• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.519-527
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• 2017

Membrane fouling is the main issue hindering the expansion of low pressure membrane processes for surface water treatment. Therefore, applying periodic hydraulic cleaning for fouling control should be well optimized. Better understanding of membrane fouling associated with periodic hydraulic cleaning would be useful to optimize membrane cleaning strategies. By comparing experimental permeability data with the classical Hermia blocking laws, this study aims at analyzing membrane fouling and understanding dominant fouling mechanisms occurring when filtering a synthetic surface water solution with a pressurized membrane process during six filtration cycles of 30 min each, separated with cyclic cleaning of 1 min by backwashing and forward flushing separately and combined. When applying single cleaning technique, membrane fouling during the first cycles was controlled by complete blocking mechanism while the last cycles were dominated by cake formation. Nevertheless, when combining cleaning technique better membrane regeneration was obtained and fouling was mainly due to cake formation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.429-436
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• 2005

A coagulation/ultrafiltration membrane hybrid system was operated to treat river water with capacity of $0.06m^3/d$. The impact on membrane fouling by flux and linear velocity was investigated. It is known that pressure increase is proportional to flux increase. However, pressure increase was much faster than theoretical value in the pilot plant test. So it was suggested that flux was on important factor in ultrafiltration of continuous operation. Membrane fouling was decreased when linear velocity was increased. This phenomenon was found more obviously without coagulation. With the combination of coagulation and sedimentation, membrane fouling was not reduced conspicuously. Big particles formed during coagulation and sedimentation were destroyed by feed and circulation pumping, which resulted in little effect on membrane fouling reduction. The degree of destruction was similar at various linear velocities. In this study, the hollow fiber membrane was used and the system was operated in pressure type module. In case of the system used in this study, membrane fouling has been affected lightly by linear velocity variation when coagulation pretreatment was applied.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.93-104
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• 2020

As water resources are limited and legal regulations are strengthened, there is a growing need to reuse residuals in WTP(Water Treatment Plant). In this study, membrane filtration system was constructed and its operation method was studied for water quality stabilization and reuse of WTP residuals. The operation parameters were stable for 1 year and 6 months. Membrane fouling was identified as particulate pollution (activated carbon) and inorganic pollution (manganese). The membrane system was operated steadily with raw water of high concentration SS(Suspended solid) containing activated carbon because membrane fouling was reduced by the effect of End-Free type. In the case of inorganic contamination, dissolved manganese eluted by chemicals and acted as a membrane fouling source, and the operating conditions for minimizing membrane fouling. were confirmed by newly developing application methods and types of cleaning chemicals. Based on the results, design parameters for reducing manganese membrane fouling were derived.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2014

A pilot-scale hybrid membrane bioreactor (HMBR) for real municipal wastewater treatment was developed by adding biofilm carriers into a conventional membrane bioreactor, distribution and dynamic changes of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and their roles in membrane fouling were investigated. The results showed that the concentrations of loosely bond EPS (LB-EPS) and tightly bond EPS (TB-EPS) in activated sludge, carrier biofilm and sludge cake layer have been increased significantly with the running time of HMBR, during operation of the HMBR, EPS demonstrated positive correlations with membrane fouling. Compared to TB-EPS, LB-EPS showed more significant correlations with sludge physical properties and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) in HMBR, and thus demonstrated that LP-EPS have a stronger potential of fouling than TB-EPS. It was also found that a lower organic loading in HMBR could result a significant increase in EPS concentration, which would in turn influence membrane fouling in HMBR. This critical investigation would contribute towards a better understanding of the behavior, composition and fouling potential of EPS in HMBR operation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

Organic fouling observed in submerged membrane filtration as a pretreatment for seawater desalination increases energy consumption for membrane operation because of requiring frequent chemical cleaning and membrane replacement. In membrane pretreatment for seawater facing with algae blooms, membrane fouling was observed in submerged microfiltration using sodium alginate model compound which is one of the main components of extracellular polymeric substances. Without aeration, aglinate fouling increased with its concentration while aeration reduced the alginate fouling effectively regardless of its concentration tested. In the absence of aeration, alingate fouling tended to be decreased with increasing calcium concentration. However, this effectiveness was reduced by increasing sodium chloride concentration. At high concentration of sodium chloride and calcium similar to the seawater conditions, aeration reduced initial fouling. However, as time progressed, the effect of increased airflow rate on fouling reduction was not significant, implying that optimum airflow rate to control alginate fouling in submerged microfiltration can exist.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2019

Electro-coagulation process has been gained an attention recently because it could overcome the membrane fouling problems in MBR(Membrane bio-reactor). Effect of the key operational parameters in electro-coagulation, current density(${\rho}_i$) and contact time(t) on membrane fouling reduction was investigated in this study. A kinetic model for ${\rho}_i$ and t required to reduce the membrane fouling was suggested under different MLSS(mixed liquor suspended solids) concentration. Total 48 batch type experiments of electro-coagulations under different sets of current densities(2.5, 6, 12 and $24A/m^2$), contact times(0, 2, 6 and 12 hr) and MLSS concentration(4500, 6500 and 8500mg/L) were carried out. After each electro-coagulation under different conditions, a series of membrane filtration was performed to get information on how much of membrane fouling was reduced. The membrane fouling decreased as the ${\rho}_i$ and t increased but as MLSS decreased. Total fouling resistances, Rt (=Rc+Rf) were calculated and compared to those of the controls (Ro), which were obtained from the experiments without electro-coagulation. A kinetic approach for the fouling reduction rate (Rt/Ro) was carried out and three equations under different MLSS concentration were suggested: i) ${\rho}_i^{0.39}t=3.5$ (MLSS=4500 mg/L), ii) ${\rho}_i^{0.46}t=7.0$ (MLSS=6500 mg/L), iii) ${\rho}_i^{0.74}t=10.5$ (MLSS=8500 mg/L). These equations state that the product of ${\rho}_i$ and t needed to reduce the fouling in certain amounts (in this study, 10% of fouling reduction) is always constant.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.175-182
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• 1997

Membrane-bioreactor process which combines anaerobic-aerobic bioreactor and membrane process, was used to remove refractory organic susbstances and dye molecule in textile wastewater effectively. Direct feeding of raw feed water to membrane process caused serious fouling on membrane. On the other hand, pretreated feed by bioreactor before the membrane process remarkably reduced the fouling and prolonged the membrane life. Removal efficiency and fouling were more dependent on the material property of the membrane rather than the membrane pore size and structure. Operation mode of hollow fiber membrane module and linear velocity in the hollow fiber influenced the ramoval efficiency and the water flux of the membrane. The combined membrane- bioreactor process was more effective in treating the textile wastewater than each single process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.645-652
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• 2016

A membrane module including grid was designed and introduced to MBR (membrane bio-reactor) for the purpose of better control of membrane fouling. It could be anticipated that the grid enhances the shear force of fluid-air mixture into the membrane surface by even-distributing the fluid-air to the membrane module. As MLSS concentration, packing density which is expressed in the ratio of the housing and the cross-sectional area of membrane fibers ($A_m/A_t$) and air-flow rate were changed, membrane foulings were checked by monitoring fouling resistances. The total fouling resistance ($R_c+R_f$) without grid installation (i.e., control) was $2.13{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$, whereas it was reduced to $1.69{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$ after the grid was installed. Regardless of the grid installation, the $R_c+R_f$ increased as the packing density increased from 0.09 to 0.28, however, the increment of resistance for the grid installation was less than that of the control. Increase in the air flow rate did not always guarantee the reduction of fouling resistance, indicating that the higher air flow rate can partially de-flocculate the activated sludge flocs, which led to severer membrane fouling. Consequently, installation of grids inside the housing have brought a beneficial effect on membrane fouling and optimum air flow rate is important to keep the membrane lowering fouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.10-21
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• 1996

This study is undertaken to investigate the major factor which causes a fouling phenomenon in membrane separation system and effect of hydrophilic treatment on fouling repression of hydrophobic polymer (polysulfone, PSf). Chlorosulfonic acid (CSA) and sulfuric acid as a sulfonating agents are used to produce sulfonated PSf (SPSf). SPSf membrane is prepared under several conditions to investigate it's separation process. The extent of fouling-repression is measured by membrane filtration index (MFI) value. With increasing the ion exchange capacity (I.E.C), the flux of SPSf membrane is decreased but the rejection is increased and the flux is less reduced. According to the MFI value, the SPSf membrane has a fouling-retardant effect.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.105-114
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• 2018

Membrane fouling in EC-MBR (Electro-Coagulation aided Membrane Bio-Reactor) processes was evaluated according to the operating parameters, such as current density and contact time. In addition, the fouling mechanism was investigated. Compared to the control (i.e., no electro-coagulation), membrane fouling for filtration of the activated sludge suspension after electro-coagulation was reduced significantly. Membrane fouling was improved further when the contact time was doubled under a low current density of $2.5A/m^2$. On the other hand, membrane fouling was not mitigated further, as expected, even though the contact time was doubled from 12 to 24 hr. at a current density of $10A/m^2$. This indicates that the overall decrease in membrane fouling is a function of the product of the current density and contact time. The particle size of the activated sludge flocs after electro-coagulation was changed slightly, which means that the membrane fouling reduction was not attributed to a larger particle size resulting from electro-coagulation. The experimental confirmed that the dynamic membrane made from aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3, and/or aluminum phosphate, Al(PO4), which had been formed during the electro-coagulation, played a key role on the reduction of membrane fouling. The dynamic membrane prevents the particles in the feed solution from deposition to the membrane pores and cake layers. Dynamic membrane formation as a result of electro-coagulation plays a critical role in the mitigation of membrane fouling in EC-MBR.