Government efforts on membrane technology started in early 1980 with Membrane Development Program supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Several independent research projects on liquid separation, gas separation, hollow fiber producing program etc. were carried out during the 1980s. The RaCER was commissioned by MOCI for the general management of the project which had its aims in establishing the base for developing membranes, modules and systems for liquid separation in August 1993. More recently, in June 1995, a program for developing membranes for oxygen separation, nitrogen separation and hydrogen separation was initiated. This paper outlines the brief history of membrane technology development in Korea from the introduction of membrane filtration technology during the late 1960s to present.

A simple mathematical model for facilitated mass transport through a fixed site carrier membrane was derived by assuming an instantaneous, microscopic concentration (activity) fluctuation. The current model demonstrates that the facilitation factor depends on the extent of concentration fluctuation, the time scale ratios of diffusion to chemical reaction and the ratio of the carrier concentration to the solute solubility in matrix. The model was examined against the experimental data on oxygen transport in membranes containing metallo-porphyrin carriers, and the agreement was exceptional (within 10% error). The basic concept of this approach was applied to separate olefin from olefin/paraffin mixtures. A proprietaty carrier, developed here, resulted that the selectivity of propylene over propane was more than 120 and the propylene permeance exceed 40 gpu.

Urethane block copolymers, containing soft segments such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polytertramethylene glycol(PTMG) and PEO-PPO-PEO (Poloxamer) block copolymer, were synthesized and examined for th vapor- phase separation of toluene from nitrogen stream by using vapor permeation equipment. Generally permeabilities of PTMG and PDMS based urethane membranes were higher than those of Poloxamer based urethane membranes. Organic vapor permeability in the PDMS and PTMG soft segment urethane membranes were greater than those measured in the Poloxamer films, due to more polymer swelling. The membranes performed best with toluene, with toluene/dry N2 seletivities ranging from 120~200 and permeablilities as high as 23$\times$10-9 mol/m2sPa for saturated toluene feeds at 23$^{\circ}C$.

Poly(phenylene oxide)s were used to prepare flat, integrally skinned self-supporthed asymmetric membranes by dry-wet phase separption. The intrinsic ideal gas selectivity of poly- (2,6-dimethy-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PMPO) was retained in the membranes, and improved by a coating with silicone rubber. Polymers of the same class were coated of UF supports with a silicon rubber gutter layer, yielding composite membranes with high flux but lower selectivity. The effect of th glutaraldehyde cross-linking of sodium alginate (SA) membranes on the mobility of water and ethanol has been studied with pfg nmr. Crosslinking reduces water self-diffusion, and does not seem to be stable on the timescale of weeks.

Membrane technology can be applied in two ways to produce pure enantiomers. In one case, a membrane separation process can be combined with an enantiospecific reaction to obtain so-called 'enantiospecific membrane reactor'. These systems are useful to carry out asymmetric synthesis or kinetic resolution and simultaneously separate the produced enantiomer. As for general membrane reactors, the result is a were compact system with a higher conversion; in fact, removal of a product drives equilibrium-limited reactions towards completion. The other way to apply membrane technology to chiral production is the use of intrinsically enantioselective membranes that are able to distinguish between two isomers favouring preperential transport of only one isomer in absence of reaction. In This paper, the current development of chiral membrane processes will be discussed.

Nanofiltration (NF) composite membranes based of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and sodium alginate (SA) were prepared by coating PVA/SA (95/5 in wt %) mixture solutions on the microporous polysulfone (PS) supports, followed by the crosslinking with glutaraldehyed. The composite membranes prepared were characterized with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), a fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR), an elecrtokinetic analyzer (EKA) and permeation tests.

Perfluoropolymers represent the ultimate resistance to hostile chemical environments and high service temperature, attributed to the presence of fluorine in the polymer backbone, i.e. to the high bond energy of C-F and C-C bonds of fluorocarbons. Copolymers of Tetrafluoroethylene (TEE) and 2, 2, 4Trifluoro-5Trifluorometoxy- 1, 3Dioxole (TTD), commercially known as HYFLON AD, are amorphous perfluoropolymers with glass transition temperature (Tg)higher than room temperature, showing a thermal decomposition temperature exceeding 40$0^{\circ}C$. These polymer systems are highly soluble in fluorinated solvents, with low solution viscosities. This property allows the preparation of self-supported and composite membranes with desired membrane thickness. Symmetric and asymmetric perfluoropolymer membranes, made with HYFLON AD, have been prepared and evaluated. Porous and not porous symmetric membranes have been obtained by solvent evaporation with various processing conditions. Asymmetric membranes have been prepared by th wet phase inversion method. Measure of contact angle to distilled water have been carried out. Figure 1 compares experimental results with those of other commercial membranes. Contact angles of about 120$^{\circ}$for our amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes demonstrate that they posses a high hydrophobic character. Measure of contact angles to hexandecane have been also carried out to evaluate the organophobic character. Rsults are reported in Figure 2. The observed strong organophobicity leads to excellent fouling resistance and inertness. Porous membranes with pore size between 30 and 80 nanometers have shown no permeation to water at pressures as high as 10 bars. However high permeation to gases, such as O2, N2 and CO2, and no selectivities were observed. Considering the porous structure of the membrane, this behavior was expected. In consideration of the above properties, possible useful uses in th field of gas- liquid separations are envisaged for these membranes. A particularly promising application is in the field of membrane contactors, equipments in which membranes are used to improve mass transfer coefficients in respect to traditional extraction and absorption processes. Gas permeation properties have been evaluated for asymmetric membranes and composite symmetric ones. Experimental permselectivity values, obtained at different pressure differences, to various single gases are reported in Tab. 1, 2 and 3. Experimental data have been compared with literature data obtained with membranes made with different amorphous perfluoropolymer systems, such as copolymers of Perfluoro2, 2dimethyl dioxole (PDD) and Tetrafluorethylene, commercialized by the Du Pont Company with the trade name of Teflon AF. An interesting linear relationship between permeability and the glass transition temperature of the polymer constituting the membrane has been observed. Results are descussed in terms of polymer chain structure, which affects the presence of voids at molecular scale and their size distribution. Molecular Dyanmics studies are in progress in order to support the understanding of these results. A modified Theodoru- Suter method provided by the Amorphous Cell module of InsightII/Discover was used to determine the chain packing. A completely amorphous polymer box of about 3.5 nm was considered. Last but not least the use of amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes appears to be ideal when separation processes have to be performed in hostile environments, i.e. high temperatures and aggressive non-aqueous media, such as chemicals and solvents. In these cases Hyflon AD membranes can exploit the outstanding resistance of perfluoropolymers.

Pd-ceramic composite membranes and catalytic membrane reactors(CMR) have been studied for hydrogen purification and recovery in th fusion reactor fuel cycle. The development of techniques for coating microporous ceramic tubes with Pd and Pd/Ag layers is described: composite membranes have been produced by electroless deposition (Pd/Ag film of 10-20${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) and rolling of thin metal sheet (Pd and Pd/ Ag membranes of 50-70 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$). Experimental results on electroless membranes showed that the metallic film presented some defects and the membranes had not complete hydrogen selectivity . Then the catalytic membrane reactors with electroless membranes can be applied for some industrial processes that do not require a complete separation of the hydrogen (i.e. in the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons). The rolled thin Pd/Ag membranes separated the hydrogen from the other gas with a complete selectivity and exhibited a slightly larger (about a factor 1.7) mass transfer resistance with respect to the electroless membranes. Experimental tests confirmed the good performances in terms of durability.

To investigate numerically the removal behavior of carbon dioxide in a hollow fiber membrane contactor, the system controlling equations were developed including the nonlinear reversible reaction terms. The reversible chemical reactions were incorporated in the system controlling equations, resulting in the coupled nonlinear partial differential equations which could describe either the absorption of the desorption of carbon dioxide. The computer program was coded using the Fortran language and run with a personal computer to find out the effects of the system variables: the pressures of absorbed and desorbed gases, the absorbent flow rate, the concentration of potassium carbonate, the fiber diameter and the length.

In the present work, results of simulation studies carried out for the water carbonation process are presented and compared with experimental data obtained for the same system. Furthermore, the use of membrane contactors in integrated membrane operations is proposed and discussed as a mean to enhance the performance of processes.

Nafion supported catalytic membranes were found to be active, stable and selective in th partial oxidation of propane to oxygenates with H2O2 under mild condition. Addition of Fe2+ in liquid phase enhances the reaction rate. Reaction proceeds according to a radical mechanism based on th electrophilic activation of propane on superacid sites and subsequent reaction of the activated paraffin with OH radicals. The use of a catalytic membrane, which allow separation of the intermediate products from the liquid phase containing the oxidant, was found to be effective to perform selective partial oxidation of propane with high yields to oxygenated products.

MF membrane element was specially designed for water purification and VSA process which can solve the fouling problem. Especially VSA process is developed for the SK Chemical's asymmetric microfiltration hollow fiber membranes. In case of outside-to-in filtration process, MF membrane element showed the excellent flux stability caused by cleaning ability of VSA process. Simultaneous back- washing with VSA considerably enhances cleaning efficiency. Form the result, the possibility of the replacement of chemical coagulation and sand filtration process with newly developed VSA process was revealed.

Using Small Angle Light Scattering (SALS), the effect of quench depth on the kinetics of phase separation for ternary solution blends was investigated. The system was composed of two polymers (polystyrene and polybutadiene) and a solvent (toluene). The analyses of the early stage of phase separation were based of the Cahn-Hilliard theory [1,5]. Apparent diffusion coefficients and the fastest mode of fluctuations were evaluated, when quench depth of the system were varied near the critical composition of polymer. In the late stage of phase separation, the domain growth showed a power law with the 1/3 exponent, i.e. $q_m(t)~t^{-1/3}$. For comparison between real images and scattering profiles with time, the image of phase domains with time were obtained by using Laser Confocal Scanning Microscopy (LSCM).

The imidization effect of a poly (amic acid) dope solution on membrane formation has been investigated. Poly (amic acid) solution in S-methyl-2-pyrrolidione hs been thermally imidized at $120^{\circ}C$ with different curing time and its degree of imidization was determined by infrared spectroscopy. The solution properties have been studied as a function of concentration and curing time by dynamic light scattering. The quality of a solvent was changed from good to poor with increasing imidization of poly(amic acid).The reduced polymer-solvent interaction diminishes the membrane formation time. The morphology of a membrane was able to be controlled by the characteristics of dope solution.

The ultrafiltration behavior of dilute colloidal solution containing Si particles has been investigated. The experiments in cross flow mode have been performed at different operating condition by using the membrane with 20 kDa cut-off. The flux decline was due to the development of membrane fouling which was a dynamic process of two distinctive stages. For the high trans-membrane pressure, the pore blocking resistance was dominant at the initial period of filtraion and was followed by the cake resistance. And for the low cross flow velocity, the membrane fouling was governed by the cake filtration model at the initial stage of filtration process. Flux jump was observed temporally during the membrane filtration of mixed feed solution.

In this work a new process was developed for the sulfonation of the chemicallly stable engineering polymer polyethersulfone as membrane materials for electrodialysis or a flow battery applications. Commercially available polyethersulfone polymer was partially sulfonated using a CSA sulfonating agent in a dichloromethane solvent, which sulfonated polyethersulfone with various sulfonation levels have been prepared. Sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) membranes with different ion capacities were prepared for the purpose of identifying cation exchange membrane properties, in an attempt to find a low cost replacement for Nafion, which most of the perfluorinated membranes, known to exhibit a prolonged service life, are expensive and difficult to process. The following features were determined: the degree of sulfonation, water uptake, thermal analysis, and electrochemical properties such as ion exchange capacities, resistivity, selectivity of ion permeation. The surface of the cation exchange membranes, decomposed with the H202-treatment, were observed by using scanning electron microscope. The area resistivities of SPES mebranes in 5N-NaOH decreased from $2,150{\;}{\Omega}-cm2$ to less than $15{\Omega}-cm2$ as the ion exchange capacity (IEC) increased from 0.62 to 1.73 millieequivlants per dry gram(meq/dg).eq/dg).