• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.473-480
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• 2011

The proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system is critically dependent on the humidity, which should be properly maintained over the entire operating range. A membrane humidifier is used for the water management in the PEMFC because of the membrane humidifier's reliable performance and zero parasitic power loss. In the PEMFC system, the membrane humidifier is required to provide appropriate humidity for the design point of the fuel cell. Although the performance of the fuel cell depends on the performance of the humidifier, few studies have provided a systematic analysis of the humidifier. We carry out an experimental analysis of the membrane humidifier using a vapor condensation bottle. The dry air pressure, water flow temperature, and air flow rate were chosen as the operating parameters. The results show that the time constant for the dynamic response of the membrane humidifier is relatively short, but additional analysis should be carried out.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2012

This study investigates the complete removal of nitrate and the recovery of valuable ammonium salt by the combination of nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) and a membrane contactor system. The NZVI used for the experiments was prepared by chemical reduction without a stabilizing agent. The main end-product of nitrate reduction by NZVI was ammonia, and the solution pH was stably maintained around 10.5. Effective removal of ammonia was possible with the polytetrafluoroethylene membrane contactor system in all tested conditions. Among the various operation parameters including influent pH, concentration, temperature, and contact time, contact time and solution pH showed significant effects on the ammonia removal mechanism. Also, the osmotic distillation phenomena that deteriorate the mass transfer efficiency could be minimized by pre-heating the influent wastewater. The ammonia removal rate could be maximized by optimizing operation conditions and changing the membrane configuration. The combination of NZVI and the membrane contactor system could be a solution for nitrate removal and the recovery of valuable products.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.596-603
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• 2009

The performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is seriously changed by the humidification condition which is intrinsic characteristics of the PEMFC. Typically, the humidification of fuel cell is carried out with internal or external humidifier. A membrane humidifier is applied to the external humidification of residential power generation fuel cell due to its convenience and high performance. In this study, a simple static model is constructed to understand the physical phenomena of the membrane humidifier in terms of geometric parameters and operating parameters. The model utilizes the concept of shell and tube heat exchanger but the model is also able to estimate the mass transport through the membrane. Model is constructed with FORTRAN under Matlab/$Simulink^{(R)}$ $\Box$environment to keep consistency with other components model which we already developed. Results shows that the humidity of wet gas and membrane thickness are critical parameters to improve the performance of the humidifier.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.228-234
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• 1998

Among various water contaminents, organic compounds like phenol are difficult to be removed or destroyed by conventional methods under the unusual discharge conditions. The separation of phenol from aqueous solution has been carried out by several methods recently: absorption by an activated carbon, solvent extraction and liquid membrane technology. The liquid membrane based on water-oil emulsification has been tested as an alternative technology of the conventional technology. In this work, tri-n-butyl phosphate(TBP) and liquid polymers were examined as a liquid membrane in the supported liquid membrane(SLM). The feed concentration of phenol was varied and various types of liquid membranes were used to examine their effects on separation of phenol. It was found that TBP, polypropylene glycol 4000(PPG 4000) and polybutytene glycol 500(PBG 500) were proper carriers because mass transfer rates through them were much higher than or similar to that through methyl isobutyl ketone(MIBK) which was used as a conventional solvent in a solvent extraction process.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.195-206
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• 2003

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFC) are very interesting power source due to high power density, simple construction and operation at low temperature. But they have problems such as high cost, improvement of performance and effect of temperature. This problems can be approached using mathematical models which are useful tools for analysis and optimization of fuel cell performance and for heat and water management, in this paper, transient model consists of various energy terms associated with fuel cell operation using the mass and energy balance equation. And water transfer in the membrane is composed of back diffusion and electro-osmotic drag. The temperature calculated by transient model approximately agreed with the temperature measured by experiment in constant current condition.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2013

In order to investigate the significance of "salting-out" and "pore swelling" effects on the nanofiltration of neutral solutes, rejection properties of two NF ceramic and polymeric membranes were studied with single polyethyleneglycol (PEG) solution and mixed PEG/inorganic electrolyte solutions. For both membranes, the rejection rate of PEG was found to decrease significantly in the presence of ions. In the case of the ceramic membrane (rigid pores), this phenomenon was imputed to the sole partial dehydration of PEG molecules induced by the surrounding ions. This assumption was confirmed by the lowering of the PEG rejection rates which followed the Hofmeister series. Experimental data were used to compute the resulting decrease in the Stokes radius of PEG molecules in the presence of the various salts. Concerning the polymeric membrane, the decrease in the rejection rate was found to be systematically higher than for the ceramic membrane. The additional decrease was then ascribed to the swelling of the pores. The experimental data of rejection rates were then used to compute the variation in the mean pore radius in the presence of the various salts. The pore swelling phenomenon due to accumulation of counterions inside pores was supported by electrokinetic charge density measurements.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.20-25
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• 2008

Proton conducting composite membranes were prepared by solution blending of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene)-graft-poly(sulfopropyl methacrylate) (P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA) graft copolymer and heteropolyacid (HPA). The P(VDF-CTFE)-g-PSPMA graft copolymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of P(VDF-CTFE). FT-IR spectroscopy revealed that HPA nanoparticles were incorporated into the graft copolymer via hydrogen bonding interactions. The water uptake of membranes continuously decreased with increasing HP A concentration up to 45wt%, after which it slightly increased. It is presumably due to the decrease in number of water absorption sites due to hydrogen bonding interaction between the HP A particles and the polymer matrix. The proton conductivity of membranes increased with increasing HPA concentration up to 45wt%, resulting from both the intrinsic conductivity of HP A particles and the enhanced acidity of the sulfonic acid of the graft copolymer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.359-366
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• 2008

A two-dimensional thermal model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with large active area is developed to investigate the performance of fuel cell with large active area over various thermal management conditions. The core sub-models of the two-dimensional thermal model are one-dimensional agglomerate structure electrochemical reaction model, one-dimensional water transport model, and a two-dimensional heat transfer model. Prior to carrying out the simulation, this study is contributed to set up the operating temperature of the fuel cell with large active area which is a maximum temperature inside the fuel cell considering durability of membrane electrolyte. The simulation results show that the operating temperature of the fuel cell and temperature distribution inside the fuel cell can affect significantly the total net power at extreme conditions. Results also show that the parasitic losses of balance of plant component should be precisely controlled to produce the maximum system power with minimum parasitic loss of thermal management system.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.43-47
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• 1999

Pd-ceramic composite membranes and catalytic membrane reactors(CMR) have been studied for hydrogen purification and recovery in th fusion reactor fuel cycle. The development of techniques for coating microporous ceramic tubes with Pd and Pd/Ag layers is described: composite membranes have been produced by electroless deposition (Pd/Ag film of 10-20${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$) and rolling of thin metal sheet (Pd and Pd/ Ag membranes of 50-70 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$). Experimental results on electroless membranes showed that the metallic film presented some defects and the membranes had not complete hydrogen selectivity . Then the catalytic membrane reactors with electroless membranes can be applied for some industrial processes that do not require a complete separation of the hydrogen (i.e. in the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons). The rolled thin Pd/Ag membranes separated the hydrogen from the other gas with a complete selectivity and exhibited a slightly larger (about a factor 1.7) mass transfer resistance with respect to the electroless membranes. Experimental tests confirmed the good performances in terms of durability.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2009

This work reports the preparation of proton conductive crosslinked polymer electrolyte membranes by blending poly(vinyl chloride)-g-poly(hydroxyl ethyl acrylate) (PVC-g-PHEA) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The PHEA chains of the graft copolymer were crosslinked with PVA using sulfosuccinic acid (SA) via the esterification reaction between -OH of polymer matrix and -COOH of SA. The PVC-g-PHEA graft copolymer was synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC backbones. Ion exchange capacity (IEC) continuously increased with increasing concentrations of SA, due to the increasing portion of charged groups in the membrane. However, the water uptake increased up to 20.0 wt% of SA concentration above which it decreased monotonically. The membrane exhibited a maximum proton conductivity of 0.026 S/cm at 20.0 wt% of SA concentration, which is presumably due to competitive effect between the increase of ionic sites and the crosslinking reaction.