• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.342-350
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• 2010

Membrane distillation (MD) is a separation process which higher vapor pressure components are evaporated in mixed liquid solution through hydrophobic membrane with 0.1 or $0.5{\mu}m$ pore size. In this study, direct contact membrane distillation process for hollow fiber module were interpreted numerically using the "COMSOL Multiphysics" software. The variables for the system were temperatures and flow rates of lumen and shell side solutions. The permeate flux increased from 1.0 to $3.8L/m^2{\cdot}hr$ as temperature of the feed solution for lumen increased from 30 to $50^{\circ}C$. However the effect of shell solution temperature on permeate flux was relatively low. Also, the optimum velocity of lumen feed was obtained at 0.15 m/s ($Re_L=135$) by considering MD permeate flux as well as operating pressure loss.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.77-94
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• 2015

Ultrafiltration membranes have several advantages over conventional drinking-water treatment. However, this technology presents major limitations, such as irreversible fouling and low removal of natural organic matter. Fouling depends heavily on the raw-water quality as well as on the operating conditions of the process, including flux, permeate recovery, pre-treatment, chemical cleaning, and backwashing. Starting with the premise that the optimisation of operating variables can improve membrane performance, different experiments were conducted in a pilot plant located in Granada (Spain). Several combinations of permeate and backwashing flow rates, backwashing frequencies, and aeration flow rates were tested for low-quality water coming from Genil River with the following results: the effluent quality did not depend on the combination of operating conditions chosen; and the membrane was effective for the removal of microorganisms, turbidity and suspended solids but the yields for the removal of dissolved organic carbon were extremely low. In addition, the threshold transmembrane pressure (-0.7 bar) was reached within a few hours and it was difficult to recover due to the low efficiency of the chemical cleanings. Moreover, greater transmembrane pressure due to fouling also increased the energy consumption, and it was not possible to lower it without compromising the permeate recovery. Finally, the intensification of aeration contributed positively to lengthening the operation times but again raised energy consumption. In light of these findings, the feasibility of ultrafiltration as a single treatment is questioned for low-quality influents.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.252-258
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• 2006

A numerical analysis was performed for a separation process of carbon dioxide from a flue gas stream using polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes. Countercurrent flow governing equations were regarded to be two point boundary-value problem and the nonlinear ordinary differential equation were simultaneously solved using the finite- difference method. A computer program was developed using the Compaq Visual Fortran 6.6 software. The carbon dioxide permeate driving force and the fred gas residence time at the inside of membrane were found to be very important factors affecting the permeation characteristics of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide concentration in the permeate and the flow rate of the permeate were found to be slightly larger by a few percent with a countercurrent flow analysis than those with a cocurrent flow analysis.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.113-123
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• 2017

This study investigated effects of physical and chemical cleaning methods on the initial flux recovery of fouled membrane in membrane distillation process. A laboratory scale direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) experiment was performed to treat digested livestock wastewater with 3.89 mg/L suspended solids, 874.7 mg/L COD, 543.7 mg/L nitrogen, 15.6 mg/L total phosphorus, and pH of 8.6. A hydrophobic PVDF membrane with an average pore size of $0.22{\mu}m$ and a porosity of 75 % was installed inside a direct contact type membrane distillation module. The temperature difference between feed and permeate side was maintained at $40^{\circ}C$ with the feed and permeate stream velocity of 0.18 m/s. The results showed that the permeate flux decreased from $22.1L{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ to $19.0L{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}hr^{-1}$ after 75 hours of distillation. The fouled membrane was cleaned first by physical flushing and consecutively by chemicals with NaOCl and citric acid. After the physical cleaning the flux was recovered to 92 % as compared with the initial clean water flux of the virgin membrane. Then 94 % of the flux was recovered after cleaning by 2,000 ppm NaOCl for 90 minutes and finally 97 % of flux recovered after 3 % citric acid for 90 minutes. SEM-EDS and FT-IR analysis results presented that the foulants on the membrane surface were removed effectively after each cleaning step. The contact angle measurement showed that the hydrophobicity of the membrane surface was also restored gradually after each cleaning step to reach nearly the same hydrophobicity level as the virgin membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated the applicability and optimal operating strategy of a closed-loop pressure retarded membrane distillation (PRMD) for brackish water desalination. For effective operation with net power generation, high temperature of heat source over 90 ℃ and feed flow rate at 0.6 kg/s are recommended. At 3 g/L of feed concentration, the average permeate flux and net energy density showed 8.04 kg/m²/hr and 2.56 W/m², respectively. The average permeate flux and net energy density were almost constant in the range of feed concentration from 1 to 3 g/L. Compared to the case with seawater feed, the PRMD with brackish water feed showed higher average permeate flux and net energy density. Thus, PRMD application using brackish water feed can be more effective than that using seawater feed in terms of power generation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.959-970
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• 2000

A laboratory-scale experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of soluble microbial products(SMP) on permeate flux in the submerged membrane separation activated sludge process. Continuous and batch filtration test were operated to understand mechanism of relationship between membrane fouling and SMP. Synthetic wastewater(phenol) was used as a carbon source. Hydraulic retention time(HRT) and mixed-liquor volatile suspended solids(MLVSS) of the reactor were kept at 12 hours and 9.000mg VSS/L, respectively. Batch filtration tests ($J_{60}/J_o$) using the mixed liquor from reactor showed that the increase of accumulated SMP concentration in the reactor caused to the decreasing permeate flux and the increasing of the adhesion matters which form cake and gel layer. The resistance value of cake layer was measured $2.9{\times}10^{10}{\sim}4.0{\times}10^{10}(1/m)$, this value showed more significant effect on flux drop than that of among other resistance layers. Batch phenol-degradation experiment was conducted to observe SMP type expected $SMP_{nd}$ and $SMP_{e}$ (SMP resulted from endogenous cell decomposition), these are non-biodegradable high molecular weight organic matter and playa significant role in permeate flux drop. Also, SMP concentration was accumulated as increased of HRT against flux drop.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.306-310
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• 1992

The effects of membrane type, temperature and pH on the permeate flux and removal of soluble solids from soybean curd whey by reverse osmosis were studied at recommended pressures for optimum performance of the membranes. The fluxes obtained with HR 95 and HR 98 membranes at 60 bar were not lower than that with CA 930 membrane at 20 bar. Soluble solid content in the permeate increased to 1.5 Brix after 90 min by CA 930 membrane, as opposed to 0 Brix with the HR 95 and HR 98 membranes. Permeate flux was increased by 28.4% as operation temperature increased from $30^{\circ}C$ to $50^{\circ}C$. COD of the whey was rejected up to 80.5%, 99.7% and 99.5% by using the membranes of CA 930, HR 95 and HR 98, respectively. pH adjustment of the whey resulted in decreasing membrane performance. But the rejection rate of COD in permeate with HR 98 membrane was slightly increased to 99.9% when the pH was adjusted to 7.0.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.400-408
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• 2014

This study is to evaluate the performance of draw solutions in forward osmosis desalination using fertilizer as draw solution. Considering osmotic pressure, solubility, and pH, $NH_4NO_3$, $NH_4H_2PO_4$, $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, KCl, $KNO_3$, and $KHCO_3$ were screened from a comprehensive lists of fertilizer. Their performance were evaluated in terms of pure water permeate flux, reverse solute flux, and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen and phosphorus. KCl showed the highest pure water permeate flux among the selected fertilizers while $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$ draw solution had the lowest flux. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ showed the lowest reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen followed by $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, $KNO_3$, and $NH_4NO_3$. Although the pure water permeate flux of $NH_4H_2PO_4$ is lower than the other draw solutions, because it contains both nitrogen and phosphorus, and have the lowest reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux, it is a promising candidate as draw solution for forward osmosis desalination.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.397-406
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• 1998

Hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) is very valuable as a natural preservative in food processing due to its selective bactericidal activity. HEWL which traditionally isolated by crystallization or freeze drying was simply separated from 13 different hen egg white (HEW) proteins by a single-step ultrafiltration. Freeze dried HEW (0.25%, w/v) dissolved in a citrate-phosphate buffer (pH 4.6) was ultrafiltered with a PM30 membrane under various operating conditions, by changing concentration, temperature, transmembrane pressure $({\triangle}P_T)$, and stirring speed. Optimum separation conditions were decided when maximal flux was obtained. Under the optimum separation conditions, the effect of membrane material and fouling on flux as time passed as well as lysozyme concentration, protein concentration, specific activity (SA) in the permeate were measured. Best separation conditions of HEWL with PM30 membrane were sample concentration 0.25%, temperature $35^{\circ}C$, ${\Delta}P_T\;30\;psi$, and stirring speed 300 rpm. During the first 12 min, the flux of YM30 was higher, but at the steady-state it was lower than that of PM30. The SA of the PM30 permeate was over 2 times higher in spite of the lysozyme and protein concentration being lower than that of YM30 permeate. The flux of 5 times used PM30 decreased 30% compared to a new PM30, but both had the same tendency in flux decrease when time passed. Both of them reached a steady-state after 35 min and remained at 70% of the initial flux. In the PM30 permeate, the lysozyme concentration and SA were 110 units/mL and 2,821 units/mg protein, respectively. Therefore, PM30 membrane separation was very effective for separation of antimicrobial lysozyme.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.1391-1398
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• 2010

Reuse feasibility of MBR effluent of S Electronic Company's organic wastewater as a LCD process water was investigated by a $32m^3/d$ pilot-scale RO membrane process. The effects of operating pressure and permeate flux at constant 85% recovery of RO membrane process using MBR effluent were analyzed for transmembrane pressure and period for CIP by membrane fouling as well as rejection of TOC and conductivity. MBR effluent requires additional treatment to meet the LCD process water quality criteria of TOC<1 mg/L and conductivity<$100{\mu}S/cm$ which is stringent as compared with those of conventional reuse water quality criteria. The RO process operated at 85% recovery with stepwise increasing of permeate fluxes from 12.5 LMH to 22.0 LMH was able to meet LCD process water quality criteria. However, the transmembrane pressure increased and the period of CIP decreased as increasing permeability fluxes due to fouling of RO membrane. The optimum operational conditions of RO membrane process were permeate fluxes of 16.5~18.5 LMH with operating pressure of $6.7{\sim}12.4kgf/cm^2$ and CIP period of 20~25 days at constant 85% recovery.