• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.185-199
• /
• 2017

Low-pressure membrane filtration is increasingly used for tertiary treatment of wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM), mainly comprising organic base/neutral compounds. In-line coagulation with underdosing, charge neutralization, and sweep floc conditions prior to ultrafiltration (UF) was studied to determine removals of the EfOM components and consequent reduction of fouling using polyethersulfone membranes. Coagulation and UF substantially reduced fouling for all coagulation conditions while removing from 7 to 38% of EfOM organic acids. From 7 to 16% of EfOM organic base/neutrals were removed at neutral pH but there was no significant removal for slightly acid coagulation conditions even though fouling was substantially reduced. Sweep floc produced the lowest resistance to filtration but may be inappropriate for in-line use due to the large added volume of solids. Charge-neutralization resulted in poor recovery of the initial flux with hydraulic cleaning. Under-dosing paralleled sweep floc in reducing hydraulic resistance to filtration (for sub-critical flux) and the initial flux was also easily recovered with hydraulic cleaning. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic base/neutrals were identified on the fouled membranes but as previously reported the extent of fouling was not correlated with accumulation of organic base/neutrals.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.8
• /
• pp.799-806
• /
• 2005

Applying coagulation process before membrane filtration showed not only reducing membrane fouling, but also improving the removal of dissolved organic materials that might otherwise not be removed by the membrane alone. Also, slow mixing didn't affect the reduction of membrane fouling, and rapid mixing using an in-line static mixer was more effective than using backmixer. In addition, only 11 percent of dissolved organic matter in raw water was the primary cause of fouling. Furthermore, tile primary foulant of UF membrane was hydrophobic substance, which can easily be removed by coagulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.437-446
• /
• 2019

Reverse osmosis seawater desalination facilities can extend the cleaning cycle and replacement time of the reverse osmosis membrane by pretreatment process. Selection of pretreatment process depends on water quality. It was attempted in this study to select approriate pretreatment process for the Masan bay, which was high in particles and organic content. For this purpose, performances of pretreatment processes such as filter adsorber (FA), pore controllable fiber (PCF), and ultrafiltration (UF) were compared based on the silt density index (SDI). The SDI value of the filtrate should be less than 3. The study results showed that UF can produce the filtrate quality satisfying the requirement. However, the transmembrane pressure (TMP) of UF increased quickly, reaching 0.6 bar within 4 days. In order to secure stable operation, FA and PCF were combined with UF. The study results showed that combination of PCF and UF was able to extend the filtration duration (more than 2 months) until to reach TMP of 0.6 bar.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.18-29
• /
• 2019

The dead-end ultrafiltration (UF) of BSA protein solution was performed to investigate the defouling effects of natural convection instability flow (NCIF) induced in membrane module. The permeate fluxes were measured according to the inclined angles ($0{\sim}180^{\circ}$) of membrane module with respect to gravity, and analyzed using the blocking filtration model. NCIF are more induced as the inclined angles increased from $0^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}$, and the induced NCIF enhances flux. Comparing the fluxes at $0^{\circ}$ inclined angle (no NCIF induction) and $180^{\circ}$ (maximum NCIF induction), the flux enhancements by NCIF induction are increased about 5 times in the short-term UF operation (2 hours) and about 17 times in the long-term operation (20 hours). As applying the blocking filtration model, it is more suitable to analyze the flux results by using the intermediate blocking model in the early times of UF operation within 15 minutes and then thereafter times by using the cake filtration model. NCIF induced at $180^{\circ}$ inclined angle reduces the intermediate blocking fouling at about 67% in the early times operation and thereafter the cake layer fouling at about 99.9%. The main defouling mechanism of NCIF induced in the membrane module is suppress the formation of protein cake layer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.40 no.5
• /
• pp.753-758
• /
• 2011

We investigated the effects of ultra filtration (UF) of Goroshoe (Acer mono Max.) sap collected in March and April. The total bacteria and turbidity of the sap collected in April were higher than in March. However, after UF, the turbidity decreased and bacteria were not detected. The total acidity and total sugar of the sap collected in April were lower than that collected in March. After UF, total acidity and total sugar decreased slightly in sap from both of the collection times. The crude ash and mineral content of the sap collected in April were higher than in March. In particular, the calcium and potassium content of the sap collected in April were 166.38 and 29.47 mg/L, respectively, which was much higher than in March. Again, after UF, the crude ash and mineral content were decreased in the sap from both collection times. We concluded that UF of Goroshoe sap increased its quality regardless of collection time.

• Korean Membrane Journal
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.43-49
• /
• 1999

Separation of soluble oil was investigated during filtration of cutting oil emulsion using various commercial ultrafiltration membranes. The surface properties of membranes used were hydrophilic hydrophobic and modified surfaces by various surfactant pretreatments. Conditions varied include stirring speed transmeembrane pressure membrane type and surfactant type for pretreatment. The results give some indication of mechanisms occurring at the membrane surface. Surfactant pretreatments significantly improved water flux and UF flux of hydrophilic regenerated cellulose(up to 2.4x for YM100) and hydrophobic polysulfone (up to 2.2x for PTHK) membranes depending on surfactant type and operating conditions. The UF flux enhancement was attributed to membrane swelling and reduction of interfacial surface tension between oil droplets and membrane surface. unexpectedly the hydrophilic membranes revealed greater flux enhancement than the hydrophobic membranes. The results also showed a greater improvement in UF flux at lower operating pressure.

• Korean Membrane Journal
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2009

The periodic water-back-flushing using permeate water was performed to minimize membrane fouling and to enhance permeate flux in tubular ceramic ultrafiltration (UF) system for Gongji stream water treatment in Chuncheon city. The filtration time (FT), which was the water-back-flushing period, 2 min with periodic 15 sec water-back-flushing showed the highest value of dimensionless permeate flux ($J/J_o$), and the lowest value of resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$), and we acquired the highest total permeate volume ($V_T$) of 6.35 L. Consequently FT 2 min at back-flushing time (BT) 15 sec could be the optimal condition in advanced UF water treatment of Gongji stream. Then the average rejection rates of pollutants by our tubular ceramic UF system were 99.4% for Turbidity, 31.8% for $COD_{Mn}$, 22.6% for $NH_3$-N and 65.9% for T-P.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.7
• /
• pp.495-502
• /
• 2013

This work was performed to investigate proper condition of coagulation treatment as UF process pretreatment that consider UF permeate flux and residual Al concentration. The coagulant used an alum as $Al_2(SO_4)_3{\cdot}16H_2O$ and PACl (r = 1.5) made this study. The experiment was tested in adjusting conditions such as alum dose, flocculation time and coagulation pH of seawater. Consequently, higher coagulant dose lead to elevation of UF permeate flux while residual aluminium also increased in condition of pH 8.0. The most suitable condition which has a good permeate flux and low residual aluminium, in this works, was coagulant dose of 0.7 mg/L (as Al, alum) and 1.2 mg/L (as Al, PACl) and coagulation pH 6.5. In addition, applying the flocculation time with 1.2 mg/L of PACI reduced. The flocculation time reduced UF permeate flux in using alum.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.639-645
• /
• 2008

The objectives of this research are to (1) observe changes in particle size distribution due to formation of microflocs during coagulation process (2) identify the membrane fouling potential on cross flow system (3) investigate the mechanism of membrane fouling. The rate of flux decline for the hydrophobic membrane was significantly greater than for the hydrophilic membrane, regardless of pretreatment conditions. The pretreatment of the raw water significantly reduced the fouling of the UF membrane. Also, the rate of flux decline for the hydrophobic membrane was considerably greater than for the hydrophilic membrane. Applying coagulation process before membrane filtration showed not only reducing membrane fouling, but also improving the removal of dissolved organic materials that might otherwise not be removed by the membrane. That is, during the mixing period, substantial changes in particle size distribution occurred under rapid and slow mixing condition due to the simultaneous formation of microflocs and NOM precipitates. Therefore, combined pretreatment using coagulation not only improved dissolved organics removal efficiency but also flux recovery efficiency.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.1467-1474
• /
• 2016

In response to the water shortage problem, continued attempts are being made to secure consistent and reliable water sources. Among various solutions to this problem, wastewater effluent is an easy way to secure the necessary supply, since its annual output is consistent. Furthermore, wastewater effluent has the advantage of being able to serve various purposes, such as cleaning, sprinkling, landscaping, river management, irrigation, and industrial applications. Therefore, this study presents the possible use of reclaimed industrial wastewater treated with Birm filters and a UF membrane, along with an analysis on membrane fouling. The preprocessing stage, part of the reclamation process, used Birm filters to minimize membrane fouling. Since this study did not consider heavy metal levels in the treated water, the analyses did not include the criterion for irrigation water quality. However, the wastewater reclaimed by using Birm filters and a UF membrane met every other requirement for reclaimed water quality standards. This indicated that the treated water could be used for cleaning, channel flow for maintenance, recreational purposes, and industrial applications. The analysis on the fouling of the Birm filter and UF membrane required the study of the composition and recovery rate of the membrane. According to SEM and EDX analyses of the UF membrane, carbon and oxygen ion composition amounted to approximately 57%, whereas inorganic matter was not detected. Furthermore, the difference in the recovery rates of the distressed membrane between acidic and alkaline cleaning was more than ~78%, which indicated that organic rather than inorganic matter contributed to membrane fouling.