• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.253-266
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• 2012

In this work, the effect of hybrid salts precipitation-nanofiltration (SP-NF) process on the scale deposits in thermal and membrane desalination processes has been studied. The analysis was carried out to study the scale formation from the Arabian Gulf seawater in MSF and RO reference processes by changing the percentage of pretreatment from 0 to 100%. Four different SP-NF configurations were suggested. A targeted Top Brine Temperature (TBT) of $130^{\circ}C$ may be achieved if 30% portion is pretreated by SP and/or NF processes. As a rule of thumb, each 1% pretreatment portion increases the reference TBT of $115^{\circ}C$ by $0.6^{\circ}C$. For both MSF and RO, parallel pretreatment of certain percentage of the feed by SP and the rest by NF, showed the lowest scale values. The case showed the best values for sulfate scale prevention and the highest values of increasing the monovalent ions relative to the divalent scale forming ions. Sulfate scale is significant in MSF process while carbonate scale is significant in RO. Salt precipitation was suggested because it is less costly than nanofiltration, but nanofiltration was used here because it is efficient in sulfate ions removal.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.279-292
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• 2017

This study was aimed at ultrafiltration (UF) as a pretreatment before reverse osmosis (RO) within the scheme of hybrid reverse osmosis-multistage flush (RO-MSF) desalination. Seawater at elevated temperature (after MSF heat-exchangers) was used as a feed in this process. The pretreatment system was represented as a set of functionally-linked technological segments such as: UF filtration, backwashing, chemical- enhanced backwashing, cleaning, waste disposal, etc. The process represents the sequences of operating cycles. The cycle, in turn, consists of the following unit operations: filtration, backwashing and chemical-enhanced backwashing (CEB). Quantitative assessment was based on the following indicators: normalized permeability, transmembrane pressure, specific energy and water consumption, specific waste generation. UF pre-treatment is accompanied by the following waste streams: $W1=1.19{\times}10$ power of $-2m^3$ (disposed NaOCl with 0.0044% wt.)/$m^3$ (filtrate); $W2=5.95{\times}10$ power of $-3m^3$ (disposed $H_2SO_4$ with 0.052% wt.)/$m^3$(filtrate); $W3=7.26{\times}10$ power of $-2m^3$ (disposed sea water)/$m^3$ (filtrate). Specific energy consumption is $1.11{\times}10$ power of $-1kWh/m^3$ (filtrate). The indicators evaluated over the cycles with conventional (non-chemical) backwashing were compared with the cycles accompanied by CEB. A positive impact of CEB on performance indicators was demonstrated namely: normalized UF resistance remains unchanged within the regime accompanied by CEB, whereas the lack of CEB results in 30% of its growth. Those quantitative indicators can be incorporated into the target function for solving different optimization problems. They can be used in the software for optimisation of operating regimes or in the synthesis of optimal flow- diagram. The cycle characteristics, process parameters and water quality data are attached.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.69-73
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• 2013

This study is about the secondary concentration technology using electrodialysis process for minimum discharge and maximize recovery ratio from seawater desalination by reverse osmosis process. The experimental method adopted the constant voltage driving method and, concentrated/desalination volume capacity ratio changes, voltage changes and electrolyte types. Multi-ion membrane is used, aiming to derive conditions to minimize the TDS concentration of desalination water, to minimize the volumes of secnodary concentraion water and minimizing the power efficiency. The results of this study are as follows. The optimal ratio of concentraion/desalination volume is 1:5, the final TDS concentration of desalinated water is 5.32g/l, the final secnodary concentrated water salinity is 17.07% and electric energy demands of desalinated water is $16.74kWh/m^3$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.771-778
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• 2013

Gas hydrate (GH) process is a new desalination technology, where GH is a non- stoichiometric crystalline inclusion compounds formed by water and a number of gas molecules. Seawater GH is produced in a low temperature and a high pressure condition and they are separated from the concentrated seawater. The drawback of the GH process so far is that salt contents contained in its product does not meet the fresh water quality standard. This means that the GH process is not a standalone process for seawater desalination and it needs the help of other desalting process like reverse osmosis (RO). The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of GH process on energy saving for RO process in seawater desalination. The GH product water quality data, which were obtained from a literature, were used as input data for RO process simulation. The simulation results show that the energy saving effect by the GH process is in a range of 68 % to 81 %, which increases as the salt removal efficiency of the GH process increases. Boron (B) and total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations of the final product of the hybrid process of GH and RO were also investigated through the RO process simulation to find relavant salt rejection efficiency of the GH process. In conclusion, the salt rejection efficiency of the GH process should exceed at least 78% in order to meet the product water quality standards and to increase the energy saving effect.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2011

The deficiency of clean water is a major global concern because all the living creatures rely on the drinkable water for survival. On top of this, abundant of clean water supply is also necessary for household, metropolitan inhabitants, industry, and agriculture. Among many purification processes, advances in low-energy membrane separation technology appear to be the most effective solution for water crisis because membranes have been widely recognized as one of the most direct and feasible approaches for clean water production. The aim of this article is to give an overview of (1) two new emerging membrane technologies for water reuse and desalination by forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD), and (2) the molecular engineering and development of highly permeable hollow fiber membranes, with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polybenzimidazole (PBI) as the main focuses for the aforementioned applications in National University of Singapore (NUS). This article presents the main results of membrane module design, separation performance, membrane characteristics, chemical modification and spinning conditions to produce novel hollow fiber membranes for FO and MD applications. As two potential solutions, MD and FO may be synergistically combined to form a hybrid system as a sustainable alternative technology for fresh water production.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.131-137
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• 2016

The development of alternative water resources has emerged as an effective method for solving drought of water resources due to extreme weather and increase in water consumption. Recently, in Korea, there has been active research on reverse osmosis desalination technology, wastewater reuse using forward osmosis membranes, and the forward osmosis(FO)-reverse osmosis(RO) hybrid process combining these two technologies. In this study, the basic performance of FO membranes manufactured by three domestic and international manufactures such as Microfilter Co., Ltd., Toray Chemical Korea Inc., and Hydration Technologies Inc., were investigated for wastewater reuse. In addition, as an experiment to select feed solution, the selected membranes were operated 48 consecutive hours using three secondary effluents pretreated by the UF membrane with a pore size of $0.1{\mu}m$ and auto strainer with pore sizes of $1{\mu}m$ and $100{\mu}m$ as feed solution. Although there was not much difference in the operating performance. Thus, the treated water using the $100{\mu}m$ auto strainer was selected as feed solution applied to the assessment.

• 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 and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.193-206
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• 2010

Organic fouling and biofouling pose a significant challenge to the membrane filtration process. Photocatalysis-membrane hybrid system is a novel idea for reducing these membranes fouling however, when $TiO_2 photocatalyst nanoparticles are used in suspension, catalyst recovery is not only imposes an extra step on the process but also significantly contributes to increased membrane resistance and reduced permeate flux. In this study, $TiO_2$ photocatalyst has been immobilized by coating on the microfiltration (MF) membrane surface to minimize organic and microbial fouling. Nano-sized $TiO_2$ was first synthesized by a sol-gel method. The synthesized $TiO_2$ was coated on a Poly Vinyl Difluoride (PVDF) membrane (MF) surface using spray coating and dip coating techniques to obtain hybrid functional composite membrane. The characteristics of the synthesized photocatalyst and a functional composite membrane were studied using numerous instruments in terms of physical, chemical and electrical properties. In comparison to the clean PVDF membrane, the $TiO_2$ coated MF membrane was found more effective in removing methylene blue (20%) and E-coli (99%).

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.221-231
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• 2018

A new procedure to produce poly(vinylidene fluoride)/boron nitride hybrid membrane is presented for application in membrane distillation (MD) process. The influence of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) incorporation on the performance of the polymeric membranes is studied through the present investigation. For this aim, h-BN nanopowders were successfully synthesized using the simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) route and subsequent solvent treatments. The resulting h-BN nanosheets were blended with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) solution. Then, the prepared composite solution was subjected to phase inversion process to obtain PVDF/h-BN hybrid membranes. Various examinations such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), wettability, permeation flux, mechanical strength and liquid entry pressure (LEP) measurements are performed to evaluate the prepared membrane. Moreover, Air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) experiments were carried out to investigate the salt rejection performance and the durability of membranes. The results show that our hybrid PVDF/h-BN membrane presents higher water permeation flux (${\sim}18kg/m^2h$) compared to pristine PVDF membrane. In addition, the experimental data confirms that the prepared nanocomposite membrane is hydrophobic (water contact angle: ${\sim}103^{\circ}$), has a porous skin layer (>85%), as well competitive fouling resistance and operational durability. Furthermore, the total salt rejection efficiency was obtained for PVDF/h-BN membrane. The results prove that the novel PVDF/h-BN membrane can be easily synthesized and applied in MD process for salt rejection purposes.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Pressure retarded osmosis(PRO) has attracted much attention as potential technology to reduce the overall energy consumption for reverse osmosis(RO) desalination. The RO/PRO hybrid process is considered as the most logical next step for future desalination. The PRO process aims to harness the osmotic energy difference of two aqueous solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane. By using the concentrated water(RO brine) discharged from existing RO plants, the PRO process can effectively exploit a greater salinity gradient to reduce the energy cost of processing concentrated water. However, in order to use RO brine as the draw solution, PRO membrane must have high water flux and enough mechanical strength to withstand the high operational pressure. This study investigates the development of a thin film composite PRO membrane and spiral wound module for high power density. Also, the influence of membrane backing layer on the overall power density was studied using the characteristic factors of PRO membranes. Finally, the performance test of an 8-inch spiral wound module was carried out under various operating conditions(i.e. hydraulic pressure, flow rate, temperature). As the flow rate and temperature increased under the same hydraulic pressure, the PRO performance increased due to the growth of water permeability coefficient and osmotic pressure. For a high performance PRO system, in order to optimize the operating conditions, it is highly recommended that the flow pressure be minimized while the flow rate is maintained at a high level.