• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2015

The application of coagulation for feed water pretreatment prior to microfiltration (MF) process has been widely adopted to alleviate fouling due to particles and organic matters in feed water. However, the efficiency of coagulation pretreatment for MF is sensitive to its operation conditions such as pH and coagulant dose. Moreover, the optimum coagulation condition for MF process is different from that for rapid sand filtration in conventional drinking water treatment. In this study, the use of response surface methodology (RSM) was attempted to determine coagulation conditions optimized for pretreatment of MF. The center-united experimental design was used to quantify the effects of coagulant dose and pH on the control of fouling control as well as the removal organic matters. A MF membrane (SDI Samsung, Korea) made of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was used for the filtration experiments. Poly aluminum chloride (PAC) was used as the coagulant and a series of jar tests were conducted under various conditions. The flux was $90L/m^2-h$ and the fouling rate were calculated in each condition. As a result of this study, an empirical model was derived to explore the optimized conditions for coagulant dose and pH for minimization of the fouling rate. This model also allowed the prediction of the efficiency of the coagulation efficiency. The experimental results were in good agreement with the predictions, suggesting that RSM has potential as a practical method for modeling the coagulation pretreatment for MF.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.51-59
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• 2003

In this study, the efficiency of M/F(micro filtration) system was investigated about the wastewater generated from the production process of ${\beta}-glucan$. M/F membrane used the pellicon 2 cassette filter module of millipore(USA) for the operation of M/F plant system. Flux was rised as operation pressure increased, and decreased with the operation time. As concentration ratio increased, the recovery of ${\beta}-glucan$, which was remaind in retentate was effective. As the fermentation solution of ${\beta}-glucan$ reused, the conversion ratio was 42.5%, and the status of fermentation was stable. Based on these results, we suggested that permeate was applicable as water reuse in cleaner production technology.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.656-661
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• 2011

The performance of a domestic ceramic membrane with pore size of $0.1{\mu}m$ was evaluated to produce drinking water. A pilot-scale ceramic membrane filtration plant with a capacity of $1m^3/d$ was operated at the filtration flux of $3.0m^3/m^2{\cdot}d$ to investigate the effect of both backwash interval and pre-ozonation on TMP (trans-membrane pressure) increasing rate. The TMP increased with increasing the backwash interval. However, the application of pre-ozonation reduced the TMP increasing rate remarkably. When 1 mg/L of ozone was dosed with contact time of 5 min, TMP increasing rate at the backwash interval of 1 hr was reduced by 30%. This result indicated that pre-ozonation was very effective in reducing membrane fouling. There was almost no change in TMP increasing rate when the ozone contact time was maintained in the range of 5 to 15 min. Increasing ozone concentration up to 3 mg/L showed beneficial effect on TMP increasing rate.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-37
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• 2011

PES UF membranes containing silver were prepared to impart antibacterial properties for waste water treatment. Asymmetric membranes for antibacterial application were prepared from polyethersulfone (PES) and silver nitrate ($AgNO_3$) (PES/$AgNO_3$=15/2 by weight) solution in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) via simple wet phase inversion technique. These membranes were characterized by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different molecular weights (1000 ppm in water) at room temperature and on operating pressure of 5 bars. It was observed that the water flux of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane is slightly lower than virgin PES but still increased linearly with the increment of pressure applied. The morphology of the resulting membranes was examined using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Elemental analysis using EDS proved that silver is successfully loaded on the membrane surfaces. Due to the success of loading silver on membrane surfaces, antibacterial activities were evaluated via agar diffusion method against Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) culture. By incorporating 2 wt% of silver nitrate, PES-$AgNO_3$ showed significant inhibition ring on both E.coli and S.aureus. Filtration of E.coli solution (OD 0.31) showed satisfactory rejection data with ~100% inhibition growth after 24 hours incubation at $37^{\circ}C$. Resultant membranes also exhibit better tensile strength (compared to virgin PES) up to 71% may be due to the suggested interactions. The residual silver during fabrication was measured using ICP-MS and result showed that the residual silver content of PES-$AgNO_3$ membrane was only ~1% of the original silver added in the polymer solution. These studies have shown that PES-$AgNO_3$ UF membranes are potential in improving the filtration in water treatment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.51-71
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• 2017

Antimicrobial polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes containing zerovalent iron ($Fe^0$) and magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) nanoparticles were synthesized via phase inversion method using polyethersulfone (PES) as membrane material and nano-iron as nanoparticle materials. Zerovalent iron nanoparticles (nZVI) were prepared by the reduction of iron ions with borohydride applying an inert atmosphere by using $N_2$ gases. The magnetite nanoparticles (nMag) were prepared via co-precipitation method by adding a base to an aqueous mixture of $Fe^{3+}$ and $Fe^{2+}$ salts. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and dynamic light scattering analysis. Moreover, the properties of the synthesized membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The PES membranes containing the nZVI or nMag were examined for antimicrobial characteristics. Moreover, amount of iron run away from the PES composite membranes during the dead-end filtration were tested. The results showed that the permeation flux of the composite membranes was higher than the pristine PES membrane. The membranes containing nano-iron showed good antibacterial activity against gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli). The composite membranes can be successfully used for the domestic wastewater filtration to reduce membrane biofouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

After membrane fouling factors in acrylic wastewater were minimized by pretreatment process accompanied with coagulation-filtration-neutralization, it was utilized in UF/RO process. After composing of ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis module set according to types and kinds of membrane, the separation characteristics were examined with the variation temperature and pressure using pretreated acrylic wastewater by membrane module sets. It was found that permeate flux of UF module in module set 4 was about two${\sim}$three times larger than that of UF module in module set 1. Final quantity of permeate from the module set 2 and module set 3 combined with tubular module was shown very good result. It was shown that the removal efficiency of TDS, T-N and COD was very low and was not dependent on the variation of temperature and pressure in all UF modules. The removal efficiency of TDS, T-N and COD was very excellent in RO module. Final water quality of acrylic wastewater was satisfied with effluent allowances limit and membrane module sets were ascertained to reuse wastewater.

• 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

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.681-689
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• 2011

Submerged membrane bio-reactor (SMBR) has several advantages such as high MLSS, long SRT, and low F/M ratio at wastewater treatment. So, this has widely applied over the world and many studies have been conducted. However, membrane fouling remains an inevitable problem. This study was investigated using bench-scale SMBR with three poeration modes. Raw waters were prepared by addition of starch, acetic and fibric acid to recovery water of zeolite. The efficiency of nitrification and COD were very stable as about 95% and 80%, respectively. And critical flux was 128.8L/$m^{2}$/hr. The result of biodegradability test was following values at the each mode : Ss+Xs/$C_{T}$=81.7%, 35.1% and 45.3%, $X_{I}+S_{I}/C_{T}=18.3%$, 64.9% and 54.7%. When particulate matters such as $X_{I}$ and $X_{S}$ in influent are increased, membrane fouling will take place more and more. A relative ratio of filtration resistance to the fouling occurred by the cake layer was increased when increased the portion of $X_{I}$ and polysaccharide. It was thought that the formation of cake layer was promoted due to bond between $X_{I}$ and vicid material s generated from the polysaccharide.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.297-316
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• 2010

Membrane fouling is one of the major operational concerns of membrane processes which results in loss of productivity. This paper investigates the ultrafiltration (UF) results of synthetic oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion using flat sheets of polysulfone (PSf) membrane synthesized with four different compositions. The aim is to identify the mechanisms responsible for the observed permeate flux reduction with time for different PSf membranes. The experiments were carried out at four transmembrane pressures i.e., 68.9 kPa, 103.4 kPa, 137.9 kPa and 172.4 kPa. Three initial oil concentrations i.e., 75 $mgL^{-1}$, 100 $mgL^{-1}$ and 200 $mgL^{-1}$ were considered. The resistance-in-series (RIS) model was applied to interpret the data and on that basis, the individual resistances were evaluated. The significances of these resistances were studied in relation to parameters, namely, transmembrane pressure and initial oil concentration. The total resistance to permeate flow is found to increase with increase in both transmembrane pressure and initial oil concentration while for higher oil concentration, resistance due to concentration polarization is found to be the prevailing resistance. The applicability of the constant pressure filtration models to the experimental data was also tested to explain the blocking process. The study shows that intermediate pore blocking is the dominant mechanism at the initial period of UF while in the later period, the fouling process is found to approach cake filtration like mechanism. However, the duration of pore blocking mechanism is different for different membranes depending on their morphological and permeation properties.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.371-380
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• 2013

Though MBR process has many advantages, the greatest risk factors in operating MBR process are occurrence of membrane fouling and decrease of flux. It is very difficult to find exact mechanism due to complex influence by many effects, although there have been recently many studies of membrane fouling. The purposes of this study are firstly evaluating bioreactor of lab-scale and micro-filtration hollow fiber membrane, secondly investigating correlation between foulants affecting membrane performance and membrane fouling, and lastly evaluating various parameters affecting fouling and applicability of membrane fouling reducer. This study found that TMP was increasing rapidly and showed 0.32 bar and the average of flux was 88 LMH. EPS concentration tends not to change much above MLSS concentration (6,000 mg/L). However, EPS concentration variation is wide below MLSS concentration (6,000 mg/L). Also, from results of membrane surface condition and element analysis using SEM/EDX, carbon and fluorine were founded to be the highest percentage in membrane because of characteristics of membrane material. In operating continuously, inorganic fouling was generated by increase of these inorganic substances such as $Al^{3+}$ and $Mg^{2+}$. Lastly, the best filtration performance was obtained for 0.03 mg MFR/mg MLSS by results of particle size, zeta potential, $SCOD_{cr}$, EPS and MLSS concentration.