• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.280-289
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• 2015

Anaerobic digestion is an efficient and renewable energy technology that can produce biogas from a variety of biomasses such as animal manure, food waste and plant residues. In developing countries this technology is widely used for the production of biogas using local biomasses, but there is little information about the value of these biomasses for energy production. This study was therefore carried out with the objective of estimating the biogas production potential of typical Vietnamese biomasses such as animal manure, slaughterhouse waste and plant residues, and developing a model that relates methane ($CH_4$) production to the chemical characteristics of the biomass. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) and biomass characteristics were measured. Results showed that piglet manure produced the highest $CH_4$ yield of 443 normal litter (NL) $CH_4kg^{-1}$ volatile solids (VS) compared to 222 from cows, 177 from sows, 172 from rabbits, 169 from goats and 153 from buffaloes. Methane production from duckweed (Spirodela polyrrhiza) was higher than from lawn grass and water spinach at 340, 220, and 110.6 NL $CH_4kg^{-1}$ VS, respectively. The BMP experiment also demonstrated that the $CH_4$ production was inhibited with chicken manure, slaughterhouse waste, cassava residue and shoe-making waste. Statistical analysis showed that lipid and lignin are the most significant predictors of BMP. The model was developed from knowledge that the BMP was related to biomass content of lipid, lignin and protein from manure and plant residues as a percentage of VS with coefficient of determination (R-square) at 0.95.This model was applied to calculate the $CH_4$ yield for a household with 17 fattening pigs in the highlands and lowlands of northern Vietnam.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.80-87
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• 2018

In recent years, due to the spread of various renewable energy power sources and the pursuit of high efficiency and low-power consumption, not only trends in the electric power industry but also the consumption, control methods, and characteristics are diversified. However, in this diversified electric power industry, the fuse (which is the core part responsible for safety) has not developed significantly in classical operation mode, and thus, fires continue to occur. In this paper, the effects of low melting-point metal plating and high melting-point metal plating on operating characteristics and IT curve movement of the fuse are investigated in a cartridge fuse, which is a classic fuse manufacturing method. The effects of plating on the thickness of the fuse are investigated, and various operating characteristics of the fuse are implemented. In addition, it is suggested that the plating of the low melting-point metal moves the rated current line of the fuse to a low rating, and moves operating characteristics to characteristics of delay operation. It is possible to design various operating characteristics using this characteristic.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.197-205
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• 2010

Recently abrupt climate changes have been occurred in global and regional scales and $CO_2$ reduction technologies became an important solution for global warming. As a method of the solution shallow underground thermal energy storage (UTES) has been applied as a reliable technology in most countries developing renewable energy. The geothermal energy system using thermal source of soil, rock, and ground water in aquifer or cavern located in shallow ground is designed based on the concept of thermal energy recovery and storage. UTES technology of Korea is in early stage and consistent researches are demanded to develop environmental friendly, economical and efficient UTES systems. Aquifers in Korea are suitable for various type of ground water source heat pump system. However due to poor understanding and regulations on various UTES high efficient geothermal systems have not been developed. Therefore simple closed U-tube type geothermal heat pump systems account for more than 90% of the total geothermal system installation in Korea. To prevent becoming wide-spread of inefficient systems, UTES systems considering to the hydrogeothemal properties of the ground should be developed and installed. Also international collaboration is necessary, and continuous UTES researches can improve the efficiency of shallow geothermal systems.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.275-311
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• 2007

Hydrogen energy is emphasized as a substitutable energy of carbon-based energy system in the future, since it is non-depletable and clean energy. Long term vision of Korean government on the national energy system is to promote hydrogen energy by 15% of final energy demand until 2040. This study analyzes economic impacts of hydrogen energy development employing a dynamic CGE model for Korea. Frontier technology such as hydrogen energy is featured as slow diffusion at the initial stage due to the learning effect and energy complementarity. Without government intervention, hydrogen energy would be produced upto 6.5% of final energy demand until 2040. However, if government subsidizes sales price of hydrogen energy by 10%, 20%, and 30%, share of hydrogen energy would increase 9.2%, 15.2%, and 37.7% of final energy demand. This result shows that the slow diffusion problem of hydrogen energy as frontier technology could be figured out by market incentive policy. On the other hand, production levels of transportation sector would increase while growth rate of oil and electricity sectors would decline. Household consumption would be affected negatively since increase of consumption due to the price decrease would be overwhelmed by income reduction owing to the increase of tax. Overall, GDP would not decrease or increase significantly since total production, investment, and export would increase even if household consumption declines.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.733-739
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• 2015

Microalgae are a renewable natural resource that requires only sunlight, carbon dioxide, phosphorus, and nitrogen for rapid growth. They produce a broad variety of basic chemical substances―such as vitamins, fatty acids and carotenoids―that have high added value potential for the pharmaceutical and food industries. The aim of this study was to develop axenic culture and to establish a cell growth assay for microalgae. A further experiment was carried out to determine the yield of astaxanthin derived from microalgae. The axenic culture was developed using a mixture of antibiotics [ampicillin (100 ${\mu}g/ml$), streptomycin (10 ${\mu}g/ml$), chloramphenicol (10 ${\mu}g/ml$), penicillin (10 ${\mu}g/ml$), neomycin (50 ${\mu}g/ml$), gentamycin (50 ${\mu}g/ml$), kanamycin (10 ${\mu}g/ml$), and nystatin (1.5 ${\mu}g/ml$)] and then used to extract a variety of useful components from the microalgae. The optimal concentration for the antibiotic mixture was 1-3 percent. A spectrophotometric cell growth assay was also established. Astaxanthin was extracted from Haematococus lacustris with a yield of $1.9{\times}10^{-3}{\mu}g/l$ per 1 ml of culture medium. In conclusion, the axenic culture method developed here allows extraction of high-quality astaxanthin and other useful components from microalgae.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.378-384
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• 2012

In aquatic invertebrates, particularly marine gastropods, organotin compounds induce irreversible sexual abnormality in females, which is termed imposex, at very low concentrations. Organotin compounds are agonists for nuclear receptors such as RXRs and $PPAR{\gamma}$. However, the imposex phenomenon has not been reported to act as an antagonist on estrogen receptors in other species, including vertebrates and invertebrates. In order to gain insights into the antagonistic activity of organotin compounds on estrogen receptors (ERs), we examined the inhibitive effect of these compounds on estradiol-dependent ${\beta}$-galactosidase activity using the yeast two-hybrid detection system consisting of a combination of the human estrogen receptor ($hER{\beta}$) ligand-binding domain and the co-activator steroid receptor co-activator-1 (SRC1). Tributyltin-hydroxide (TBT-OH) and triphenyltin-chlorine (TPT-Cl) exhibited an inhibitive effect on $E_2$-dependent transcriptional activity, similar to antagonistic chemicals such as 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) or ICI 182,780, at a very low concentration of $10^{-14}$ M TBT or $10^{-10}$ M TPT, respectively. The yeast growth and transcriptional activity with transcriptional factor GAL4 did not exhibit any effect at the tested concentration of TBT or TPT. Moreover, the yeast two-hybrid system using the interaction between p53 and the T antigen of SV40 large did not describe any effect at the tested concentration of OHT or ICI 182,780. However, the interaction between p53 and T antigen was inhibited at a TBT or TPT concentration of $10^{-9}$ M, respectively. These results indicate that TBT and TPT act as inhibitors of ER-dependent reporter gene transcriptional activation and of the interaction between $hER{\beta}$ LBD and the co-activator SRC1 in the yeast two-hybrid system. Consequently, our data could partly explain the occurrence of organotin compound-induced imposex on the endocrine system of mammals, including humans.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.601-608
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• 1997

In order to search for the way to utilize rice hull as a renewable resource, the inhibition on ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ and the fractionation of rice hull extract was investigated. An ethanol extract of rice hull from Japonica-type rice seeds exhibited 30% inhibitory activity on rat intestinal brush border ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ (1.4 mU/mL) in vitro at the concentration of 0.8 mg/mL using 6 mM p-nitrophenyl ${\alpha}-D-glucopyranoside$ as a substrate $(IC_{50}\;162\;mg/mL)$. Among the fractions obtained by partitioning the ethanol extract successively with solvents, the ethyl acetate fraction at the concentration of 0.8 mg/mL was found to exhibit the most potent inhibitory activity i.e. 65% inhibition of ${\alpha}-glucosidase\;(IC_{50}\;0.14\;mg/mL)$. Silica gel column chromatography of the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited slightly higher (90%) inhibitory activity, and its subsequent fractionation by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography did not improve inhibitory activity. Considering the inhibitory activity and yield, the ethyl acetate fraction obtained by the solvent-partitioning process would be a candidate for the hypoglycemic food if it has in vivo effectiveness.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.439-448
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• 2014

The potential mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) is studied in the Pohang steel industrial complex (PHSIC). The total GHG emission in 2010 is estimated to be in the range from 4,174,000 to 4,574,000 $tCO_2-eq$ in PHSIC. To meet the target proposed by the government, it is needed to reduce 552,000 $tCO_2-eq$ at minium by 2020. To estimate the potential amount of GHG reduction, the technologies used in the voluntary carbon reduction projects are applied to 51 companies which are subject to GHG target management. From the viewpoint of technological availability and payback period, the fuel conversion and waste heat recovery have an advantage in the short term with a possibility to reduce 160,000 $tCO_2-eq$. In the mid term, the thermal technologies in steel and iron industry have the potential to cut 229,000 $tCO_2-eq$, while the electrical technologies have the potential of 125,000 $tCO_2-eq$ reduction. The gap between the target GHG mitigation and potential reduction using the short and mid term technologies is about 38,000 $tCO_2-eq$, which should be compensated by the fundamental process innovation and the implementation of the most cutting-edge technologies including renewable energy.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.349-353
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• 2014

Succinic acid is an important precursor in industries producing biopolymers, pharmaceutical and food additives and green solvents. However, due to the high price of petroleum and the global $CO_2$ emission, the biological production of succinic acid from renewable biomass is a novel process due to the fixation of $CO_2$ into succinate during fermentation. In this study, aqueous two phase systems based on imidazolium ionic liquids/$K_2HPO_4$ were used as an effective separation and concentration process for succinic acid. Experimental results show that aqueous two phase systems can be formed by adding appropriate amount of imidazolium ionic liquids to aqueous $K_2HPO_4$ solutions in the presence of succinic acid. It can be found that the ability of imidazolium ionic liquids for phase separation followed the order [HMIm][Br]${\fallingdotseq}$[OMIm][Br]>[BMIm][Br]>[EMIm][Br]. The maximum value of extraction efficiency for succinic acid was about 90% and the amount of coextracted water into top phase is proportional to the chain length of cation in imidazolium ionic liquids. It was concluded that the aqueous two phase systems composed of imidazolium ionic liquids/$K_2HPO_4$ was effective for the selective extraction and concentration of succinic acid.

• Clean Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.13-21
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• 2014

Because of the water scarcity caused by the increase of salinity in the underground water, seawater desalination stands out as one of the most promising solution. As there are so much energy costs in operating desalination plants, new hybrid process which is more effective should be researched. A geothermal VMD (vacuum membrane distillation) hybrid process is a competitive alternative for seawater desalination. Because geothermal energy has significant characteristics of high capacity factor to operate the power plant at full capacity for 24 hour per day, it can be a priority heat source of VMD superior to any other renewable energies such as solar and wind power. In this study, we design a geothermal VMD hybrid process, analyze it economically and finally compare the result with a case of conventional VMD process. Geothermal VMD hybrid process generates $23,822,409 of NPV (net present value) more than the conventional VMD process in case of 5% discount rate. The break-even point between these processes is 5.36 year. Sensitivity analysis indicates that steam cost is the most decisive influence variable to the economic outcome.