• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.335-342
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• 2011

Secondary effluent contains particle compounds which are comprised of microorganisms that occurs membrane fouling when the water is reused. This study evaluates the characteristics of membrane fouling of secondary effluent reuse. Effects of chemical backwashing are analyzed to reduce membrane fouling by regular chemical backwashing. As the result, major membrane foulants are verified EPS materials which include protein and polysaccharide that cause biofilm cake layer on the membrane. Also, sodium hypochlorite is applied to chemical backwashing. The backwashing improves recover rate when injected chemical concentration is increased and chemical backwashing cycle is amplified. Chemical backwashing cycle affects more than injected chemical concentration yet idle time does not noticeably influence on reducing membrane fouling.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.250-257
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• 2006

The objective of this study is to propose an alternative process for the small sewage treatment plants in rural communities. A biofilter has been used for biological wastewater treatment, which is becoming the alternative to the conventional activated sludge system. The proposed process used in this study, which is packed with floating media (i.e. expanded polystylene), has advantages of biofilter system and alternative flow system and they are incorporated into one process. Pilot and bench scale studies were performed using domestic wastewater. In the results of pilot plant study, it was observed that the stable effluent water quality was achieved and it met the present effluent criteria of suspended solid (SS), organic matters, T-N and T-P. In the study for determination of the cycle of backwashing, it was observed that the cycle of backwashing depended on BOD loading rates of influents. In the BOD loading rates of $0.5kg\;BOD/m^3{\cdot}day$ and $1.0kg\;BOD/m^3{\cdot}day$, the backwashing cycle of 28 hour and 16 hour were needed, respectively. The optimum backwashing time was 120~80 seconds at the media expansion rate of 50%. In the removal of SS, organic matters, T-N and T-P, SS removal was rather achieved by physical filtration than biological mechanism and the removal of organic matters except for SS, T-N and T-P were mainly rather achieved by biological mechanism than physical filtration. In bench-scale study, the effects of recirculation rate was investigated on removal of SS, TCOD, T-N and T-P. It was observed that the recirculation made removal efficiencies of SS, TCOD, T-N and T-P increased. Especially, in T-N removal, the increase of T-N removal efficiency of 40% was observed in the reicirculation rate of 1Q compared with 0Q.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.279-292
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• 2017

This study was aimed at ultrafiltration (UF) as a pretreatment before reverse osmosis (RO) within the scheme of hybrid reverse osmosis-multistage flush (RO-MSF) desalination. Seawater at elevated temperature (after MSF heat-exchangers) was used as a feed in this process. The pretreatment system was represented as a set of functionally-linked technological segments such as: UF filtration, backwashing, chemical- enhanced backwashing, cleaning, waste disposal, etc. The process represents the sequences of operating cycles. The cycle, in turn, consists of the following unit operations: filtration, backwashing and chemical-enhanced backwashing (CEB). Quantitative assessment was based on the following indicators: normalized permeability, transmembrane pressure, specific energy and water consumption, specific waste generation. UF pre-treatment is accompanied by the following waste streams: $W1=1.19{\times}10$ power of $-2m^3$ (disposed NaOCl with 0.0044% wt.)/$m^3$ (filtrate); $W2=5.95{\times}10$ power of $-3m^3$ (disposed $H_2SO_4$ with 0.052% wt.)/$m^3$(filtrate); $W3=7.26{\times}10$ power of $-2m^3$ (disposed sea water)/$m^3$ (filtrate). Specific energy consumption is $1.11{\times}10$ power of $-1kWh/m^3$ (filtrate). The indicators evaluated over the cycles with conventional (non-chemical) backwashing were compared with the cycles accompanied by CEB. A positive impact of CEB on performance indicators was demonstrated namely: normalized UF resistance remains unchanged within the regime accompanied by CEB, whereas the lack of CEB results in 30% of its growth. Those quantitative indicators can be incorporated into the target function for solving different optimization problems. They can be used in the software for optimisation of operating regimes or in the synthesis of optimal flow- diagram. The cycle characteristics, process parameters and water quality data are attached.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1082-1087
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• 2006

BAC backwashing process in ozone-BAC advanced water treatment process was experimentally studied. The operation and performance of backwashing were evaluated by measuring the effects of water temperature and water input rate on the backwashing interval and duration, and also the change of the amounts of biofilm and HPC in treated water before and after backwashing. The experiments were carried out with the pilot scale test module built in a existing water treatment plant, and the following results were obtained. Longer backwashing time than that of design operating condition was needed for satisfying the suitable turbidity of washing water effluent. Depending on water temperature, 7 days of backwashing cycle was recommended for the period lower than $15^{\circ}C$, and 10 days for the period higher than $15^{\circ}C$. After backwashing, the amounts of biofilm and HPC decreased to 1/10 and 80%, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 2002

A bench-scale anoxic membrane bioreactor (MBR) system, consisting of a bioreactor coupled to a ceramic crossflow ultrafiltration module, was evaluated to treat a synthetic wastewater containing alkaline hydrolysis byproducts (hydrolysates) of RDX, The wastewater was formulated the same as RDX hydrolysates, and consisted of acetate, formate, formaldehyde as carbon sources and nitrite, nitrate as electron accepters. The MBR system removed 80 to 90% of these carbon sources, and approximately 90% of the stoichiometric amount of nitrate, 60% of nitrite. The reactor was also operated over a range of transmembrane pressures, temperatures, suspended solids concentration, and organic loading rate in order to maximize treatment efficiency and permeate flux. Increasing transmembrane pressure and temperature did not improve membrane flux significantly. Increasing biomass concentration in the bioreactor decreased the permeate flux significantly. The maximum volumetric organic loading rate was $0.72kg\;COD/m^3/day$, and the maximum F/M ratio was 0.50 kg N/kg MLSS/day and 1.82 kg COD/kg MLSS/day. Membrane permeate was clear and essentially free of bacteria, as indicated by heterotrophic plate count. Permeate flux ranged between 0.15 and $2.0m^3/m^2/day$ and was maintained by routine backwashing every 3 to 4 day. Backwashing with 2% NaOCl solution every fourth or fifth backwashing cycle was able to restore membrane flux to its original value.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.57-68
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• 2004

A demonstrative operation of a membrane system with its caparity of 3,600m$^3$/d was carried out using reservoir water as raw water for the application of membrane filtration system to drinking water treatment. The operation was undertaken at a constant flux of 0.9 m$^3$/m$^2$/d for three months. Backwashing with NaClO of 3 ppm was allowed for 30 seconds every 20 minutes of filtration. Physical cleaning was introduced after 69 times of filtration/backwashing cycle with air-scrubbing and backwashing for 1 minute, and flushing for 2 minutes. In this study, water treatment performance was investigated compared with the existing rapid sand filtration process. The membrane system was operated with no significant problems during the test period. Higher water quality was obtained in the membrane filtration than in the rapid sand filtration in terms of particulate matters such as turbidity and microbes. Although the finished water of the membrane filtration contained slightly higher concentration in dissolved matters than that of the conventional one, it met the drinking water standard. The demonstrative operation showed that membrane filtration has a reliability in drinking water treatment. Researches should be needed on cost analysis through long-term operation and optimization of operation condition for further application.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.337-342
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• 2013

The particle counter compared with the turbidimeter provides good precision and sensitivity and can get the characteristics of particulates effectively. The purpose of this study is to provide the application of particle counter in sand and activated carbon filters. The particle count by size could be more easily sense when the water quality is changed by the influent of high turbidity or algae. We could decide the optimal backwashing cycles and detect the efficiencies of filters by monitoring the total particle count of effluent in sand and activated carbon filters.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.393-399
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• 2014

The permeation experiments were carried out to examine the separation characteristics of the modules which were piled up the disc-ring shape patterned membranes in this study. First of all, permeability of the pure water was measured for the self-made 5 shape disc filters, and varied from 0.25 to $2.24L/m^2{\cdot}hr{\cdot}bar$. The module showed the maximum pure water permeability was the maximum permeation flux, and the module showed the minimum pure water permeability was the minimum permeation flux for 0.1 wt% kaolin solution. However, all of the modules were not proportioned to the pure water permeability. Also, the backwashing was performed periodically for the module 1 in order to operate with 0.1 wt% kaolin solution for a long time. The most efficient operating condition was the 8 minute permeation and 2 minute backwashing cycle.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.276-286
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• 2015

The effects of relaxation and backwashing on fouling in ultrafiltration were investigated using full-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) which operated at a constant flux of 30 LMH. This paper also estimated the feasibility of using intermittent aeration strategies for minimizing the hydraulic resistance to filtration in comparison with the continuous aeration for running MBRs. Multiple cycles of filtration (14.5 min each) and relaxation (0.5 min each) were repeated. Similarly, a backwash was conducted by replacing a relaxation after each filtration cycle for the comparative performance test. The attached cake thickness on the membrane rapidly increased, caused by subsequent no aeration leading to easier combining with gel layer and the formation of heterogeneous layer on the membrane surface. During periodic backwashing, it is expected that gel and thin cake layer might sufficiently be removed by heterogeneous layer. After periodic backwashing, subsequent cake layer formation during time of no aeration was rapid than frequent no aeration, acting as a prefilter and preventing further irreversible fouling. Based on the Pearson correlation analysis, overall period fouling (dTMP/min) and average of all cycles (dTMP/min) were strongly correlated with the on-off period of aeration for operating MBRs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.12
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• pp.877-882
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• 2013

The application of ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) membranes has been increased for drinking water purification. The advantages of UF/MF membrane process compared to conventional treatment processes are stable operation under varying feed water quality, smaller construction area, and automatic operation. Most membrane treatment plants are designed with polymeric membranes. Recently, some studies suggested that the process of treating surface water with ceramic membranes is competitive to the application of polymeric membranes. Higher water flux, less frequent cleaning, and much longer lifetime are the advantages of ceramic membrane comparing to polymeric membrane. Therefore, this research focused on the application of ceramic MF membrane pilot plant at the slow sand filtration plant. The ceramic membrane pilot plant has three trains that used raw water and sand filtered water as a feed water, respectively. For optimizing the pilot plant process, the coagulation with PACl coagulant was used as a pretreatment of ceramic membrane process. In addition, CEB (Chemical Enhanced Backwash) process using $H_2SO_4$ and NaOCl was used for 1.5 days, respectively. The experimental results showed that applying the optimum coagulant dose before membrane filtration showed enhancing membrane fluxes for both raw water and sand filtered water. Also, when using raw water as a feed of membrane, minimum fouling rate was 2.173 kPa/cycle with 25 mg/L of PACl and when using sand filtered water, the minimum fouling rate was 0.301 kPa/cycle with 5 mg/L of PACl.