• Clean Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2010

In this paper, 4 bundle modules of PVDF hollow fiber membrane from Woori Tech company (Korea) were manufactured in a treatment capacity of 10 ton/day. A membrane bioreactor (MBR) pilot plant was installed at Sooyoung Wastewater Treatment Plant in Busan. An alternating aeration process was selected to avoid the concentration profile of suspended solid (SS) in the MBR. For stable operation, raw wastewater with mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) of about 1,000 ppm, which was in-flowed from the aeration tank of the wastewater treatment plant, was fed and filtered through the pilot plant. Subsequently the pilot plant were washed three times with washing water: once with ethanol solution, once with a solution of 5% NaOCl, and finally with washing water. After the chemical washing, the remaining water in the MBR was fed into the pilot plant. As a result, the SS removal efficiency was found to be more than 99.9%. The amount of filtrate with the aeration tank influent decreased by 16%, compared with that from the initial conditions, giving rise to 30% increase in the suction pressure. These results were used to set up continuous operation conditions. The results from the continuous operation with influent MLSS of 1,900 mg/L showed that the SS removal efficiency was about 99.99% and that the amount of filtrate and the suction pressure were $42{\sim}52L/m^2$ and 16~20 cmHg, respectively, indicating stable operation of the pilot plant. However, for the reuse of wastewater, methods need to be sought to avoid growth of algae which affects the SS removal efficiency at inlet and outlet of the permeate tank.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.212-217
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• 2008

PVDF ($Kynar^{(R)}$ 761) nanofibers were made by electrospinning with an external voltage of 6-10 kV, a traveling distance of 7-15 cm and a flow rate of 0.4-1 mL/h. Although the mean diameter of the fibers has not changed significantly, the conditions affected the change in diameter distribution. This was attributed to interactions, both attraction and repulsion, between the positive charges on the polymer solutions and the electrically grounded collector. Higher voltages and traveling distance increased the level of attraction between the positive charge on the polymer solution and the electrically grounded collector, resulting in a narrow diameter distribution, In addition, a high flow rate allowed a high population of uniformly charged solutions to travel to the grounded collector, which resulted in a narrow diameter distribution. The optimum conditions for electrospinning of PVDF in DMAc/acetone (3/7 by wt) were a collector voltage of 6 kV, a syringe tip to collector of 7 cm, a flux rate of 0.4 mL/h and 10 kV, 10 cm, 1 mL/h, Since PVDF is widely used as a filtration membrane, it was electrospun on a PET support with a rotating drum as a grounded collector. Surprisingly, some straight nanofibers were separated from the randomly deposited nanofibers. The straight nanofiber area was transparent, while the randomly deposited nanofiber area was opaque. Both straight nanofibers and aligned nanotibers could be obtained by manipulating the PET drum collector. These phenomena were not observed when the support was changed to an Al sheet. This suggests that a pseudo dual collector was generated on the PET sheet. No negative charge was created because the PET sheet was not a conductive material. However, less charge was created when the sheet was not perfectly attached to the metal drum. Hence, the nanotibers jumped from one grounded site to the nearest one, yielding a straight nanofiber.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2008

Nanofiltration membranes were prepared based on coating a sulfonated comb-like copolymer layer on top of a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) support. The comb-like copolymer comprising poly(vinyl chloride) backbone and poly(styrene sulfonic acid) side chains, i.e. PVC-g-PSSA was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using direct initiation of the secondary chlorines of PVC. The successful synthesis of graft copolymers were confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance ($^1H$-NMR), FT-IR spectroscopy and wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). Composite nanofiltration membranes consisting PVC-g-PSSA as a top layer exhibited the increase of both rejections and solution flux with increasing PSSA concentration. This performance enhancement is presumably due to the increase of SO3H groups and membrane hydrophilicity. The rejections of composite membranes containing 71 wt% of PSSA were 88% for $Na_2SO_4$ and 33% for NaCl, and the solution flux were 26 and $34L/m^2h$, respectively, at 0.3 MPa pressure.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.345-351
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• 2007

In this research, by using the fluorine gas, the poly(ether sulfone) (PES), the polysulfone (PSf), and the poly-vinylidenefluoride (PVDF) membranes were modified to improve the performance of the optional Gas-Liquid Contactor The SEM, surface contact angle, XPS, and the water transmission minimum pressure test was performed in order to examine the characteristics of which is surface modified. As a result of looking into the surface morphology of from the SEM measurement, we could know that the roughness of the membrane surface increased as the fluorine processing time increased. $-CH_2$, and the perfluoro group of $-CH_3$ were chemically combined with the surface fluorine conversion film surface and the hydrophobicity was exposed to be increased. Moreover, we could know that as the surface fluorinated processing time increased from the surface contact angle and water transmission minimum pressure test, the measured value increased and the overall characteristics were improved.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.68-76
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• 2006

This is the research about the concentration of trace citrus flavor components in water by pervaporation. We have investigated the permeation characteristics depending on the material and formation of membranes using four siloxane-based polymer composite membranes. We have also chosen the optimal membrane and investigated the permeation characteristics depending on the feed temperature, concentration and flow rate. And then it has been analyzed by using resistance-in series model. In the permeation experiment of citrus essence aroma model solution through the four siloxane-based polymer composite membranes, PVDF/POMS membranes have showed the best flavor flux and enrichment factor. As a result of the permeation experiment depending on the feed temperature, concentration and flow rate, we can find that as the feed temperature and concentration increase, the flavor flux increases while the enrichment factor decreases. And the flavor flux and enrichment factor increased as the flow rate increases.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.360-366
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• 2013

The Poly (vinylidene fluoride) and poly (acrylonitrile) (PAN) hollow fiber composite membranes coated with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) as the crosslinkig agent are prepared. The resulting membranes were characterized for aqueous 90 wt% ethanol solution by pervaporation techniques in terms of the permeability and separation factor. In general, as both the crsslinking reaction temperature and the crosslinking agent concentration increase, the permeability decrease while the separation factor tends to increase. And also the permeability increased and the separation factor decreased as the feed temperature increased. Typically, the permeability $502g/m^2hr$ at the feed temperature $70^{\circ}C$ was obtained for PVDF hollow fiber membrane prepared with the crosslinking agent PAA 3 wt% at the reaction temperature $60^{\circ}C$ whereas the separation factor 218 was shown for the membrane reacted with PAA 11 wt% and at $100^{\circ}C$ for the feed temperature $50^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.34-35
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• 1996

The diffusional behavior of many non-solvents in glassy or semicrystalline polymers cannot be adequately described by a concentration-dependent form of Fick's law, especially when mass transfer is coupled with structural changes. Many mathematical models have been devised to interprete non-Fickian diffusion dominated by relaxation kinetics. In formulation of non-Fickian diffusion mathematics, therefore, the most important factor to consider is how relaxation effects can influence the governing constitutive equation and boundary conditions. That is, relaxation parameters can be accommodated by variable boundary conditions or a modified continuity equation, or both, depending on specific systems and conditions (Frish, 1980). Accoring to Astarita and Nicolais (1983), the model equations can be broadly categorized as continuous or discontinuous. Continuous model equations encompass phenomena where the structural change takes place gradually over the whole volume of the polymer sample (Crank, 1953; Long and Richman, 1961; Berens and Hopfenberg, 1978). On the other hand, discontinuous model equations deal with the phenomena where the morphological change appears to be abrupt (Li, 1984). Four mathematical models with different relaxation parameters were applied to fit the anomalous sorption data observed in fluoropolymers (PVDF, ECTFE). The fitted result for PVDF-benzene sorption data is shown in Fig. 1.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.177-180
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• 2005

A series of inorganic-organic hybrid membranes were prepared with a systematic variation of titanium dioxide nano particles content. Their liquid uptake, methanol permeability and proton conductivity as a function of inorganic oxide content were investigated. The results obtained show that the inorganic oxide network decreases the proton conductivity and liquid uptake. It is also found that increase in inorganic oxide content leads to decrease of methanol permeability. In terms of the morphology, membranes are homogeneous and exhibit a good adhesion between inorganic domains and the polymer matrix. The properties of the composite membranes are compared with the standard nafion membrane.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.30-34
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• 2014

Membrane distillation (MD) is a thermal driven separation process in which separation a hydrophobic membrane is a barrier for the liquid phase, letting the vapor phase pass through the membrane pores. Therefore, a porous and hydrophobic membrane should be used in membrane distillation. MD cannot work if water penetrates into the pores of the membrane (membrane wetting). Accordingly, it is necessary to prevent wetting of MD membranes and to remove water inside the pores of the wetted membranes if possible. In this context, our study aimed to develop methods to recover wetted membranes in MD processes. Poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were used in this study. A laboratory-scale direct contact MD (DCMD) system was used to examine the effect of operating parameters on wetting. For dewetting the wetted membranes, specific techniques including the use of high temperature air were applied. The performances of the membranes before and after dewetting were compared in terms of flux, salt rejection and liquid entry pressure(LEP). The surface morphology of dewetted membrane was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM).

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2011

The deficiency of clean water is a major global concern because all the living creatures rely on the drinkable water for survival. On top of this, abundant of clean water supply is also necessary for household, metropolitan inhabitants, industry, and agriculture. Among many purification processes, advances in low-energy membrane separation technology appear to be the most effective solution for water crisis because membranes have been widely recognized as one of the most direct and feasible approaches for clean water production. The aim of this article is to give an overview of (1) two new emerging membrane technologies for water reuse and desalination by forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD), and (2) the molecular engineering and development of highly permeable hollow fiber membranes, with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polybenzimidazole (PBI) as the main focuses for the aforementioned applications in National University of Singapore (NUS). This article presents the main results of membrane module design, separation performance, membrane characteristics, chemical modification and spinning conditions to produce novel hollow fiber membranes for FO and MD applications. As two potential solutions, MD and FO may be synergistically combined to form a hybrid system as a sustainable alternative technology for fresh water production.