• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.399-405
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• 2011

In a desalination technology using RO membranes, chemical cleaning makes damage for membrane surface and membrane life be shortened. In this research cleaning technology using direct osmosis (DO) was introduced to apply it under the condition of high pH and high concentration of feed. When the high concentration of feed is injected to the concentrate side after release of operating pressure, then backward flow occurred from treated water toward concentrated for osmotic pressure. This flow reduces fouling on the membrane surface. Namely, flux of DO was monitored under pH 3, 5, 10 and 12 conditions at feed concentrations of NaCl 40,000 mg/L, 120,000 mg/L and 160,000 mg/L. As a result, DO flux in pH 12 increased about 21% than pH 3. DO cleaning was performed under the concentrate NaCl 160,000 mg/L of pH 12 during 20 minutes. Three kinds of synthetic feed water were used as concentrates. They consisted of organic, inorganic and seawater; chemicals of SiO2 (200 mg/L), humic acid (50 mg/L) sodium alginate (50 mg/L) and seawater. As a result, fluxes were recovered to 17% in organic fouling, 15% in inorganic fouling and 14% of seawater fouling after cleaning using DO under the condition of concentrate NaCl 160,000 mg/L of pH 12.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.46-54
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• 2011

In this study, combined effect of airflow rate, $TiO_2$ concentration, solution pH and $Ca^{+2}$ addition on HA (humic acid) fouling in submerged, photocatalytic hollow-fiber microfiltraiton was investigated systematically. Results showed that UV irradiation alone without $TiO_2$ nanoparticles could reduce HA fouling by 40% higher than the fouling obtained without UV irradiation. Compared to the HA fouling without UV irradiation and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles, the HA fouling reduction was about 25% higher only after the addition of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. Both adsorptive and hydrophilic properties of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles for the HA can be involved in mitigating membrane fouling. It was also found that the aeration itself had lowest effect on fouling mitigation while the HA fouling was affected significantly by solution pH. Transient behavior of zeta potential at different solution pHs suggested that electrostatic interactions between HA and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles should improve photocatalytic efficiency on HA fouling. $TiO_2$ concentration was observed to be more important factor than airflow rate to reduce HA fouling, implying that surface reactivity on $TiO_2$ naoparticles should be important fouling mitigation mechanisms in submerged, photocatalyic microfiltraiton. This was further supported by investigating the effect of $Ca^{+2}$ addition on fouling mitigation. At higher pH (= 10), addition of $Ca^{+2}$ can play an important role in bridging between HA and $TiO_2$ nanoparticles and increasing surface reactivity on nanoparticles, thereby reducing membrane fouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2013

The effect of humic acid (HA), and the roles of microfiltration (MF), PES (polyethersulfone) beads adsorption, and photo-oxidation were investigated in hybrid process of ceramic MF and PES beads loaded with titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) photocatalyst for advanced drinking water treatment. Those were compared and studied in viewpoints of membrane fouling resistance ($R_f$), permeate flux (J), and total permeate volume ($V_T$). Because membrane fouling increased dramatically as decreasing HA, $R_f$ increased and J decreased, and finally $V_T$ was the highest at 2 mg/L HA. In the experiment to investigate the roles of photo-oxidation and adsorption at humic acid 4 mg/L and 6 mg/L. In both conditions, $R_f$ was the lowest and $V_T$ was the highest in MF + $TiO_2$ + UV process. The average treatment efficiencies of turbidity and dissolved organic matters were the highest in MF + $TiO_2$ + UV process, too.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.244-253
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• 2007

This research investigated the effect of a photocatalytic reaction on nanofiltration(NF) membrane fouling by natural organic matter(NOM). The photocatalytic degradation was very effective for destruction and transformation of NOM and was carried out by titanium dioxide($TiO_2$) and $TiO_2$-immobilized bead as a photocatalyst. In order to compare their phtocatalytic properties, the photocatalytic degradation of humic acid in the presence of calcium ion was used as a model reaction. After the photocatalytic degradation the membrane fouling was dramatically decreased.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.363-371
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• 2013

In this study, effect of activated carbon size on flux and fouling of membrane was investigated on activated carbon and membrane hybrid system. The activated carbon was prepared with crushing and screening. The activated carbon was named by A100, B100, A200, B200, A325 and B325 due to size of activated carbon. The permeability for A100, B100, A200 and B200 showed no significant difference. However, the permeability for A325 and B325 was decreased rapidly and was lowed due to increase the concentration of NOM. Main resistance for A100, B100, A200 and B200 was identified as irreversible fouling. However main resistance for A325 and B325 was identified as reversible fouling. The smaller activated carbon adsorbs NOM faster than bigger particles, which can show high permeability at early stage of the operation and then showed faster decrease of permeability at end of the operation.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2019

The roles of polypropylene (PP) beads and pH on membrane fouling and treatment efficiency were investigated in a hybrid advanced water treatment process of tubular carbon fiber membranes (ultrafiltration (UF) or microfiltration (MF)) and PP beads. The synthetic feed including humic acid and kaolin flowed inside the membrane, and the permeated contacted the PP beads fluidized in the space between the membrane and the module with UV irradiation and periodic water back-flushing. In the hybrid process of UF ($0.05{\mu}m$) and PP beads, final resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$) after 180 min increased as PP beads increased. The turbidity treatment efficiency was the maximum at 30 g/L; however, that of dissolved organic matters (DOM) showed the highest at PP beads 50 g/L. The $R_f$ strengthened as pH of feed increased. It means that the membrane fouling could be inhibited at low alkali condition. The treatment efficiency of turbidity was almost constant independent of pH; however, that of DOM showed the maximum at pH 5. For MF ($0.1{\mu}m$), the final $R_f$ was the minimum at PP beads 40 g/L. The treatment efficiencies of turbidity and DOM were the maximum at PP beads 10 g/L.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.425-436
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• 2021

In this study, chemically enhanced steam cleaning(CESC) was applied as a novel and efficient method for the control of organic and inorganic fouling in ceramic membrane filtration. The constant filtration regression model and the resistance in series model(RISM) were used to investigate the membrane fouling mechanisms. For total filtration, the coefficient of determination(R²) with an approximate value of 1 was obtained in the intermediate blocking model which is considered as the dominant contamination mechanism. In addition, most of the coefficient values showed similar values and this means that the complex fouling was formed during the filtration period. In the RISM, R _c/R _f increased about 4.37 times in chemically enhanced steam cleaning compared to physical backwashing, which implies that the internal fouling resistance was converted to cake layer resistance, so that the membrane fouling hardly to be removed by physical backwashing could be efficiently removed by chemically enhanced steam cleaning. The results of flux recovery rate showed that high-temperature steam may loosen the structure of the membrane cake layer due to the increase in diffusivity and solubility of chemicals and finally enhance the cleaning effect. As a consequence, it is expected that chemically enhanced steam cleaning can drastically improve the efficiency of membrane filtration process when the characteristics of the foulant are identified.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2016

Using UF-SWRO hybrid process, pre-blending tests of seawater and brackish water were performed to investigate the effects on removal of boron and humic acid (HA). Feedwater pre-blending was set based on TDS concentration from 15,000 mg/L to 27,000 mg/L and analyzed for boron removal characteristics. Also organics rejection at same TDS concentration range was investigated by injecting HA. Boron concentration appeared to be high as TDS concentration was high ranging from 76.60% to 83.27%, but boron concentration in final produced water was increased up to 0.69 mg/L from 0.48 mg/L. In cases of HA tests at 10 mg/L, 22,500 mg/L TDS appeared to be higher removal rate of 17.59% than a very poor result of 8.43% in 27,000 mg/L. But high HA removal rate of 57.14% was obtained in produced water with 22,500 mg/L TDS containing 10 mg/L of HA and 27,000 mg/L TDS yielded lower boron removal rate of 54.49%. Meanwhile it was found that a relatively high flux and recovery rate were obtained following process when feedwater was injected with HA. It is considered that most of fouling substances were eliminated by binding between HA and $Ca^{2+}$. Thus, when desalination using UF-SWRO with respect to boron and HA, TDS concentration is determined to be advantageous as lower.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.65-74
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• 2008

NOM and fine particles are the main target materials in water treatment using membranes. Particularly, humic substances extracted from soils are frequently used in many fundamental studies representing natural organic matter in raw water for drinking water treatment. In this study, ultrafiltration (UF) of artificial humic water and natural river water was conducted and the characteristics of removal efficiency and permeability were compared. In the UF of river water, the transmembrane pressure increased in the same pattern with that of 5 mg/L humic water. For the removal of organic matter and fine particles, however, two types of feed water had shown different trends. Kaolin particles and humic acids added to artificial water were better removed, while colloids and organics in natural water were relatively poorly removed. From the $UV_{254}$ and GPC analyses, it seemed that the hydrophobicity and size of humic substances contributed to the greater removal of organic matter. The UF membrane applied for humic water also showed a higher flux recovery by caustic chemical cleaning than that for river water.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.143-156
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• 2018

In this review article, hybrid water/wastewater treatment processes of membrane and photocatalyst were summarized from papers published in various journals. It included (1) membrane photoreactor (MPR), (2) fouling control of a membrane coupled photocatalytic process, (3) photocatalytic membrane reactors for degradation of organic pollutants, (4) integration of photocatalysis with membrane processes for purification of water, (5) hybrid photocatalysis and ceramic membrane filtration process for humic acid degradation, (6) effect of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles on fouling mitigation of ultrafiltration membranes for activated sludge filtration, (7) hybrid photocatalysis/submerged microfiltration membrane system for drinking water treatment, (8) purification of bilge water by hybrid ultrafiltration and photocatalytic processes, and (9) Hybrid water treatment process of membrane and photocatalyst-coated polypropylene bead.