• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.363-369
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• 2009

High oil price and biodiesel expansion lead the surplus of glycerol in the market. Glycerol has been used as a raw material itself at petroleum chemistry, paint, tobacco, household products and cosmetics in the conventional market. Recently, many research to find new applications of glycerol as a low-cost feedstock for functional derivatives have led to the introduction of a number of selective processes for converting glycerol into commercially value-added products. The recent studies on the development of new value-added glycerol derivatives will be reviewed.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

Biodiesel is a type of biofuel obtained from bioresources and able to use in diesel vehicles as an alternative/additive to petro diesel. In recent biodiesel research, there are three main issues which include high quality biodiesel, low cost feed stock and a highly efficient biodiesel production process. The sustainable production and use of biodiesel are attracting much attention in the renewable energy field. In this paper, we review some of the literatures related to environmental and economic evaluation for biodiesel production and analysis the issues including life cycle assessment (LCA), global warming potential (GWP), energy consumption, biodiesel production cost, production technologies and feedstock.

• Proceedings of the Polymer Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.152-152
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• 2006

Polyolefins show a very healthy growth rate among commodity polymer resins due to their low feedstock prices, recyclable and environmentally friendly characteristics and easily controllable performances. Capacity investment in polyolefin field is now moving from technology region to consumer region and feedstock region. Therefore, key success factors for polyolefin business in the other region such as Korea are cost reduction, development of highly value-added products and new applications and substitution of PVC, PS, PET and other EPs. To add additional value to commodity polyolefin products, high level of platform technology such as catalyst, process and structure-properties relationship is needed. Progress on polyolefin products has been very closely related to catalyst and process technology. According to this trend, SK Corporation has devoted a lot of research effort into development of new value-added polyolefin products based on the proprietary technology platform.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.338-347
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• 2021

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are a family of microbial polyesters that are used as biodegradable plastics in replacement of conventional plastics for various applications. However, the high production cost is the barrier for PHA market expansion. This study aimed to utilize food waste as low-cost feedstock to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) by Haloferax mediterranei. The effects of acetate (Ac), propionate (Pr), butyrate (Bu), and the short-chain carboxylates derived from food waste were examined on the microbial growth and PHBV production. Results showed that a mixture of carboxylates provided a 55% higher PHBV yield than glucose. The food-waste-derived nutrients achieved the yields of 0.41 to 0.54 g PHBV/g Ac from initial loadings of 450 mg/l to 1,800 mg/l Ac of total carboxylates. And the consumption of individual carboxylate varied between different compositions of the carbon source. The present study demonstrates the potential of using food waste as feedstock to produce PHBV by Haloferax mediterranei, which can provide economic benefits to the current PHA industry. Meanwhile, it will also help promote organic waste reduction in landfills and waste management in general.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.688-700
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• 2013

The potential of biodiesel production technology using lipids extracted from sewage sludge was investigated. Despite the bright prospect of biodiesel production, efforts to commercialize it have been very limited. One of the major obstacles has been the high price associated with refined oil feedstock, which makes up nearly 70-75% of the total production costs. Hence, in order to reduce the cost of biodiesel production, using cheaper feedstock such as waste oil or low-quality oil has been proposed. Especially, sewage sludge, a relatively inexpensive feedstock, is a promising raw material for such a purpose. In this study, it is aimed to review biodiesel production technology from sewage sludge as a lipid feedstock. It is process modifications to combine the oil extraction steps, fuel conversion steps (i.e. in situ transesterification, thermo-chemical process with non-catalytic heterogeneous biodiesel production) and fuel quality from sewage sludge.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2009

Certain microalgae have been known to use light and various carbon sources to produce carbohydrates, mainly in the form of starch. This is one of the pertinent feedstocks replacing agricultural products for the production of bioethanol by yeast. This study focuses upon dilute acid hydrothermal pretreatments at low cost and high efficiency to compete with current methods, and employs Chlamydomonas reinhardtii UTEX 90 as the feedstock. With dry cells of 5%(w/v), the algal biomass was pretreated with sulfuric acid(1-5%) under temperatures from 100 to $120^{\circ}C$, from 15 to 120 min. As a result, the glucose release from the biomass was maximum at 58%(w/w) after pretreatment with 3% sulfuric acid at $110^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. This method enabled not only starch, but also the hydrolysis of other oligosaccharides in the algal cell in high efficiency. Arrhenius-type of model equation enabled extrapolation of some yields of glucose beyond this range. The pretreated slurry was fermented by yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae S288C, resulting in an ethanol yield of 29.2% from algal biomass. This study suggests that the pretreated algal biomass is a suitable feedstock for ethanol production and can have a positive impact on large-scale applied systems.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

Application of biochar to soils is proposed as a significant, long-term, sink for atmospheric carbon dioxide in terrestrial ecosystems. In addition to reducing emissions and increasing the sequestration of carbon, production of biochar and its application to soils will contribute improve soil quality and crop productivity. Objectives were i) to evaluate biochar productivity from crop residues using a low-cost field scale mobile pyrolyzer and ii) to evaluate characteristics of feedstocks and biochars from locally collected crop residues. Pyrolysis experiments were performed in a reactor operated at $400-500^{\circ}C$ for 3-4 hours using biomass samples of post-harvest residues of corn (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium spp.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Feedstocks differed, but average conversion to biochar was 23%. Carbon content of biomass feedstock and biochar samples were 445 g $kg^{-1}$ and 597 g $kg^{-1}$, respectively. Total carbon content of biochar samples was 34% higher than its feedstock samples. Significant increases were found in P, K, Ca, Mg, and micro-nutrients contents between feedstock and biochar samples. Biochar from corn stems and rice hulls can sequester by 60% and 49% of the initial carbon input into biochar respectively when biochar is incorporated into the soils. Pyrolysis conversion of corn and rice residues sequestered significant amounts of carbon as biochar which has further environmental and production benefits when applied to soils. Field experiment with crop residue biochar will be investigated the stability of biochars to show long-term carbon sequestration and environmental influences to the cropping systems.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.90-95
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• 2005

The wire-arc process is a low-cost thermal spray method simply utilizes electrical energy to melt the feedstock wire. It is more userful for field applications, especially to coat large surface area. In this paper, a special Fe-based alloy coatings by using the wire-arc process were developed. Nanoscale composite coatings were achieved either during spraying or through a post heat treatment. As-sprayed Fe-based alloy coatings had been an amorphous matrix structure, after heating to $700^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes a solid state transformation occurred in the some fraction of amorphous matrix which resulted in the formation of nanostructured recrystallized phase. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and field emotional scanning electron microscope(FE-SEM) were applied to analyze the microstructure of the coatings. Additionally hardness and bend resistance of the Fe-based alloy coatings were examined, and these results were compared with those of partially stabilized zirconia(PSZ) coatings by using the plasma spray process.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.81-91
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• 2011

Current fuel ethanol research and development deals with process engineering trends for improving biotechnological production of ethanol. Recently, a large amount of studies regarding the utilization of lignocellulosic biomass as a good feedstock for producing fuel ethanol is being carried out worldwide. The plant biomass is mainly composed of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The main challenge in the conversion of biomass into ethanol is the complex, rigid and harsh structures which require efficient process and cost effective to break down. The isolation of microorganisms is one of the means for obtaining enzymes with properties suitable for industrial applications. For these reasons, crude cultures containing cellulosic biomass degrading microorganisms were isolated from rice field soil, cow farm soil and rotten rice straw from cow farm. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), xylan and Avicel (microcrystalline cellulose) degradation zone of clearance on agar platefrom rice field soil resulted approximately at 25 mm, 24 mm and 22 mm respectively. As for cow farm soil, CMC, xylan and Avicel degradation clearancezone on agar plate resulted around at 24mm, 23mm and 21 mm respectively. Rotten rice straw from cow farm also resulted for CMC, xylan and Avicel degradation zone almost at 24 mm, 23 mm and 22 mm respectively. The objective of this study is to isolatebiomass degrading microbial strains having good efficiency in cellulose hydrolysis and observed the effects of different substrates (CMC, xylan and Avicel) on the production of cellulase enzymes (endo-glucanase, exo-glucanase, cellobiase, xylanase and avicelase) for producing low cost biofuel from cellulosic materials.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.459-463
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• 2015

This study evaluated the microbial conversion of coconut oil waste, a major agro-residue in tropical countries, into single cell oil (SCO) feedstock for biodiesel production. Copra cake was used as a low-cost renewable substrate without any prior chemical or enzymatic pretreatment for submerged growth of an oleaginous tropical mangrove fungus, Aspergillus terreus IBB M1. The SCO extracted from fermented biomass was converted into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by transesterification and evaluated on the basis of fatty acid profiles and key fuel properties for biodiesel. The fungus produced a biomass (8.2 g/l) yielding 257 mg/g copra cake SCO with ~98% FAMEs. The FAMEs were mainly composed of saturated methyl esters (61.2%) of medium-chain fatty acids (C12-C18) with methyl oleate (C18:1; 16.57%) and methyl linoleate (C18:2; 19.97%) making up the unsaturated content. A higher content of both saturated FAMEs and methyl oleate along with the absence of polyunsaturated FAMEs with ≥4 double bonds is expected to impart good fuel quality. This was evident from the predicted and experimentally determined key fuel properties of FAMEs (density, kinematic viscosity, iodine value, acid number, cetane number), which were in accordance with the international (ASTM D6751, EN 14214) and national (IS 15607) biodiesel standards, suggesting their suitability as a biodiesel fuel. The low cost, renewable nature, and easy availability of copra cake, its conversion into SCO without any thermochemical pretreatment, and pelleted fungal growth facilitating easier downstream processing by simple filtration make this process cost effective and environmentally favorable.