• 한국산학기술학회논문지
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• 제17권7호
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• pp.54-62
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• 2016

열을 전기로 바꾸는 장치로 가장 효율이 우수한 장치인 AMTEC은 알칼리금속을 작동유체로 하여 열을 직접적으로 전기로 변환시키는 장치이다. AMTEC은 저압용기, 고압용기, 베타 알루미나 고체 전해질, 그리고 순환윅으로 이루어져있다. AMTEC에서의 열손실은 주요하게 저압용기에서의 BASE와 응축부 사이에서 발생하는 열복사손실이며, 암텍의 발전량은 BASE의 온도유지력에 영향을 받기에 BASE의 표면온도를 고온으로 유지시켜주어야 고효율 발전량은 일정하게 유지할 수 있다. 이를 위하여 저압챔버에서의 복사 열손실을 줄이고 BASE온도는 상승시키고, AMTEC 시스템의 발전량 향상을 위하여 저압용기 내부의 6가지 형태의 열복사차단막에 따른 출력을 전산유체해석을 통하여 분석하였다. 분석에서 최적의 열복사차단막 형상은 수직부에 곡률을 가질 때이며, 그 때의 온도에 대한 무차원수(응축부온도/BASE온도 비)는 0.665 정도이고 출력은 약 17.69 W 정도로 다른 형상에 대비하여 높은 발전량을 갖는 것으로 계산되었다. 높이에 따른 발전량의 차이에서는 수평차단막이 BASE 상부로부터 멀리 떨어진 경우 발전량이 가장 우수하며, 17.58W 정도로 나타났다. 여러 개의 작은 홀과 다중 수평차단막을 설계한 경우는 기준이 되는 형상보다 오히려 발전량이 감소하였으며, 각각 0.91W, 2.06W 정도 감소하였다.

• 대한기계학회논문집B
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• 제36권9호
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• pp.953-960
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• 2012

AMTEC기술은 열을 직접 전기로 변환시키는 기술로서 소디움을 작동유체로 사용하고 있으며, 작동유체의 순환은 모세관윅을 사용한다. 순환계통에는 증발부윅, 순환윅 및 응축부윅으로 구성되고, 각각의 윅은 소디움의 액체 또는 증기가 순환하면서 압력손실이 발생하므로 소디움의 순환을 위해서는 증발부윅의 모세관압력이 윅내의 총압력손실보다 커야만 한다. 본 연구에서는 100 watt급의 AMTEC시제품설계을 위해 소디움의 순환계통으로 구성되는 증발부윅, 순환윅 및 응축부윅에서의 압력손실과 증발부에서 응축부로의 열손실을 순환윅의 직경과 길이에 대해 분석하여 증발부윅의 소결입자 직경과 순환윅의 설계에 활용하코저 하였으며, 분석결과에서 순환계통의 총압력손실보다 큰 모세관압력을 위해서는 증발부윅의 소결입자크기는 10 ${\mu}m$이 적합한 결과를 얻었다.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제41권7호
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• pp.665-671
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• 2017

알칼리금속을 이용한 열전기변환장치(Alkali-Metal Thermal-to-electric Converter)는 열을 전기로 직접 변환하는 기술이다. AMTEC 기술은 기존 에너지기술 대비 고효율성과 고밀도성을 지니는 정적 에너지 변환 장치로서 이론 발전효율이 40%로 높고 단위발전량이 500 W/kg, $2.01W/cm^2$로 우수하다. AMTEC의 작동원리는 작동유체인 소듐이 분압차이에 의해서 고체전해질인 베타알루미나(BASE)의 내부에서 외부로 이온화를 거쳐며 통과하는데, 이때 전자를 주고 받으며 전기를 생성한다. BASE내외부의 분압차 형성을 위해서는 고온내구성과 기밀성이 높은 접합기술이 요구된다. 개발된 접합기술을 이용하여BASE/절연부/금속부 시스템의 안정적인 전기적/구조적 시스템을 구성하고 멀티-셀 모듈들을 제작하여 개방회로 전압과 전류-전압특성을 측정하는 방법으로 AMTEC 모듈전지들의 출력성능과 수명을 평가하였다.

• Carbon letters
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• 제24권
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• pp.82-89
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• 2017

In this study, composite PAN-based ACNFs embedded with MgO and $MnO_2$ were prepared by the electrospinning method. The resultant pristine ACNFs, ACNF/MgO and $ACNF/MnO_2$ were characterized in terms of their morphological changes, SSA, crystallinity and functional group with FESEM-EDX, the BET method, XRD and FTIR analysis, respectively. Results from this study showed that the SSA of the ACNF/MgO composite ($1893m^2g^{-1}$) is significantly higher than that of the pristine ACNFs and $ACNF/MnO_2$ which is 478 and $430m^2g^{-1}$, respectively. FTIR analysis showed peaks of 476 and $547cm^{-1}$, indicating the presence of MgO and $MnO_2$, respectively. The FESEM micrographs analysis showed a smooth but coarser structure in all the ACNFs. Meanwhile, the ACNF/MgO has the smallest fiber diameter ($314.38{\pm}62.42nm$) compared to other ACNFs. The presence of MgO and $MnO_2$ inside the ACNFs was also confirmed with EDX analysis as well as XRD. The adsorption capacities of each ACNF toward $CH_4$ were tested with the volumetric adsorption method in which the ACNF/MgO exhibited the highest $CH_4$ adsorption up to $2.39mmol\;g^{-1}$. Meanwhile, all the ACNF samples followed the pseudo-second order kinetic model with a $R^2$ up to 0.9996.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.323-331
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• 2020

With the increasing demand on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for water purification worldwide, the number of disposed membrane elements is expected to increase accordingly. Thus, recycling and reuse of end-of-life RO membranes should be a global environmental action. In this work, we aim to reuse the spent RO membrane for nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) process by subjecting the spent membrane to solvent and oxidizing solution treatment, respectively. Our results showed that solvent-treated RO membrane could perform as good as commercial NF membrane by achieving similar separation efficiencies, but with reduced water permeability due to membrane surface fouling. By degrading the polyamide layer of RO membrane, the transformed membrane could achieve high water permeability (85.6 L/㎡.h.bar) and excellent rejection against macromolecules (at least 87.4%), suggesting its reuse potential as UF membrane. More importantly, our findings showed that in-situ transformation on the spent RO membrane using solvent and oxidizing solution could be safely conducted as the properties of the entire spiral wound element did not show significant changes upon prolonged exposure of these two solutions. Our findings are important to open up new possibilities for the discarded RO membranes for reuse in NF and UF process, prolonging the lifespan of spent membranes and promoting the sustainability of the membrane process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.15-29
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• 2014

Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination has gained wide and increasing acceptance around the world as a straightforward undertaking to alleviate the alarming water crisis. An enhanced monitoring of the quality of the water feeding in seawater RO (SWRO) plant through the application of an effective pretreatment option is one of the keys to the success of RO technology in desalination plants. Over the past 10 years, advances in ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technologies in application for water and wastewater treatment have prompted an impetus for using membrane pretreatment in seawater desalination plants. By integrating SWRO plant with UF pretreatment, the rate of membrane fouling can be significantly reduced and thus extend the life of RO membrane. With the growing importance and significant advances attained in UF pretreatment, this review presents an overview of UF pretreatment in SWRO plants. The advantages offered by UF as an alternative of pretreatment option are compared to the existing conventionally used technologies. The current progress made in the integration of SWRO with UF pretreatment is also highlighted. Finally, the recent advances pursued in UF technology is reviewed in order to provide an insight and hence path the way for the future development of this technology.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제2권1호
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• pp.25-37
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• 2011

PES UF membranes containing silver were prepared to impart antibacterial properties for waste water treatment. Asymmetric membranes for antibacterial application were prepared from polyethersulfone (PES) and silver nitrate ($AgNO_3$) (PES/$AgNO_3$=15/2 by weight) solution in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) via simple wet phase inversion technique. These membranes were characterized by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different molecular weights (1000 ppm in water) at room temperature and on operating pressure of 5 bars. It was observed that the water flux of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane is slightly lower than virgin PES but still increased linearly with the increment of pressure applied. The morphology of the resulting membranes was examined using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Elemental analysis using EDS proved that silver is successfully loaded on the membrane surfaces. Due to the success of loading silver on membrane surfaces, antibacterial activities were evaluated via agar diffusion method against Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) culture. By incorporating 2 wt% of silver nitrate, PES-$AgNO_3$ showed significant inhibition ring on both E.coli and S.aureus. Filtration of E.coli solution (OD 0.31) showed satisfactory rejection data with ~100% inhibition growth after 24 hours incubation at $37^{\circ}C$. Resultant membranes also exhibit better tensile strength (compared to virgin PES) up to 71% may be due to the suggested interactions. The residual silver during fabrication was measured using ICP-MS and result showed that the residual silver content of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane was only ~1% of the original silver added in the polymer solution. These studies have shown that PES-$AgNO_3$ UF membranes are potential in improving the filtration in water treatment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.49-60
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• 2010

In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was performed in NF membrane process to evaluate the separation efficiency of membrane in the removal of salt and reactive dye by varying different variables such as pressure, temperature, pH, dye concentration and salt concentration. The significant level of both the main effects and the interaction were observed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) approach. Based on the statistical analysis, the results have provided valuable information on the relationship between these variables and the performances of membrane. The rejection of salt was found to be greatly influenced by pressure, pH and salt concentration whereas the dye rejection was relatively constant in between 96.22 and 99.43% regardless of the changes in the variables. The water flux on the other hand was found to be affected by the pressure and salt concentration. It is also found that the model predictions were in good agreement with the experimental data, indicating the validity of these models in predicting membrane performances prior to the real filtration process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.211-223
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• 2017

In this work, an attempt was made to compare the effects of UV irradiation on the intrinsic and separation properties of membranes made of two different polymeric materials, i.e., polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyetherimide (PEI). The changes on membrane structural morphologies and chemical characteristics upon UV-A exposure (up to 60 h) were studied by FESEM and FTIR, respectively. It was found that cracks and fractures were detected on the PVDF-based membrane surface when the membrane was exposed directly to UV light for up to 60 h. Furthermore, the mechanical strength and thermal stability of irradiated PVDF-based membrane was reported to decrease with increasing UV exposure time. The PEI membrane surface meanwhile remained almost intact throughout the entire UV irradiation process. Filtration experiments showed that the permeate flux of UV-irradiated PVDF membrane was significantly increased from approximately 11 to $16L/m^2.h$ with increasing UV exposure time from zero to 60 h. Oil rejection meanwhile was decreased from 98 to 85%. For the PEI-based membrane, oil rejection of >97% was recorded and its overall structural integrity was marginally affected throughout the entire UV irradiation process. The findings of this work showed that the PEI-based membrane should be considered as the host for photocatalyts incorporation if the membrane was to be used for UV-assisted wastewater treatment process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제3권1호
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• pp.25-34
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• 2012

Carboxylated polysulfone (CPS), poly (1,4-phenylene ether ethersulfone) (PPEES), membranes were prepared and used for the separation of NaCl and $CaCl_2$, in efficient way with less energy consumption. In this work, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes were employed to the salt rejection behavior of the different salt solutions. The influence of applied pressure (1-12 bar), on the membrane performance was assessed. In CM series of membranes, $CM_1$ showed maximum of 97% water uptake and 36% water swelling, whereas, $CM_4$ showed 75% water uptake and 28% water swelling. In RCM series, $RCM_1$ showed 85% water uptake and 32% water swelling whereas, in $RCM_4$ it was 68% for water uptake and 20% for water swelling. Conclusively reverse osmosis membranes gave better rejection whereas nanofiltration membrane showed enhanced flux. CM1 showed 58% of rejection with 12 L/($m^2$ h) flux and $RCM_1$ showed 55% of rejection with 15 L/($m^2$ h) flux for 0.1 wt.% NaCl solution. Whereas, in 0.1 wt.% $CaCl_2$ solution, membrane $CM_1$ showed 78% of rejection with 12 L/($m^2$ h) flux and $RCM_1$ showed 63% rejection with flux of 9 L/($m^2$ h).