• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.149-157
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• 2011

Nanofiltration (NF) experiments were conducted to investigate fouling of Al-hydroxide precipitate and the influence of organic compound, inorganic compound, and their combination, i.e., multiple foulants. $CaCl_2$ and $MgSO_4$ were employed as surrogates of inorganic compounds while humic acid was used as surrogate of organic compound. The flux attained from NF experiments was fitted with the mathematical fouling model to evaluate the potential fouling mechanisms. Al-hydroxide fouling with a cake formation mechanism had little effect on the NF membrane fouling regardless of the Al concentration. The NF fouling by Al-hydroxide precipitate was deteriorated in presence of inorganic matter. The effect of Mg was more critical in increasing the fouling than Ca. This is because the Mg ions enhanced the resistances of the cake layer accumulated by the Al-hydroxide precipitate on the membrane surfaces. However, the fouling with Mg was dramatically mitigated by adding humic acid. It is interesting to observe that the removal of the conductivity was enhanced to 61.2% in presence of Mg and humic acid from 30.9% with Al-hydroxide alone. The influence of dissolved matter (i.e., colloids) was more negative than particulate matter on the NF fouling for Al-hydroxide precipitate in presence of inorganic and organic matter.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.167-173
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• 2004

Fouling of heat exchangers is generated by water-borne deposits, commonly known as foulants including particulate matter from the air, migrated corrosion produces; silt, clays, and sand suspended in water; organic contaminants; and boron based deposits in plants. The fouling is known to interfere with normal flow characteristics and reduce thermal efficiencies of heat exchangers. This paper describes the fouling analysis technique developed in this study which can analyze the thermal performance for heat exchangers and estimate the future fouling variations. To develop the fouling analysis technique fur heat exchangers, fouling factor was introduced based on the ASME O&M codes and TEMA standards. For the purpose or verifying the fouling analysis technique, the routing analyses were performed for four heat exchangers in several nuclear power plants; two residual heat removal heat exchangers of the residual heat removal system and two component cooling water heat exchangers of the component cooling water system.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.325-334
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• 2023

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) provides the benefits on high effluent quality and construction cost without the secondary clarification. Despite of these advantages, fouling, which clogs the pore in membrane modules, affects the membrane life span and effluent quality. Studies on the laboratory scale MBR were focused on the control of particulate fouling, organic fouling and inorganic fouling. However, less studies were focused on the control of biofouling and microbial aspect of membrane. In the full scale operation, most MBR produces high effluent quality to meet the national permit of discharge regulation. In this study, the performance and microbial community analysis were investigated in two MBRs. As the results, the performance of organic removal, nitrogen removal, and phosphorus removal was similar both MBRs. Microbial community analysis, however, showed that Azonexus sp. and Propionivibrio sp. contributed to indirect fouling to cause the chemical cleaning in the DX MBR.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.474-481
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• 2002

Fouling deposits due to surface-coated particles have been calculated using CFD techniques. The sticking probabilities of the surface-coated particles are also evaluated on the basis of an energy balance. The sticking probabilities of the deposit surface are also included in the prediction of the deposition occurring through the multiple impaction of particles with the deposit surface. The sticking probability of an impacting particle is expressed in terms of such parameters as particle viscosity, surface tension, impact velocity, impact angle and the thickness of the sticky layer on a particle. Particulate behavior around a tube in cross flow was studied using the Lagrangian approach. Three important parameters i.e. impact velocity, impact angle, and particulate concentration, were used in the prediction of deposition rate. The computational predictions were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.221-230
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• 2012

This study employed the modified fouling index (MFI) to determine the performance of a two-step recycling system - a membrane filtration integrated laminar flow water storage (LFWS) tank followed by an ion exchange process to reclaim ultrapure water (UPW) from the wastewater generated from semiconductor wafer backgrinding and sawing processes. The first step consisted of the utilization of either ultrafiltration (UF) or nanofiltration (NF) membranes to remove solids in the wastewater where the second step consisted of an ion exchanger to further purify the filtrate. The system was able to produce high purity water in a continuous operating mode. However, higher recycling cost could be incurred due to membrane fouling. The feed wastewater used for this study contained high concentration of fine particles with low organic and ionic contents, hence membrane fouling was mainly attributed to particulate deposition and cake formation. Based on the MFI results, a LFWS tank that was equipped with a turbulence reducer with a pair of auto-valves was developed and found effective in minimizing fouling by discharging concentrated wastewater prior to any membrane filtration. By comparing flux behaviors of the improved system with the conventional system, the former maintained a high flux than the latter at the end of the experiment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.76-81
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• 2011

Exhaust gas recirculation is the well-known and widely used NOx reduction technology for diesel engines. More effective EGR cooler has been developed and applied to diesel engines to meet the reinforced emission regulation. However, the contaminated EGR cooler by diesel exhaust gas reduces the performance of the engine and NOx reduction rate. The buildup of deposits in EGR coolers cause significant degradation in heat transfer performance, often on the order of 20~30%. Deposits also increase pressure drop across coolers and thus may degrade engine efficiency under some operation conditions. In this study, as a solution for this problem, DOC assisted EGR cooler is designed and then investigated to reduce fouling and its impact on cooler performance. A single channel EGR cooler fouling test apparatus and soot particle generator were developed to represent the real EGR cooler and exhaust gas of diesel engine. EGR cooler effectiveness of the case with catalyst of pt 30g/ft3 decreased just up to 5%. This value was 45% less compared to the case without catalyst which decreased up to 9% after 10hours experiments.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2017

This study applied microbubbles to reduce membrane fouling in wastewater reuse membrane processes, evaluated and compared the transmembrane pressure with or without the application of microbubbles and the cleaning efficiency with the application of aeration and microbubbles. In addition, this study analyzed foulants removed from the membrane surface. Changes in the transmembrane pressure of membranes with the presence or absence of microbubbles were observed. As a result, transmembrane pressure (TMP) increasing rate decreased twofold when applying microbubbles to realize stable operations. This study compared and evaluated cleaning efficiency applying aeration and microbubbles. As a result, the cleaning efficiency was 5% higher on average when applying microbubbles. In turbidity and total organic carbon (TOC), foulants were discharged when applying microbubbles twice as much as applying aeration. It is thought that particulate foulants precipitated on the membrane surface were more likely to desorb because the adhesion between the membrane surface and particle was weakened by microbubbles. Therefore, it is considered possible to effectively control membrane fouling because of the increase in cleaning efficiency when applying microbubbles to wastewater reuse membrane processes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.479-488
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• 2011

Nanofiltration was performed with polyaluminium chloride solutions at different pH conditions to understand effects of inorganic compounds on aluminum hydrolysis products, i.e., three distinctive groups of aluminum species: polymeric Al at low pH; $Al(OH)_3$ at neutral pH; and ${Al(OH)_4}^-$ at high pH. The PACl solution was prepared to be approximately 4.0mM and adjusted to the designated pH. The influence of inorganic compounds on Al species fouling was investigated with 4.9mM $CaCl_2$ and 3.5mM $MgSO_4$ because $Ca^{2+}$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Cl^-$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$ are the most common inorganics in the drinking water. NF membrane fouling was measured by flux decline rate. The impact of $CaCl_2$ was not significant on the individual Al hydrolysis products fouling. However, the flux decline rate was drastically changed in the presence of $MgSO_4$. The concentration of particulate matters was considerably increased possibly due to interaction between Al species and ${SO_4}^{2-}$ where $MgSO_4$ was introduced. The particulates were accumulated on the membrane and enhanced the hydraulic resistance of the cake layer. In addition, conductivity removal of the membrane was decreased when Al-hydroxide was dominant due to reduction of membrane surface charge. The rejection of $Ca^{2+}$and $Mg^{2+}$ were considerably different, which implys that composition of inorganics paly a role on conductivity removal.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.681-689
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• 2011

Submerged membrane bio-reactor (SMBR) has several advantages such as high MLSS, long SRT, and low F/M ratio at wastewater treatment. So, this has widely applied over the world and many studies have been conducted. However, membrane fouling remains an inevitable problem. This study was investigated using bench-scale SMBR with three poeration modes. Raw waters were prepared by addition of starch, acetic and fibric acid to recovery water of zeolite. The efficiency of nitrification and COD were very stable as about 95% and 80%, respectively. And critical flux was 128.8L/$m^{2}$/hr. The result of biodegradability test was following values at the each mode : Ss+Xs/$C_{T}$=81.7%, 35.1% and 45.3%, $X_{I}+S_{I}/C_{T}=18.3%$, 64.9% and 54.7%. When particulate matters such as $X_{I}$ and $X_{S}$ in influent are increased, membrane fouling will take place more and more. A relative ratio of filtration resistance to the fouling occurred by the cake layer was increased when increased the portion of $X_{I}$ and polysaccharide. It was thought that the formation of cake layer was promoted due to bond between $X_{I}$ and vicid material s generated from the polysaccharide.