• Resources Recycling
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.25-30
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• 2003

The synthesis of SiC used for the parts of the gas turbine and the heat exchanger, was carried out. In this study, wire cutting slurry of silicon wafer and the graphite rod of spent zinc-carbon battery were applied to the starting materials for the synthesis. The powders of Si or Si+SiC were obtained from the waste material by filtration, gravity separation and magnetic separation. Graphite powder was produced by dismantling, grinding and gravity separation from spent zinc-carbon battery. The synthesis of SiC could be completed from the mixture powders of Si and C or Si+SiC and C at the condition of equivalent ratio of Si and C, atmosphere of Ar or vacuum, temperature of above 1$600^{\circ}C$ and 2 hours reactions. The purity of synthesized Si-C was above 99%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.48-57
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• 2018

In this study, we developed a method for manufacturing high strength gray cast irons by adding a rare earth element (R.E.) included in a spent permanent magnet scrap to gray cast irons. The improvement of the mechanical properties of gray cast irons is attributed to A-type graphite formation promoted by complex sulfide, which was formed by R.E. in the spent magnets during a solidification process. The cast specimen inoculated by R.E. in the spent magnet scrap showed excellent tensile strength up to 306 MPa, and is similar to that of the specimen inoculated by expensive misch-metal. In this regards, we concluded that the cheap spent magnets scrap is a very efficient inoculation agent in fabrication of high performance gray cast irons.

• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2024

A novel approach is presented to address issues associated with the use of strong acidic solutions for the leaching of magnesium oxide (MgO) from spent magnesia-carbon refractories. An ultrasonic flotation and separation process is employed, with a mildly acidic solvent, acetic acid, used to selectively chelate MgO from the spent refractories. When using 2 M acetic acid as a solvent, the recovery of the graphite exhibited 99.7 % with high purity of 72.7 %, showing a significant improvement compared to using water as the solvent. Furthermore, the technology presented in this study offers a method for producing magnesium acetate through the reaction of MgO in spent refractory with acetic acid, providing a means for the purification and separation of graphite.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.246-252
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• 2024

In this study, impurities such as Li and F were removed from waste graphite through citric acid treatment, and changes in structural properties, capacity, and cycle stability of regenerated graphite were observed accordingly. Regenerated graphite pretreated in a nitrogen atmosphere was treated with citric acid, and its structure and characteristics were analyzed through SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray Diffraction), and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). Waste graphite that was not treated with acid had a rapid decrease in capacity before 70 cycles, but graphite that had been treated with citric acid showed a capacity of 302.9 mAh g^-1 and a capacity retention rate of 93.1% at 100 cycles. In addition, despite changes in current density in rate performance, samples treated with citric acid showed 340.2 mAh g^-1 performance at 1.0C without change in capacity. As a result, it was confirmed that citric acid treatment not only effectively removed impurities and showed a high capacity retention rate, but also showed stability even at high current densities.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2010

The electrorefining process, one of main processes which are composed of pyroprocess to recover the useful elements from spent fuel, and the domestic development of electrorefiner have been reviewed. The electrorefiner is composed of an anode basket containing reduced spent fuel such as uranium, transuranic and rare earth elements, and a solid cathode, which are in LiCl-KCl eutectic electrolyte. Oxidation (dissolution) reaction occurs on the anode and a pure uranium is electrochemically reduced (deposited) on the solid cathode. By application of graphite cathode, which has a self-scrapping characteristics for the uranium deposits, and a recovery of the fallen deposits by a screw conveyer, a high-throughput continuous electrorefiner with a capacity of 20 kgU/day has been developed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.173-177
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• 2005

리튬이온 2차전지(Lithium ion battery, LIB)는 기존에 사용되던 전지에 비해 에너지 밀도가 높고 충방전 사이클이 우수하다. 이 때문에 휴대전화와 노트북 등에 수요가 급속하게 증가하고 있으며 1995년 LIB의 생산량은 4천만 개에서 2004년에는 약 8억 개로 20배 이상 증가하였다. 이에 따라 폐LIB도 급속하게 증가하게 되어 전국적인 재활용 시스템의 확보가 필요한 실정이다. 본 연구에서는 폐LIB에 함유되어 있는 유가금속 중에서 리튬코발트옥사이드(이하 $LiCoO_2$)를 회수하기 위하여 분쇄기(orient vertical cutting mill)와 진동 Screen을 사용하여 유기분리막, 금속류(Aluminium foil, Copper foil, case 등) 그리고 전극물질(lithium cobalt oxide와 graphite 등의 혼합 분말)로 분리하였다. 전극물질에서 $LiCoO_2$와 graphite 분리를 위한 전처리 단계로서 $500^{\circ}C$ 정도의 열처리를 하여 $LiCoO_2$의 표면 성질을 변화시켜 부유선별에 의해 $LiCoO_2$와 graphite의 분리가 가능하도록 하였다. 부유선별 실험 결과 93% 이상의 순도를 가지는 $LiCoO_2$를 92% 이상 회수할 수 있었다.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2007

Electrorefining experiments were successfully carried out in LiCl-KCl eutectic molten salt with a graphite cathode. It was found that the formation of Uranium-Graphite intercalation compound(U-GIC) helped the self-scraping mechanism of the uranium dendrite and the efficiency of the electrorefiner increased due to an elimination of the stripping step. The contaminations of the uranium deposit by rare earth elements was negligible while about 300 ppm of carbon was observed. The carbon contamination is believed to be eliminated by further purification by yttrium reaction. The morphology characteristics of the recovered U deposit was compared to that of steel cathode. These are only qualitative preliminary experimental results, but we believe that further research on this type of activity change the direction of the electrorefining research on spent nuclear fuel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1451-1456
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• 2017

Finding technical issues associated with equipment scale-up is an important subject for the investigation of pyroprocessing. In this respect, electrolytic reduction of 1 kg $UO_2$, a unit process of pyroprocessing, was conducted using graphite as an anode material to figure out the scale-up issues of the C anode-based system at pilot scale. The graphite anode can transfer a current that is 6-7 times higher than that of a conventional Pt anode with the same reactor, showing the superiority of the graphite anode. $UO_2$ pellets were turned into metallic U during the reaction. However, several problems were discovered after the experiments, such as reaction instability by reduced effective anode area (induced by the existence of $Cl_2$ around anode and anode consumption), relatively low metal conversion rate, and corrosion of the reactor. These issues should be overcome for the scale-up of the electrolytic reducer using the C anode.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.131-144
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• 2010

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has been developing pyroprocessing technology for recycling useful resources from spent fuel since 1997. The process includes pretreatment, electroreduction, electrorefining, electrowinning, and a waste salt treatment system. This paper briefly addresses unit processes and related innovative technologies. As for the electroreduction step, a stainless steel mesh basket was applied for adaption of granules of uranium oxide. This basket was designed for ready handling and transfer of feed material. A graphite cathode was used for the continuous collection of uranium dendrite in the electrorefining system. This enhances the throughput of the electrorefiner. A particular mesh type stirrer was designed to inhibit uranium spill-over at the liquid Cd crucible. A residual actinide recovery system was also tested to recover TRU tracer. In order to reduce the waste volume, a crystallization method is employed for Cs and Sr removal. Experiments on the unit processes were tested successfully, and based on the results, engineering-scale equipment has been designed for the PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration facility).

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2023

As the use of lithium-ion secondary batteries is rapidly increasing due to the rapid growth of the electric vehicle market, the disposal and recycling of spent batteries after use has been raised as a serious problem. Since stored energy must be removed in order to recycle the spent batteries, an effective discharging process is required. In this study, graphite and NCM622 were used as active materials to manufacture coin-type half cells and full cells, and the electrochemical behavior occurring during overdischarge was analyzed. When the positive and negative electrodes are overdischarged respectively using a half-cell, a conversion reaction in which transition metal oxide is reduced to metal occurs first in the positive electrode, and a side reaction in which Cu, the current collector, is corroded following decomposition of the SEI film occurs in the negative electrode. In addition, a side reaction during overdischarge is difficult to occur because a large polarization at the initial stage is required. When the full cell is overdischarged, the cell reaches 0 V and the overdischarge ends with almost no side reaction due to this large polarization. However, if the full cell whose capacity is degraded due to the cycle is overdischarged, corrosion of the Cu current collector occurs in the negative electrode. Therefore, cycled cell requires an appropriate treatment process because its electrochemical behavior during overdischarge is different from that of a fresh cell.