Enhancing the capacitive deionization performance requires the inner structure expansion of porous activated carbon to facilitate the charge storage and electrolyte penetration. This work aimed to modify the porosity of coconut-shell activated carbon (AC) through CO2 activation at high temperature. The electrochemical performance of CO2- activated AC electrodes was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, charge/discharge test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, which exhibited that AC-800 had the superior performance with the highest capacitance of 112 F/g at the rate of 0.1 A/g and could operate for up to 4000 cycles. Furthermore, in the capacitive deionization, AC-800 showed salt removal of 9.15 mg/g with a high absorption rate of 2.8 mg/g min and Ni(II) removal of 5.32 mg/g with a rate close to 1 mg/g.min. The results promote the potential application of CO2- activated AC for desalination as well as Ni-removal through capacitance deionization (CDI) technology.

본 연구에서는 참외과실의 수확후 식용왁스코팅처리가 과실품질 및 과골 갈변에 미치는 대사체의 변화를 분석하였다. 코코넛 오일과 밀랍 (9:1 w/w) 처리를 참외 과실표면에 코팅 후 실온 저장 7일후에 과실 품질, 에틸렌 발생량 및 호흡량을 조사하였다. 그 결과, 참외의 경도와 골갈변도는 식용코팅처리된 과실과 무처리군 사이에 유의한 차이는 없었다. 하지만, 과피색의 명도(L*), 순도(a*), 및 색상각(hue angle)은 식용왁스처리군이 무처리군에 비해 유의한 차이가 있었다. 이는 호흡량 및 에틸렌 발생량이 식용왁스처리에 의해 유의하게 낮아져 과피색이 유지된 것으로 생각된다. 식용왁스 처리에 의한 참외의 대사체 변화를 분석한 결과, gamma-aminobutyric acid, aspartate 그리고 myo-inositol 대사가 가장 유의적인 차이를 나타났으며, 특히 삼투보호제 역할을 하는 alanine, 가바(GABA)성분이 식용왁스코팅에 의해 증가하였다. 따라서, 식용왁스코팅처리는 호흡과 에틸렌 발생의 억제, 수분 스트레스 경감 등을 통해 참외의 선도 유지를 유도한 것으로 판단되며, 참외 과피색 변화 억제 등 상품성 향상에 활용될 수 있을 것으로 보인다.

In this work, a simple nonenzymatic glucose sensor has been proposed based on coconut shell charcoal (CSC) modified nickel foil as working electrode in a three-electrode electrochemical cell. Charcoal was prepared by the pyrolysis of coconut shells. The most important advantages of coconut shells are cost-effectiveness and their abundance in nature. The morphology and phase of the CSC powder were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The electrochemical performance of the CSC powder coated Nickel foil electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The sensor shows a higher sensitivity of 2.992 mA cm−2 mM−1 in the linear range of 0.5–5.5 mM and slightly lower sensitivity of 1.1526 mA cm−2 mM−1 in the range of 7–18.5 mM glucose concentration with a detection limit of 0.2 mM. The anti-interference property of CSC powder also was investigated and found that the response of interfering species was less significant compared to glucose response. The proposed sensor offers good sensitivity, wide linear range, and a very low response to interfering biomolecules.

In recent years, much interest has been devoted to bio-fuels because of their beneficial effects on environment, agriculture and economic development. Raw vegetable oil – a kind of bio-fuels, still exits many downsides, is potential renewable fuel replaced for ever-exhausted fossil fuel. In this report, vegetable oil which is available in the South of Vietnam such as raw coconut oil is studied by heating up different temperature with the aim at decreasing its high viscosity and density and meeting the fuel requirements. The experiments are conducted on heated coconut oil (HCO) and fossil diesel oil (DO) using an 80hp of small marine diesel engine. The results of engine performance as using DO and HCO included engine power (Ne), specific fuel consumption (SFC), thermal efficiency (TE), emission characteristics such as carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (HC), smoke, nitrogen oxides (NOx) at internal feature are measured. The experiment results show higher SFC, CO, HC and smoke emissions, and lower TE, and NOx emissions for HCO with respect to DO. In addition, this study also reveals that, 1000C of HCO is said to be the most suitable heating temperature as getting the engine performance equals to DO.

This study examined the quality characteristics of waffles made with coconut extract. Waffles were prepared with the substitution of 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125% of coconut extract. The viscosity of the batter tended to increase with increasing ratio of coconut extract, whereas the spreadability measures were not changed significantly. The baking loss rates tended to increase with increasing ratio of coconut extract while the moisture contents were not changed significantly. The L-value and b-value decreased but the a-value increased. TPA showed that the hardness, springiness, chewiness, cohesiveness, and gumminess tend to increase with increasing amount of coconut extract while the resilience was not changed significantly. The results of the sensory evaluation showed that waffles made with 100% coconut extract were the most preferable in appearance, flavor, taste, texture, and overall acceptability.

Activated carbon was synthesized from coconut shells. The Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area of the synthesized activated carbon was found to be 1640 m2/g with a pore volume of 1.032 cm3/g. The average pore diameter of the activated carbon was found to be 2.52 nm. By applying the size-strain plot method to the X-ray diffraction data, the crystallite size and the crystal strain was determined to be 42.46 nm and 0.000489897, respectively, which indicate a perfect crystallite structure. The field emission scanning electron microscopy image showed the presence of well-developed pores on the surface of the activated carbon. The presence of important functional groups was shown by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectrum. The adsorption of methyl orange onto the activated carbon reached 100% after 12 min. Kinetic analysis indicated that the adsorption of methyl orange solution by the activated carbon followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic mechanism (R2 > 0.995). Therefore, the results show that the produced activated carbon can be used as a proper adsorbent for dye containing effluents.

오늘날 지구온난화를 줄이기 위한 노력으로 온실가스 저감 기술 개발에 대한 노력이 정부차원에서 이루어지고 있으며 그 일환으로 국내에서는 2006년부터 자동차용 경유에 바이오디젤이 혼입되고 있다. 비록 일부 품질 기준상의 개선사항이 남아 있고 대부분의 원료를 수입에 의존하고 있다는 점에서 제한요소가 있음에도 2013년 기준 년간 400kton를 생산하고 있으며 향후 신재생에너지 연료 혼합의무화 제도(RFS)가 시행되면 그 생산양은 더욱 증가할 것으로 예상되는바 원료 다변화를 통한 원료 불균형 해소와 이에 따른 적절한 연구 개발이 필요하다. 본 연구에서는 신규 바이오디젤 원료로 검토되고 있는 라우릭산 메틸에스터(C12:0 FAME) 중심의 팜핵유(PKO, Palm Kernel Oil)와 코코넛유 유래 바이오디젤을 대상으로 국내 품질기준 중 차량 연소계통과 저온성능에 문제를 일으킬 수 있는 글리세린 함량 분석과 관련하여 기존 시험방법(KS M 2412)의 적용 가능성을 조사하였다. 이를 바탕으로 기존 분석조건에서 발생되는 카프릭산 메틸에스터(C10:0 FAME)와의 피크겹침, 총글리세린 도출관련 계산평형상수 등에 대한 개선 사항을 도출하고 보다 다양한 원료를 이용한 바이오디젤 내 글리세린 분석 가능한 시험방법 개발 가능성을 검토하였다.

본 연구는 FDR(Frequency Domain Reflectometry) 센서를 이용하여 코코넛 코이어 배지에서 급액 공급관리에 적합한 수분측정 장소를 찾고 보다 정밀한 측정 방안을 제시하기 위한 기초 실험으로 급액구에서의 측정거리와 위치 그리고 노이즈 필터 사용에 따른 수분변화와 편차를 조사하였다. 시판되는 코코넛 코이어 슬라브 중 coir dust 와 chip의 함량이 10:0, 7:3, 5:5, 3:7인 배지들을 사용했고 배지 윗면과 측면에 급액구부터 5, 10, 20, 30cm의 거리를 두어 센서를 설치하여 동일한 급액을 공급한 후 수분변화를 측정하였으며, 노이즈 필터 사용 여부에 따른 수분변화는 내부가 균일한 인공토양인 글라스 비드를 포수하여 설치간격 0, 6, 12, 21cm에서 측정하였다. 배지조성에 상관없이 센서가 급액구에 가까울수록 높은 수분함량 증가를 나타내었다. 배지 조성 3:7과 10:0에서는 윗면과 측면 측정에 따른 배지 수분함량 변화 특성이 차이를 보이지 않았으나 5:5와 7:3에서는 윗면을 측정시 보다 높은 수분함량 증가를 보였다. Chip 함량이 상대적으로 많은 3:7 배지에서는 다른 배지들보다 수분함량 증가가 낮았다. 노이즈 필터를 사용하게 되면 측정치 변동과 편차가 감소하였다. 따라서, 코코넛 코이어 배지에서 FDR센서를 이용해 배지 수분 계측시 급액구에 가까운 거리의 윗면을 측정하는 것이 급액 이후 배지내 변화를 관측이 용이하다. 다수의 센서를 사용하여 측정할 경우에는 센서 간 간격을 21cm 이상으로 넓게 설치하도록 하며, 노이즈 필터는 측정 안정성 향상을 위해 사용을 권장한다.

본 연구는 절화용 국화의 양액재배를 위한 코코넛 배지의 이용 가능성을 검토하기 위해 수행되었다. 본 연구에서 코코넛 배지는 중과피에서 유래된 dust와 fiber 그리고 가공된 chip을 이용하여 조성하였 다. 시험구의 처리는 코코넛 단용배지 (dust 100%), dust와 fiber 그리고 dust와 chip을 각각 70:30의 부피비로 혼합한 혼용배지, 그리고 비교를 위해 펄라이트를 대조구로 하였다. 배지별 함수율은 펄라이트 배지에서 75.8%로 가장 낮았고 코코넛 더스트 단용배지에서 93.1%로 가장 높게 나타났다. 배액의 pH는 코코넛 단용 및 혼용배지에서 5.8 ~ 6.5사이였으나 펄라이트배지에서 6.7 ~ 7.3의 범위로 높게 나타났 다. 배액의 EC는 코코넛 단용배지에서 가장 높고 펄라이트배지에서 가장 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 국화의 초장, 엽면적, 그리고 건물량은 펄라이트배지와 코코넛 단용배지와 비교하여 코코넛 혼용배지에서 우수 한 것으로 나타났다. 배지처리별 개화소요일수는 차이가 없었다.

Silicon carbide whiskers (SiCw) having the diameter in the range of 20-80 nm were synthesised from coconut fibres through sol-gel process. The coconut fibres were impregnated with tetraethoxysilane and methyltriethoxysilane derived sol and pyrolyzed at 1400℃ in argon. X-ray of the pyrolyzed samples showed the formation of β-SiC.

A series of activated carbons were prepared from coconut shells and coal-tar pitch binder by physical activation with steam in this study. The effect of variable processes such as activation temperature, activation time and ratio of mixing was investigated for optimizing those preparation parameters. The activation processes were carried out continuously. The nitrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 K on pellet-shaped activated carbons show the same trend of Type I by IUPAC classification. The average pore sizes were about 19-21a. The specific surface areas (SBET) of pellet typed ACs increased with increasing the activation temperature and time. Specific surface area of AC treated for 90 min at temperature 900℃ was 1082 m2/g. The methylene blue numbers continuously increased with increasing the activation temperature and time. On the other hand, iodine numbers highly increased till activation time of 60 min, but the rate of increase of iodine numbers decreased after that time. This indicates that new micropores were created and the existing micropores turned into mesopores and macropores because of increased reactivity of carbon surface and H2O.

Currently, Eco-friendly construction materials are widely utilized for reducing CO2 emission in construction. Furthermore various engineering fibers are also added for improving a brittle behavior in concrete. In the paper, concrete specimens with 10% and 20% replacement ratio with RHA (Rice Husk Ash) are prepared, and engineering behaviors in RHA and OPC concrete are evaluated with different addition of coconut fiber from 0.125~0.375% of volume ratio. Several basic tests including compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, impact resistance, and bond strength are performed, and crack width and deflections are also measured in flexural test. RHA is evaluated to be very effective in strength development and 0.125% of fiber addition leads significant improvement in tensile strength, ductility, and crack resistance. RHA and coconut fiber are effective construction material both for reutilization of limited resources and performance improvement in normal concrete.