• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.81-91
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• 2007

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) was used to investigate the aerobic degradation of foam active substance - non-ionic surfactant, APG 2000 UP. The surface aeration using the propeller loop reactor (PLR) guaranteed sufficient $O_2$ for substrate removal and bacteria growth and avoided foam development. Moreover, the cross-flow membrane filtration enabled the separation of the bacteria still loaded with surfactant in the collecting container. The biological degradation of the surfactant with varying hydraulic retention time (HRT) and influent concentration $c_{S0}$ showed high substrate removal of nearly 95% at high volumetric loading rates up to $7.4\;kgCOD\;m^{-3}d^{-1}$ and at sludge loading rates up to 1.8 kgCOD $(kgVSS\;d)^{-1}$ for biomass concentration $c_B\;{\approx}\;constant $. The increasing $c_B$ from 3.4 to $14.5\;gL^{-1}$ TSS respectively sludge retention time (SRT) from 5.1 to 442 d under complete biomass retention by the membrane filtration resulted in high removal of substrate ${\alpha}\;>\;90%$ with reducing excess sludge production.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.305-309
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• 2016

Recently, there are many efforts focused on development of more economical non-fluorinated membranes for PEMFCs (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells). In this study, to test the durability of sPEEK MEA (Membrane and Electrode Assembly), ADT (Accelerated Degradation Test) of MEA degradation was done at the condition that membrane and electrode were degraded simultaneously. Before and after degradation, I-V polarization curve, hydrogen crossover, electrochemical surface area, membrane resistance and charge transfer resistance were measured. Although the permeability of hydrogen through sPEEK membrane was low, sPEEK membrane was weaker to radical evolved at low humidity and OCV condition than fluorinated membrane such as Nafion. Performance after MEA degradation for 144 hours and 271 hours were reduced by 15% and 65%, respectively. It was showed that the main cause of rapid decrease of performance after 144 hours was shorting due to Pt/C particles in the pinholes.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2021

The PEM(Proton Exchange Membrane)water electrolysis uses the same PEM electrolyte membrane as the PEM fuel cell and proceeds by the same reaction but the opposite direction. The PEM fuel cell has many methods of degradation analysis since many studies have been conducted on the degradation and durability of the membrane and catalyst. We examined whether PEM fuel cell durability evaluation method can be applied to PEM electrolytic durability evaluation. During the PEM electrolytic degradation process, LSV(Linear sweep voltammetry), CV(Cyclic voltammetry), Impedance, SEM(Scanning Electron Microscope) and FT-IR(Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy) were analyzed and compared under the same conditions as the PEM fuel cell. As the PEM fuel cell, hydrogen passing through the membrane was oxidized at the Pt/C electrode, and the hydrogen permeation current density was measured to analyze the degree of degradation of the PEM membrane. Electrode degradation could be analyzed by measuring the electrode active area (ECSA) by CV under hydrogen/nitrogen flowing conditions. While supplying hydrogen and air to the Pt/C electrode and the IrO2 electrode, the impedance of each electrode was measured to evaluate the durability of the electrode and membrane.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.86.2-86.2
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• 2010

In order to improve polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) durability, the durability of membrane electrode assemblies (MEA), in which the electrochemical reactions actually occur, is one of the vital issues. Many articles have dealt with catalyst layer degradation of the durability-related factors on MEAs in relation to loss of catalyst surface area caused by agglomeration, dissolution, migration, formation of metal complexes and oxides, and/or instability of the carbon support. Degradation of catalyst layer during long-term operation includes cracking or delamination of the layer which result either from change in the catalyst microstructure or loss of electronic or ionic contact with the active surface, can result in apparent activity loss in the catalyst layer. Membrane degradation of the durability-related factors on MEAs can be caused by mechanical or thermal stress resulting in formation of pinholes and tears and/or by chemical attack of hydrogen peroxide radicals formed during the electrochemical reactions. All of these effects, the mechanical damage of membrane and degradation of catalyst layers are more facilitated by uneven stress or improper MEA fabrication process. In order to improve the PEMFC durability, therefore, it is most important to minimize the uneven stress or improper MEA fabrication process in the course of the fabrication of MEA. We analyzed the effects of the MEA fabrication condition on the PEMFC durability with MEA produced using CCM (catalyst coated membrane) method. This paper also investigated the effects of MEA fabrication condition on the PEMFC durability by adding additional treatment process, hot pressing and pressing, on the MEA produced using CCM method.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.6-10
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• 2016

Until a recent day, degradation of PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) has been mainly studied in unit cell. But operation and degradation of real PEMFC going along in stack instead of unit cell. Therefore in this work, ADT (Accelerated Degradation Test) of PEMFC was done in stack and the result from stack's test was compared with that of unit cell. The polymer electrolyte membrane was degraded by repeated electrochemical and mechanical degradation method among several ADT methods. Current densities of MEA at 0.6V decreased in stack and unit cell, 28.4% and 27.8% respectively after ADT for 312 hours. Hydrogen crossover current densities of membrane increased in stack and unit cell, 16.8% and 15.2% respectively after ADT for 312 hours. The result of ADT in stack was similar that of ADT in unit cell, which showed that ADT method of unit cell was available to the stack.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.327-339
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the local tissue reactions associated with 3 different poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) prototype membranes and to compare them to the reactions associated with commercially available resorbable membranes in rats. Methods: Seven different membranes-3 synthetic PLGA prototypes (T1, T2, and T3) and 4 commercially available membranes (a PLGA membrane, a poly[lactic acid] membrane, a native collagen membrane, and a cross-linked collagen membrane)-were randomly inserted into 6 unconnected subcutaneous pouches in the backs of 42 rats. The animals were sacrificed at 4, 13, and 26 weeks. Descriptive histologic and histomorphometric assessments were performed to evaluate membrane degradation, visibility, tissue integration, tissue ingrowth, neovascularization, encapsulation, and inflammation. Means and standard deviations were calculated. Results: The histological analysis revealed complete integration and tissue ingrowth of PLGA prototype T1 at 26 weeks. In contrast, the T2 and T3 prototypes displayed slight to moderate integration and tissue ingrowth regardless of time point. The degradation patterns of the 3 synthetic prototypes were similar at 4 and 13 weeks, but differed at 26 weeks. T1 showed marked degradation at 26 weeks, whereas T2 and T3 displayed moderate degradation. Inflammatory cells were present in all 3 prototype membranes at all time points, and these membranes did not meaningfully differ from commercially available membranes with regard to the extent of inflammatory cell infiltration. Conclusions: The 3 PLGA prototypes, particularly T1, induced favorable tissue integration, exhibited a similar degradation rate to native collagen membranes, and elicited a similar inflammatory response to commercially available non-cross-linked resorbable membranes. The intensity of inflammation associated with degradable dental membranes appears to relate to their degradation kinetics, irrespective of their material composition.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.143-156
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• 2018

In this review article, hybrid water/wastewater treatment processes of membrane and photocatalyst were summarized from papers published in various journals. It included (1) membrane photoreactor (MPR), (2) fouling control of a membrane coupled photocatalytic process, (3) photocatalytic membrane reactors for degradation of organic pollutants, (4) integration of photocatalysis with membrane processes for purification of water, (5) hybrid photocatalysis and ceramic membrane filtration process for humic acid degradation, (6) effect of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles on fouling mitigation of ultrafiltration membranes for activated sludge filtration, (7) hybrid photocatalysis/submerged microfiltration membrane system for drinking water treatment, (8) purification of bilge water by hybrid ultrafiltration and photocatalytic processes, and (9) Hybrid water treatment process of membrane and photocatalyst-coated polypropylene bead.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.151-155
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• 2018

Degree of membrane degradation in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) is mainly evaluated by the hydrogen crossover current density. The hydrogen crossover current density is measured by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), which differs from the DOE protocol and the NEDO protocol. In this study, two protocols were compared during PEMFC operation and accelerated stress test. In the LSV method by the DOE method, the scan rate change affects the hydrogen crossover current density, but the NEDO method does not affect the hydrogen crossover current density. In the course of 15,000 cycles of polymer membrane wet/dry cycle, the DOE method was sensitive to membrane degradation, but the NEDO method was less sensitive to membrane degradation than the DOE method.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.317-322
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• 2009

To investigate degradation mechanism of PEMFC operated with repetitive startup/shutdown cycling, i-V characteristics, impedance, cyclic voltamograms were measured. OCV decreased from 0.967 to 0.951 V while the cell voltage at 800mA/$cm^2$ from 0.657 to 0.563V, implying that the electrodes rather than membrane electrolyte was damaged during the cycling operation. Electrochemical analyses supported that the performance degradation could be mainly attributed to degradation of the electrodes such as a decrease in electrochemical active surface area rather than degradation of membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.312-317
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• 2005

The 15 month pilot study was performed to investigate the effect of pretreatment by monochloramine ($NH_2Cl$) on the performance of RO membranes made of cellulose acetate (CA) and polyamide (PA). Both RO membranes experienced severe biological fouling without any pretreatment during the treatment of highly organic surface water in Florida, USA. Feed monochloramination at 5 mg/L significantly minimized productivity loss by effective control of biofouling. The CA membrane did not show any structural damages by monochloramine, while the PA membrane suffered from a gradual loss of membrane integrity by chlorine oxidation, which was characterized as an increase in productivity and a decrease in selectivity. The degradation of PA membrane increased with increasing monochloramine dose.