• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.277-286
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• 2019

In 2014, the first demineralization plant, using nanofiltration (NF) membrane coupled with renewable energies was realized at Al Annouar high school of Sidi Taibi, Kenitra, Morocco. This project has revealed difficulties related to the membrane performances loss (pressure increase, flux decline, poor water quality of the produced water and increase of energy consumption), as consequences of membrane fouling. To solve this problem, an autopsy of the membrane was done in order to determine the nature and origin of the fouling. The samples of membrane and fouling were then analyzed by scanning electron microscopy using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) connected with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) detection system and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Moreover, three cleaning solutions (hydrochloric acid, nitric acid and sulfuric acid) were tested and assessed in a single cleaning step to find the suitable one for the fouled membrane to regain its initial permeability and performances. The analysis of the experimental results showed that the fouling layer is mainly composed of calcium carbonate (inorganic fouling). Results showed also that the permeability is improved by the hydrochloric acid cleaning (pH=3) with a cleaning efficiency of 93%. Cleaning efficiency did not exceed 75 % with nitric acid (pH=3) and 40 % with sulfuric acid (pH=3).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.77-87
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• 2018

In this study, the effects of operating conditions on the formation of reversible and irreversible fouling were investigated in the filtration using ceramic membrane for water treatment process. The effect of coagulation pretreatment on fouling formation was also evaluated by comparing the performance of membrane filtration both with and without addition of coagulant. A resistance-in-series-model was applied for the analysis of membrane fouling. Total resistance (RT) and internal fouling resistance (Rf) increased in the membrane filtration process without coagulation as membrane flux and feed water concentrations increased. Internal fouling resistance, which was not recovered by physical cleaning, was more than 70% of the total resistance at the range of the membrane flux more than $5m^3/m^2{\cdot}day$. In the combined process with coagulation, the cake layer resistance (Rc) increased to about 30-80% of total resistance. As the cake layer formed by coagulation floc was easily removed by physical cleaning, the recovery rate by physical cleaning was 54~90%. It was confirmed from the results that the combined process was more efficient to recover the filtration performance by physical cleaning due to higher formation ratio of reversible fouling, resulted in the mitigation of the frequency of chemical cleaning.

• Clean Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2013

Environment-friendly and surfactant-free aqueous cleaning agents have been developed in order to solve various problems generated by surfactants in the aqueous cleaning agents. Aqueous surfactant-free cleaning agents, S-1 and S-2 have been formulated with water-soluble solvents such as propylene glycol and propylene glycol ether on their main components and with some additives. These solvents were chosen because of their good solubility in water and excellent solubility of fluxes which are major contaminants of printed circuit board in the electronic industry. Physical properties of the formulated and the imported cleaning agents were measured to predict their cleaning performance, and their cleaning abilities of flux and solder contaminants were evaluated under the various ultrasonic frequencies by a gravimetric method. The measurement results show that the physical properties of cleaning agent V are generally similar with those of formulated cleaning agents S-1 and S-2. Both the cleaning agent V and the formulated cleaning agents S-1 and S-2 showed similar trends that their pH decrease in the beginning and then increases later on with the increase of their dilution in water. It is considered that the wetting indices of the cleaning agents calculated with experimental values do not not have any influence on their cleaning ability. In ultrasonic cleaning tests under three ultrasonic frequencies of 28, 45, and 100 kHz, their best performances of cleaning solder and flux were obtained at 45 kHz and 28 kHz, respectively, and the cleaning performance of the formulated cleaning agents S-1 and S-2 was better than that of the cleaning agent V. However, in the case of the recommended diluted concentration of 25 wt% cleaning solution, the cleaning performance of the cleaner V for solder and flux was better in the initial stage of cleaning compared to the formulated cleaners. And it may be concluded that the formulated cleaning agents S-1 and S-2 can be applied to cleaning of solder and flux in the industry, based on the experimental results in this study.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.78-82
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• 2005

Display manufacturing process has adopted RCA cleaning, applying to larger area and coping with environmental issue for last ten years. However, the approaching concept of ozonized, hydrogenised, or electrolyzed water cleaning technologies is within RCA clean paradigm. In this work, only electrolyzed anode water was applied to clean particles and organics as well as metals based on Pourbaix concept, and as a test vehicle, MgO particles were introduced to prove the new concept. The electrolyzed anode water is very oxidative with high oxidation reduction potential (ORP) and low in pH of more than 900 mV and 3.1, respectively. MgO particles were immersed in the anode water and its weight losses due to dissolution were measured with time. Weight losses were in the ranges of 100 to 500 micrograms in 250 ml anode water depending on their ORP and pH. Therefore it was concluded that the cleaning radicals in the anode water was at least in the range of 1 to $5{\times}10^{20}$ ea per 250 ml anode water equivalent to $1{\times}10^{18} ea/cm^2$. Hence it can be assumed that the anode water applied to display cleaning from now on $1{\times}10^{10}$ to $1{\times}10^{15} ea/cm^2$ ranges of contaminants are being treated. In addition, it was observed that anode water did not develop micro-roughness on hydrophobic surface while it did on the native silicon oxide.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.499-515
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells in submerged membrane systems consisting of polymeric and ceramic microfiltration membranes. In this study, one polymeric (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$) and two ceramic (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$ and cylindrical, pore size: $1{\mu}m$) membranes were used. Physical cleaning was performed with water and air to determine the potential for reversible and irreversible membrane fouling. The study results showed that substantial irreversible membrane fouling (after four filtration cycles, irreversible fouling degree 27% (cleaning with water) and 38% (cleaning with air)) occurs in the polymeric membrane. In cleaning studies performed using water and air on ceramic membranes, it was observed that compressed air was more effective (recovery rate: 87-91%) for membrane cleaning. The harvesting performance of the membranes was examined through critical flux experiments. The critical flux values for polymeric membrane with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and $1{\mu}m$ were ${\leq}95L/m^2hour$, ${\leq}70L/m^2hour$ and ${\leq}55L/m^2hour$, respectively. It was determined that critical flux varies depending on the membrane material and the pore size. To obtain more information on membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells, the characterization of the fouled polymeric membrane was performed. This study concluded that ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.2-1{\mu}m$ in the submerged membrane system could be efficiently used for microalgae harvesting by cleaning the membrane with compressed air at regular intervals.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.429-433
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• 2014

As the fabrication technology used in FPDs(flat-panel displays) advances, the size of these panels is increasing and the pattern size is decreasing to the um range. Accordingly, a cleaning process during the FPD fabrication process is becoming more important to prevent yield reductions. The purpose of this study is to develop a FPD cleaning system and a cleaning process using a two-phase flow. The FPD cleaning system consists of two parts, one being a cleaning part which includes a two-phase flow nozzle, and the other being a drying part which includes an air-knife and a halogen lamp. To evaluate the particle removal efficiency by means of two-phase flow cleaning, silica particles $1.5{\mu}m$ in size were contaminated onto a six-inch silicon wafer and a four-inch glass wafer. We conducted cleaning processes under various conditions, i.e., DI water and nitrogen gas at different pressures, using a two-phase-flow nozzle with a gap distance between the nozzle and the substrate. The drying efficiency was also tested using the air-knife with a change in the gap distance between the air-knife and the substrate to remove the DI water which remained on the substrate after the two-phase-flow cleaning process. We obtained high efficiency in terms of particle removal as well as good drying efficiency through the optimized conditions of the two-phase-flow cleaning and air-knife processes.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.67-75
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• 2014

In this study, the large-scale hydraulic model test was performed to investigate the hydraulic characteristics for development of the non-power soil cleaning and keeping system at the dike gate. The outlet height, outflow number, outflow discharge, and outflow cycle were compared and analyzed. The non-power soil cleaning and keeping system was most effective at 11.2 mm in the outlet height. And then the mean outflow cycle was 1.09 sec, and the mean outflow discharge was $0.00164m^3/s$. The total outflow number increased gradually as the water level of a water tank increased, and the outlet height decreased. As a level of water tank decreased, the mean outflow cycle was lengthened, and the unit outflow discharge increased. This result showed this system was most effective. To remove the silty clay deposited in facilities, the methods of excavation, dredging, high pressure washing, etc have been applied to the tidal facilities such as land reclamation, a small size fishing port, and a harbor for maintenance. However, this is extremely cost-ineffective, whereas the non-power soil cleaning and keeping system will bring about an enormously positive economic effect. In addition, when the non-power soil cleaning and keeping system is applied to the dike gate of land reclamation, a thorough examination of the local tidal data and the careful system planning are required to prevent the disaster damage caused by flooding.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.99-102
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• 2004

Display process has adopted RCA clean, being applied to large area and coped with environmental issue for last ten years. However, the approaching concept of ozonized, hydrogenised, or electrolyzed water cleaning technologies is within RCA clean paradigm. In this work, only electrolyzed anode water was applied to clean particles and organics as well as metals based on Pourbaix concept, and as a test vehicle, MgO particles were introduced to prove the new concept. The electrolyzed anode water is very oxidative with high oxidation reduction potential(ORP) and low in pH of more than 900mV and 3.1, respectively. MgO particles were immerged in the anode water and its weight losses due to dissolution were measured with time. Weight losses were in the ranges of 100 to 500 micrograms in 250m1 anode waters depending on their ORP and pH. Therefore it was concluded that the cleaning radicals in the anode water was at least in the range of 1 to 5E20 ea per 250 ml anode water equivalent to IE18 ea/cm3. Hence it can be assumed that the anode water be applied to display cleaning since 1E10 to IE15 ea/cm3 ranges of contaminants are being treated. In addition, it was observed that anode water does not develop micro-roughness on hydrophobic surface while it does on the native silicon oxide.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.207-219
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• 2014

Fouling is one of the critical factors associated with the application of membrane technology in treating palm oil mill effluent (POME), due to the presence of high concentration of solid organic matter, oil, and grease. In order to overcome this, chemical cleaning is needed to enhance the effectiveness of membranes for filtration. The potential use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium chloride (NaCl), hydrochloric acid (HCl), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and ultrapure water (UPW) as cleaning agents have been investigated in this study. It was found that sodium hydroxide is the most powerful cleaning agent, the optimum conditions that apply are as follows: 3% for the concentration of NaOH, $45^{\circ}C$ for temperature solution, 5 bar operating pressure, and solution pH 11.64. Overall, flux recovery reached 99.5%. SEM images demonstrated that the membrane surface after cleaning demonstrated similar performance to fresh membranes. This is indicative of the fact that NaOH solution is capable of removing almost all of the foulants from PES membranes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2005

Conventionally used flocculation tanks require large space and high energy requirement for mixing. Static flocculators using gravel bed filter operate at a lower flow rate ($5-10m^3/m^2{\cdot}h$). Further, the cleaning of this system is difficult. A novel high rate static flocculator/filter developed at UTS packed with buoyant media such as polystyrene, polypropylene has been found to operate at higher filtration rates (30-45 $5-10m^3/m^2{\cdot}h$). They can easily be cleaned with minimal energy. Detailed experiments conducted with an artificial kaolin clay solution show that buoyant media is an excellent static flocculator in producing uniform filterable microflocs (12-15 m) even when it is operated at a high rate of 30-40 m/h. Detailed filtration experiments were conducted in a wastewater treatment plant to treat the biologically treated effluent with a floating media of depth of 120 cm. This filter was able to remove majority of phosphorus and remaining solids. It reduced significantly the fecal coliforms and fecal streptoccoci, thus requiring less amount of chlorine for disinfection. The advantage of this system is the low energy and water requirement for cleaning of filter bed. The periodic backwash adopted 30 seconds air and water and 30 seconds water cleaning every 90 minutes filter operation. Thisis equivalent to 1-2% of filtered water production. Mechanical cleaning system on the other hand, requires very low energy requirement (<1% of filtered water production).