• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.629-637
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• 2000

A two-phase anaerobic reactor with a submerged microfiltration system was tested for its ability to produce methane energy from organic wastewater. A membrane separation system with periodic backwashing with compressed air was submerged in the acidogenic reactor. The cartridge type of microfiltration (MF) membrane with pore size of $0.5{\mu}m$ (mixed esters of cellulose) was tested. An AUBF (Anaerobic Upflow Sludge Bed Filter: 1/2 packed with plastic media) was used for the methanogenic reactor. Soluble starch was used as a substrate. The COD removal was investigated for various organic loading with synthetic wastewater of 5,000 mg starch/L. When the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the acidogenic reactor was changed from 10 to 4.5 days, the organic loading rate (OLR) varied from 0.5 to $1.0kg\;COD/m^3-day$. When the HRT of the methanogenic reactor was changed from 2.8 to 0.5 days, the OLR varied from 0.8 to $5.8kg\;COD/m^3-day$. The acid conversion rate of the acidogenic reactor was over 80% in the 4~5 days of HRT. The overall COD removal efficiency of the methanogenic reactor showed over 95% (effluent COD was below 300 mg/L) under the highly fluctuating organic loading condition. A two-phase anaerobic reactor showed an excellent acid conversion rate from organic wastewater due to the higher biomass concentration than the conventional system. A methanogenic reactor combined with sludge bed and filter, showed an efficient COD and SS removal.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

Organic fouling observed in submerged membrane filtration as a pretreatment for seawater desalination increases energy consumption for membrane operation because of requiring frequent chemical cleaning and membrane replacement. In membrane pretreatment for seawater facing with algae blooms, membrane fouling was observed in submerged microfiltration using sodium alginate model compound which is one of the main components of extracellular polymeric substances. Without aeration, aglinate fouling increased with its concentration while aeration reduced the alginate fouling effectively regardless of its concentration tested. In the absence of aeration, alingate fouling tended to be decreased with increasing calcium concentration. However, this effectiveness was reduced by increasing sodium chloride concentration. At high concentration of sodium chloride and calcium similar to the seawater conditions, aeration reduced initial fouling. However, as time progressed, the effect of increased airflow rate on fouling reduction was not significant, implying that optimum airflow rate to control alginate fouling in submerged microfiltration can exist.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.05a
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• pp.31-38
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• 2003

A pilot scale biofilter pretreatment-microfiltration system (BF-MF) was operated to investigate the effect of biofilter treatment in fouling reduction of microfiltration. Biofiltration was expected to reduce the membrane fouling by removal of turbidity and metal oxides. The hollow-fiber MF module with a nominal pore size of 0.1$\mu$m and a surface area of 8m$^2$ was submerged in a filtration tank and microfiltration was operated at a constant flux of 0.5 m/d. Biofiltration using polypropylene pellets was performed at a high filtration velocity of 320 m/d. Two experimental setups composed of MF and BF/MF, i.e., without and with biofilter pretreatment, were compared. Throughout the experimental period of 9 months, biofilter pretreatment was effective to reduce the membrane fouling, which was proved by the result of time variations of trans-membrane pressure and backwash conditions. The turbidity removal rate by biofiltration varied between 40% to 80% due to the periodic washing for biofilter contactor and raw water turbidity. In addition to turbidity, metals, especially Mn, Fe and Al were removed effectively with average removal rates of 89.2%, 67.8% and 64.9%, respectively. Further analysis of foulants on the used membranes revealed that turbidity and metal removal by biofiltration was the major effect of biofiltration pretreatment against microfiltration fouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-83
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• 2017

Transient behavior of fouling resistance was observed with a laboratory-scaled, submerged microfiltration membrane system treating high-turbidity source water consisting of inorganic silica particles and humic acid. Fouling mitigation efficiency with inorganic silica particles caused by aeration was reduced significantly as both humic acid and calcium ion existed together. Scanning electron microscopic observations showed that humic acid was adsorbed onto the surface of inorganic silica particles in the presence of calcium. Turbidity removal was achieved almost completely by submerged MF system regardless of feed compositions. However, the $UV_{254}$ removal of humic acid was improved in the presence of both calcium and inorganic silica particles. Additionally, increasing air-flow rate tended to increase $UV_{254}$ removal efficiency higher than 80%. This may be caused by back-transport of humic acid enhanced by inorganic silica particles providing surface for organic adsorption in the presence of calcium.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.79-86
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• 2008

In Korea, most of the drinking water treatment relied upon the availability of the surface water, of which the raw water quality varied significantly by season and location. Therefore, the comparison of two operation modes (Pressurized type and Submerged type membrane system) must be estimated before the long-term establishment of two systems. In this study, two pilot-scale microfiltration systems with the capacity of $50m^3/day$ were installed and operated in two different modes, and the applicability of the system was determined based on the results such as the TMP (Trans-Membrane Pressure) and flux. For quantitatively comparing the two systems, a new concept, DRF (Differential Resistance Fraction) was introduced. The accumulated sum of the permeate after each cycle of chemical cleaning was also used as a tool for the system comparison.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.311-319
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• 1999

Membrane separation process is considered as an alternative of conventional water purification system using coagulationㆍsedimentation＋sand filtration. In this study, it was examined that the application possibility of Hollowfiber Microfiltration membrane for water purification process. A $20m^3/day$ scale pilot plant was used for studying the possibility of long-term operation and the stability of water quality under the optimum conditions, 0.03m/h permeate flux, filtration for 10 minutes, pause for 2 minutes(including air-scrubbing for 30 seconds), obtained by lab-scale experiment. As a result, it was proved stability of pilot plant over one year and filtrate quality(Turbidity. SS etc). Therefore, it was proved that membrane separation process using Hollowfiber Microfiltration membrane can be applied for water purification system

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2004.02a
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• pp.12-27
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• 2004

Pretreatment process consisted of submerged hollow-fiber microfiltration(HMF) membrane and spiral-wound nanofiltration(SNF) membrane has been developed by NETEC, KHNP for the purpose of improving the impurities of liquid radioactive waste before entering Selective Ion Exchange System(SIES). The lab-scale combined system was installed at Kori NPP #2 nuclear power plant and demonstration tests using actual liquid radioactive waste were carried out to verify the performance of the combined system. The submerged HMF membrane was adopted for removal of suspended solid in liquid radioactive waste and the SNF membrane was used for removal of particulate radioisotope such as, Ag-l10m and oily waste because ion exchange resin can not remove particulate radioisotopes. The liquid waste in Waste Holdup Tank (WHT) was processed with HMF and SNF membrane, and SIES. The initial SS concentration and total activity of actual waste were 38,000ppb and $1.534{\times}10_{-3}{\mu}Ci/cc$, respectively. The SS concentration and total activity of permeate were 30ppb and lower than LLD(Lower Limit of Detection), respectively.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of submerged hollow fiber MF processes to treat secondary wastewater for water reuse. Specifically, membrane productivity and filtrate water quality were investigated under various operating conditions (i.e. flux, recovery, and backwash rate) at pilot-scale. Membrane fouling became more severe with increasing flux and recovery, suggesting that low flux operation (< 25 LMH) was desirable. At high flux operating(> 37.5 LMH), increasing backwash rate showed only limited success. The biofouling, quantified by PEPA and BFHPC, was also significant in wastewater reclamation, and biogrowth control by chlorine, were necessary to improve membrane productivity. Filtrate water qualities are in good compliance with water reuse regulations regardless of operating conditions (flux, recovery and backwash rate). Particle (e.g. turbidity) removal ranged from 89 to 98%, while only 11 to 21% of organics (e.g. NPDOC) were removed by MF membrane. Only small improvement in biostability (e.g. AOC) was achieved by MF system, and thus, without post disinfection, significant microorganisms might be present in the filtrate due to regrowth. Lastly, in order to further investigate pathogen removal, controlled microbial challenge tests were performed by monitoring Giardia, Cryptosporidium, bacteria and virus, and showed relatively good microbial removal.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.499-515
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells in submerged membrane systems consisting of polymeric and ceramic microfiltration membranes. In this study, one polymeric (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$) and two ceramic (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$ and cylindrical, pore size: $1{\mu}m$) membranes were used. Physical cleaning was performed with water and air to determine the potential for reversible and irreversible membrane fouling. The study results showed that substantial irreversible membrane fouling (after four filtration cycles, irreversible fouling degree 27% (cleaning with water) and 38% (cleaning with air)) occurs in the polymeric membrane. In cleaning studies performed using water and air on ceramic membranes, it was observed that compressed air was more effective (recovery rate: 87-91%) for membrane cleaning. The harvesting performance of the membranes was examined through critical flux experiments. The critical flux values for polymeric membrane with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and $1{\mu}m$ were ${\leq}95L/m^2hour$, ${\leq}70L/m^2hour$ and ${\leq}55L/m^2hour$, respectively. It was determined that critical flux varies depending on the membrane material and the pore size. To obtain more information on membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells, the characterization of the fouled polymeric membrane was performed. This study concluded that ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.2-1{\mu}m$ in the submerged membrane system could be efficiently used for microalgae harvesting by cleaning the membrane with compressed air at regular intervals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.195-201
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• 2007

A submerged flat-sheet membrane separation system integrated with PAC (powdered activated carbon) was used in this research in order to investigate the effects of PAC on the efficiencies of operation and treatment and to evaluate the performance of the system. The experiments were carried out under operating conditions of a filtration rate of 0.38 m/d, water temperature of $20-28^{\circ}C$, and PAC dose of 0 g/L (Run-A) and 20 g/L (Run-B). The influent concentrations of TOC (total organic carbon), $NH_4{^+}-N$ (ammonia nitrogen) and $UV_{254}$ (UV absorbance at 254 nm) were 2.48 mg/L, 1.4 mg/L and 2.53 1/m, respectively. TOC removal of 43.2 and 73.6%, ammonia nitrogen removal of 4.9 and 15.9%, and $UV_{254}$ removal of 20.6 and 31.6% were obtained for Run-A and Run-B, respectively. During an experimental period of 33 days, no change was found in TMP (Run-B), but the TMP in Run-A increased by 5 kPa after 29 days. This research showed that the filtrate quality and the performance efficiency were enhanced when PAC was introduced into the filtration system.