• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.148-156
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• 2012

In this research, the application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) modified PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) membrane was tested as a simply and beginning attempt to overcome membrane fouling because CNTs importantly affect the transport of natural organic matter (NOM). Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA) as the representative of NOM was selected and its sorption results with single-walled CNT (SWCNT), multi-walled CNT (MWCNT), and oxidized MWCNT (O-MWCNT) were obtained through the batch experiment. SRFA sorption isotherms had a strong nonlinearity and its sorption capacity followed the order O-MWCNT < MWCNT < SWCNT. The adsorbed mass of SRFA on each CNT decreased as a function of pH due to their charge repulsion. For the CNT-PVDF membrane filtration experiments, the suspended CNT solution (10 mg/40 mL) was incorporated into $0.45{\mu}m$-PVDF membrane and 5 mg/L of SRFA solution was monitored using UV detector connected with high pressure pump after passing through CNT-PVDF membrane. The SRFA removal efficiency by MWCNT-PVDF membrane was the strongest among other modified membranes. This suggests that the CNT modified microfiltration (MF) membrane might effectively and selectively apply to treat the contaminated water including organic compounds in the presence of NOM.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2009

Low-pressure membrane processes have been extensively expanded their applications to drinking water production in a few decades. As a capacity of a membrane plant becomes greater in recent years, proper methods to increase water production as well as to treat residuals have drawn great attention. A possible treatment option for the better water production is to apply a dual membrane system. The second stage microfiltration was installed and operated for approximately six months. The residuals from the two stage microfiltration were investigated to learn their characteristics in settling and dewatering processes. The settlability of the membrane residuals were greatest at the SS concentration of approximately 15000mg/L. The proper dose of the polyelectrolytes for filterability were obtained in the range of 0.5~1%. In the dosage range, the water contents of the membrane residuals were greater but the SRF were lower than the residual from the conventional process.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2014

Rainwater harvesting is a process by which rainwater collected from rooftop or other catchment is purified so that the water can be directly or indirectly used by human beings for beneficial uses. As rainwater is increasingly considered for high quality purposes, membranes have gained an important place in rainwater treatment. It has advantages such as the production of high quality water, small footprint, and affordable energy consumption. Nevertheless, membrane fouling is regarded as a serious problem similar to the cases of water treatment and wastewater reclamation. In this study, we applied microfiltration (MF) membranes for rainwater treatment. In addition, a low pressure ultraviolet (UV) process was also use as a pretreatment to control notonly. To quantify the effect of UV on organic matters, both total organic carbon (TOC) and UV absorbance (UVA) were measured. Moreover, the effect of UV pretreatment on membrane fouling was investigated. Experimental results indicated that the pretreatment of membranes using LPUV was effective to control fouling of MF membranes only when the rainwater was contaminated by algae. This was attributed the reduction and modification of organics after UV treatments. It is likely that the UV/MF process is a promising option for water treatment in decentralized water treatment such as micro water grid systems.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.194-200
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of newly developed Large Pore Micro-Filtration (LPMF) membrane in Lab size for the application of water treatment, and to find its problems with solutions. The out-to-inside filtration hollow fiber LPMF membrane of which average pore size was $5{\mu}m$ was used at this study and its material was the PET braid reinforced PVDF. Filtration tests were done through gravity with 30 cm water head difference or pressure below 1.5 bar, and the backwash was done instantaneously with the filtrate after pressurizing it to about 4 bar. The water flux of the LPMF membrane with 0.2 bar TMP (Trans Membrane Pressure) was 2 times higher than $0.4{\mu}m$ MF membrane with $0.05{\mu}m$ UF filtrate of the tap water and it was measured also with 20~30 cm water head difference which showed over 800 LMH at 30 cm water head difference. And Time-To-Filter (TTF) was performed by using $5{\mu}m$ filter paper to optimize coagulants and dosage which enhanced filtrate's turbidity and stabilized filtration flux. When the LPMF was operated with 30 cm gravity with very high dose of inorganic coagulants, the flux was maintained over 80 LMH with 93.5~99.5% turbidity removal. Especially, the filtration was maintained stably in the flux and about 97% of the recovery rate by instantaneous pressurized backwash with about 4 bar of the filtrate when the packing density was about 19%. But there was instability in filtration, since the TMP was continuously going up by inefficient backwash when the packing density was 43%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 2011

For advanced drinking water treatment of high turbidity water, we used the hybrid module that was composed of photocatalyst packing between outside of tubular ceramic microfiltration membrane and membrane module inside. Photocatalyst was PP (polypropylene) bead coated $TiO_2$ powder by CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process. Instead of natural organic matters (NOM) and fine inorganic particles in natural water source, modified solution was prepared with humic acid and kaolin. Water-back-flushing of 10 sec was performed per every period of 10 min to minimize membrane fouling. Resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$) decreased and J increased as concentration of humic acid changed from 10 mg/L to 2 mg/L, and finally the highest total permeate volume ($V_T$) could be obtained at 2 mg/L. Then, treatment efficiencies of turbidity and $UV_{254}$ absorbance were above 98.5% and 85.7%, respectively. As results of treatment portions by membrane filtration, photocatalyst adsorption, and photo-oxidation in MF, MF + $TiO_2$, and MF + $TiO_2$ + UV processes, turbidity was treated little by photocatalyst adsorption, and photo-oxidation. However, treatment portions of humic acid by adsorption and photo-oxidation were above 10.7 and 8.6%, respectively.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2015

The application of coagulation for feed water pretreatment prior to microfiltration (MF) process has been widely adopted to alleviate fouling due to particles and organic matters in feed water. However, the efficiency of coagulation pretreatment for MF is sensitive to its operation conditions such as pH and coagulant dose. Moreover, the optimum coagulation condition for MF process is different from that for rapid sand filtration in conventional drinking water treatment. In this study, the use of response surface methodology (RSM) was attempted to determine coagulation conditions optimized for pretreatment of MF. The center-united experimental design was used to quantify the effects of coagulant dose and pH on the control of fouling control as well as the removal organic matters. A MF membrane (SDI Samsung, Korea) made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was used for the filtration experiments. Poly aluminum chloride (PAC) was used as the coagulant and a series of jar tests were conducted under various conditions. The flux was $90L/m^2-h$ and the fouling rate were calculated in each condition. As a result of this study, an empirical model was derived to explore the optimized conditions for coagulant dose and pH for minimization of the fouling rate. This model also allowed the prediction of the efficiency of the coagulation efficiency. The experimental results were in good agreement with the predictions, suggesting that RSM has potential as a practical method for modeling the coagulation pretreatment for MF.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.175-189
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• 2013

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) with sludge retention time (SRT) of 300 days was maintained for over 2 years. Polypropylene microfiltration (MF) membrane with pore size of 0.2 ${\mu}m$ was used in the MBR system. The fouling behaviors of various sludge fractions from the MBR were studied and sub-divided resistances were analyzed. It was observed that $R_{cp}$ was a dominant resistance during the filtration of activated sludge, contributing 63.0% and 59.6% to the total resistance for MBR and sequential batch reactor (SBR) respectively. On the other hand, $R_c$ played the significant role during the filtration of supernatant and solutes, varying between 54.54% and 67.18%. Compared with $R_{cp}$ and $R_c$, $R_{if}$ was negligible, and $R_m$ values remained constant at $0.20{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$. Furthermore, resistances of all sludge fractions increased linearly with rising mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration and growing trans-membrane pressure (TMP), while the relationship was inversed between fraction resistances and cross flow velocity (CFV). Among all fractions of activated sludge, suspended solid was the main contributor to the total resistance. A compact cake layer was clearly observed according to the field emission scanning electro microscopy (FE-SEM) images.

• Clean Technology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.151-156
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• 2006

Combined membrane process of ceramic microfiltration (MF) and polymer ultrafiltration (UF) was optimized for the removal of color and total organic carbon (TOC) from textile wastewater. Membrane regeneration was performed for the efficient operation by backflushing and chemical cleaning. Flux of 10.3% increased by the pulse backflushing of 1 second every 2 minutes in ceramic microfiltration. Membrane regeneration of 97% was obtained by chemical cleaning with 0.1% sodium hydroxide in polymer ultrafiltration. The removal efficiency of TOC, color and SS (suspended solid) were 84.6%, 97.4% and 100%, respectively. The combined process was found to be suitable for the removal of color and residual organics from textile wastewater.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.892-899
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• 2005

Groundwater is naturally of excellent microbiological qualify and generally of adequate quality for drinking water use. However, recently, the impact of urbanization and intensification of agricultural production have led to serious deterioration in groundwater quality. The representative SOCs used in this study were trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE). Powdered activated carbon (PAC) is widely used for SOCs removal. The overall goal of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of using a hybrid use of PAC-UF and PAC-MF processes for treating groundwater contaminated with TCE and PCE. The results show that the flux decline rate was lower for the PAC-UF or PAC-MF process than for UF or MF only process. Therefore, applying PAC before UF or MF membrane filtration showed not only enhancing the removal of TCE and PCE, but also reducing membrane fouling.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.367-376
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• 2014

This study assessed the removal efficiency of NOM which is known as the precursors of DBPs in advanced water treatment using the ceramic membrane filtration, introduced the first in the nation at the Y water treatment plant (WTP). It is generally well-known that the removal of NOM by MF Membrane is very low in water treatment process. But, the result of investigation on removal efficiency of NOM in advanced water treatment using the ceramic membrane was different as follows. The removal rate of organic contaminant by the ceramic membrane advanced water treatment was determined to be 65.5% for the DOC, 85.8% for UV254, and 77 to 86% for DBPFP. The removal rate of pre-ozonation was found to be 6 to 15% more effective compared with the pre-chlorination. The removal rate of DOC and $UV_{254}$ in biological activated carbon(BAC) process was over 50% and 75%, respectively although the rate was decreased 10 ~ 20% according to analysis items in converting from GAC to BAC.