• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.58-73
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• 1995

Membrane filtration is a promising technology for efficient solid/liquid separation in water purification. In FY 1991, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japanese Government launched a comprehensive research project "MAC 21" for development of membrane technology and its application to public water supply. The project was conducted by the Water Purification Process Association (WPPA), under the supervision of the Institute of Public Health. By the research project from FY 1991 to FY 1993, we confirmed that microfiltration (MF)/ultrafiltration (UF) technology was applicable to water purification and MF/UF was a effective method for the removal of such contaminants as particulate matter and coliforms. The Guideline Committee organized under the Technical Committee prepared a the guidelines on application of membrane system to small-scale public water supplies, based on the results as written above. The guidelines has been published in Dec., 1994 by WPPA.4 by WPPA.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 1992

Classical membrane processes like microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) are being applied in the last years more frequently in environmental and effluent process problems. Newer technologies and developments like pervaporation (PV) and gas sepaxation (GS) recently found commercial applications in the treatment of waste waters and gas streams. The incentive here is either the clean-up from organic components to comply with federal emission regulations or the recovery of the organics for economical reasons. Processes still in their development stage are combinations of chemical reactions with membrane processes to separate and treat $SO_x$ and $NO_x$ laden waste gas streams in the clean-up of stack-gases. In this paper we will first give a short overview of the more recent developments in MF, UF and RO. This is followed by a closer look on newer technologies applied in environmental problems. The applications looked at are the recovery of organic components from solvent laden gas streams and the separation of organic volatiles from aqueous waste waters via pervaporation. Technical solutions, the advantages and disadvantages of the processes and. where possible, cost estimations will be presented.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2008

In Korea, most of the drinking water treatment relied upon the availability of the surface water, of which the raw water quality varied significantly by season and location. Therefore, the comparison of two operation modes (Pressurized type and Submerged type membrane system) must be estimated before the long-term establishment of two systems. In this study, two pilot-scale microfiltration systems with the capacity of $50m^3/day$ were installed and operated in two different modes, and the applicability of the system was determined based on the results such as the TMP (Trans-Membrane Pressure) and flux. For quantitatively comparing the two systems, a new concept, DRF (Differential Resistance Fraction) was introduced. The accumulated sum of the permeate after each cycle of chemical cleaning was also used as a tool for the system comparison.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2005

The wastewater discharged from a paper plant was filtrated by 3 kinds of tubular carbon ceramic UF and MF membranes with $N_2$-backflushing. The filtration time (FT) was fixed at 8 min or 16 min, and $N_2$-backflushing time (BT) was changed in 0${\~}$60 sec. The optimal condition was discussed in the viewpoints of total permeate volume ($V_T$), dimensionless permeate flux (J/Jo) and resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$). In the viewpoints of $V_T$, J/Jo and $R_f$, the optimal $N_2$-BT was 40 sec at both FT for M9 (MWCO: 300,000 Daltons) and C005 ($0.05{\mu}m$) membranes. However, for C010 ($0.1{\mu}m$) it was 10 sec at FT=8 min, and 20 sec at FT=16 min in the viewpoints of J/Jo and $R_f$, and 5 sec at both FT in the viewpoints of $V_T$. It means that the short $N_2$-BT could reduce the membrane fouling and recover the permeate flux sufficiently for MF membrane having a large pore size as C010. Average rejection rates of pollutants were higher than $99.0\%$ for turbidity and $22.8{\~}59.6\%$ for $COD_{cr}$, but rejection rates of total dissolved solid (TDS) were lower than $8.9\%$. Therefore, the low turbidity water purified in our system could be reused for paper process.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of submerged hollow fiber MF processes to treat secondary wastewater for water reuse. Specifically, membrane productivity and filtrate water quality were investigated under various operating conditions (i.e. flux, recovery, and backwash rate) at pilot-scale. Membrane fouling became more severe with increasing flux and recovery, suggesting that low flux operation (< 25 LMH) was desirable. At high flux operating(> 37.5 LMH), increasing backwash rate showed only limited success. The biofouling, quantified by PEPA and BFHPC, was also significant in wastewater reclamation, and biogrowth control by chlorine, were necessary to improve membrane productivity. Filtrate water qualities are in good compliance with water reuse regulations regardless of operating conditions (flux, recovery and backwash rate). Particle (e.g. turbidity) removal ranged from 89 to 98%, while only 11 to 21% of organics (e.g. NPDOC) were removed by MF membrane. Only small improvement in biostability (e.g. AOC) was achieved by MF system, and thus, without post disinfection, significant microorganisms might be present in the filtrate due to regrowth. Lastly, in order to further investigate pathogen removal, controlled microbial challenge tests were performed by monitoring Giardia, Cryptosporidium, bacteria and virus, and showed relatively good microbial removal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.559-569
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• 2007

The purposes of this study were to find the main foulant of membrane and the optimal chemical cleaning method for MF(microfiltration) drinking water treatment system using D dam water as water source. The MF pilot plant which can treat maximum $500m^3/d$ consisted of 3 racks and was operated for 10 months under various operation conditions. After 10 months operation, $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ rack of membrane pilot plant system were cleaned chemically and the degree of the restoration of the fouled membrane in terms of the pure water flux was detemnined. Inorganic compounds which contained in chemical cleaning waste was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). One membrane module for 3rd rack was disjointed and membrane fouling materials, especially inorganic compounds were investigated by Electron Probe Microanlysis (EPMA) to elucidate the reason of TMP increase. And also, the various chemical reagents (1N HCl or $H_2SO_4$, oxalic acid as acid and 0.3% NaOCl as alkali) were tested by combination of acid and alkali to determine the optimal chemical cleaning method for the MF system using micro-modules manufactured using the disjointed module. It was verified that the inside and outside of membrane module was colorized with black. As a result of the quantitative and semi-qualitative analysis of membrane foulant by ICP, most of inorganic foulant was manganese which is hard to remove by inorganic acid such as HCI. Especially, it was observed by EPMA that Mn was attached more seriously in inside surface of membrane than in outside surface of that. It was supposed that Mn fouling in inside surface of membrane might be caused by the oxidation of soluble manganese (Mn(II)) to insoluble manganese ($MnO_2$) by chlorine containing in backwashing water. The optimal cleaning method for the removal of manganese fouling was consecutive cleaning with the mixture of 1N HCl and 1% of oxalic acid, 0.3% NaOCl, and 1N HCl showing 91% of the restoration of the fouled membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1054-1062
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• 2010

Oxidative coupling reactions of humic substances (HS) can be catalyzed by a variety of natural extracellular enzymes and metal oxides. In this study, property changes of HS induced by a natural enzyme, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and the effect of it to microfiltration (MF) were investigated. PAHA was transformed by oxidative coupling reaction with HRP and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$), verifying the catalytic effects of the HRP. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) revealed that weight-average molecular weight (MWw) of PAHA was proportionally increased with the dosages of HRP and $H_2O_2$, indicating the transform action of HS into larger and complex molecules. An increase in the conformational stability of HS was achieved through the promotion of intermolecular covalent bondings between heterogeneous humic molecules. Spectroscopic analysis (fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy) proved that functional groups were transformed by the reaction. Additionally, HS and transformed products were undergone microfiltration (MF) to examine the treatment potential of them in a water treatment facility. Original HS could not be removed by MF but larger molecules of transformed products could be removed. Meanwhile, transformed products caused more fouling on the filtration than original HS. This results proved that natural organic matter (NOM) can be removed by MF after its increase in molecular size by oxidative coupling reaction.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2010

Various asymmetric Polysulfone membranes were prepared for a MBR process. Ether-typed alcohols (co-solvent) were added into a dope solution in order to control the pore size of membrane, whose effect on water permeability were investigated. Pore size of the prepared membranes were more affected by molecular-structure of co-solvent than by boiling point of theirs. With the increasing order of methoxy ($CH_3$-O-) < secondary propanol ($-CH_2$-CH(OH)$-CH_3$) < ethoxy ($CH_3-CH_2$-O-), water permeability of the prepared membrane increased. The phenomenon might attribute to the difference of molecularly steric hinderance of co-solvent (eg, Methoxy propanol, Ethoxy ethanol, Methoxy ethanol) in dope solution during the phase inversion. By the addition of ether typed alcohol into a dope solution, the pore size of MF (microfiltration) could be controlled. Also, Membrane prepared was applied to a MBR process and the system was stably operated for 2 months.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.423-437
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• 2015

Polyvinylidene fluoride/fullerene nanoparticle (PVDF/$C_{60}$) composite microfiltration (MF) membranes were fabricated by a non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) using N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as solvent and deionized water (DI) as coagulation solution. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was added to the casting solution to form membrane pores. $C_{60}$ was added in increments of 0.2% from 0.0% to 1.0% to produce six different membrane types: one pristine PVDF membrane type with no $C_{60}$ added as control, and five composite membrane types with varying $C_{60}$ concentrations of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0%, respectively. The mechanical strength, morphology, pore size and distribution, hydrophilicity, surface property, permeation performance, and fouling resistance of the six membranes types were characterized using respective analytical methods. The results indicate that membranes containing $C_{60}$ have higher surface porosity and pore density than the pristine membrane. The presence of numerous pores on the membrane caused weaker mechanical strength, but the water flux of the composite membranes increased in spite of their smaller size. Initial flux and surface roughness reached the maximum point among the composite membranes when the $C_{60}$ concentration was 0.6 wt.%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2019

In the field of water treatment membranes, polymers are used together with ceramics as the most important materials. In this review, I tried to analyze the technology trends of polymer membrane materials based on commercial products. For this purpose, according to the types of water treatment membranes such as MF (Microfiltration), UF (Ultrafiltration) and NF (Nanofiltration), the trends of polymer membrane products were investigated by countries, materials, and companies. Through this, we were able to classify the types of materials that are mainly used for each type of membrane, and at the same time, identify the companies that are dominant in the market, and analyze which materials constitute the product portfolio. Based on these results, we have presented the characteristics of the material market according to each type of membrane, and proposed a technology development strategy to enter each market based on these characteristics.