• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2006

Characteristics of flocculent aggregates have great effects on membrane fouling. Floc from kaolin particles gave higher permeate throughputs than floc from natural particles at the same conditions. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to thoroughly analyze characteristics of flocculated aggregates and to investigate effects of flocculated aggregates on membrane fouling. Image analysis, specific rake resistance and cake compressibility were used for characterization of flocs. Different flocculent aggregates formed with natural and kaolin particles were employed in this study. The fractal dimensions from the image analysis were $D_2=1.79{\pm}0.07$ for floc from natural particles and $D_2=1.84{\pm}0.06$ for floc from kaolin particles. The lower fractal dimension($D_2$) of floc from natural particles indicated that the aggregates were more porous and less compact than floe from kaolin particles. In addition, both the specific cake resistances and compressible degrees of flocs from natural particles showed greater values than those of flocs from kaolin particles. The results implied that the porous and loose flocs from natural particles were more easily compressed on membrane surface than the dense and compact flocs from kaolin particles. The compressed flocs yielded the great hydraulic resistances by hindering the water flow through the cake layer.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.201-207
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• 2006

A simple empirical model with good quantitative prediction of inter-particle and intra-particle distance in a cake layer with respect to ionic strength was developed. The model is an inverse length scale with functions of interaction energy and hydrodynamic factor and it explains that the inter-particle and intra-particle distance in a cake is directly related to the effective size of particles. Particle compressibility with respect to ionic strength was also predicted by the model. The model corroborated very well with experimental results of polystyrene microsphere latex particles microfiltation in a dead end operation. From the results of the model, specific cake resistance could be controlled by the same variables affecting the height of particle energy barrier described by the Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.161-167
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• 2008

Using an experimental method named filtration-permeation, the influence of sedimentation during filtration was studied for the suspensions composed of particles and that of flocs. The average specific cake resistances measured by filtration do not give accurate values because of the sedimentations during filtration, but the permeation data give quite accurate values. The prolonged permeation rates for the cake formed from particulate suspension do not change, but that rate from the floc filtration changes by the sweeping of flocculant. It is proposed that the cake compressibility can be measured with one set of filtration-permeation experiment by step increase of pressure during permeation period. The another experimental method which can shorten experimental time for floc filtration using filtrationpermeation is also proposed.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 2020

In this study, the performance and antifouling properties of polysulfone (PSf) and polyvinylidene fluoride/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVDF/PVP) membranes in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) were investigated. The membranes were prepared via phase inversion method, and then characterized by a set of analyses including contact angle, porosity and water flux and applied in a lab-scale MBR system. Soluble microbial product (SMP), extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), FTIR, gel permission chromatography (GPC) and particle size distribution (PSD) analyses were also carried out for MBR system. The results showed that the MBR with PSf membrane had higher hydrophobic organic compounds which resulted in formation of larger flocs in MBR. However, in this MBR had high compressibility coefficient of cake layer was higher (n=0.91) compared to MBR with PVDF/PVP membrane (n=0.8); hence, the fouling was more profound. GPC analysis revealed that compounds with molecular weight lower than 2 kDa are more formed on PSf membrane more than PVDF/PVP membrane. The results of FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of polysaccharide and protein compounds on the cake layer of both membranes which was in good agreement with EPS analysis. In addition, the results showed that their concentration was higher for the cake on PSf membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2020

In this study, effect of inorganic particles on organic fouling was investigated by a laboratory-scaled pressurized membrane filtration. In order to cause organic fouling, sodium alginate (SA) was used as a feed solution. Regardless of the presence of inorganic SiO₂ particles, the complete pore blocking played an important role in determining the fouling rate during the initial period of membrane filtration. However, the formation of cake layer resulted in the membrane fouling more dominantly as filtration time progressed. In the presence of inorganic particles, both specific cake resistance and compressibility associated with the membrane fouling formed were relatively lower than that without SiO₂ particles. Membrane fouling was more severe at constant flux mode of filtration than that observed at constant pressure mode probably due to the concomitant increase of compressibility of fouling layer with transmembrane pressure (TMP). It was found that the presence of SA and SiO₂ particles in feed solution provided the synergistic effect on the hydraulic backwashing to reduce membrane fouling as compared to the SA solution alone without the inorganic particles.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.5-17
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• 2013

Slug tests can be adopted to estimate hydraulic conductivity of the slurry trench wall backfill for its abilities to reflect the in-situ performance of the construction. A comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model is developed to simulate the slug test in a slurry trench wall considering the presence of bentonite cake on the interface boundaries between the wall and the surrounding soil formation. Influential factors such as wall width (i.e., proximity of wall boundary), well deviation, vertical position of well intake section, compressibility of wall backfill, etc. are taken into account in the model. A series of simulation results are examined to evaluate the bentonite cake effect in analyzing practical slug test results in the slurry trench wall. The results show that the modified line-fitting method can be used without any correction factor for the slug test in the slurry trench wall with the presence of bentonite cake. A case study is reanalyzed with the assumption of existing bentonite cake. The results are compared with the previously reported results by the approaches assuming no bentonite cake (constant-head boundary) or upper-bound solution (no-flux boundary). The case study demonstrates the bentonite cake effect and the validity of the modified line-fitting method in the estimation of the hydraulic conductivity of the slurry wall backfill.