• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.492-497
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• 2014

This study investigated removal characteristics of organic matters in pretreatment and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane processes for seawater desalination. Also, the influence of the changes in characteristics of organic matters on the membrane fouling was assessed. The pretreatment processes included dual media filtration (DMF), pressurized membrane filtration (MF), and submerged membrane filtration (SMF). Turbidity, UV absorption at 254 nm, dissolved organic carbon, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), fluorescence excitation emission matrix (FEEM), and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in raw and processed waters were analyzed. Ions and minerals were not removed by any pretreatment process tested, but were removed over 99% through the RO membrane process. Hydrophobic organics, which can play major role in organic membrane fouling, were relatively readily removed compared with hydrophilic ones. Membrane based pretreatment such as MF and SMF exhibited better removals of organics than conventional DMF. As the levels of organics in pretreated water decreased, the silt density index (SDI) decreased. MF treated water exhibited the lowest SDI value; this is possibly due to the lowest TEP ($0.1-0.4{\mu}m$) concentrations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.143-155
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• 2010

Fouling by inorganic scales needs to be prevented to effectively operate sea water reverse osmosis(SWRO) membrane systems. The extents of inorganic scaling with different array designs including one-pass, two-pass and several hybrid designs were evaluated using seawater from southern sea near the city of Chang-Won. The used methods for evaluation were Stiff and Davis Index(S&DSI) calculation and several laboratory experiments. The formation potential of inorganic scale fouling was quite great under the examined conditions, which was confirmed by the laboratory experimental results. The inorganic scale was not avoidable fouling if any anti-scaling measures were not applied. The RO showed decreased flux under the scale formation conditions. The increases in S&DSI from 1.43 to 5 made small decreases in flux, which indicated that formation of inorganic scales had more substantial effects on RO flux than amount of inorganic scales.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.157-164
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• 2010

Seawater desalination has vest interest in terms of ultimate water resources for the countries suffering lack of water supply. Water demand is steadily increasing due to the population growth and industrialization in Asia. The objectives of this study are to prospect the desalination market in Asia countries including China, India and Singapore, and to propose possible strategies of getting through Asia water market. Water supply in China is increasing up to $5,322,060m^3$/d in 2015. Northeast coastal areas such as Tianjin, Shandong, Hubei, and Liaoning are expected rapid increase for water demand. The investment of water supply in India would be 1.74 billion dollars during 2006 to 2015. Chennai, Kutch, and Pondicherry have possibility in introducing seawater desalination plants. Singapore is focusing on water reuse, and operating three NEWater plants (water reuse plants). BOT with total solution providing financing, construction, operation etc. is an adequate strategy to getting through China water market, while desalination plant project connecting with power plant is desirable in India. The cooperative system with Korea and Singapore creates synergy effect regarding planning and operating experience of Singapore and EPC ability of Korea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.343-350
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• 2008

Many reports have warned of insufficient water supply in most countries in future and prospected providing safe and clean water become more difficult by lack of access to sustainable drinking water resources. Several facts and figures explained the impact by natural climate change and human activity results in the water scarcity and deterioration. Among many scientific solutions, the seawater desalination using a reverse osmosis membrane, so called SWRO (Seawater Reverse Osmosis) process, has been recognized as one of the most promising alternatives because of its stability and efficiency in producing large amount of drinking water from seawater through desalination by membrane filtration. Recently, in Korea, numerous researches are conducted to develop more productive and cost effective SWRO process for its wide implementation. The objective of this paper is to review the patents concerning SWRO technologies involving the plant engineering, maintenance including pretreatment of seawater and fouling control, module design, and mechanical units development for energy saving. The patents in Korea, U.S., Japan, Europe, and PCT were intensively researched and analyzed to provide the state of the art as well as leading edge technology on SWRO. This information can hopefully suggest meaningful guidelines on future research and development.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.251-255
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• 2009

Foreign and domestic seawater desalination plant market investigation was performed to analyze the worldwide trend of seawater desalination plant market and to establish the activation plan for seawater desalination plant application. Water demand and seawater desalination related laws and regulations were investigated and analyzed for the activation plan. RO type and large scale plants are popular nowadays however there are only small plants in island region in Korea. There will be about $1 million\;m^3/day$ deficit in 2015 according to the water demand forecasting from Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Land, Transportation, and Maritime Affairs in Korea. Therefore, it is necessary to activate the domestic application of seawater desalination plant to secure stable water resources. To activate the domestic application of seawater desalination plant, first, we need to establish regulations, support system in the water service law for seawater desalination plant. Second, related Ministry should increase the support for the operation and management of seawater desalination plant and suggest the construction of seawater desalination plant for water resources security near seaside region.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2009

This study examines the optimum filtration conditions in pretreatment of seawater desalination by reverse osmosis. For this purpose, Masan bay seawater is treated through a gravity filter column while $FeCl_3$ is added as coagulant. The conditions of coagulantd osage, media depth, filtration rate, and backwash time are evaluated. The study results show that the filtrate quality improved with increasing coagulant dosage, but head loss rapidly increased. After 4mg/L, the unit filter run volume reduced to less than $200m^3/m^2$. Considering the head loss development, 4mg/L is determined as the optimum dosage. The better filtrate qualities are obtained with depth of 100cm than that of 80cm. The two stage filtration, which outperformed the single stage filtration, is suggested for treatment of Masan bay. The filtration rate of 5m/h is decided as the optimum condition considering the head loss development. At 10m/h, the filtrate quality deteriorated even though the extent was minimal, and head loss increased rapidly. The backwash time of 10 min is decided appropriate.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2019

Desalination plants are generally studied with higher operating costs compared to water supply facilities. This study was conducted to reduce the cost of water production and to preserve existing water resources. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to utilize the control valves to increase maximum efficiency, thereby reducing the power of the pumps and operating costs. Specific energy consumption was shown to reduce the process operating power by up to 1.7 times from 6.17 to $3.55kWh/m^3$ based on seawater reverse osmosis 60 bar. In addition, the water intake process was divided into pre, inter, and post-according to the use method of blasting, and the water treatment process was divided into pre, inter, and post blending. In order to reduce power consumption, the blending process was combined to operate the facility, which resulted in the reduction of power consumption in the order post > pre-inter> inter blending.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2018

Recently, interest in the development of alternative water resources has been increasing rapidly due to environmental pollution and depletion of water resources. In particular, seawater desalination has been attracting the most attention as alternative water resources. As seawater desalination consumes a large amount of energy due to high operating pressure, many researches have been conducted to improve energy efficiency such as energy recovery device (ERD). Consequently, this study aims to compare the energy efficiency of RO process according to ERD of isobaric type which is applied in scientific control pilot plant process of each $100m^3/day$ scale based on actual RO product water. As a result, it was confirmed that efficiency, mixing rate, and permeate conductivity were different depending on the size of the apparatus even though the same principle of the ERD was applied. It is believed that this is caused by the difference in cross-sectional area of the contacted portion for pressure transfer inside the ERD. Therefore, further study is needed to confirm the optimum conditions what is applicable to the actual process considering the correlation with other factors as well as the factors obtained from the previous experiments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.200-205
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• 2013

Pretreatment process is the critical step of RO (Reverse Osmosis) membrane desalination plant in order to prevent RO membrane fouling. The pretreatment as a key component of RO process must be designed to produce a constant and high quality RO feedwater which has low silt density index (SDI). This experiment was conducted to assess parameters affecting SDI value, such as pH, seawater turbidity, temperature, and coagulant dose. The experimental results indicated that the source seawater turbidity did cause little effects on SDI values of filtered water. The 0.45 um hydrophilic membrane was more appropriate than the hydrophobic membrane for measuring SDI. The SDI value was increased with decreasing pH under the condition of below pH 7.0. In addition, the water temperature significantly affected the SDI values, showing higher SDI value with lower water temperature.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2020

Developing countries are areas where many problems arise from poor drinking water infrastructure. Developing countries often use groundwater as their primary source of drinking water, which causes problems. Among them, coastal areas are easily exposed to saltwater intrusion due to their geographical characteristics. Groundwater in areas exposed to saltwater intrusion has higher salinity than usual. If you continue to consume high salinity groundwater can cause a variety of fatal effects on the human body. Therefore, various alternatives have been proposed. This study explores the applicability of CDI(Capacitive Deionization) and RO(Reverse Osmosis) for water purification systems in areas where saltwater intrusion has occurred. Therefore, we will evaluate this by conducting water purification experiment. On the other hand, the supply of electricity is also important in the operation of water purification facilities. However, in many areas of developing countries, electricity is often not available. Therefore, this study intends to calculate the power consumption required for the actual use of the filter and to include it in the evaluation.