Tae-Yong Chung

A Comparative Study for Steam-Methane Reforming Reaction Analysis Model

Hydrogen is considered as a fuel of the future for its renewability and environmental compatibility. The reforming of hydrocarbon fuels is currently the most important source of hydrogen, which is expected to continue for next several decades. In this study, extensive CFD simulations on the steam-methane reforming process were conducted to study the performance of four reaction models, i.e. three Arrhenius-type models and a user-defined function (UDF) model. The accuracies of different reaction models for various operating temperatures and steam carbon ratios (SCRs) were evaluated by comparing their CFD results with zero-dimensional intrinsic model of Xu and Froment. It was found that the UDF model generally produced more accurate results than Arrhenius-type models. However, it was also shown that Arrhenius-type models could be made sufficiently accurate by choosing appropriate reaction coefficients, and thus could also be useful for the simulation of the steam-methane reforming process.

Experimental and Numerical Assessment of Liquid Water Exhaust Performance of Flow Channels in PEM Fuel Cells

Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a promising technology for short-term power generation required in residential and automobile applications. Proper management of water has been found to be essential for improving the performance and durability of PEM fuel cells. This study investigated the liquid water exhaust capabilities of various flow channels having different geometries and surface properties. Three-pass serpentine flow fields were prepared by patterning channels of 1 mm or 2 mm width onto hydrophilic Acrylic plates or hydrophobic Teflon plates, and the behaviors of liquid water in those flow channels were experimentally visualized. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were also conducted to quantitatively assess the liquid water exhaust capabilities of flow channels for PEM fuel cells. Numerical results showed that hydrophobic flow channels have better liquid water exhaust capabilities than hydrophilic flow channels. Flow channels with curved corners showed less droplet stagnation than the channels with sharp corners. It was also found that a smaller width is desirable for hydrophobic flow channels while a larger width is desirable for hydrophilic ones. The above results were explained as being due to the different droplet morphologies in hydrophobic and hydrophilic channels.

The economic benefit of combustible waste into energy: A contingent valuation study

Heating and hot water has accounted for 68% of Koreas household energy usage. Boiler makes up the bulk of the heating and hot water production. Hence a highly efficient boiler is needed in order to reduce energy consumption. A condensing boiler that recovers latent heat is known to be highly efficient. However, it is expensive and takes more space to necessitate research for improvement. In the present study, we investigated condensation heat transfer of a surface roughened by etching treatment. The etched plate showed 9.2% increase in heat transfer compared to original plate.

An Experimental Study on Detection of Gas Leakage Position by Monitoring Pressure Values at City Gas Pipeline

Gas pipeline safety management and risk prediction are recognized as a very important issue. And the effort to prevent accidents is essential. So, in this study, it was studied through correlation of pressure changes for leak point detection in real-time. It experimented by installing the five leakage valves in the pipe of 378 m and compared the actual leak points with simulation results. The results showed that experimental leak points and the actual leak points have differences within the 6 m. And this technology has to be commercialized by the demonstration in dangerous zone.