• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.431-440
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• 2015

This study aims to quantify the railway freight performance using various indicators, to compare it over many countries, and to evaluate efficiency of railway freight in Korea. The indicators developed in this study was classified into two categories; country-specific and company-specific indicator. The former includes freight train density, average gross train load and average haul while the latter contains revenue/ton-km, ratio of operating costs to revenue, revenue per employee, ton-km per employee, costs per ton-km and ratio of labor costs to total operating costs. The results of this study shows that Korail performance is in low efficiency due to multi-frequency small amounts transport. The productivity of railway freight in Korea represented as ton-km per employee appears to be lower than that of other oversea companies considered in this study.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.135-144
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• 2021

In Korea, the parcel delivery service is showing a high growth rate every year thanks to the activation of e-commerce, but the courier unit price continues to drop. Due to the low cost of parcel delivery, there is a need for improvement to normalize courier rates due to deterioration in profitability for couriers, deterioration in service for consumers, and overwork and accidents for workers. In this study, a rational rate system model and a systematic approach were presented. The study method modeled the chargeable weight by reflecting the voulumatirc weight and revenue ton by the volume and weight of the cargo, and presented a new parcel freight charge model based on the cost of delivery. In addition, a rate-determining support system was developed that can be easily, conveniently and reasonably determined on-site. In the demonstration, the rate difference was determined by relying on weight rather than volume, and 63.5% for personal courier and 40% for B2C courier were found to be inadequate. This study could be used as an alternative to solving side effects and problems at the delivery site, in the urgent need for research on ways to improve delivery prices.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.111 no.1
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• pp.177-185
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• 2022

In this study, the economic feasibility of a local energy facility that uses forest biomass as an energy source was assessed. We analyzed profitability using data from the Forest Energy Self-sufficient Village Project financed by the Korea Forest Service. The energy facility has a cogeneration generator and wood chip boiler. Wood chip, which has lower heat value and is cheaper than wood pellets, is used as fuel. Revenue comes from the sale of electricity, heat, and renewable energy certificates. Additionally, we considered the sale of carbon credits as substitutes for fossil fuels. The expenditure consists of fuel costs and fixed costs, and the initial investment is treated as a sunk cost. Under the condition of a 55% operation rate and wood chip price of 95,000 KRW per ton, the annual net revenue is positive. Crucial factors for managing the facility sustainably are operation rate and fuel cost. A simulation in which two factors were changed showed that the annual net revenue is negative with a 50% operation rate and 100,000 KRW per ton of wood chip price. To improve net revenue, an increase in the operation rate or a decrease in the wood chip price is required. Additionally, selling carbon credits will make the operation of the facility more profitable. Furthermore, the payment required to procure wood chips could contribute to the rural economy. To foster the use of forest biomass for energy, the price for heat supplied from renewable energy sources should be subsidized.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

The wood pellet is standardized of woody type fuel which of small cylindrical shape that is produced compress wood remnants in process of woody processing. The pellet is critical energy which expects to increase of the amount used in future. It consumes fuel which of home, common facilities stove and boiler, district heating, and CHP, etc. This study was to develop a movable pellet manufacturing equipment that can be mounted on a truck. The pellet production volume is approximately 309kg per hour, daily output is about 2ton. One days work based on the expected revenue of approximately \268,000 feasibility is considered sufficient.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.313-320
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• 2009

Indonesian Ministry of Environment estimates that each year 170 cities and regencies in Indonesia produce 45,764,354.30 $m^3$ or approximately 11,441,091.08 ton of solid waste. Unfortunately, unsustainable management system has created a severe waste problem, hazardous to health and environment. This paper deals with the problem and offers some solutions. They are 3R (Reduce Reuse and Recycle), waste-to-energy concept and landfill gas (LFG) utilization. While 3R policy has been adopted by the government, the remaining two technologies are still dormant. Thus the paper provides a complete yet compact analysis of technology, economics, and environment aspect of waste-to-energy and LFG. Given the facts of waste production and management in Indonesia, the purpose is to encourage Government of Indonesia and other stake holders (including international community) to explore and exploit this potential. Potential of reducing waste negative externality while receiving extra revenue. Two bird with a stone.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.69-81
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to examine the economic validity of Ecklonia cava aquaculture business for raising fishing people's revenue. The results of this study are summarized as follows: First, the production of Ecklonia cava is estimated about 251 ton or more in Jeju. Second, the distribution structure of Ecklonia cava is not established, but Ecklonia cava is traded much more through bio or processing corporation than through fisheries cooperative like other marine plants. Third, the price of Ecklonia cava should be at least 1,729 won per kilogram under 4.04% of capital cost for economic feasibility of Ecklonia cava aquaculture business. Finally, the results of sensitivity analysis show that there is economic feasibility of Ecklonia cava aquaculture business when the price of Ecklonia cava is more 2,500 won per kilogram and the capital cost is under 8.0%.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.496-523
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• 2018

The objective of this study is to evaluate the economic feasibility of two fast pyrolysis and biooil upgrading (FPBU) plants including feed drying, fast pyrolysis by fluidized-bed, biooil recovery, hydro-processing for biooil upgrading, electricity generation, and wastewater treatment. The two FPBU plants are Case 1 of an FPBU plant with steam methane reforming (SMR) for $H_2$ generation (FPBU-HG, 20% yield), and Case 2 of an FPBU with external $H_2$ supply (FPBUEH, 25% yield). The process flow diagrams (PFDs) for the two plants were constructed, and the mass and energy balances were calculated, using a commercial process simulator (ASPEN Plus). A four-level economic potential approach (4-level EP) was used for techno-economic analysis (TEA) under the assumption of sawdust 100 t//d containing 40% water, 30% equity, capital expenditure equal to the equity, $H_2$ price of $1050/ton, and hydrocarbon yield from dried sawdust equal to 20 and 25 % for Case 1 and 2, respectively. TCI (total capital investment), TPC (total production cost), ASR (annual sales revenue), and MFSP (minimum fuel selling price) of Case 1 were $22.2 million, $3.98 million/yr, $4.64 million/yr, and $1.56/l, respectively. Those of Case 2 were $16.1 million, $5.20 million/yr, $5.55 million/yr, and $1.18/l, respectively. Both ROI (return on investment) and PBP (payback period) of Case 1(FPBU-HG) and Case 2(FPBU-EH) were the almost same. If the plant capacity increases into 1,500 t/d for Case 1 and Case 2, ROI would be improved into 15%/yr.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.355-367
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• 2017

In India, the current operation of condenser cooling system & effluent disposal system in existing power plants aims to reduce drawal of seawater and to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge to meet the demands of statutory requirements, water scarcity and ecological system. Particularly in the Steam-Electric power plants, condenser cooling system adopts Once through cooling (OTC) system which requires more drawal of seawater and effluent disposal system adopts sea outfall system which discharges hot water into sea. This paper presents an overview of closed-loop technology for condenser cooling system and to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge plant in Steam-Electric power plants making it lesser drawal of seawater and complete elimination of hot water discharges into sea. The closed-loop technology for condenser cooling system reduces the drawal of seawater by 92% and Zero Liquid Discharge plant eliminates the hot water discharges into sea by 100%. Further, the proposed modification generates revenue out of selling potable water and ZLD free flowing solids at INR 81,97,20,000 per annum (considering INR 60/Cu.m, 330 days/year and 90% availability) and INR 23,760 per annum (considering INR 100/Ton, 330 days/year and 90% availability) respectively. This proposed modification costs INR 870,00,00,000 with payback period of less than 11 years. The conventional technology can be replaced with this proposed technique in the existing and upcoming power plants.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.47-75
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• 2023

Compared to the EU, which legislates the Carbon Border Adjustment System (CBAM), the United States' carbon border adjustment policy movement is still relatively slow. Recently, however, a related bill has been proposed in the United States, and research institutes have been presenting research results on how to introduce an upstream carbon tax rather than an emission trading system and carry out carbon border adjustment based on it. Therefore, in this study, we looked at the economic and environmental effects of introducing this type of upstream carbon tax and carbon border adjustment in Korea. If an upstream carbon tax of KRW 30,000 per ton of CO₂ is applied to the net supply of domestic fossil energy, the expected carbon tax revenue is approximately KRW 22.9961 trillion, equivalent to about 5.7% of the total revenue of the Korean government of KRW 402 trillion in 2019. In addition, the carbon dioxide content of the steel sector, calculated based on the energy supply and demand status of the steel sector, which emits the most greenhouse gas emissions in Korea and has a considerable amount of overseas exports, was 106.22 million tons of CO₂. On the other hand, assuming that the upstream carbon tax of 30,000 won per ton of CO₂ embodied is directly passed on to the production cost of the steel sector, the carbon tax burden in the steel sector is estimated to reach approximately KRW 3.1865 trillion. Even after deducting KRW 1.1599 trillion in export refunds estimated by using the share of exports of steel products, the net carbon tax burden on steel products for domestic demand amounts to KRW 2.0266 trillion, which is analyzed to act as a factor in increasing the price of steel products.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.67-76
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• 2022

The furniture industry has a high possibility to create value-added and a high potential to create new occupations due to the characteristics of the industry, which mainly consists of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, the used furniture, which has sufficient reuse value, is also crushed and used as solid refuse fuel (SRF) recently. Besides, the number of waste treatment companies continues to decrease, and it occurs congestion of wood waste. As a way to solve the issue, a business model development of remanufacturing used furniture can be suggested as an alternative due to its high circular economic efficiency. Remanufacturing business including furniture industry creates positive effects in various aspects such as economic, environmental and job creation. In other words, remanufacturing is an effective recycling way to reduce input resources and energy in the production process. The results of economic analysis show that the expected annual revenue from the single worker furniture remanufacturing site was 104 million won which is 3.11 times more than the average income of a single-worker household in Korea and its B/C ratio was estimated about 30 which means high business feasibility. Revenue through furniture remanufacturing also showed 320 times higher than that of SRF production from the perspective of weight. In addition, it is shown that the GHGs reduction from the furniture remanufacturing is 2.2 ton CO₂-eq. per year, which is similar to the amount of GHGs absorption effect of 937 pine trees or 622 Korean oak trees annually. Thus the results of this study demonstrate that it is important to adopt an appropriate recycling method considering the economic and environmental effects at the end-of-life stage.