• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.350-359
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• 2016

We performed fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunch (EFB) in the range of temperature from $400{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ and 1.3 s of residence time. The effect of temperature on the yields and physicochemical properties of pyrolytic products were also studied. Elemental and component analysis of EFB showed that the large amount of potassium (ca. 8400 ppm) presents in the feedstock. Thermogravimetric analysis suggested that the potassium in the feedstock catalyzed degradation of cellulose. The yield of bio-oil increased with increasing temperature in the range of temperature from $400{\sim}500^{\circ}C$, while that of gas and biochar decreased and showed monotonous change each with increasing temperature. When the EFB was pyrolyzed at $550^{\circ}C$, the yield of bio-oil and char decreased while that of gas increased. Water content of the bio-oils obtained at different temperatures was 20~30% and their total acid number were less than 100 mg KOH/g oil. Viscosity of the bio-oils was 11 cSt (centistoke), and heating value varied from 15 to 17 MJ/kg. Using GC/MS analysis, 27 chemical compounds which were classified into two groups (cellulose-derived and lignin-derived) were identified. Remarkably the concentration of phenol was approximately 25% based on entire chemical compounds.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.344-354
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• 2015

To investigate the effects of ionic liquid pretreatment on biomass, giant miscanthus was treated with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Emim][OAc]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([Bmim][OAc]) at three temperature conditions ($90^{\circ}C$, $110^{\circ}C$, and $130^{\circ}C$). As temperature condition increased, yield of the cellulose-rich product (CP) was reduced from 87.2% to 67.6%, while yield of the ionic liquid lignin (ILL) increased from 2.2% to 9.9%. Compared to the ILL, CP had lower carbon contents and higher oxygen contents. Enzymatic hydrolysis of CPs showed that conversion ratio of CP treated with [Emim][OAc] at $110^{\circ}C$ was 56.7%, the highest digestibility. Thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the maximum degradation rate decreased as temperature condition increased. In addition, maximum degradation temperature of ILL treated with [Emim][OAc] ranged from 274 to $279^{\circ}C$ which was lower than that of ILL treated with [Bmim][OAc]. Analytical date for ${\beta}$-O-4 linkage frequency in the ILL revealed that ${\beta}$-O-4 linkage frequency in the ILL decreased as the temperature rose. Furthermore, the highest S/G ratio of the ILL was determined to ca. 1.2 obtained from [Bmim][OAc] treatment at $110^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 2016

The technology of fast pyrolysis is regarded as a promising route to convert lignocellulose biomass into bio-oil which can be upgraded to transportable fuels and high quality chemical products. Despite these promises, commercialization of bio-oil for fuels and chemicals production is limited due to its notoriously undesirable characteristics, such as high and changing viscosity, high water and oxygen contents, low heating value and high acidity. Therefore, in this study quality improvement of bio-oil through vaccum distillation had been targeted. A 600 g of cork oak(Quercus variabilis) which grounded 0.8~1.4 mm was processed into bio-oil via fast pyrolysis for 1.64 seconds at $465^{\circ}C$ and temperature of vaccum distillation(100hPa) was designed to control, $40^{\circ}C$, 50, 60, 70, and 80 for 30min. Bio-oil, biochar, and gas of pyrolytic product were produced to 62.6, 18.0 and 19.3 wt%, respectively. The water content, viscosity, HHV(Higher Heating Value) and pH of bio-oil were measured to 0.9~26.1 wt%, 4.2~11.0 cSt 3,893~5,230 kcal/kg and 2.6~3.0, respectively. Despite these quality improvement, production was still limited due to its notoriously undesirable characteristics, therefore continous quality improvement will be needed in order to use practical fuel of bio-oil.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.231-240
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• 2018

Bamboo is one of the major biomass resources that have many advantages such as fast growing, easy cultivation, short rotation, and a relatively lower price. In this study, the anatomical characteristics of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) by age from one-year-old to five-year-old were examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Also, the crystalline properties such as relative crystallinity and crystallite width were investigated by an X-ray diffraction method. In one-year-old bamboo xylem, a few vascular bundles showed missing bundle sheath in near the intercellular space. Moreover, one-year-old bamboo had the shortest fiber length and the smallest values in vessel diameter, width of vascular bundle, and thickness of inner layer. One-year-old bamboo also showed the smallest values in the crystallinity and crystallite width. Near epidermis samples had longer fiber length and greater vascular bundle spacing than near pith samples. Relative crystallinity and crystallite width near the epidermis were also higher than near the pith. This study revealed significant differences in qualitative and quantitative anatomical characteristics between one-year-old and two-year- or more old Moso bamboos. It is concluded that the structural differences by bamboo age can be used to differentiate the characteristics of juvenile and mature bamboo.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.221-233
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• 2024

Lignin, a prominent constituent of woody biomass, is abundant in nature, cost-effective, and contains various functional groups, including hydroxyl groups. Owing to these characteristics, they have the potential to replace petroleum-based polyols in the polyurethane industry, offering a solution to environmental problems linked to resource depletion and CO₂ emissions. However, the structural complexity and low reactivity of lignin present challenges for its direct application in polyurethane materials. In this study, Kraft lignin (KL), a representative technical lignin, was fractionated with ethanol, an eco-friendly solvent, and mixed with conventional polyols in varying proportions to produce polyurethane films. The results of ethanol fractionation showed that the polydispersity of ethanol-soluble lignin (ESL) decreased from 3.71 to 2.72 and the hydroxyl content of ESL increased from 4.20 mmol/g to 5.49 mmol/g. Consequently, the polyurethane prepared by adding ESL was superior to the KL-based film, exhibiting improved miscibility with petrochemical-based polyols and reactivity with isocyanate groups. Consequently, the films using ESL as the polyol exhibited reduced shrinkage and a more uniform structure. Optical microscope and scanning electron microscope observations confirmed that lignin aggregation was lower in polyurethane with ESL than in that with KL. When the hydrophobicity of the samples was measured using the water contact angle, the addition of ESL resulted in higher hydrophobicity. In addition, as the amount of ESL added increased, an increase of 7.4% in the residual char was observed, and a 4.04% increase in Tmax the thermal stability of the produced polyurethane was effectively improved.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.560-567
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• 2008

An efficient method to produce water-soluble polysaccharides from Lentinus lepideus is described. The productivity of both endopolysaccharides (PPS) and exopolysaccharides (EPS) was compared under various culture conditions. The effect of treating their own PPS and EPS on immune cytokine production was also studied in relation to culture factors. High yield production of EPS required a moderate culture temperature $(25^{\circ}C)$ as well as long culture period (16-20 days). In contrast, PPS production required a high culture temperature $(30^{\circ}C)$ and short culture period (8 days). Most of the carbon sources did not affect polysaccharides and mycelial production except for sucrose. Immune cytokine levels in the EPS treatment varied among carbon sources or culture periods. PPS did not appear to affect much on the production of cytokines, regardless of the culturing factors, except for the culture period. These results suggest that the optimal culture conditions for L. lepideus vary according to culture purposes, and different culture conditions should be used for different targets including mycelial biomass, EPS, and PPS. Whereas the immunomodulating activitiy of EPS appeared to be affected by culture conditions in L. lepideus, that of PPS did not.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.300-312
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• 2018

Whole-genome sequencing of the wood-rotting fungus, Flammulina fennae, was carried out to identify carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes). De novo genome assembly (31 kmer) of short reads by next-generation sequencing revealed a total genome length of 32,423,623 base pairs (39% GC). A total of 11,591 gene models in the assembled genome sequence of F. fennae were predicted by ab initio gene prediction using the AUGUSTUS tool. In a genome-wide comparison, 6,715 orthologous groups shared at least one gene with F. fennae and 10,667 (92%) of 11,591 genes for F. fennae proteins had orthologs among the Dikarya. Additionally, F. fennae contained 23 species-specific genes, of which 16 were paralogous. CAZyme identification and annotation revealed 513 CAZymes, including 82 auxiliary activities, 220 glycoside hydrolases, 85 glycosyltransferases, 20 polysaccharide lyases, 57 carbohydrate esterases, and 45 carbohydrate binding-modules in the F. fennae genome. The genome information of F. fennae increases the understanding of this basidiomycete fungus. CAZyme gene information will be useful for detailed studies of lignocellulosic biomass degradation for biotechnological and industrial applications.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.14-20
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance of a vacuum pyrolysis system, to analyze bio-oil characteristics, and to examine the applicability for farm-scale capacity. Methods: The biomass was pyrolyzed at 450, 480, and $490^{\circ}C$ on an electric heat plate in a vacuum reactor. The waste heat from the heat exchanger of the reactor was recycled to evaporate water from the bio-oil. The chemical composition of the bio-oil was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results: According to the analysis, the moisture content (MC) in the bio-oil was approximately 9%, the high heating value (HHV) was approximately 26 MJ/kg, and 29 compounds were identified. These 29 compounds consisted of six series of carbohydrates, 17 series of lignins, and six series of resins. Conclusions: Owing to low water content and the oxygen content, the HHV of the bio-oil produced from the vacuum reactor was higher by about 6 MJ/kg than that of the bio-oil produced from a fluidized bed reactor.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2005

Cellulose, consisted of 45 wt% in wood, is usable as fuels and heavy oil additives if depolymerized to monomer unit, because the chemical structures are similar to high octane materials found in gasoline. In this study, thermochemical degradation by solvolysis reaction of cellulose such as the effect of reaction temperature, reaction time and type of solvent on conversion yield and degradation products were investigated. It was found that the effectiveness of the solvent on the sovolysis reaction was as follows; acetone>n-butanol>tetralin. When acetone was used as a solvent, the highest cellulose conversion was observed to be 91.8% at 500$^{\circ}C$, 40min. Combustion heating value of liquid products from thermochemical conversion processes was in the range of 7,330${\sim}$7,410cal/g. The energy yield and mass yield in acetone-solvolysis of cellulose was as high as 66.8% and 37.0 g oil/100g raw material after 40min of reaction at 400$^{\circ}C$. Various aliphatic and aromatic compounds were detected in the cellulose solvolysis products. The major components of the solvolysis products, that could be used as fuel, were mesityl oxide, mesitylene, isophorone.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.352-358
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• 2018

This research paper investigates available options for implementing clean development mechanism (CDM) project in Sarawak state, Malaysia. To investigate economic feasibility, data was collected using survey and field research methods. Also, economic analysis was estimated using net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and payback period (PBP) during the 30 years CDM: afforestation and reforestation periods. The result of economic analysis indicated that, the payback period was estimated at 9 years with 18 percent of internal rate of return (IRR). This study also highlighted that CDM biomass supply project have a lot of challenges due to the reduction and exclusion of bio-Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF), supply and demand scenario, and impact of restriction of illegal logging in Malaysia. This study results demonstrate the methodology and guideline for future CDM investment and projects.