• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-62
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• 2018

In this study, vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) was used to treat high-salinity wastewater (concentration about 17%) discharged by chlor-alkali plant after resin regeneration. The feasibility of VMD for the treatment of real saline wastewater by using Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) microporous plate membrane with a pore diameter of $0.2{\mu}m$ was investigated. The effects of critical operating parameters such as feed temperature, velocity, vacuum degree and concentration on the permeate water flux were analyzed. Numerical simulation was used to predict the flux and the obtained results were in good agreement with the experimental data. The results showed that an increase in the operating conditions could greatly promote the permeate water flux which in turn decreased with an increase in the concentration. When the concentration varied from 17 to 25%, the permeate water flux dropped marginally with time indicating that the concentration was not sensitive to the decrease in permeate water flux. The permeate water flux decreased sharply until zero due to the membrane fouling resistance as the concentration varied from 25 to 26%. However, the conductivity of the produced water was well maintained and the average value was measured to be $4.98{\mu}s/cm$. Furthermore, a salt rejection of more than 99.99% was achieved. Overall, the outcome of this investigation clearly indicates that VMD has the potential for treating high-salinity wastewater.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.173-180
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• 2022

Presence of ammonia in drinking water is very toxic to human health. Soluble ammonia contaminates ground water due to activities such as the use of fertilizer in crop, industrial effluents and burning of fossil fuel. Even low concentration of ammonia present in water will damage aqua environment such as marine organism. Membrane technology is an important process to remove ammonia from effectively from water. Flat sheet membrane, membrane contactor and membrane distillation are some of the methods used for water purification from ammonia. Membrane contractor is an efficient process in which ammonia is removed through liquid-gas or liquid-liquid mass transfer without change of phase unlike membrane distillation. However, the cost of ammonia removal in this method is high due to maintenance of very high pH. Zeolite has excellent ion exchange ability that enhances its ability to interact with ammonia and adsorb from wastewater. Mixed matrix membranes containing zeolite enhance the efficiency of ammonia adsorption and separation from wastewater. In this review the above discussed issues are summarized in detail.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2010

In this study, characterization and performance of membrane humidifier using membrane distillation was evaluated for moisture of fuel gas in the PEMFC. The data were expressed dew point. The best results show $51.19^{\circ}C$ at $60^{\circ}C$ of water temperature, $54.22^{\circ}C$ at 900 mL/min and $60.03^{\circ}C$ at 100 strands. The mass transfer modelling of membrane humidifier were able to predict humidification of fuel gases for operating PEMFC. When the membrane humidifier was applied to the 100 W stack, it showed stable voltage and power. The volume of membrane humidifier was small however, showed better performance than bubble humidifier.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2020

A direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) was applied to treat strong nitrogenous wastewater of anaerobic digestion supernatant (ADS) and human urine (HU). The ammonia transfer was evaluated in terms of specific ammonia transfer (SAT) value, which is the ratio of total ammoniacal nitrogen divided by the amount of water transferred. The acidification resulted in low SAT values and high quality of produced water. The ammonia transfer control in the acidic condition was stronger for HU than ADS due to higher alkalinity (pH 8.8) and ammonia concentration (5700 mg-N/L) of HU. Acidified HU at pH 4 exhibited a SAT value of 1.64 × 10^-5, which was significantly smaller than the SAT value of 3.00 × 10^-3 for the original HU. The low pH enhanced the water flux for ADS, but HU showed a steep decrease in water flux due to enhanced fouling. It was considered that the fouling intensity in acidic conditions depends on the characteristics of the wastewater source. The major foulants on the MD membrane were NaCl, CaCO₃ and CuSO₄ as recognized by the SEM-EDS. Acidified ADS and HU at pH 4 showed relatively high N content of 8.18 % and 28.03 %, respectively, as organic fouling.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.215-230
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• 2010

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene), PVDF-HFP, hollow fiber membranes were prepared by the dry/wet spinning technique using different polyethylene glycol (PEG) concentrations as non-solvent additive in the dope solution. Two different PEG concentrations (3 and 5 wt.%). The morphology and structural characteristics of the hollow fiber membranes were studied by means of optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and void volume fraction. The experimental permeate flux and the salt (NaCl) rejection factor were determined using direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) process. An increase of the PEG content in the spinning solution resulted in a faster coagulation of the PVDF-HFP copolymer and a transition of the cross-section internal layer structure from a sponge-type structure to a finger-type structure. Pore size, nodule size and roughness parameters of both the internal and external hollow fiber surfaces were determined by AFM. It was observed that both the pore size and roughness of the internal surface of the hollow fibers enhanced with increasing the PEG concentration, whereas no change was observed at the outer surface. The void volume fraction increased with the increase of the PEG content in the spinning solution resulting in a higher DCMD flux and a smaller salt rejection factor.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.287-298
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• 2019

Lotus leaf has a special dual micro and nano surface structure which gives its highly hydrophobic surface characteristics and so-called self cleaning effect. In order to endow PVDF hollow fiber membrane with this special structure and improve the hydrophobicity of membrane surface, PVDF hollow fiber composite membranes was obtained through the immersion coating of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) dilute solution on the outside surface of PVDF support membrane. The prepared PVDF composite membranes were used in the vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) for the desalination. The effects of PVDF-HFP dilute solution concentration in the dope solution and coating time on VMD separation performance was studied. Membranes were characterized by SEM, WCA measurement, porosity, and liquid entry pressure of water. VMD test was carried out using $35g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ NaCl aqueous solution as the feed solution at feed temperature of $30^{\circ}C$ and the permeate pressure of 31.3 kPa. The vapour flux reached a maximum when PVDF-HFP concentration in the dilute solution was 5 wt% and the coating time was kept in the range of 10-60 s. This was attributed to the well configuration of micro-nano rods which was similar with the dual micro-nano structure on the lotus leaf. Compared with the original PVDF membrane, the salt rejection can be well maintained which was greater than 99.99 % meanwhile permeation water conductivity was kept at a low value of $7-9{\mu}S{\cdot}cm^{-1}$ during the continuous testing for 360 h.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.261-269
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• 2015

In this study, we applied a membrane distillation process to investigate a feasibility of treating a wastewater with high concentration of organic matters including nitrogen and phosphorus. The laboratory scale experiment was performed by using a hydrophobic PVDF membrane with the pore size of $0.22{\mu}m$ and porosity of 75%. The installation was direct contact type where the temperature difference between a feed and permeate side was controlled to have a range from 20 to $60^{\circ}C$. We observed a flux variation and a concentration changes of COD, $PO{_4}^{3-}$-P, $NH_4{^+}$-N and conductivity of feed side as well as permeate side with various temperature differences (20 to $60^{\circ}C$), cross flow velocities (0.09 to 0.27 m/s) through the module, and pH (6.6 to 12.0) of the feed that has the initial concentration of COD about 1,000 mg/L, total nitrogen 390 mg/L, total phosphorus 10 mg/L, conductivity of $7,000{\mu}s/cm$. The results showed that the average flux was ranged from 4 to $40L/m^2/hr$ which was almost similar with the flux of NaCl and deionized water used as a feed solution. The lowest flux was obtained at the operating condition with the temperature difference of $20^{\circ}C$ and cross flow velocity of 0.09 m/s while the highest one was measured with $60^{\circ}C$ and 0.27 m/s. Above 99% of COD and $PO{_4}^{3-}$-P in the feed could be rejected regardless of an operating condition. However, the removal rate of ammonium nitrogen was varied from 64 to 99% depending on the pH of feed solution.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.145-155
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• 2004

Facilitated transport membranes for the separation of olefin/paraffin mixtures have long been of interest in separation membrane science because olefins, such as propylene and ethylene, which are important chemicals in petrochemical industries, are currently separated by energy-intensive cryogenic distillation processes. Recently, solid polymer electrolyte membranes containing silver ions have demonstrated remarkable performance in the separation of olefin/paraffin mixtures in the solid state and, thus, they can be considered as alternatives to cryogenic distillation. Here, we review recent progress, and critical issues affecting in the use of facilitated olefin transport membranes; in particular, we provide a general overview with reference to carrier properties, transport mechanisms, and separation performance.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.51-54
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• 2004

Utilization of membranes offers the promise of extraordinary energy savings if successfully applied to hydrocarbon-hydrocarbon and other organic separations. Membranes are bound to enter into refining and petrochemical operations involving liquid separations once appropriate materials and modules are developed. Hybrid processes such as utilizing membrane modules to break azeotropes formed during distillation are particularly attractive because they offer less process complexity and reduced capital investment[1,2].(omitted)

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2024

1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecytriethoxysilane (C₁₆H₁₉F₁₇O₃Si) be successfully applied to the hydrophobic modification of Al₂O₃ tubular ceramic membrane. Taking the concentration of modification solution, modification time, and modification temperature as factors, orthogonal experiments were designed to study the hydrophobicity of the composite membranes. The experiments showed that the modification time had the greatest impact on the experimental results, followed by the modification temperature, and the modification solution concentration had the smallest impact. Concentration of the modified solution 0.012 mol·L^-1, modification temperature 30 ℃ and modification time 24 h were considered optimal hydrophobic modification conditions. And the pure water flux reached 274.80 kg·m^-2·h^-1 at 0.1MPa before hydrophobic modification, whereas the modified membrane completely blocked liquid water permeation at pressures less than 0.1MPa. Air gap membrane distillation experiments were conducted for NaCl (2wt%) solution, and the maximum flux reached 4.20 kg·m^-2·h^-1, while the retention rate remained above 99.8%. Given the scarcity of freshwater resources in coastal areas, the article proposed a system for seawater desalination using air conditioning waste heat, and conducted preliminary research on its freshwater production performance using Aspen Plus. Finally, the proposed system achieved a freshwater production capacity of 0.61 kg·m^-2·h^-1.