• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2023

Sodium hydroxide solutions are often employed as sterilization agents in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, the chloride content is considered as a critical impurity. In this study, an electrochemical method was developed to remove chloride ions (Cl^-) through the oxidative deposition of AgCl on a Ag anode. The Cl^- content in the commercially available 50% w/w NaOH solution employed was approximately 100 mg Cl^-/kg NaOH. As the OH^- content is approximately 18,000 times higher than the Cl^- content, the formation of AgCl may be expected to be thermodynamically less favorable than the formation of Ag₂O. However, activation energies for AgCl and Ag₂O formation have been reported to be approximately 3.8 and 31.2 kJ/mol, respectively, and indicate that AgCl formation is favored. AgCl can be selectively produced by controlling the anode potential. Here, the Cl^- concentration was reduced to less than 50 mg Cl^-/kg NaOH when an anode potential of 0.18 or 0.19 V vs. Hg/HgO (reference electrode) was applied for one hour at 50℃. XRD analysis and visual monitoring of the Ag anode confirmed the oxidative deposition of AgCl on the anode surface as well as the electrochemical desalination of the concentrated NaOH solution.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.272-278
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• 2023

In this study, we analyzed the effects of current density and electroosmotic phenomena on the desalination performance of electrodialysis (ED). We conducted ED experiments under constant voltage conditions, changing the concentration of the concentrate solution from 10 to 200 g/L. During the ED operation, we measured the current density and charge supplied to the stack, the concentration of the diluted and concentrated solutions, and the amount of water transported by electroosmosis to analyze desalination performance. As the concentration of the concentrated solution increased, the selectivity of the ion exchange membrane decreased, resulting in a decrease in current efficiency. Moreover, the current efficiency was found to be influenced by the current density supplied. When the current density exceeded 15 mA/cm², back diffusion of ions was suppressed, leading to an increase in current efficiency. We also investigated the specific water transport by electroosmosis during the ED operation. We found that the amount of water transported increased proportionally to the concentration ratio of the concentrated and diluted solutions. When the concentration ratio exceeded 100, the specific water transport rapidly increased due to osmotic pressure, making it challenging to obtain a concentrated solution greater than 200 g/L.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2024

1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecytriethoxysilane (C₁₆H₁₉F₁₇O₃Si) be successfully applied to the hydrophobic modification of Al₂O₃ tubular ceramic membrane. Taking the concentration of modification solution, modification time, and modification temperature as factors, orthogonal experiments were designed to study the hydrophobicity of the composite membranes. The experiments showed that the modification time had the greatest impact on the experimental results, followed by the modification temperature, and the modification solution concentration had the smallest impact. Concentration of the modified solution 0.012 mol·L^-1, modification temperature 30 ℃ and modification time 24 h were considered optimal hydrophobic modification conditions. And the pure water flux reached 274.80 kg·m^-2·h^-1 at 0.1MPa before hydrophobic modification, whereas the modified membrane completely blocked liquid water permeation at pressures less than 0.1MPa. Air gap membrane distillation experiments were conducted for NaCl (2wt%) solution, and the maximum flux reached 4.20 kg·m^-2·h^-1, while the retention rate remained above 99.8%. Given the scarcity of freshwater resources in coastal areas, the article proposed a system for seawater desalination using air conditioning waste heat, and conducted preliminary research on its freshwater production performance using Aspen Plus. Finally, the proposed system achieved a freshwater production capacity of 0.61 kg·m^-2·h^-1.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2014

In this study, capacitive deionization (CDI) was introduced for desalination of mining water. Ion-exchange polymer coated carbon electrodes (IEE) were used in CDI to desalt mining water. The CDI performance using the IEE for desalination of mining water was carried out and then was compared with that using general carbon electrodes without ion-exchange polymer coating (GE). Moreover, to investigate the effect of the concentration of influent solutions on CDI performance, the CDI performance using the IEE for desalination of brackish water (NaCl 200 ppm) was also performed and analyzed. As a result, the higher salt removal efficiency, rate and the lower energy consumption in the CDI process using the IEE and mining water were obtained compared with those using the GE and mining water. It is mainly due to higher non-Faradaic current, low ohmic resistance of the influent, overlapping effect of electric double layers in micropore of the electrode. In addition, the CDI process using the IEE and brackish water shows much higher salt removal efficiency and lower salt removal rate than that using the IEE and mining water. This results from the lower concentration (i.e., higher ohmic resistance) and salt amount of the influent.

• 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.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2018

This study is to find the optimum draw solution in fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis desalination. Considering osmotic pressure, solubility, and pH, 20 blended fertilizers were screened. Their performance were evaluated in terms of pure water permeate flux, reverse solute flux, and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The pure water permeate flux of blended fertilizers including KCl were relatively higher. The reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen of blended fertilizers containing ${NO_3}^-$ ion were relatively higher than those of the nitrate ion-free draw solution. Those for phosphorus, and potassium of blended fertilizers including $NH_4H_2PO_4$, and $KNO_3$ were relatively higher than those of the phosphorus-free, and potassium-free draw solution, respectively. The blended fertilizer of $NH_4H_2PO_4$ and KCl contains all of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium which are essential elements of fertilizer, and has the relatively high water permeation flux and the low reverse solute flux for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Therefore, it is the most effective draw solution for fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis desalination.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.273-280
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• 2016

Pressure assisted forward osmosis (PAFO) is recently introduced because of its improved process efficiency to overcome drawbacks of forward osmosis (FO) such as low water flux and reverse solute diffusion. However, it is known that membrane fouling becomes deteriorated by additional hydraulic pressure applied in PAFO compared to FO. This study was performed to investigate possibility of intermittent pressure-assisted forward osmosis (I-PAFO) operation for fouling mitigation using colloidal silica particles as model foulants. FO, PAFO were operated as well to compare with. Two different solution pH conditions (pH 3, 10) were applied to see the effect of electrostatic interactions between the membrane and silica particles on fouling tendency. In the results, higher water flux was observed during pressurization and pressure relaxation periods in I-PAFO than water flux of PAFO, and FO on both pH conditions. Water flux decreased less in I-PAFO than PAFO after fouling. It resulted in higher water flux recovery in I-PAFO than PAFO after physical cleaning.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.182-190
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• 2017

All liquids contain a small amount of gaseous components and the amount of gases dissolved in a liquid is in accordance with Henry's Law. In a multi-stage thermal-type seawater desalination plant, as the supplied seawater undergoes variations in temperature and pressure in each evaporator, the gases dissolved in the seawater are discharged from the liquid. The discharged gases are carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen, and argon, and these emitted gases are non-condensable. From the viewpoint of convective heat transfer, the evaluation of non-condensable gas released during a vacuum evaporation process is a very important design factor because the non-condensable gases degrade the performance of the cooler. Furthermore, in a thermal-type seawater desalination plant, most evaporators operate under vacuum, which maintained through vacuum system such as a steam ejector or a vacuum pump. Therefore, for the proper design of a vacuum system, estimating the non-condensable gases released from seawater is highly crucial. In the study, non-condensable gases released in a thermal-type seawater desalination plant were calculated quantitatively. The calculation results showed that the NCG releasing rate decreased as the stage comes getting a downstream and it was proportional to the freshwater production rate.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.441-450
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• 2011

This study investigated potential damages and conservation methods for the ceramics (without glaze) by examination of physical and chemical effects from the burial environments. For this study, pottery samples excavated from Daejeon Hakha, Asan Eumbong, Hwasung Sogeunsan and Kongju Haengbokdosi were examined with released ions and extraction through desalination. The result showed that the ion inflow into the ceramics was dependent upon the porosity and the absorption of ceramics. The high temperature fired ceramics (over $1,000^{\circ}C$) have low porosity and absorption, therefore almost no salt infiltration during the burial period. However, low temperature fired ceramics (under $800^{\circ}C$) have high porosity and absorption, and most of salts were removed during the desalination. The 40 to 60% of salts were removed in two days and 60 to 80% of slats were released in a week. Furthermore, fertilizer residues such as $K_2SO_4$, in soils were detected in the ceramcis. Also the characteristics of buried soil affected ion infiltration into ceramics. Ceramics buried in sandy soil had relatively less ion contents from buried environments than those in clayey soil. Therefore, low temperature fired ceramics could do not only cleaning but also desalination if it is necessary, and the period could be decided to the condition of ceramics.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.762-766
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• 2017

Energy recovery device (ERD) is used to save energy consumption in seawater reverse osmosis processes. However, small-scale ERDs (<$100m^3/d$) are hardly observed in seawater desalination market. In South Korea, most of seawater desalination plants for drinking water production are small-scaled and have been operated in island areas or on ships. Thus, the effect of ERDs for these small-scale SWRO processes should not be neglected. In this work, the small-scale SWRO processes are designed and analyzed in terms of energy consumption with/without ERD. The realistic efficiencies of high pressure pumps are considered for the energy analyses. The unit cost of electricity depending on the application place (e.g., inland and island areas, on ships) is investigated to calculate the energy cost for unit water production in various SWRO applications classified by plant capacity, application place, and the installation of ERD. As a result, the energy cost can be saved up to $1,640.4KRW/m^3$ when ERD is applied, and the saving effect increases at smaller plants on ships. In conclusion, the development of small-scale ERDs are necessary because small-scale SWRO processes are dominant in Korean seawater desalination market, and the electricity saving effect becomes higher at smaller-scaled system.