• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.328-334
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• 2014

This study examined the effect of concentration polarization on permeate flux in forward osmosis (FO) membrane process for saline and sucrose solution. The reduction in permeate flux during the FO membrane process is largely due to the formation of concentration polarization on membrane surfaces. The flux reduction due to internal concentration polarization formed on the porous support layer was larger than that due to the external concentration polarization on the active membrane surface. Water permeate flux through the FO membrane increased nonlinearly with the increase in osmotic pressure. The water permeability coefficient was $1.8081{\times}10^{-7}m/s{\cdot}atm$ for draw solution on active layer (DS-AL) mode and $1.0957{\times}10^{-7}m/s{\cdot}atm$ for draw solution on support layer (DS-SL) mode in NaCl solution system. The corresponding membrane resistance was $5.5306{\times}10^6$ and $9.1266{\times}10^6s{\cdot}atm/m$, respectively. With respect to the sucrose solution, the permeate flux for DS-AL mode was 1.33~1.90 times higher than that for DS-SL mode. The corresponding variation in the permeation flux (J) due to osmotic pressure (${\pi}$) would be expressed as $J=-0.0177+0.4506{\pi}-0.0032{\pi}^2$ for the forward and $J=0.0948+0.3292{\pi}-0.0037{\pi}^2$ for the latter.

• International Journal of Fluid Machinery and Systems
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2010

The creation of the hydraulic turbine flow factor map will undoubtedly benefit its design by decreasing both the design cycle time and product cost. In this paper, the geometry and flow variables, which effectively affect the flow factor, are proposed, analyzed and determined. These flow variables are further used to create the operating condition maps by using different model approaches categorized into Response Surface Method (RSM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The accuracies of models created by different approaches are compared and the performances of model approaches are analyzed. The influences of chosen variables and the combination of Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and model approaches are also studied. The comparison results between predicted and actual flow factors suggest that two-hidden-layer Feed-forward Neural Network (FFNN), and one.hidden-layer FFNN with PCA has the best performance on forming this mapping, and are accurate sufficiently for hydraulic turbine design.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.235-252
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• 2022

Forward osmotic pressure-free reverse osmosis (Δ𝜋=0 RO) was invented in 2013. The first patent (US 9,950,297 B2) was registered on April 18, 2018. The "Osmotic Pressure of Concentrated Solutions" in JACS (1908) by G.N. Lewis of MIT was used for the estimation. The Chang's RO system differs from conventional RO (C-RO) in that two-chamber system of osmotic pressure equalizer and a low-pressure RO system while C-RO is based on a single chamber. Chang claimed that all aqueous solutions, including salt water, regardless of its osmotic pressure can be separated into water and salt. The second patent (US 10.953.367B2, March 23, 2021) showed that a low-pressure reverse osmosis is possible for 3.0% input at Δ𝜋 of 10 to 12 bar. Singularity ZERO reverse osmosis from his third patent (Korea patent 10-22322755, US-PCT/KR202003595) for a 3.0% NaCl input, 50% more water recovery, use of 1/3 RO membrane area, and 1/5th of theoretical energy. These numbers come from Chang's laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis. Relative residence time (RRT) of feed and OE chambers makes Δ𝜋 to zero or negative by recycling enriched feed flow. The construction cost by S-ZERO was estimated to be around 50~60% of the current RO system.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2020

This paper aims to reuse sewage by a forward osmosis using a blended fertilizer as a draw solution. This work deals with the primary sedimentation basin influent, effluent, and secondary sedimentation basin effluent from J sewage treatment plant. The average permeate water flux was higher in the order of the blend of KCl and NH₄Cl > KCl and NH₄H₂PO₄ > KCl and (NH₄)₂HPO₄, and the reverse solute flux was lower in the order of the blend of KCl and NH₄H₂PO₄ < KCl and NH₄Cl < KCl and (NH₄)₂HPO₄. Regardless of the blended fertilizer, the permeate water flux of the effluent from the secondary sedimentation basin was the highest. The blended fertilizer of KCl and NH₄H₂PO₄ was found to be most useful for the reuse of sewage because it contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which are the major components of a fertilizer, and has a low reverse solute flux. When the blend of KCl and NH₄H₂PO₄ was used as a draw solution, the average permeate water and reverse solute flux for the secondary sedimentation basin effluent were 12.14 L/㎡hr and 0.012 mol/㎡s, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.279-284
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• 2015

As non-conventional oil resources such as shale gas have been widely developed, proper treatment of flowback and produced water is becoming important. However, application of conventional water treatment techniques is limited due to high concentration of pollutants such as oil and grease, organics, harmful chemicals, and inorganic ions. In this study, we examined the feasibility of using forward osmosis (FO) and air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) as novel treatment options for shale gas wastewater. Laboratory-scale FO and MD devices were fabricated and used for the experiments. Results showed that FO could be used to treat the synthetic wastewater. Using 5 M NaCl as the draw solution, the flux was approximately $6L/m^2-hr$ during the treatment of low range wastewater (TDS: 66,000 mg/L). Nevertheless, AGMD was more effective to treat high range wastewater (Total Dissolved Solid: 260,000 mg/L) than FO.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2016

Thin film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes were prepared on polysulfone (PSF) supports for forward osmosis (FO) applications. To understand the influence of polarity and porosity of support layer on the formation of polyamide structure and the final FO performance, clathochelate metal complex (MC) contained PSF supports were prepared via the phase inversion process from various PSF casting solutions containing 0.1-0.5 wt% of MC in dimethyl formamide (DMF) solvent (18 wt%). A crosslinked aromatic polyamide layer was then fabricated on top of each support to form a TFC membrane. For the porous PSF supports prepared with relatively low concentration casting solutions (12 wt%), the PET film was removed after phase inversion and crosslinked aromatic polyamide layer was then fabricated. The tested sample from PSF (18 wt%)/MC (0.5 wt%) casting solution presented outstanding FO performance, almost similar water flux (9.99 LMH) with lower reverse salt flux (RSF, 0.77 GMH) compared to commercial HTI FO membrane(10.97 LMH of flux and 2.2 GMH of RSF). By addition of MC in casting solution, the thickness of the active layer in FO membranes was reduced, however, the increased RSF value was obtained.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.510-518
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• 2016

Ethyl cellulose-g-poly(ethylene glycol) (EP) was synthesized by esterification of carboxylic acid functionalized methoxy polyethylene glycol (MPEG-COOH) with ethyl cellulose (EC) in order to develop a hydrophilic substrate for thin-film composite (TFC) membrane in a forward osmosis (FO) system. A porous EP substrate, fabricated by a non-solvent induced phase separation method, was found to be more hydrophilic than the EC substrate due to the presence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) side chains in the EP. Since the EP substrate exhibits smaller water contact angles and higher porosity, the structural parameter (S) of TFC-EP is smaller than that of TFC-EC, indicating that internal concentration polarization (ICP) within porous substrates can occur less when TFC-EP is used as a membrane. For example, the water flux value of the TFC-EP is 15.7 LMH, whereas the water flux value of the TFC-EC is only 6.6 LMH. Therefore, we strongly believe that the TFC-EP could be a promising candidate with good FO performances.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.108-115
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• 2016

This study is to evaluate the performance of draw solutions in the water reuse of sewage discharge water using fertilizer drawn forward osmosis. Feed water used in all experiments was the effluent from secondary sedimentation tank in activated sludge process. Considering osmotic pressure, solubility, and pH, $NH_4H_2PO_4$, KCl, $KNO_3$, $NH_4Cl$, $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, $NH_4NO_3$, $NH_4HCO_3$, and $KHCO_3$ were screened from a comprehensive lists of fertilizer. Their performances were evaluated in terms of water permeate flux and reverse solute flux. KCl showed the highest average water flux followed by $NH_4Cl$, $NH_4NO_3$, $KNO_3$, $KHCO_3$, $NH_4HCO_3$, $NH_4H_2PO_4$, and $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$. Using KCl as draw solution, the average water permeate flux was 13.49 LMH. There was no big difference in osmotic pressure between the effluent from secondary sedimentation tank and deionized water. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ showed the lowest reverse solute flux followed by $NH_4Cl$, $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, $KNO_3$, $NH_4HCO_3$, and $NH_4NO_3$. Using $NH_4H_2PO_4$ as draw solution, the reverse solute flux was $4.96{\times}10^{-3}mmol/m^2{\cdot}sec$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.391-400
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• 2016

In this work, novel thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes are developed via interfacial polymerization on the polysulfone (PS) substrate, using TEOS as the a sol-gel reagent to form hydrophilic interlayer polymer between PS and polyamide (PA). The PS substrate was cast on a very thin polyester nonwoven to reduce membrane resistance. With the incorporation of TEOS (tetraethoxy silane) polymer in the interface between PS and PA, the formed TFC FO membrane exhibits better hydrophilicity and improved water flux, and therefore superior membrane performance. By changing the polymerization sequence of PA interfacial polymerization and TEOS sol-gel condensation, the surface properties and performance of FO membranes are changed significantly. The permeability of FO membranes were estimated using the bench-scale FO test equipment. The distribution of the polysiloxane on composite membrane and morphology are also studied with FE-SEM and EDAX. The PS_PA_TEOS membrane showed highly enhanced water flux (79.2 LMH) but reverse salt flux (RSF) value (7.10 GMH) also increased. However, the flux of PS_TEOS_PA membrane increased moderately (54.1 LMH) without increasing RSF value (1.60 GMH) compare with PS_PA membrane.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.122-131
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• 2019

In order to reuse and concentrate the sewage, a forward osmosis using fertilizer as draw solution was applied. Sewage-1, which is the supernatant after settling for 30 minutes for the primary settling basin influent, and Sewage-2, which is the supernatant after settling for 30 minutes for the effluent, and Sewage-3, which is the filtrate filtered through a $1{\mu}m$ cartridge filter for the effluent were tested. Eight draw solutions of $NH_4H_2PO_4$, KCl, $KNO_3$, $NH_4Cl$, $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, $NH_4NO_3$, $NH_4HCO_3$, and $KHCO_3$ were used in consideration of osmotic pressure, solubility and pH. In the case of Sewage-3, the permeate flux was almost similar to that of the discharge water of the sewage treatment plant, and was larger than that of Sewage-1 and Sewage-2. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ was the smallest, and $NH_4NO_3$ was the largest in the specific reverse solute flux. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ was found to be most useful for the reuse and concentration of sewage because it contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which are the major components of fertilizer, as well as low specific reverse solute flux. When $NH_4H_2PO_4$ was used as the draw solution, the concentration factor after 24 hours for Sewage-3 was 1.72.