128
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• 2022

In order to realize carbon neutrality in the international society, research on supplementary cementitious materials(SCMs) has been actively conducted as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the cement industry. However, the use of SCMs causes problems of initial hydration delay and strength reduction due to the reduction of tricalcium silicate(C3S) in the cement clinker. Therefore, in this study, the initial hydration and basic characteristics of cement mortar were confirmed by adding a C-S-H based hardening acceleration to blended cement mixed with Portland cement, blast furnace slag, fly ash, and limestone power. As a result of the heat of hydration and compressive strength test, it was confirmed that when hardening acceleration was added, the initial reactivity was high, so the heat of hydration was promoted, and the initial strength was increased. It is considered to be due to C-S-H seeding effect. Therefore, it is judged that the use of C-S-H based hardening acceleration can supplement the problem of initial hydration delay of blended cement in Korea.