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High Efficiency Bio-butanol production technology developed
KAIST and Korean Company cooperative research team has developed the technology that increases the productivity of bio-butanol to equal that of bio-ethanol and decreases the cost of production.
Professor Lee Sang Yeop (Department of Biological-Chemical Engineering) collaborated with GS Caltex and BioFuelChem Ltd. to develop a bio-butanol production process using the system metabolism engineering method that increased the productivity and decreased the production cost.
Bio-butanol is being widely regarded as the environmentally friendly next generation energy source that surpasses bio-ethanol.
The energy density of bio-butanol is 29.9MJ (mega Joule) per Liter, 48% larger than bio-ethanol (19.6MJ) and comparable to gasoline (32MJ). Bio-butanol is advantageous in that it can be processed from inedible biomass and is therefore unrelated to food crises.
Especially because bio-butanol shows similar characteristics especially in its octane rating, enthalpy of vaporization, and air-fuel ratio, it can be used in a gasoline engine.
However barriers such as difficulty in gene manipulation of producer bacterium and insufficient information prevented the mass production of bio-butanol.
Professor Lee’s team applied the system metabolism engineering method that he had invented to shift the focus to the production pathway of bio-butanol and made a new metabolism model.
In the new model the bio-butanol production pathway is divided into the hot channel and the cold channel.
The research team focused on improving the efficiency of the hot channel and succeeded in improving the product yield of 49% (compared to theoretical yield) to 87%.
The team furthered their research and developed a live bio-butanol collection and removal system with GS Caltex. The collaboration succeeded in producing 585g of butanol using 1.8kg of glucose at a rate of 1.3g per hour, boasting world’s highest concentration, productivity, and rate and improving productivity of fermentation by three fold and decreasing costs by 30%.
The result of the research was published in world renowned ‘mBio’ microbiology journal.
2012.12.21 View 8536 -
Technology that will allow household scale position tracking of smartphones indoors, where GPS signals do not reach, has been developed. It is anticipated that the newly developed technology will enable the tracking of persons indoors in an emergency situ
Technology that will allow household scale position tracking of smartphones indoors, where GPS signals do not reach, has been developed. It is anticipated that the newly developed technology will enable the tracking of persons indoors in an emergency situation or aid in the finding of a lost smartphone.
Professor Han Dong Soo (Department of Computer Sciences) and his research team has developed the technology that enables tracking a smartphone’s location indoors using wireless LAN signals accurate to 10 meters.
Because the technology utilizes wireless LAN signals and the address of smartphone users, the technology can be implemented for a low cost all over the world.
Conventionally the location of a lost smartphone can be found through a telecommunications company. However the location found using the base station is only accurate to 500m~700m and therefore reclaiming lost smartphones is nearly impossible.
In addition, there have been unfortunate events where the kidnapped victim called the police but was murdered due to the inaccuracy of smartphone location tracking.
The newly developed technology by Professor Han’s team remedies the inaccuracy of smartphone location tracking.
Professor Han’s team collected wireless LAN data recorded in the smartphones for a week to analyze the patterns to distinguish patterns between signals recorded in the workplace and in the household.
The stability and accuracy of the technology was verified over a period of five months in various locations across Korea with varying population densities.
The result was when the total amount of data collected passes 50% of the number of households, the technology show accuracy to 10 meters. The result showed that the new technology can track the location of the smartphone to 10 meters on a household scale. In addition it was possible to distinguish which floor the smartphone was located.
The technology is anticipated to improve smartphone positioning. However caution needs to be practiced as the technology requires the address of the user’s workplace and home.
2012.12.21 View 8430
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Household Scale Indoor Position Tracking Technology Developed
Technology that will allow household scale position tracking of smartphones indoors, where GPS signals do not reach, has been developed. It is anticipated that the newly developed technology will enable the tracking of persons indoors in an emergency situation or aid in the finding of a lost smartphone.
Professor Han Dong Soo (Department of Computer Sciences) and his research team has developed the technology that enables tracking a smartphone’s location indoors using wireless LAN signals accurate to 10 meters.
Because the technology utilizes wireless LAN signals and the address of smartphone users, the technology can be implemented for a low cost all over the world.
Conventionally the location of a lost smartphone can be found through a telecommunications company. However the location found using the base station is only accurate to 500m~700m and therefore reclaiming lost smartphones is nearly impossible.
In addition, there have been unfortunate events where the kidnapped victim called the police but was murdered due to the inaccuracy of smartphone location tracking.
The newly developed technology by Professor Han’s team remedies the inaccuracy of smartphone location tracking.
Professor Han’s team collected wireless LAN data recorded in the smartphones for a week to analyze the patterns to distinguish patterns between signals recorded in the workplace and in the household.
The stability and accuracy of the technology was verified over a period of five months in various locations across Korea with varying population densities.
The result was when the total amount of data collected passes 50% of the number of households, the technology show accuracy to 10 meters. The result showed that the new technology can track the location of the smartphone to 10 meters on a household scale. In addition it was possible to distinguish which floor the smartphone was located.
The technology is anticipated to improve smartphone positioning. However caution needs to be practiced as the technology requires the address of the user’s workplace and home.
2012.12.21 View 7553
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KAIST International Students Organize KAIST ONE Program
International Students at KAIST are running a program called “KAIST ONE” (Overseas Networking Exchange) in order to promote an active exchange between students and to present their cultures.
Originally an international cultural activity at the ICU (then the Information and Communications University) in 2007, the program changed its name to “KAIST ONE” and was continued after the merging of the university with KAIST. Students of about 40 different countries have participated to date, and each annual event attracts more than 150 students.
Over 700 international students from 70 different countries around the world spontaneously organize and manage the KAIST ONE program, which is run five times this semester, every other Thursday from 7p.m. to 9p.m. at the KAIST International Center.
The 11th of last month and the 1st of this month witnessed an enthusiastic response from about 150 participants who joined the Columbian and the Saudi Arabian students in introducing their cultures, presenting traditional cultural performances, and sharing traditional foods.
The next in line are Danish, Ugandan, and Cameroonian students who are set to have their turns on this month’s 15th, 29th, and next month’s 6th, respectively.
Also notable is the active attention and support from foreign embassies such as the participation of Tunisian, Brazilian, Pakistani, Azerbaijani, Thai, and German ambassadors in the program since last year to provide food and introductory guides to cultures.
The director of this year’s program, Karim Charfi (Tunisian, 3rd year Electrical Engineering) said, “During the selection stage of each semester, everyone competes for the chance to present their country,” and “KAIST ONE has established itself as a unique and exotic cultural event at KAIST since it networks about 40 of the relatively less known countries such as Uganda, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Chile and the people with diverse cultures.”
The supervisor of the program, Chang Dong Yoo of the Office of Special Projects and Institutional Relations said, “KAIST ONE is an opportunity for international students to acquaint people with their cultures, and it is also a site of cultural exchange and of building friendships among KAIST students and international students,” and “we plan to extend the event such that not only the KAIST members but also the local residents can join in.”
The program welcomes KAIST students as well as the general public.
2012.12.21 View 7330
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Professor Hwang Gyu Young Elected as Chairman of IEEE TCDE.
Professor Hwang Gyu Young (Department of Computer Science) was elected as the Chairman of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) TCDE (Technical Committee on Data Engineering).
IEEE TCDE is one of the three academic organizations (including VLDB Endowment, ACM SIGMOD) and Professor Hwang is the first to be elected as Chairman from the Asia-Pacific region.
Professor Hwang’s tenure begins on New Year’s Day for two years.
IEEE TCDE holds the world’s most prestigious academic competition IEEE ICDE and hosts the Working Group and publishes the IEEE Data Engineering Bulletin.
2012.12.21 View 8555
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Novel material that prevents health decline with age found
Professor Kim Dae Soo (Department of Biological Science), his research team, the Choong Nam University Medicine School, and various companies conducted collaborative research succeeded in developing a novel material that prevents health decline with age. The result was published in PLoS One Journal with the title “Beta-lapachone, a modulator of NAD metabolism, prevents health declines in aged mice”.
Longevity and health can be obtained with reducing consumption of food and aerobic exercise.
Professor Kim’s team focused on the fact that reduced consumption of food and aerobic exercise increase the coenzyme (NAD+) which suppresses the aging of cells. The research team discovered that by activating NQO1 enzyme with Beta-lapachone, the amount of NAD+ in the body increases even without reduction of food consumption or aerobic exercise.
Even consumption of Beta-lapachone by aging mice caused an improved on the brain and exercise ability of the mice. It is expected that commercialization of Beta-lapachone will be possible as it is a chemical that is commonly found in herbs used in both the orient and the oxidant.
2012.12.21 View 6967
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Ph.D. students Hyowon Park and Won Ma receive Grand Prizes in Mathematics and Biology respectively.
Researchers in KAIST received best paper awards in two out of three fields at this year’s award ceremony for the “Second Annual Best Thesis Paper Award” held collectively by the Korea University Presidents’ Federation (with Chairman DaeSoon Lee) and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (with Director GilSang Jung).
Two researchers from KAIST, Hyowon Park (Department of Mathematics) and Won Ma (Department of Biology) received best paper awards.
This prize, given by the both the Korea University Presidents’ Federation and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology since last year, is awarded to researchers and assistant professors who write the most outstanding thesis papers in the field of basic sciences.
Park, who received the best paper award this year, did research on graph braid groups. He was supervised by Professor Kihyung Ko, who received the best supervisor reward.
Ma, who received the best paper award in the field of biological science, researched about the Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder due to deficiency of the GIT1 synapse protein. His supervising professor also received the supervisor award.
The award ceremony was held in the auditorium of the S-OIL headquarters in Seoul on November 30.
Meanwhile, NASA researcher Jaehwa Lee received the best paper award in the field of earth science, and his supervising professor, Professor Jun Kim from Yonsei University who studies atmospheric science, received the best supervisor award.
2012.12.21 View 9528
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KAIST to be Nominated as the Top 100 Innovators
A total of 7 South Korean universities, research institutes, and corporates, including KAIST, POSTECH, and Korean Research Institute of Chemical Technology, have been selected as the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovative Organizations.
In particular, universities were part of the list for the first time in 2012, with two South Korean universities, KAIST and POSTECH, being the only entities representing their category.
Thomson Reuters, the world"s leading media and financial-data firm, has announced a report entitled "2012 Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovative Organizations", which includes KAIST and 6 other South Korean institutes, corporates, and universities.
Thomson Reuters has been publishing an annual report since last year that selects the Top 100 Global Innovative Organizations by analyzing quantitative and qualitative data through original methods and criteria such as ▲the ratio of published patent applications to granted patents, ▲the number of innovative patents that have quadrilateral patents in their patent families, ▲the number of citations to each organizations" patents, excluding self-citations, and ▲the generation of a sizable amount of innovation.
According to the most recent report, 47 American corporates and 21 European corporates have been selected as the Top 100 Global Innovative Organizations. Japan was the leading nation in the continent of Asia with 25 listed corporates, while 7 corporates, research institutes, and universities, including KAIST, have been selected from South Korea.
Besides, POSTECH, Korea Research Institute of Science and Technology, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, LSIS, LG Electronics, and Samsung Electronics were the 6 other South Korean organizations that are included in the list.
Doo Won-soo, chief of Public Relations Department of KAIST, said "Thomson Reuter"s selection of innovative organizations demonstrates that KAIST is an organization that puts great efforts for the development of advanced technologies and innovative research," also reminding that KAIST earned the 5th position by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, among universities worldwide with applications for international patents.
Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters is the world"s leading media and financial-data firm that offers valuable intelligent information to CEO"s and experts in the vast fields of finance, banking, legislation, taxation, accounting, intellectual properties, science, and media.
Reports from Thomson Reuters are also accounted in the assessment of Times Higher Educations (THE), the British organization for world university rankings. The head office of Thomson Reuters is currently in New York, USA, with a total of 60,000 employees working overseas.
2012.12.21 View 8405
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Prof. Jang-Uk Choi develops Strong, Long-lasting Lithium-ion Battery
Lithium-ion secondary battery with high power, as well asmuch longer life span, has been developed using nanotechnology. Professor Jang-Uk Choi and his colleagues at KAIST University EEWS graduate school has succeeded in developing a new lithium-ion secondary battery that has more than five times the output and three times the life span of the conventional batteries.
The industry expects the new battery to significantly improve the acceleration performance and solve the drawbacks of slow electric cars, which occurred due to failure of battery performance to keep up with the output of the motors during acceleration.
It is also expected that the new battery could be utilized in various fields that require high power batteries such as Smart Grid, which is the next generation intelligent electrical grid, as well as electric tools and many others.
Currently, the most widely used commercial lithium ion batteries’ lithium-cobalt-based cathode material has the disadvantage of expensive cost, high toxicity, short life expectancy and long-charge/discharge time. Also, it has been difficult to apply in electric cars that require a large current density and are vulnerable to heat generated during charging/discharging.
On the other hand, Professor Choi and his colleagues’ lithium-manganese based cathode material is gaining popularity for having the advantages such as abundant raw materials, cheap prices, eco-friendliness and especially excellent high-temperature stability and high output, which are suitable for use as electrode material in electric cars.
The pure lithium manganese based cathode material has a critical drawback of a very short life expectancy, only lasting about average of 1-2 years, which is due to the elution when the melted manganese flows out into the electrolyte. There have been various studies to solve this problem; however, the unique crystal structure of the material remained as a challenge for many scientists.
Professor Choi’s team analyzed the structure of the crystal at the time shortly before manganese oxides were formed, while controlling the reaction temperature at the step of synthesizing nanomaterial. It has been found that, at 220℃, there are simultaneously existing two crystal faces, one that inhibits the dissolution of manganese ions and the other that enables lithium ions to move smoothly.
Each of these crystal faces improves both the life span and output, increasing the output more than five times and life expectancy over three times. In addition, the existing high temperature life span, that was known to be especially vulnerable, has improved ten-fold.
“By controlling the crystal face of lithium manganese anode material, which has previously existed in the battery as chunks of about 10 micro-meter particles, both output and life span has significantly improved,” said Professor Choi, “Domestic and international patent application for the regarding technology has been finished and we have plans to work with companies in the future for commercialization within 2-3 years.”
Professor Yi Cui of Stanford University, the world’s leading scholar on the secondary battery, has evaluated that “This research exemplifies how nanotechnology can innovatively develop the field of secondary battery.”
Meanwhile, the research led by Professor Jang-Uk Choi and participated by researcher Ju-Seong Kim has been published on the online edition (dated Nov 27th) of Nanoletters, the world’s leading authority on Nanoscience.
2012.12.21 View 8748
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Midam Scholarship Society Receives Minister of Education, Science, and Technology Prize for Education Donation
Midam Scholarship Society, consisting of KAIST students, has been awarded the First Korea Education Donation Grand Prize from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
The Education Donation Prize has been created in order to encourage those university clubs that have been increasing awareness of education donation and at the same time donating educational services themselves.
Midam Scholarship Society was established by KAIST students in 2009 to provide educational services to those students from low income families. Currently over 200 students from six different universities (KAIST, UNIST, Pusan University, Chonnam University, Kyungpook National University, Kumoh Engineering University) are involved in the Midam Scholarship Society.
Approximately 70 students participate in the KAIST Midam Scholarship Society. The classes take place in the classrooms every week for three hours over a period of three months. The classes are offered to over 1,000 high school students in and near DaeJeon.
2012.12.21 View 8739
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Firefly inspired high efficiency LED technology developed
A firefly inspired, high efficiency self-illuminating LED has been developed.
Professor Jeong Gi Hoon (Department of Bio and Brain Engineering) mimicked the nanostructure of the external layer of the illumination organ of a firefly and succeeded in fabricating high illumination efficiency LED lenses.
Conventional lenses required expensive anti-reflection coating. The developed lenses utilize the bio-inspired nanostructure on the surface of the lenses themselves to reduce the reflectivity of the lenses thereby decreasing production costs.
The developed antireflection nanostructure is expected to be applied to various digital devices and lighting fixtures.
Antireflective structures have been applied in various fields in order to enhance light efficiency However these structures have been limited to flat surfaces and therefore was difficult to implement to curved surfaces like LED lenses.
Professor Jeong’s team solved this problem by using three dimensional micro molding processes.
The team fabricated the nanostructure by forming a single nanoparticle layer on the silicon oxide and performing dry etching. On this nanostructure PDMS was poured and manipulated to fabricate a lens structure similar to that of a firefly.
The fabricated lens showed similar efficiency as conventional antireflection coating.
2012.11.29 View 7868
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Principle behind increasing the catalytic property of nanocatalysts proven
The technology that allows full control of the catalytic property of nanocatalysts using oxide formation on nanocatalysts has been developed by KAIST researchers. The breakthrough opens up the possibility of the development of a new kind of catalysts that maximizes catalytic property and minimizes waste.
*nanocatalyst is a material that catalyzes gas reactions on its surface. It is composed of a high surface area oxide scaffold with nano-sized metal particles dispersed.
The team was led by Professor Park Jeong Young of the KAIST EEWS Graduate School and consists of Kamran Qadir Ph.D. candidate (1st Author), Professor Joo Sang Hoon of UNIST, Professor Moon Bong Jin of Hanyang University, and Professor Gabor Somorajai of UC Berkeley. Support for the research was provided from Ministry of Education Science and Technology, National Research Foundation, and Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The results were published as the online edition of Nano Letters: “Intrinsic Relation between Catalytic Activity of CO Oxidation on Ru Nanoparticles and Ru Oxides Uncovered with Ambient Pressure XPS”.
Catalysts are included in above 80% of all the products used in everyday life and are therefore included in most aspects of our lives.
The focus on nanocatalysts is based on finding solutions to increasing the efficiency for application to energy production and for solving environmental issues.
Most nanocatalysts are composed of nanoparticles and oxides where the nanoparticles increase the surface area of the catalyst to increase its activity.
The efficiency of a nanocatalyst is affected by the surface oxide of the nanoparticles. However the proving of this assumption remained difficult to do as it required in-situ measurement of the oxide state of the nanoparticles in the specific environment. Thus far, the experiments were conducted in a vacuum and therefore did not reflect the actual behavior in real life. The recently developed X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy allows for measurement of the oxidization state at standard atmospheric pressure.
Professor Park’s research team successfully measured the oxidization state of the nanoparticle using the atmospheric pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy in the specified environment.
They confirmed the effect the oxidization state on the catalytic effect of the nanoparticles and additionally found that a thin layer of oxide can increase the catalytic effect and the effectiveness of the nanoparticle can controlled by the oxidation state.
2012.11.29 View 8491