• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.489-495
• /
• 2011

Silt Density Index (SDI) has been used as a fouling index for reverse osmosis (RO) processes for decades. In order to decrease RO fouling, feed water should meet SDI standard, which was used to select a proper pretreatment system for RO processes. However, SDI is supposed to be sensitive only to particles larger than 0.45 ${\mu}m$ in terms of diameters while nanoparticles and dissolved organic matter can be potent foulants for RO processes. Our study started from the suspected performance of SDI as a RO fouling index. SDI data from pilot plants located world wide including South Korea were collected and analyzed. Suspended partcle concentration (i.e., turbidity and particle counts), and dissolved organic matter concentration (i.e., dissolved orgnaic carbon (DOC) concentration) data were also collected and compared to SDI values of same water samples. We found that SDI values were not only affected by suspended particle concentration but also by dissolved organic matter concentration. Therefore SDI can be used as a reasonable fouling index for RO feed water because the main foulants for RO processes are suspended particle and dissolved organic matter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.713-723
• /
• 2014

Biofouling in brackish water reverse osmosis (RO) membranes still needs extensive research to understand cause and mechanism and to obtain methods for reduction of its impact on RO applications. Natural compounds with biofilm formation inhibitory properties are being investigated. Two compounds, vanillin and Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), were selected due to their great potential on biofilm formation inhibition. Vanillin shows inhibition on quorum sensing mechanisms of biofilm formation. EGCG has potential to inactivate microbial activity. The two compounds were incorporated in typical polyamide reverse osmosis membranes and evaluated on flux behaviours and biofilm formation potential. The surface properties of membrane coated with vanillin were changed tremendously compared to those with EGCG. As a result, the flux was reduced substantially. The biofilm formation seems hindered with EGCG coated membranes compared to the virgin membranes. More research is needed to optimize coating methods applicable to RO membranes and to enhance biofouling reduction.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.657-662
• /
• 2012

This study was carried out to evaluate the removal rate of organic and inorganic matters from landfill leachate using pre-treatment process as coagulation and limonite adsorption, and membrane process as RO (reverse osmosis) and NF(nanofiltration). By adding limonite adsorption as pre-treatment process, about 40% of organic matters in leachate was removed through pre-treatment process and 74.7% of boron was removed after RO process without pH adjustment. The rejection rate of boron in RO process mainly depends on the pH and increased at pH value of 10. RO process was performed as two stage system adjusting pH condtion to 7 and 10 in second RO stage for boron removal. Most (>90%) of TOC, Cl- and inorganic matters as Ca was rejected in first RO stage, the residue was rejected in second RO and the rejection rate was above 97%. Considering economic efficiency of operation cost, NF substituted for the first RO and total removal rate of TOC was above 90%. Through RO system toxicity to Daphnia in leachate was removed completely.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.159-168
• /
• 2002

A lab-scale Reverse Osmosis(RO) membrane reactor was installed to investigate the membrane permeability, characteristics of membrane fouling at each conditions, and performance of elimination at different trans-membrane pressure(TMP) in the liquid fertilizer accumulated system. Experimental setup was divided to three different TMP conditions. As a result of experiment, permeability of RO membrane was proportional to the increase of TMP and temperature. After experiment was completed, two types chemical cleaning(remove the organic foulant and inorganic foulant) was done, and recover rate of permeability was each 99.8, 99.7 and 99.7%, respectively. From this experimental data, membrane fouling could be determined that the most of it was recoverable in this system, and major reason of fouling was concentration polarization. Elimination rate of solute substance in the liquid fertilizer indicated very stable(above 99%), except ammonia nitrogen, and the most stable elimination rate was investigated at the highest TMP condition (Run 3).

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.47 no.7
• /
• pp.859-866
• /
• 2015

The aim of this work is to investigate the transport mechanism of radioactive nuclides through the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and to estimate its effectiveness for nuclide separation from radioactive liquid waste. An analytical model is developed to simulate the RO separation, and a series of experiments are set up to confirm its estimated separation behavior. The model is based on the extended Nernst-Plank equation, which handles the convective flux, diffusive flux, and electromigration flux under electroneutrality and zero electric current conditions. The distribution coefficient which arises due to ion interactions with the membrane material and the electric potential jump at the membrane interface are included as boundary conditions in solving the equation. A high Peclet approximation is adopted to simplify the calculation, but the effect of concentration polarization is included for a more accurate prediction of separation. Cobalt and cesium are specifically selected for the experiments in order to check the separation mechanism from liquid waste composed of various radioactive nuclides and nonradioactive substances, and the results are compared with the estimated cobalt and cesium rejections of the RO membrane using the model. Experimental and calculated results are shown to be in excellent agreement. The proposed model will be very useful for the prediction of separation behavior of various radioactive nuclides by the RO membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.39-49
• /
• 2022

Seawater desalination is doubtlessly a viable option to supply fresh drinking water. Nevertheless, RO (reverse osmosis) desalination plants in specific areas may be intermittently operated to match the imbalance between water demand and supply. Although a handful of works have been done on other membrane systems, few studies have attempted to mitigate fouling in intermittent RO systems. Accordingly, the objectives of this paper were to examine the effect of the intermittent operation on RO fouling; and to compare four intermittent operation modes including feed solution recirculation, membrane storage in the feed solution, deionized water (DI) recirculation, and membrane storage in DI water. Results showed that intermittent operation reduced RO fouling under several conditions. However, the extents of fouling mitigation were different depending on the feed conditions, foulant types, and membrane lay-up methods. When the feed solution was recirculated during the lay-up, the restoration of the flux was less significant than that by the feed solution feed-up. The use of deionized water during the lay-up was effective to restore flux, especially when the feed solution contains scale-forming salts (CaSO₄) and/or colloidal silica.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.549-554
• /
• 2014

This study was evaluated the applicability of the membrane filtration process (Micro Filtration (MF), nanofiltration membranes (NF), reverse osmosis (RO)) on the major radioactive substances, iodine ($I^-$) and cesium ($Cs^+$) using membranes produced in Korea and domestic raw water. Iodine ($I^-$) or cesium ($Cs^+$) in the microfiltration membrane (MF) process could not be expected removal efficiency by eliminating marginally at the combined state with colloidal and turbidity material. At the domestic raw water (lake water, turbidity 1.2 NTU, DOC 1.3 mg/L) conditions, nanofiltration membrane (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) showed a high removal rate of about 88 ~ 99% for iodine ($I^-$) and cesium ($Cs^+$) and likely to be an alternative process for the removal of radioactive material.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.22 no.12
• /
• pp.2125-2134
• /
• 2000

This research was to develope the economical treatment processes of the landfill leachate to meet the legal discharge standards. To achieve this purpose, experiments were conducted in laboratory to choose the optimum process and to obtain the design factors before a pi!ot-scale test. The concept of the process developing in this research was using the reverse osmosis system. The submerged membrane bio-reactor was used to achieve pre-treatment of reverse osmosis system and the concentrate was treated by evaporator with land fill gas as a fuel. The results of the research showed that SS, $BOD_5$, $COD_{cr}$, $NH_4{^+}-N$ and T-N were removed 99.0%, 43.0%, 12.9%, 48.5% and 18.7% respectively in the submerged membrane bio-reactor. The reverse osmosis system could remove $BOD_5$, $COD_{cr}$, $NH_4{^+}-N$ and T-N as an efficiency of97.5%, 97.6%, 79.7% and 85.4% respectively. The evaporator could remove $COD_{cr}$, $NH_4{^+}-N$ and T-N as an efficiency of 90.5%, 50.6% and 63.3% respectively. However the condensed water of the evaporator was not satisfied the legal standard and should be treated in reverse osmosis with the pre-treated leachate.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.343-351
• /
• 2013

This study is to investigate the effects of the draw solution concentration on forward osmosis desalination performance using blended fertilizer as draw solution. As the concentration of blended fertilizer solution (draw solution) increased, the water permeate flux increased nearly linearly, but PR (performance ratio) was reduced. Using sea water and deionized water as the feed solution, respectively, at the blended fertilizer solution of 600 g/L $H_2O$, the PR obtained were 5.39 and 6.50, respectively. And as the concentration of blended fertilizer solution increased, the reverse solute flux for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) increased nearly linearly, but specific reverse solute flux for them was reduced. The reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux became higher in the order of N > K > P.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.279-283
• /
• 1997

Membrane separation technology was applied to prepare high quality persimmon juice from persimmon, which is produced in large quantities in Korea. The influences of time, pressure, and temperature on permeate flux were studied during concentration by reverse osmosis. The chemical components of retentate were also analyzed. The permeate flux was higher as the operating temperature and pressure were increased, and was influenced more strongly by operating pressure than temperature. Maximum concentration by reverse osmosis employed in this study in the oBrix scale was about 30. Retention percentage of sugar in the persimmon juice which was concentrated by membrane separation system was more than 90% and was not influenced by operating conditions. Retention percentage of volatile components in the same process was more than 60%; it was increased as operating temperature was decreased and pressure was increased.