• Membrane Journal
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2024

The flat sheet membrane, one of the representative forms of polymeric membranes, is widely used from material research in laboratories to commercial membrane production due to its ease of fabrication. Porous polymeric flat sheet membranes used in microfiltration and ultrafiltration are mainly fabricated through phase separation processes, utilizing non-solvent-induced and vapor-induced phase separation methods. However, due to the nature of phase separation processes, variations between samples can easily occur depending on the surrounding environment and the experimenter, making it difficult to ensure reproducibility. Therefore, for scaling up and ensuring reproducibility of developed membrane fabrication technologies, there is a need for a controlled environment continuous large-area production device, such as a roll-to-roll manufacturing system. This research compared the changes in membrane characteristics due to differences in manufacturing environments when scaling up laboratory-scale fabrication technologies to roll-to-roll processes using knife and slot die coaters. By optimizing the continuous manufacturing process factors, uniformity of the membrane was ensured during large-area production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.122-127
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of membrane fouling caused by soluble organic materials in a membrane bioreactor process. For the removal of filterable organic materials (FOC) smaller than $1{\mu}m$, coagulants and activated carbon were added. A membrane bioreactor using a submerged $17{\mu}m$ metal sieve was operated in laboratory scale to examine the possibility of membrane fouling control. As the dosage of GAC and coagulant increased, the residual FOC concentration decreased and the permeate flow rate increased markedly. The permeate flux increased with an increased PACl addition at the range from 0 to 50 mg/l. At coagulant dosage of 27mg/l, the removal of FOC was about 46% and the flux increased to 3.5 times compared to the case without PACl addition. The permeate flux increased gradually with an increase in GAC dosage. At GAC dosage of 50mg/L, the permeate flux was about 2 times higher compared that for raw water. The particle in the range of $0.1{\sim}1.0{\mu}m$ were removed effectively by the addition of GAC and coagulant. Higher osage of GAC and coagulant, led to higher removal of FOC. A different set of experiments was also performed to investigate the effect of pretreatment on the permeation ability of MBR system using the metal sieve membrane. After 40 hours of operation, the permeate flux was about 1,000 ($L/m^2-hr$), which is 20 times higher compared to the results in literature. It is likely that combined pretreatment using coagulant and activated carbon was the most effective to resolve membrane fouling problems. Moreover, the continuous operations could be successful by applying this pretreatment method.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2015

The modification of ultrafiltration membranes with carbon nanotube (CNT) buckypaper on fouling control was investigated. Two types of commercially available flat-sheet membranes were used: PS35 and PES900C/D (PES) (the PS35 membranes were hydrophilic with a molecular weight cutoff of 20 kDa, and the PES membranes were hydrophobic with a molecular weight cutoff of 20 kDa). The CNT buckypaper modified ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by filtering a CNT suspension through the flat-sheet membrane in a dead-end ultrafiltration unit. After modification, the pure water flux of PES was significantly increased, while the pure water flux of PS35 was decreased. The properties of the CNT modified membranes were also investigated. Considering the antifouling properties, pure water flux of the modified membrane, and the stability of CNT buckypaper layer on the membrane surface, ethanol solution with a concentration of 50 wt.%, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a larger diameter (30-50 nm), and the CNT loading with $7.5g/m^2$ was selected. The CNT buckypaper on the surface of ultrafiltration membranes can trap the pollutants in sewage effluent and prevent them reaching the surface of virgin membranes. Water quality analysis showed that the effluent quality of the modified membrane was obviously improved. The removal efficiency of humic acid and protein-like matters by the modified membrane was significant. These results indicate the potential application of the CNT buckypaper layer modified membranes in the field of wastewater reclaim.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.134-139
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• 2007

Experimental and numerical analysis were performed for separation of carbon dioxide from carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas mixture using a polyethersulfone hollow fiber membrane. The experimental results were compared with those obtained at the same operating condition by the numerical analysis. It was observed that there was a big difference between the experimental results and those by a numerical analysis where the permeance of carbon dioxide and its ideal selectivity over nitrogen were obtained from the pure gas permeation. Therefore, the permeance of carbon dioxide and its selectivity were obtained from the separation experimental results using the numerical analysis as a function of the mole fraction of carbon dioxide, the feed pressure and the permeate pressure in the gas mixture. The results of the numerical analysis using the selectivity obtained from the gas mixture were in good agreement with those of the experimental.

• Carbon letters
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.184-190
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• 2007

Carbon Nano Tubes could be either metallic or semi-conducting in nature, depending on their diameter. Its photocatalytic behavior has given an impetus to use it as an anti-microbial agent. More than 95% Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria got killed when exposed to Carbon Nano Tubes for 30 minutes in presence of sunlight. Carbon Nano Tubes are supposed to have smooth surface on to which it accumulates positive charges when exposed to light. The surface that is non illuminated has negative charge. At the cellular level microorganisms produce negative charges on the cell membrane, Therefore damaging effect of multi walled carbon nano tubes (exposed to light) on the microorganisms is possible. In this paper, photo catalytic killing of microbes by multi walled carbon nano tubes is reported. Killing was due to damage in the cell membrane, as seen in SEM micrographs. Moreover biochemical analysis of membrane as well as total cellular proteins by SDS PAGE showed that there was denaturation of membrane proteins as well as total proteins of both the microbes studied. The killed microbes that showed a decrease in number of protein bands (i.e. due to breaking down of proteins) also showed an increase in level of free amino acids in microbes. This further confirmed that proteins got denatured or broken down into shorter units of amino acids. Increased level of free amino acids was recorded in both the microbes treated with multi walled carbon nano tubes and sunlight.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.121-142
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• 2002

The $CO_2$ emission is the largest contribute for the green house effect. Among the existing chemical separation processes, the membrane separation technology is(/will be) the most potential process for $CO_2$, separation from flue gas. Based on the solution-diffusion theory and physical properties of carbon dioxide/nitrogen and the permeation data in the literature, the relationships between physico-chemical structures of polymeric membrane materials and the perm-selectivities for $CO_2$/$N_2$ gases were described in detail. The progress of membrane module and process development was introduced briefly. Finally, the worldwide research activity including South Korea's for carbon dioxide separation by membrane technology were introduced through the survey of papers and technical reports published.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.185-194
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• 1995

Membrane process has been employed to separate a specific substance from gas or liquid mixture, and treat wastewater. This is due to the fact that the substance of mixture can be permeated and separated selectively by membrane. Since Initial equipment and operation costs are not expensive, membrane process has been adopted in various fields such as petroleum Industry, chemistry, polymer, electronics, foods, biochemical industry and wastewater treatment. In this study, $CaCO_3$ particles impregnated in silicone rubber network were extracted by using supercritical carbon dioxide and pore distribution of silicone $rubber-CaCO_3$ was investigated with varying amount of extract. Silicone rubber has excellent mechanical properties such as heat-resistance, cold-resistance etc. and $CaCO_3$ has microporous structure. It is possible to make silicone $rubber-CaCO_3$ composite sheets via work-intensive kneading processes. In so doing $CaCO_3$ particles become distributed and impregnated in silicone rubber network. Supercritical carbon dioxide diffuse through composite sample, then sample is swollen. $CaCO_3$ in silicone rubber network Is dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide, and its sites become pores. Pore distribution, pore shape and surface area are observed by SEM(scanning electron microscope) micrograph and BET surface area analyzer examination respectively. Pore characteristics of membrane suggest the possibilities that the membrane can be used for process of mixture separation and wastewater treatment.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.390-397
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• 2023

Conventional extraction methods for polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics, cause a decrease in molecular weight and a change in properties. In this work, we developed a method to extract PHB accumulated in microorganisms by physical disruption through filtration using a spiked carbon nanotube (CNT) membrane with functionalized CNT. In addition, filtration of the PHB-containing microbial solution was performed to confirm PHB extraction, which was found to be 4% more efficient than chloroform, the most used extraction method. These results indicate that the spiked CNT membrane has potential in the bioplastics recovery process.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2024

In this paper, a new technology to obtain electronic grade, highly pure carbon dioxide by using membrane and liquefied natural gas (LNG) cold heat assisted cryogenic distillation has been proposed. PRO/II with PROVISION release 2023.1 from AVEVA company was used, and Peng-Robinson equation of the state model with Twu's alpha function to predict pure component vapor pressure versus temperature more accurately was selected for the modeling of the membrane and cryogenic distillation process. Advantage of using membrane separation instead of selecting absorber-stripper configuration for the concentration of carbon dioxide was the reduction of carbon dioxide capture cost.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.485-488
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• 1989

A carbon paste coated-wire ion-selective electrode for chloride (carbon chloride-CWE) was constructed using epoxy resin, ion-exchanger and carbon powder as a polymer membrane. Its utility, the composition of a polymer membrane, the response characteristics, and the selectivity were examined and applied to the environmental water analysis. The carbon chloride-CWE was prepared using a silver wire, which was covered with silver chloride and then coated with epoxy resin into which chloride ion-exchanger and carbon powder were previously incorporated in advance. The response of the carbon chloride-CWE was Nernstian for $1.0{\times}10^{-2}-2{\times}10^{-5}$ M chloride and the useful pH range from $10^{-2} M Cl- to 10^{-4} M Cl^-$ was 3.0-9.0. Furthermore, the selectivity of chloride over iodide, bromide, and cyanide was much improved compared with those for a solid state epoxy body chloride electrode and a liquid membrane chloride electrode. The carbon chloride-CWE was applied to determine Cl^-$ in tap and ground water. The obtained results were in good agreement with those by the established methods such as spectrophotometric or other chloride-selective electrode methods.