• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.43-51
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• 2018

Hollow fiber (HF) membranes are gaining wide interest over flat membranes due to their compaction and high area to surface volume ratio. This work addresses the fabrication of HF from polysulfone (PS) and polyethersulfone (PES) using N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent in addition to other additives to achieve desired characteristics. The semi-pilot spinning system includes jacketed vessel, four spinneret block, coagulation and washing baths in addition to dryer and winder. Different parameters affecting dry-wet spinning phase inversion process were investigated. Dope compositions of PES, NMP and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) of varying molecular weights as additive were addressed. Some critical parameters of importance were also investigated. Those include dope flow rate, air gap, coagulation & washing baths and drying temperatures. The measured dope viscosity was in the range from 1.7 to 36.5 Pa.s. Air gap distance was adjusted from 20 to 45 cm and coagulation bath temperature from 20 to $46^{\circ}C$. The HF membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and mechanical properties. Results indicated prevalence of finger like structure and average surface roughness from about 29 to 78.3 nm. Profile of stress strain characteristics revealed suitability of the fibers for downstream interventions for fabrication of thin film composite membrane. Different empirical correlations were formulated which enable deeper understanding of the interaction of the above mentioned variables. Data of pure water permeability (PWP) confirmed that the fabricated samples fall within the microfiltration (MF)-ultrafiltration (UF) range of membrane separation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.178-190
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• 2012

Flat sheet membranes were prepared with polysulfone (PSF) by an immersion precipitation phase inversion method. Membranes were prepared with PSF/N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/phosphoric acid casting solution and water coagulant. By using the successive process of the vapor-induced phase inversion (VIPS) followed by the nonsolvent-induced phase inversion (NIPS), the effect of phosphoric acid addition to casting solution on morphology and permeability of membrane was studied. The mean pore size, the porosity, and the water flux of membranes were increased by the addition of small amount of phosphoric acid. Furthermore, the morphology of the prepared membranes were changed from a dense sponge-like structure to highly enhanced asymmetric structure. PSF/NMP/PVP/phosphoric acid/2-butoxyethanol (BE) casting solution were prepared and cast the successive VIPS-NIPS process with same experimental condition. Due to the addition of BE to casting solution, the mean pore size and almost 0.1 ${\mu}m$ and the water flux increased about 10 to 12 $L/cm^2{\cdot}min{\cdot}bar$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.174-183
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• 2007

The manufacturing process of metal membrane made of only metal mesh and both metal mesh and powder with using rolling process have been studied. In the rolling of metal mesh, selected metal meshes were rolled with the reduction ratio of 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. Such rolling process resulted in the decrease of mesh pore size through reduction the cross sectional area of mesh and changing the diameter of mesh wires. Also, it enhanced the filtration ratio of rolled mesh which is almost same as the filtration ratio of upper grade unrolled mesh and the reliability of membrane by making pore size distribution become more uniform. In fabricating metal powder layer onto metal mesh, using PVA(polyvinyl alcohol) as a binder of powder, drying the metal powder layer at $100^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr, and sintering it at $1,000^{\circ}C$ for 3 hr in vacuum were to be optimum conditions for obtaining good quality of metal powder layer on metal mesh with high pore density but no crack. With additional rolling of metal powder layer on metal mesh with 30% reduction before sintering, metal membrane which filtration ratio is about $0.7{\mu}m$ has been successfully manufactured.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.152-162
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• 1994

The photodegradation efficiency of formic acid on $TiO_2$ photocatalytic membranes was investigated. A new titania membrane reactors for purification of water combining microfiltration with photocatalytic degradation of organic compounds were developed. Titania membrane tubes(average pore size of $0.2\mu m$) were prepared by the slip casting, and porous thin films of $TiO_2$ were formed on the tube surface by the sol-gel process to increase the surface area, and consequently to increase photodegradation efficiency of organic compounds. The UV light with the wavelength of 365 nm was used as a light source for photocatalytic reactions. The photodegradation efficiency of the organic compounds was strongly dependent on the flux of the solution, the microstructure of the membrane (sol pH), and the amount of $O_2$ supplied. The effects of the primary oxidant such as $H_2O_2$ and dopants such as $Nb_2O_5$ on the photodegradation efficiency were also investigated. The results showed that more than 80% of formic acid could be degraded using membrane coated with a $TiO_2$ sol of pH 1.45. The photodegradation efficiency could be improved by about 20% when adding $H_2O_2$ in feed solution or doping $TiO_2$ membranes with $Fe_2O_3$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.332-339
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• 2011

Effects of powdered activated carbon impregnated by iron oxide nano particle (Impregnated PAC) on the microfiltration (MF) membrane system performance in NOM removal from water were investigated in this study. A fluidized bed column was employed as a pretreatment of MF membrane process. The Impregnated PAC bed was stably maintained at an upflow rate of 63 m/d without leakage of the Impregnated PAC particles, which provided a contact time of 29 minutes. A magnetic ring at the upper part of the column could effectively hold the overflowing discrete particles. The Impregnated PAC column demonstrated a significant enhancement in the MF membrane performance in terms of fouling prevention and natural organic matter (NOM) removal. Trans-membrane pressure of the MF membrane increased to 41 kPa in 98 hours of operation, while it could be maintained at 12 kPa with the Impregnated PAC pretreatment. Removal of NOM determined by dissolved organic carbon and UV254 was also enhanced from 46% and 51% to 75% and 84%, respectively, by the pretreatment. It was found that the Impregnated PAC effectively removed a wide range of different molecular-sized organic compounds from size exclusion analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.144-150
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• 2013

Hybrid ceramic membrane (HCM) processes that combined ozonation with a ceramic membrane (CM) or a reactive ceramic membrane (RM), an iron oxide nanoparticles (IONs) incorporated-CM were investigated for membrane fouling control. Alumina disc type microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes doped with IONs by sintering method were tested under varying mass fraction of IONs. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that IONs were well-doped on the CM surface and doped IONs were approximately 50 nm in size. Change in the pure water permeability of RM was negligible compared to that of CM. These results indicate that IONs incorporation onto CM had little effect on CM performance in terms of the flux. Natural organic matter (NOM) fouling and fouling recovery patterns during HCM processes confirmed that the RM-ozonation process enhanced the destruction of NOM and reduced the extent of fouling more than the CM-ozonation process by hydroxyl radical formation in the presence of IONs on RM. In addition, analyses of NOM in the feed water and the permeate showed that the efficiency of membrane fouling control results from the NOM degradation during HCM processes; leading to removal and transformation of relatively high contents of aromatic, high molecular weight and hydrophobic NOM fractions.

• Clean Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.151-165
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• 2002

In the treatment of the wastewater containing metals($Cu^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, $Cr^{3+}$) by using batch precipitation and flocculation followed by membrane filtration, permeate flux and removal efficiency were investigated according to by the effect of pH and coagulants, and the type of membranes used and pore size. It was found that it is most effective to use $0.45{\mu}m$-polysulfone membrane and coagulant(PAC) at the conditions of the pH of 10.0~10.5 for the case of copper containing wastewater, $0.1{\mu}m$-PVDF membrane and coagulant(PAC) at the conditions of the pH of 10.0~10.5 for the case of zinc containing wastewater, $0.1{\mu}m$-PVDF membrane and coagulant at the conditions of the pH of 11.0~11.5 for the case of nickel containing wastewater, $0.2{\mu}m$ membrane and coagulant at the conditions of the pH of 8.0~8.5 for the case of chromic containing wastewater, and $0.2{\mu}m{\sim}0.45{\mu}m$ membrane and coagulant at the conditions of the pH of 11.0~11.5 for the case mixture wastewater. The permeate flux could higher as to be used coagulants except for the case of copper containing wastewater.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.547-553
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• 2018

An integrated iron and steel mill uses a large amount of water and produces wastewater which contains various contaminants such as iron, manganese, etc. Especially, in some regions of Southeast Asia, the concentration of silica in iron and steel mill wastewater is higher than in other countries. Silica is known to be one of the main causes for fouling in the membrane processes for water reuse. In cases of high concentrations of silica in iron and steel mill wastewater, the ferrous silicate tends to be formed. This could lead to higher fouling tendency depositing on the membrane surface. Therefore we conducted a pilot test to investigate the effect of silica and iron on the fouling tendency of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane for treating two types of wastewater from an integrated iron and steel mill. In this case of treated wastewater from iron and steel mill, RO pilot plant was operated with the fluxes 15.9LMH and 18.8LMH for 112 days to investigate the fouling characteristics. The results found that the fluctuation of flux was much wider than the average flux and the minimum permeability was low at 78%. In the case of treated runoff from an integrated iron and steel mill, the average concentration of iron was lower than in wastewater. RO pilot test was conducted with the flux 18.8LMH for 46 days. The results found that runoff had a lower fouling tendency and pre-treatment using microfiltration (MF) could minimize the fouling problem of RO.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.124-133
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• 2007

In this study, we treated lake water by 2 kinds of multichannel ceramic micro filtration membranes. We could investigate effects of $N_2-back-flushing$ time (BT) and transmembrane pressure (TMP), and find optimal operating conditions. The BT were changed in $10{\sim}60$ sec, TMP in $0.6{\sim}2.0$ bar at fixed filtration time (FT) 8 min, flow rate 2.0 L/min and back-flushing pressure 2.0 bar. Also, the optimal conditions were discussed in the viewpoints of resistance of membrane fouling $(R_f)$, dimensionless permeate flux $(J/J_o)$, permeate flux (J) and total permeate volume $(V_T)$. As result, optimal back-flushing conditions for HC04 ($0.4{\mu}m$ pore size) and HC10 membrane $(1.0{\mu}m)$ were BT=10 sec and BT=20 sec, respectively. Then, higher TMP should increase the driving force, and could produce more VT. Average rejection rates of pollutants were higher than 95.4% for turbidity, $12.7{\sim}20.1%\;for\;COD_{Mn},\;0.0{\sim}6.4%\;for\;NH_3-N,\;1.9{\sim}4.6%$ for T-N and $34.9{\sim}88.4%$ for T-P.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2006

Characteristics of flocculent aggregates have great effects on membrane fouling. Floc from kaolin particles gave higher permeate throughputs than floc from natural particles at the same conditions. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to thoroughly analyze characteristics of flocculated aggregates and to investigate effects of flocculated aggregates on membrane fouling. Image analysis, specific rake resistance and cake compressibility were used for characterization of flocs. Different flocculent aggregates formed with natural and kaolin particles were employed in this study. The fractal dimensions from the image analysis were $D_2=1.79{\pm}0.07$ for floc from natural particles and $D_2=1.84{\pm}0.06$ for floc from kaolin particles. The lower fractal dimension($D_2$) of floc from natural particles indicated that the aggregates were more porous and less compact than floe from kaolin particles. In addition, both the specific cake resistances and compressible degrees of flocs from natural particles showed greater values than those of flocs from kaolin particles. The results implied that the porous and loose flocs from natural particles were more easily compressed on membrane surface than the dense and compact flocs from kaolin particles. The compressed flocs yielded the great hydraulic resistances by hindering the water flow through the cake layer.