• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.263-271
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• 2018

The objective of this work was to analyze organic matter removal, nitrification, biomass growth and membrane fouling in a submerged flat-sheet membrane bioreactor, fed with synthetic wastewater, of similar composition to the effluents generated in a fish meal industry. After biomass acclimatization with saline conditions of 12 gNaCl/L and COD/N ratio of 15 in the bioreactor, results showed that the organic matter removal was higher than 90%, for all organic loading rates (0.8, 1, 1.33 and $2gCOD/L{\cdot}d$) and nitrogen loading rates (0.053, 0.067, 0.089 and $0.133gN/L{\cdot}d$) tested during the study. However, nitrification was only carried out with the lowest OLR ($0.8gCOD/L{\cdot}d$) and NLR ($0.053gN/L{\cdot}d$). An excessive concentration of organic matter in the wastewater appears as a limiting factor to this process' operating conditions, where nitrification values of 65% were reached, including nitrogen assimilation to produce biomass. The analysis of membrane fouling showed that the bio-cake formation at the membrane surface is the most impacting mechanism responsible of this phenomenon and it was demonstrated that organic and nitrogen loading rates variations affected membrane fouling rate.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.73-76
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• 2007

A large number of natural products were worldwidely discovered from maine organisms. There are many secondary metabolites produced by maine organisms which showed very strong bio-activities and distinct bio-active mechanisms. In korea, about 350 secondary metabolites including more than 280 novel compounds have been isolated and structually defined. Many researches for developing products such as cosmetics, functional food materials, anti-fouling substances are being performed using distinct activities of marine organisms. Although the research on marine natural products has been remained at its initial or developing stage of drug development, significant progress has been made for isolation, structure determination and bioassay of secondary metabolites.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.681-689
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• 2011

Submerged membrane bio-reactor (SMBR) has several advantages such as high MLSS, long SRT, and low F/M ratio at wastewater treatment. So, this has widely applied over the world and many studies have been conducted. However, membrane fouling remains an inevitable problem. This study was investigated using bench-scale SMBR with three poeration modes. Raw waters were prepared by addition of starch, acetic and fibric acid to recovery water of zeolite. The efficiency of nitrification and COD were very stable as about 95% and 80%, respectively. And critical flux was 128.8L/$m^{2}$/hr. The result of biodegradability test was following values at the each mode : Ss+Xs/$C_{T}$=81.7%, 35.1% and 45.3%, $X_{I}+S_{I}/C_{T}=18.3%$, 64.9% and 54.7%. When particulate matters such as $X_{I}$ and $X_{S}$ in influent are increased, membrane fouling will take place more and more. A relative ratio of filtration resistance to the fouling occurred by the cake layer was increased when increased the portion of $X_{I}$ and polysaccharide. It was thought that the formation of cake layer was promoted due to bond between $X_{I}$ and vicid material s generated from the polysaccharide.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.817-827
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• 2016

The resistance in series model has been frequently used for determination of various filtration resistance to correctly understand the membrane fouling behaviour in MBR (membrane bio-reactor) for wastewater treatment. The cake layer resistance ($R_c$) which is commonly determined by calculation of flux dataset that are obtained empirically before and after removing the cake layer on membrane surface. However, the calculated Rc values are very dependent on the cleaning methods adapted for removal of cake layer. This study investigated how the various cleaning options affect $R_c$. Seven different cleaning methods were employed: i) ultrasonication (100 W, 10 min), ii) ultrasonication (200 W, 60 min), iii) ultrasonication (400 W, 120 min), iv) water rinsing in a shaker (100 rpm, 10 min), v) water rinsing in a shaker (300 rpm, 60 min), vi) water rinsing, vii) sponge scrubbing. For the hydrophilic PES membrane, the cake layer removal efficiencies ranged from 64% to 10%, indicating that the removal of cake layer was highly dependent on the cleaning options. For the hydrophobic PVDF membrane, the cake layer removal efficiencies ranged from 79% to 97%. Consequently, a standardized method for cake layer removal to determine cake resistance ($R_c$) is needed for correct interpretation of the fouling phenomena.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.236-236
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• 2012

In this study, we present the salt repellent behavior of superhydrophobic filtration membrane. Bio-fouling or mineral-fouling is the main factor of decreasing the performance of filtration membrane. The superhydrophobic modification of filtration membrane using PECVD (Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) is introduced. The oxygen plasma was introduced for developing nano hairy structures and subsequent HMDSO (Hexamethyldisiloxane) coating was used for enhancing low surface energy. Saline water evaporation test was carried out to evaluate the difference of contamination of salt on superhydrophobic and moderately hydrophobic filtration membrane. EDS and EPMA were used for visualizing the residue of salt crystal.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.42-49
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• 2017

The application of electro-coagulation has been attempted to control the membrane fouling problem in a MBR (Membrane Bio-Reactor). This study examined the effects of the operating parameters (current density and contact time) of the electro-coagulation process on the change in the characteristics of activated sludge. The current density changed from 2.5 to 12, $24A/m^2$, and the contact time was varied from 0 to 2 and 6 hr, respectively. At a current density of $24A/m^2$ and 6 hr of operation, the MLSS changed from 6,800 to 7,000 mg/L (3% increase), but the MLVSS did not increase significantly. After 6 hr of operation, the soluble COD decreased from 71 to 37 mg/L under the $24A/m^2$ condition, from 113 to 67 mg/L under the $12A/m^2$ condition, and from 84 to 80 mg/L under the $2.5A/m^2$ condition. On the other hand, soluble-TN and -TP concentration showed slight changes. The soluble-EPS and Bound-EPS concentration decreased slightly with increasing current density. The membrane filtration performance of activated sludge before and after electro-coagulation was compared. The filtration resistances after electro-coagulation decreased from 6 to 61 %, particularly as the current density and contact time were increased. This indicates that electro-coagulation can be used to control membrane fouling in the MBR process.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Due to water shortages caused by water pollution and climate change, total organic carbon (TOC) standards have been implemented for wastewater discharged from public sewage treatment facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing interest and body of research pertaining to the reuse of sewage treatment water as a secure alternative water resource. The membrane bio-reactor (MBR) method is commonly used for advanced wastewater treatment because it can remove organic and inorganic ions and it does not require or emit any chemicals. However, the MBR process uses a separation membrane (MF), which requires frequent film cleaning due to fouling caused by a high concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS). In this study, process improvement and microbubble cleaning efficiency were evaluated to improve the differential pressure, water flow, and MF fouling, which are the biggest disadvantages of operating the MF. The existing MBR method was improved by installing a precipitation tank between the air tank and the MBR tank in which raw water was introduced. Microbubbles were injected into a separation membrane tank into which the supernatant water from the precipitation tank was introduced. The microbubble generator was operated with a 15 day on, 15 day off cycle for 5 months to collect discharged water samples (4L) and measure TOC. As the supernatant water from the precipitation tank flowed into the separation membrane tank, about 95% of the supernatant water MLSS was removed so the MF fouling from biological contamination was prevented. Due to the application of microbubbles to supernatant water from the precipitation tank, the differential pressure of the separation membrane tank decreased by 1.6 to 2.3 times and the water flow increased by 1.4 times. Applying microbubbles increased the TOC removal rate by more than 58%. This study showed that separately operating the air tank and the separation membrane tank can reduce fouling, and suggested that applying additional microbubbles could improve the differential pressure, water flow, and fouling to provide a more efficient advanced treatment method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.323-328
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• 2016

Pressurized membrane used for side-stream MBR process requires fouling control strategy both for normal and abnormal operation conditions for stable operation of the facilities. In this study, $85m^3/day$ of pilot-scale side-stream MBR process was constructed for the evaluation of fouling mitigation by air bubble injection into the membrane module. In addition, fouling phenomena at abnormal operation conditions of low influent and/or loading rate were also investigated. Injection of air bubble was found to be effective in delaying transmembrane pressure (TMP) increase mainly due to scouring effect on the membrane surface, resulting in expanded filtration cycle at a high flux of $40L/m^2{\cdot}h$ (LMH). At abnormal operation condition, injection of PACl (53 mg/L as Al) into the bioreactor showed 19% reduction of TMP increase. However, inhibition of nitrifying bacteria by continuous PACl injection was observed from batch experiments. In contrast, injection of powdered activated carbon (PAC, 0.6 g/L) was able to maintain the initial TMP of $0.2kg/cm^2$ for 5 days at the abnormal conditions. It may have been caused from the adsorption of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which was known to be excessively released during growth inhibition condition and act as the major foulants in MBR operations.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.1078-1085
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• 2022

Fouling organisms attached to a ship not only greatly increase the resistance of the ship as they grow on the hull but also cause disturbances in local marine ecosystems as they move with the ship. Accordingly, the International Maritime Organization has started discussing the removal of biofouling and evaluation of cleaning performance to prevent the migration of hull-fouling species. In this study, specimens of FRP(Fiber Reinforced Plastic), HDPE(High Density Polyethylene), and CFRP(Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic) materials used for small ship construction were cured in Gyeokpo Port (Jeonlakbuk-do) for about 80 days. Then, attached organism removal experiments were performed using a water jet nozzle. The results show that seaweeds, such as laver, were removed when the distance between the nozzle and the specimen was 1.8 cm and the pressure was 100 bar. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the cleaning of barnacles was possible only when the pressure was 200 bar or more.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2008

In industrial and fluid handling systems, frequently the protective film forming materials suffer from severe corrosion due to microbial effects. As an example, various micro-organisms, including bacteria, exist in seawater normally fed to power and desalination plants. Unless seawater intakes are properly disinfected to control these microbial organisms, biological fouling and microbial induced corrosion (MIC) will be developed. This problem could destroy metallic alloys used for plant construction. Seawater intakes of cogeneration plants are usually disinfected by chlorine gas or sodium hypochlorite solution. The dose of disinfectant is designed according to the level of contamination of the open seawater in the vicinity of the plant intake. Higher temperature levels, lower pH, reduced flow velocity and oxidation potential play an important role in the enhancement of microbial induced corrosion and bio-fouling. This paper describes, in brief, the different types of bacteria, mechanisms of microbiological induced corrosion, susceptibility of different metal alloys to MIC and possible solutions for mitigating this problem in industry. A case study is presented for the power plant steam condenser at Al-Taweelah B-station in Abu Dhabi. The study demonstrates resistance of Titanium tubes to MIC.