• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 2013

CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) and HCFCs (Hydrochlorofluorocarbons) that are chemically stable were proven to be a greenhouse gases that can destroy ozone layer. On the other hand, HFCs (Hydrofluorocarbons) was developed as an alternative refrigerant for them, but HFCs still have a relatively higher radiative forcing, resulting in a large Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1,300. Current regulations prohibit production and use of these chemicals. In addition, obligatory removal of existing material is in progress. Methods for the decomposition of these material can be listed as thermal cracking, catalytic decomposition and plasma process. This study reports the development of low cost and high efficiency plasma scrubber. Stability of steam plasma generation and effect of plasma parameters such as frequency of power supply and reactor geometry have been investigated in the course of the development. Method for effective removal of by-product also has been investigated. In this study, elongated rotating arc was proven to be efficient in decomposition of HFCs above 99% and to be able to generate stable steam plasma with steam contents of about 20%.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.139-144
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• 2009

A microwave plasma torch at the atmospheric pressure by making use of magnetrons operated at the 2.45 GHz and used in a home microwave oven has been developed. This electrodeless torch can be used to various areas, including industrial, environmental and military applications. Although the microwave plasma torch has many applications, we in the present work focused on the microwave plasma torch operated in pure steam and several applications, which may be used in future and right now. For example, a high-temperature steam microwave plasma torch may have a potential application of the hydrocarbon fuel reforming at one atmospheric pressure. Moreover, the radicals including hydrogen, oxygen and hydroxide molecules are abundantly available in the steam torch, dramatically enhancing the reaction speed. Also, the microwave plasma torch can be used as a high-temperature, large-volume plasma burner by injecting hydrocarbon fuels in gas, liquid, and solid into the plasma flame. Finally, we briefly report treatment of soils contaminated with oils, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, etc., which is an underway research in our group.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.64-68
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• 2005

Methane reforming processes to obtain hydrogen were investigated experimentally by using atmospheric plasma source. Among possible reforming processes, such as a $CO_2$ reforming(dry reforming), a partial oxidation (POx), a steam reforming(SR), and a steam reforming with oxygen(SRO or auto-thermal reforming), partial oxidation and the steam reforming with oxygen were considered. We choose a rotating arc plasma as an atmospheric plasma source, since it shows the best performances in our preliminary tests in terms of a methane conversion, a hydrogen production, and a power consumption. Then, the effects of a feeding flow-rate, an electrical power input to a plasma reaction, an $O_2/C$ ratio and a steam to carbon ratio in the case of SRO on the reforming characteristics were observed systematically. As results, at a certain condition almost 100% of methane conversion was obtained and we could achieve the same hydrogen production rate by consuming a half of electrical power which was used by the best results for other researchers.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.889-892
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• 2009

A microwave plasma torch at the atmospheric pressure by making use of magnetrons operated at the 2.45 GHz and used in a home microwave oven has been developed. This electrodeless torch can be used to various areas, including industrial, environmental and military applications. Although the microwave plasma torch has many applications, we in the present work focused on the microwave plasma torch operated in pure steam and several applications, which may be used in future and right now. For example, a high-temperature steam microwave plasma torch may have a potential application of the hydrocarbon fuel reforming at one atmospheric pressure. Moreover, the radicals including hydrogen, oxygen and hydroxide molecules are abundantly available in the steam torch, dramatically enhancing the reaction speed. Also, the microwave plasma torch can be used as a high-temperature, large-volume plasma burner by injecting hydrocarbon fuels in gas, liquid, and solid into the plasma flame. Lastly, we briefly report an underway research, which is remediation of soils contaminated with oils, volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.545-550
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• 2012

High Energy density metal powder has high melting point of oxide film. By this, the ignition source that can make a thermal effect of high-temperature during short time is needed to overcome ignition disturbance mechanism by oxide film. So effective ignition does not occurred with hydrocarbon ignitor, $H_2-O_2$ ignitor, high power laser. But steam plasma can be generate about 5000 K temperature field in short order. Because a steam plasma uses steam as the working gas, it is environmental-friendly and economical. Therefore in this study, we analyze steam plasma temperature field and radical species with optical emission spectroscopy method in order to apply steam plasma ignitor to metal combustion system and cloud particle ignition was identified in visual.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.268-274
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• 1997

Characteristics of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing for steam treated sintered steels were studied. Fe-0.8%C powder containing Ni, Cu were sintered at 112$0^{\circ}C$ and steamed at 52$0^{\circ}C$. Temperature of plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing was varied from 50$0^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$. Gas mixture of nitriding was set at $N_2$ : $H_2$ =80:20 (vol.%), but $CH_4gas$ was added 1~2 vol.% for nitrocarburizing. Steam treatment for sintered steels brought not only the formation of oxide layer but also decarburizing near the surface. Decrease in hardness near the surface resulted from the formation of ferrite due to decarburizing. Thus, the low hardness was recovered not with plasma nitriding but with plasma nitrocarburixing. Wear resistance properties of steamed specimens and ni-trocarburized specimens were better than those of nitrided specimens according to the pin-on-disk wear test. On the other hand, the fatigue life of steamed specimen was shorter than that of nitrocaiburized specimen.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.26-32
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• 2014

In this study, DC (Direct current) type steam plasma igniter is developed for effective ignition of high-energy density metal aluminum and gas temperature is measured by emission spectrum of OH radical. Because of the ultra-high gas temperature, the DC plasma jet is measured by Boltzmann plot method which is the non-contact optical technique and spectrum comparison-analysis. And both methods were applied to experiment after accurate verification. As a result, we could identify that plasma jet temperature is 2900 K ~ 5800 K in the 30 mm range from the nozzle tip.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2012

Pyrolysis/gasification technology utilizes an energy conversion technique from various waste resources, such as biomass, solid waste, sewage sludge, and etc. to generating a syngas (synthesis gas). However, one of the major problems for the pyrolysis gasification is the presence of tar in the product gas. The tar produced might cause damages and operating problems on the facility. In this study, a gliding arc plasma reformer was developed to solve the previously acknowledged issues. An experiment was conducted using surrogate benzene and naphthalene, which are generated during the pyrolysis and/or gasification, as the representative tar substance. To identify the characteristics of the influential parameters of tar decomposition, tests were performed on the steam feed amount (steam/carbon ratio), input discharge power (specific energy input, SEI), total feed gas amount and the input tar concentration. In benzene, the optimal operating conditions of the gliding arc plasma 2 in steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, 0.98 $kWh/m^3$ in SEI, 14 L/min in total gas feed rate and 3.6% in benzene concentration. In naphthalene, 2.5 in S/C ratio, 1 $kWh/m^3$ in SEI, 18.4 L/min in total gas feed rate and 1% in naphthalene concentration. The benzene decomposition efficiency was 95%, and the energy efficiency was 120 g/kWh. The naphthalene decomposition efficiency was 79%, and the energy yield was 68 g/kWh.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.737-744
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• 2011

The success of continuous aluminum powder combustion with steam plasma is different from hydrocarbon ignition source. Ignition characteristics of aluminum powder with high temperature thermal plasma is studied with oxidizer-free environment. Experiment with argon plasma has same temperature conditions at 4500 K and particle feeding condition for previous combustion test with steam plasma and swirl combustor. The temperature of the plasma was measured using Optical Emission Spectroscopy method. Ignition characteristics were analyzed by SEM image and EDS. Aluminum powder with plasma has rapid evaporation mechanism contrast to hydrocarbon ignition source. It enhances to aluminum powder effective ignition characteristics.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.93-99
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• 2012

The investigation of clean and environment-friendly coal utilization technology is actively progressed due to high oil price and serious climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, the plasma gasification was performed using a 6kW microwave plasma unit under various reaction conditions: the particle sizes of coal ($45{\mu}m-150{\mu}m$), $O_2$/fuel ratio (0 - 1.3), and steam/fuel ratio (0 - 1.5). The $H_2$ composition decreases with decreasing coal particle size. With increasing $O_2$/fuel ratio, the $H_2$ composition in the syngas decreased while the $CO_2$ composition increased. As the steam/fuel ratio increased from 0 to 1.5, the $H_2$ composition in the syngas increased while the $CO_2$ composition decreased. From the results, it was proven that the variation of syngas composition greatly affected by $O_2$/fuel ratio than steam/fuel ratio. The $H_2$ composition in the syngas, carbon conversion, and cold gas efficiency increased with increasing plasma power.