• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제11권5호
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• pp.363-374
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• 2020

Membrane distillation (MD) is a process used for water desalination. However, its commercialization is still hindered by its increased specific cost of production. In this work, several process configurations comprising Direct Contact and Permeate Gap distillation membrane units (PGMD/DCMD) were investigated to maximize the production rate and consequently reduce the specific water cost. The analysis was based on a cost model and an experimentally validated MD model. It was revealed that the best achievable water cost was approximately 5.1 $/㎥ with a production rate of 8000 ㎥/y. This cost can be further decreased to approximately 2 $/㎥ only if the heating and cooling energies are free of cost. Therefore, it is necessary to decrease the MD capital investment to produce pure water at economical prices.

• 멤브레인
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.342-350
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• 2010

막증류는 소수성이 강한 0.1 내지 $0.5{\mu}m$의 정밀여과막을 통하여 휘발도가 상대적으로 큰 성분을 증발시켜 분리하는 방법이다. 본 연구에서는 중공사형 분리막을 이용한 직접접촉식 막증류 공정을 "COMSOL Multiphysics" 프로그램을 이용하여 수치해석 하였으며 유체의 유입온도, lumen 및 shell side 공급 유속의 변화로 인한 투과량의 변화를 해석하였다. Lumen 공급용액의 온도가 30 에서 $50^{\circ}C$까지 증가할 경우 막증류 투과량은 1.0에서 $3.8L/m^2{\cdot}hr$ 까지 증가하였으나 shell 유체온도 영향은 상대적으로 낮았다. 또한 lumen 공급유속에 따른 막증류 투과량과 운전 압력손실을 고려할 경우 0.15 m/s ($Re_L=135$)일 때 가장 효율적임을 확인하였다.

• 상하수도학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.229-236
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• 2017

In this study, a direct contact membrane module was manufactured to be used in a pilot scale membrane distillation process to treat $3m^3/day$ of the digestate produced from anaerobic digestion of livestock manure. In order to investigate the performance of the membrane module, permeate flux was measured with and without spacer inside the module under various condition of temperature difference and cross flow velocity (CFV) through the membrane surfaces. Flux recovery rate after chemical cleaning was also investigated by applying three different cleaning methods. Additionally, thermal energy consumption was theoretically simulated based on actual pilot plant operation conditions. As results, we observed flux of the module with spacer was almost similar to the theoretically predicted value because the installation of spacer reduced the channeling effect inside the module. Under the same operating condition, the permeate flux also increased with increasing temperature difference and CFV. As a result of chemical in-line cleaning using NaOCl and citric acid for the fouled membranes, the recovery rate was 83.7% compared to the initial flux when NaOCl was used alone, and 87% recovery rate was observed when only citric acid was used. However, in the case of using only citric acid, the permeate flux was decreased at a rapid rate. It seemed that a cleaning by NaOCl was more effective to recover the flux of membrane contaminated by the organic matter as compared to a cleaning by citric acid. The total heat energy consumption increased with increasing CFV and temperature difference across the membrane. Thus, further studies should be intensively conducted to obtain a high permeate flux while keeping the energy consumption to a minimum for a practical application of membrane distillation process to treat wastewater.

• 멤브레인
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• 제26권1호
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• pp.70-75
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• 2016

본 연구에서는 하수처리수를 원수로 사용하여 직접 접촉식 막증발법을 적용하여 원수 온도와 원수 유량 변화에 따른 하수처리수의 COD, TN, TP, TOC의 제거율 변화와 여과플럭스의 변화를 측정하였다. 또한 하수처리수에 의한 분리막의 오염 가역성을 평가하기 위해 1차 증류수만을 사용하여 물리세정을 수행한 후 플럭스의 회복률을 측정하였다. 실험결과 원수의 온도 및 유량에 관계없이 원수가 3배 농축될 때까지 여과를 진행하였음에도 불구하고 하수처리수의 주요 오염물질인 COD, TN, TP, TOC에 대한 제거율이 92% 이상으로 높게 나타났다. 또한 비교적 낮은 온도인 $50^{\circ}C$와 $60^{\circ}C$에서 원수의 유량에 따라 최소 13.8 LMH에서 20.3 LMH로 높은 여과플럭스를 나타냈다. 그리고 높은 농축계수까지 여과 실험을 진행했음에도 불구하고 낮은 여과플럭스의 감소를 나타냈으며 1차 증류수를 이용한 짧은 시간 동안의 물리세정만으로 최소 90% 이상의 높은 여과 플럭스 회복율을 나타냈다. 따라서 하수처리수 재이용을 위한 공정으로 막증발법의 적용이 충분히 가능할 것으로 판단된다.

• 한국유체기계학회 논문집
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.56-60
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• 2013

Non-conventional oil resources such as shale gas are becoming increasingly important and have drawn the attention of several major oil companies all over the world. Nevertheless, the market-changing growth of shale gas production in recent years has resulted in the emergence of environmental and water management challenges. This is because the water used in the hydraulic fracturing process contains large amount of pollutants including ions, organics, and particles. Accordingly, the treatment of this flowback water from shale gas plant is regarded as one of the key technologies. In this study, we examined the feasibility of membrane distillation as a treatment technology for the water from shale gas plants. Direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) is a thermally-driven process based on a vaper pressure gradient across a hydrophobic membrane, allowing the treatment of feed waters containing high concentration of ions. Experiments were carried out put in the lab-scale under various conditions such as membrane types, temperature difference, flow rate and so on. Synthetic feed water was prepared and used based on the data from literature. The results indicated that DCMD is suitable for treating not only low-range flowback water but also high-range flowback water. Based on the theoretical calculation, DCMD could have over 80% of recovery. Nevertheless, organic pollutants such as oil and surfactant were identified as serious barriers for the application of MD. Further works will be required to develop the optimum pretreatment for this MD process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.367-375
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• 2016

Although the bucky paper (BP) made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possesses beneficial characteristics of hydrophobic nature and high porosity for membrane distillation (MD) application, weak mechanical strength of BP has often prevented the stable operation. This study aims to fabricate the BP with high mechanical strength to improve its MD performance. The strategy was to increase the purity level of CNTs with an assumption that purer CNTs would increase the Van der Waals attraction, leading to the improvement of mechanical strength of BP. According to this study results, the purification of CNT does not necessarily enhance the mechanical strength of BP. The BP made from purer CNTs demonstrated a high flux ($142kg/m^2{\cdot}h$) even at low ${\Delta}T$ ($50^{\circ}C$ and $20^{\circ}C$) during the experiments of direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). However, the operation was not stable because a crack quickly formed. Then, a support layer of AAO (anodic aluminum oxide) filter paper was introduced to reinforce the mechanical strength of BP. The support reinforcement was able to increase the mechanical strength, but wetting occurred. Therefore, the mixed matrix membrane (PSf-CNT) using CNTs as filler to polysulphone was fabricated. The DCMD operation with the PSf-CNT membrane was stable, although the flux was low ($6.1kg/m^2{\cdot}h$). This result suggests that the mixed matrix membrane could be more beneficial for the stable DCMD operation than the BP.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제6권6호
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• pp.451-476
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• 2015

Membrane distillation (MD), which can utilize low-grade thermal energy, has been extensively studied for desalination. By incorporating solar thermal energy, the solar membrane distillation desalination system (SMDDS) is a potential technology for resolving the energy and water resource problems. Small-scale SMDDS (s-SMDDS) is an attractive and viable option for the production of fresh water for small communities in remote arid areas. The minimum-cost design and operation of s-SMDDS are determined by a systematic method, which involves a pseudo steady state approach for equipment sizing and the dynamic optimization using overall system mathematical models. The s-SMDDS employing three MD configurations, including the air gap (AGMD), direct contact (DCMD) and vacuum (VMD) types, are optimized. The membrane area of each system is $11.5m^2$. The AGMD system operated for 500 kg/day water production rate gives the lowest unit cost of $5.92/m^3$. The performance ratio and recovery ratio are 0.85 and 4.07%, respectively. For the commercial membrane employed in this study, the increase of membrane mass transfer coefficient up to two times is beneficial for cost reduction and the reduction of membrane heat transfer coefficient only affects the cost of the DCMD system.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제7권3호
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• pp.241-255
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• 2016

In this study, the treatability of arsenic (As) contaminated water by direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) at different delta temperatures (${\Delta}T$) 30, 40 and $50^{\circ}C$ has been investigated. Two different pore sizes ($0.22{\mu}m$ and $0.45{\mu}m$) of hydrophobic membranes made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) were used. The membrane pore sizes, the operating temperatures, the feed solution As concentration and conductivity have been varied during the experimental tests to follow the removal efficiency and flux behavior. Both membranes tested had high removal efficiency of arsenite (As (III)) and arsenate (As (V)) and all permeates presented As concentration far lower than recommended $10{\mu}g/L$ of world health organization (WHO). As concentration was below detection limit in many permeates. Conductivity reduction efficiency was over 99% and the transmembrane flux (TMF) reached $19L/m^2.h$ at delta temperature (${\Delta}T$) of $50^{\circ}C$ with PVDF $0.45{\mu}m$ membrane. The experimental results also indicated that $0.45{\mu}m$ pore sizes PVDF membranes presented higher flux than $0.22{\mu}m$ pore sizes membranes. Regardless of all operating conditions, highest fluxes were observed at highest ${\Delta}T$ ($50^{\circ}C$).

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.235-243
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• 2022

The paper presents the effect of operating temperatures and flow rates on the distillate flux that can be obtained from a hydrophobic membrane having the characteristics: pore size of 0.15 ㎛; thickness of 130 ㎛; and 85% porosity. That membrane in the present investigation could be the direct contact (DCMD) or the air-gap membrane distillation (AGMD). To model numerically the membrane distillation processes, the two-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) is used for the DCMD and AGMD cases here. In this work, DCMD and AGMD models have been validated with the experimental data using different flows (Parallel and Counter-current flows) in non-steady-state situations. A good agreement is obtained between the present results and those of the experimental data in the literature. The new approach in the present numerical modeling has allowed examining effects of the nature of materials (Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymers, copolymers, and blends) used on thermal properties. Moreover, the effect of the area surface of the membrane (0.021 to 3.15 ㎡) is investigated to explore both the laminar and the turbulent flow regimes. The obtained results found that copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) (80/20) is more effective than the other materials of membrane distillation (MD). The mass flux and thermal efficiency reach 193.5 (g/㎡s), and 83.29 % using turbulent flow and an effective area of 3.1 ㎡, respectively. The increase of feed inlet temperatures and its flow rate, with the reduction of cold temperatures and its flow rate are very effective for increasing distillate water flow in MD applications.

• 멤브레인
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• 제22권5호
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• pp.369-380
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• 2012

본 연구에서는 직접 접촉식 막증류 공정에서 운전인자에 따른 담수 투과량과 열효율을 예측하기 위해 열 및 물질전달 방정식을 이용하여 1차원 해석모델을 개발하였다. 이 해석모델의 타당성을 검증하기 위해 해석모델 결과와 기존 연구자들에 의해 수행된 실험 결과를 비교하였고 만족할 만한 결과를 얻었다. 이를 통해 DCMD 모듈에서 염수와 증류수의 입구온도 및 입구속도가 담수 투과량 및 열효율에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 그 결과 염수의 입구온도와 입구속도가 증류수의 입구온도와 입구속도보다 담수 투과량과 열효율 증가에 미치는 영향이 크기 때문에 지배적인 운전특성이라는 것을 알 수 있었다. 염수의 입구온도가 $60^{\circ}C$에서 $95^{\circ}C$로 증가할 때 담수 투과량이 21.22 $kg/m^2h$에서 71.26 $kg/m^2h$로 3.4배 증가하였고 열효율은 0.556에서 0.765로 37.5% 증가하였다. 한편, 염수의 입구속도가 60에서 300 m/h로 증가함에 따라 담수 투과량이 27.91 $kg/m^2h$에서 36.33 $kg/m^2h$로 30% 증가하였고 열효율은 0.6에서 0.646로 7.5% 증가함을 알 수 있었다.