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

• Membrane Journal
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.130-137
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• 1998

Membrane fouling characteristics in the membrane-coupled activated sludge system were investigated. The influence of the floc size variation on the filtration resistance was analyzed using resistance-in-series model and mixed liquor was fractionated into three components to verify which component would give rise to a major contribution to the total resistance. The microbial floc size was rapidly reduced during the initial 4~6 hours of operation, and then decreased slightly but steadily, followed by leveling off at the size of 20 $\mu$m. The specific resistance of activated sludge increased with operation time, and measured values of specific resistance were matched well with the values estimated on the basis of the mean particle size in the mixed liquor. The contribution of soluble organics and cells to the total resistance was relativdy small compared with that of the supematant. Colloidal particles in the supematant showed much higher specific resistance than that of microbial floc, and played the most important role in the cake resistance.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.202-208
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• 1999

The car washing effluent containing various oils and detergent was treated by ultrafiltration membranes. Dead-end type stirred cell (Amicon 8050) with 10, 30 and lOOk dalton membranes was used to determine permeation and rejection characteristics for the car washing effluent. In case of low molecular weight cut-off membranes, the effect of membrane fouling was weak under the applied pressures. However, the permeation flux for YM100 membrane(look dalton) may be affected by oil layer formation on the membrane surface as well as oil particle plugging for a part of membrane pores due to compressible and deformable oil properties. Oil and particle rejections in the permeates were over 95%, but detergent was passed easily through the membranes. Hence, the permeates containing detergent can be recycled to the system, and may reduce water pollution. Also, the car washing effluent was treated continuously by a capillary type ultrafiltration membrane of MWCO 50k dalton. The experimental data were fitted suitably to the cake filtration model.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.170-178
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• 2001

PVC microfiltration membrane was prepared by phase immersion method and applied to membrane bioreactor (MBR) contained activated sludge. The hydrophilicity of membrane and the pore size increase with the amount of additive(PVP) ducting the preparation of membrane. Permeation characteristics and the membrane fouling behavior were investigated by varying the internal environment in MBR using the prepared membranes. When there is a sludge bulking in MBR caused by microorganism, membrane fouling was accumulated. The cake layer resistance, R$_{c}$, of membrane increased in the order of CP-0 > CP-1.0 > CP-1.5. Rc increased up to 3.5~7 fold where the sludge bulking occurred in MBR. CP-1.5 seems to be appropriated membrane on the basis of the surface characteristics and the flux. The average flux of all the test membrane was 12(${\pm}$2) L/$m^2$hr whereas the COD removal efficiency was 98.8%. The ratio of bulking sludge and the type and the size of microorganism in operating MBR accelerate the membrane fouling and flux decline. It is concluded that the characteristic of membrane filtration depends on the hydrophilicity of membrane, the internal environment of MBR reactor and the growth factor of sludge.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.88-100
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• 2003

A change of filtrate flux in Taylor vortex flow filtration was investigated experimentally by rotating speed of inner cellulose ester membrane cylinder (average pore size: 1.2 ${\mu}m$), slurry concentration, and particle size. The filtrate flux was a direct proportion relation with TMP, but an inverse relation with resistances. A change of cake resistance with time was examined by rotating speed, slurry concentration, and particle size. Initial resistance increased dramatically as raising slurry concentration, and the pseudo-steady state was maintained at high resistance value. However, times to reach the pseudo-steady state did not depend on slurry concentration. The resistance was larger as smaller particle size, because possibility of pore blocking inside membrane could be higher and shear effect should be lower as smaller particle size. A model equation suggested in this study was composed of particle deposition and removal terms, and could confirm well experimental data using average values of experimental coefficients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.105-114
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• 2018

Membrane fouling in EC-MBR (Electro-Coagulation aided Membrane Bio-Reactor) processes was evaluated according to the operating parameters, such as current density and contact time. In addition, the fouling mechanism was investigated. Compared to the control (i.e., no electro-coagulation), membrane fouling for filtration of the activated sludge suspension after electro-coagulation was reduced significantly. Membrane fouling was improved further when the contact time was doubled under a low current density of $2.5A/m^2$. On the other hand, membrane fouling was not mitigated further, as expected, even though the contact time was doubled from 12 to 24 hr. at a current density of $10A/m^2$. This indicates that the overall decrease in membrane fouling is a function of the product of the current density and contact time. The particle size of the activated sludge flocs after electro-coagulation was changed slightly, which means that the membrane fouling reduction was not attributed to a larger particle size resulting from electro-coagulation. The experimental confirmed that the dynamic membrane made from aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3, and/or aluminum phosphate, Al(PO4), which had been formed during the electro-coagulation, played a key role on the reduction of membrane fouling. The dynamic membrane prevents the particles in the feed solution from deposition to the membrane pores and cake layers. Dynamic membrane formation as a result of electro-coagulation plays a critical role in the mitigation of membrane fouling in EC-MBR.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.613-619
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• 2006

The objectives of this research are to evaluate the effect of membrane materials, particulate matter and membrane pore size on permeate flux. It was shown that the removal efficiency of high MW organic matter more than 10 kDa was lower than that of low MW organic matter for $MIEX^{(R)}$ process. For the change of permeate flux by the pretreatment process, $MIEX^{(R)}+UF$ process showed high removal efficiency of organic matter as compared with coagulation+UF processes, but high reduction rate of permeate flux was presented through the reduction of removal efficiency of high MW organic matter. The pretreatment of the raw water significantly reduced the fouling of the hydrophilic membrane, but did not decrease the flux reduction of the hydrophobic membrane. Flux decline on MF process increased due to the pore clogging, while the permeate flux decline of UF process decreased due to the formation of cake layer. It was shown that particle matter was not effect on MIEX+membrane process. But, for coagulation+membrane process, particle matter was important factor on permeate flux.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.581-589
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• 2005

Recently, membrane processes have been replacing the conventional processes for waste water treatment to produce better quality of effluent and to meet more stringent regulations because of water shortage. However, using membrane processes for water treatment has confronted with fouling and difficulty in treating dissolved organic pollutants. In this study, membrane process equipped with crossflow microfiltration is combined with coagulation process using alum and PAC to improve permeability and treatment efficiency. The effects of coagulant dosage and optimum membrane operating conditions were investigated from measurement of permeate flow, cumulative volume, total resistance, particle size, dissolved organic pollutant, dissolved aluminium and quality of effluent. Characteristic of PAC coagulation was compared with that of alum coagulation. PAC coagulation reduced membrane fouling because of forming larger particle size and increased permeate velocity and cumulative volume. Less dissolved organic pollutants and dissolved aluminum made decreasing-rate of permeate velocity being lowered. At using $0.2\;{\mu}m$ membrane, cake filtration observed. At using $0.45\;{\mu}m$ membrane, there was floc breakage due to shear stress occurred born circulating operation. It made floc size smaller than membrane pore size, which subsequently to decrease permeate velocity and to increase total resistance. The optimum coagulation dosage was $300{\pm}50\;mg/L$ for both alum and PAC. PAC coagulation was more efficiently used with $0.2\;{\mu}m$ membrane, and the highest permeate flux was in using $0.45\;{\mu}m$membrane. The greatest efficiency of treatment was as follows; turbidity 99.8%, SS 99.9%, $BOD_5$ 94.4%, $COD_{Cr}$ 95.4%, T-N 54.3%, T-P 99.8%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.1046-1054
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• 2006

The raw water DOC contained 39.3% of hydrophilics, 42.9% of hydriophobic, and 17.8% of transphilic. The hydrophobic fraction in this raw water was mostly fulvic acid. Fulvic acid comprised of 62% and the rest was humic acid(38%). There was more carboxylic acid functional group(64%) than phenolic group(36%). HPI-N and HPI-C comprised of 17% and 22% in the hydrophilic portion, respectively. The fouling mechanisms on the membrane surface and into its porous structure were analyzed in terms of several kinetic models. In order to analyze the fouling kinetics, the various kinetic models described in this paper were used to fit the experimental results. The kinetic models and kinetic constants obtained for each operation condition. The permeate flux was rapidly declined by simultaneous pore blocking and cake formation. Also, the permeate flux declined with decreasing internal pore size resulted from organic deposition into the membrane pore. The results of the membrane fouling test using UF membrane according to NOM fractions. HPI-N caused more fouling than HPI-C. Humic acid caused more fouling than fulvic acid probably due to higher adsorption capacity. Since humic acid has higher adsorption capacity than fulvic acid, it would be more adsorbed onto the membrane pores.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.191-200
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• 2023

Polyethersulfone (PES) is a widely employed membrane material for water and industrial purification applications owing to its hydrophilicity and ease of phase separation. However, PES membranes and filters prepared using the nonsolvent induced phase separation method often encounter significant flux decline due to pore clogging and cake layer formation on the dense membrane surfaces. Our investigation revealed that tight microfiltration or loose ultrafiltration membranes can be subject to physical fouling due to the formation of a dense skin layer on the bottom side caused by water intrusion to the gap between the shrank membrane and the substrate. To investigate the effect of the bottom surface porosity on membrane fouling, two membranes with the same selective layers but different sub-layer structures were prepared using single and double layer casting methods, respectively. The double layered PES membrane with highly porous bottom surface showed high flux and physical fouling tolerance compared to the pristine single layer membrane. This study highlights the importance of physical optimization of the membrane structure to prevent membrane fouling.