• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.349-357
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• 2007

Reports of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs), and personal care products (PCPs) have raised substantial concern in important potable drinking water quality issues. Our study investigates the removal of EDCs, PhACs, and PCPs of 10 compounds having different physico-chemical properties (e.g., molecular weight, and octanol-water partition coefficient ($K_{OW}$)) by nanofiltration (NF) membranes. The rejection of micropollutants by NF membranes ranged from 93.9% to 99.9% depending on solute characteristics. A batch adsorption experiments indicated that adsorption is an important mechanism for transport/removal of relatively hydrophobic compounds, and is related to the octanol-water partition coefficient values. The transport phenomenon associated with adsorption may also depend on solution water chemistry such as pH and ionic strength influencing the pKa value of compounds. In addition, it was visually seen that the retention was somewhat higher for the larger compounds based on their molecular weight. These results suggest that the NF membrane retains many organic compounds due to both hydrophobic adsorption and size exclusion mechanisms.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.202-205
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• 2001

The EF-18 agar/hydrophobic grid membrane filter (EF18/HGMF) method was evaluated for the isolation of Salmonella in naturally contaminated chicken carcasses, chicken parts (legs, wings and giblets) and processed chicken products (sausages and hamburgers). Percentages of false positive results for Salmonella (colonies with a similar morphology to those of Salmonella) were 78.75, 81.67 and 80% for carcasses, chicken parts and processed chicken products, respectively. The bacterial isolates that caused false positive reactions using this method were identified as Proteus mirabilis (70.85%), Citrobacter freundii (15.25%), Klebsiella ozaenae (5.83%), Hafnia alvei (4.48%), Escherichia coli (2.69%) and Enterobacter aerogenes (0.90%). The data obtained in this study suggest that the EF-18/HGMF method is not sufficiently selective or specific far isolating Salmonella from meat and chicken products.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2024

The flow in a nanopore of filtration membrane is often multiscale and consists of both the adsorbed layer flow and the intermediate continuum fluid flow. There is a controversy on which interface the slippage should occur in the nanopore filtration: On the adsorbed layer-pore wall interface or on the adsorbed layer-continuum fluid interface? What is the difference between these two slippage effects? We address these subjects in the present study by using the multiscale flow equations incorporating the slippage on different interfaces. Based on the limiting shear strength model for the slippage, it was found from the calculation results that for the hydrophobic pore wall the slippage surely occurs on the adsorbed layer-pore wall interface, however for the hydrophilic pore wall, the slippage can occur on either of the two interfaces, dependent on the competition between the interfacial shear strength on the adsorbed layer-pore wall interface and that on the adsorbed layer-continuum fluid interface. Since the slippage on the adsorbed layer-pore wall interface can be designed while that on the adsorbed layer-continuum fluid interface can not, the former slippage can result in the flux through the nanopore much higher than the latter slippage by designing a highly hydrophobic pore wall surface. The obtained results are of significant interest to the design and application of the interfacial slippage in nanoporous filtration membranes for both improving the flux and conserving the energy cost.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.1763-1770
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• 2013

A series of the block copolymers were successfully synthesized from post-sulfonated hydrophilic and hydrophobic macromers via three-step copolymerization. The degrees of sulfonation (DS) of the copolymers (10%, 30%, or 50%) were controlled by changing the molar ratio of the hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. The resulting block copolymers were characterized by $^1H$ NMR and other technologies. The membranes were successfully cast using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution at $100^{\circ}C$. The copolymers were characterized to confirm chemical structure by $^1H$ NMR and FT-IR. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) demonstrated that all sulfonated block copolymers exhibited good thermal stability with an initial weight loss at temperatures above $240^{\circ}C$. The membranes showed acceptable ion exchange capacity (IEC) and water uptake values in accordance with DS. The maximum proton conductivity was 184 mS $cm^{-1}$ in block copolymer-50 at $60^{\circ}C$ and 100% relative humidity, while the conductivity of Nifion-115 was 160 mS $cm^{-1}$ under the same measurement conditions. AFM images of the block copolymer membranes showed well separated the hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains. From the observed results it is that the prepared block membranes can be considered as suitable polymer electrolyte membranes for the application of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2017

Selecting an appropriate antigen with optimal immunogenicity and physicochemical properties is a pivotal factor to develop a protein based subunit vaccine. Despite rapid progress in modern molecular cloning and recombinant protein technology, there remains a huge challenge for purifying and using protein antigens rich in hydrophobic domains, such as membrane associated proteins. To overcome current limitations using hydrophobic proteins as vaccine antigens, we adopted in silico analyses which included bioinformatic prediction and sequence-based protein 3D structure modeling, to develop a novel periodontitis subunit vaccine against the outer membrane protein FomA of Fusobacterium nucleatum. To generate an optimal antigen candidate, we predicted hydrophilicity and B cell epitope parameter by querying to web-based databases, and designed a truncated FomA (tFomA) candidate with better solubility and preserved B cell epitopes. The truncated recombinant protein was engineered to expose epitopes on the surface through simulating amino acid sequence-based 3D folding in aqueous environment. The recombinant tFomA was further expressed and purified, and its immunological properties were evaluated. In the mice intranasal vaccination study, tFomA significantly induced antigen-specific IgG and sIgA responses in both systemic and oral-mucosal compartments, respectively. Our results testify that intelligent in silico designing of antigens provide amenable vaccine epitopes from hard-to-manufacture hydrophobic domain rich microbial antigens.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.59-67
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• 2006

Biodegradable amphiphilic polymer was synthesized for removing hydrophobic pollutants(phenol, 4-nitrophenol, benzene, and toluene) and metal ions ($Cs^{+},\;Mg^{2+},\;Cu^{2+},\;Ni^{2+}$, and $Cr^{3}$). The methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)s with different molecular weights (1,100 and 5,000) were used as a hydrophilic segment. The rejection ratio improved in the relatively high molecular weight of MPEG. The rejection ratio of biodegradable nanoparticles without pollutants was over 98%. In removal of hydrophobic pollutants, the rejection ratio increased with the hydrophobic properties. The electron valence affects the rejection ratio of metal ions, indicating rejection ratio was ordered as $3^{+}>2^{+}>1^{+}$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.524-529
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• 2020

To increase the mechanical durability of the proton exchange membrane fuel cells, a reinforced membrane in which a support is placed in the polymer membrane is used. The support mainly uses e-PTFE, which is hydrophobic and does not transfer ions, which may cause performance degradation. In this study, we investigated the effect of e-PTFE support on PEMFC performance and electrochemical durability. In this study, the reinforced membrane with the support was compared with the single membrane (non-reinforced membrane). Due to the hydrophobicity of the support, the water diffusion coefficient of the reinforced membrane was lower than that of the single membrane. The reinforced membrane had a lower water diffusion coefficient, resulting in higher HFR, which is the membrane migration resistance of ions, than that of a single membrane. Due to the low hydrogen permeability of the support, the OCV of the reinforced membrane was higher than that of the single membrane. The support was shown to reduce the hydrogen permeability, thereby reducing the rate of radical generation, thereby improving the electrochemical durability of the reinforced membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.152-158
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• 2015

This paper investigated the membrane fouling potential at the state of passive adsorption which is no permeation with the test modules on COD (Chemical oxygen demand) loading rates, examined the recovery rate and resistance on membrane fouling by three cleaning manners of hydrophobic membrane in a bioreactor. The results showed that high COD loading led to the increase of extra-cellular polymeric substances and filtration resistance. The permeability resistance from 1st day to 63rd day was getting increased, however, the value of permeability resistance after 63th day during the operation period was almost same level at three COD loading rates, it was due that the biomass adhesion on membrane surface at the state of passive adsorption reached to the critical state. Also, the final recovery rates after three cleaning manners were 78%, 72% and 69% at the COD loading concentrations of 250 mg/L, 500 mg/L and 750 mg/L respectively, and then recovery rate by physical cleaning at Run 2 and Run 3 was decreased after 40th day, it proved that biomass cake, which is not easily removed, was formed on the membrane surface because of high COD loading rate and EPS concentration.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.320-325
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• 2018

The sorption amounts of butanol/water and isopropanol/water solution on the surface modified with FASs (fluoroalkylsilanes) hydrophobic membrane were measured and analyzed using Hansen's solubility parameters. The difference of the solubility parameter of butanol (${\delta}_t=20.4$) and that of the surface modified with FASs hydrophobic membrane (${\delta}_t=16.9$) was greater than the case of isopropanol (${\delta}_t=24.6$), which might explain the result that the sorption amount of butanol was much higher than that of isopropanol. We might also explain the effect of the polar force (${\delta}_p$) on the sorption amount. The difference (${\Delta}$) between FASs polar force (${\delta}_p=4.6$) and butanol polar force (${\delta}_p=6.3$) was much smaller than that between FASs polar force (${\delta}_p=4.6$) and isopropanol polar force (${\delta}_p=9.0$), which meant that the interaction of butanol-FASs was much greater than that of isopropanol-FASs, and resulted in greater sorption amount of butanol on the FASs. This study showed Hansen's solubility parameters might be used for analysis of sorption characteristics of alcohol on membrane and solubility of solute in solvent.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.159-173
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• 2011

The air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) process was applied for water desalination. The main objective of the present work was to study the heat and mass transfer mechanism of the process. The experiments were performed on a flat sheet module using aqueous NaCl solutions as a feed. The membrane employed was hydrophobic PTFE of pore size 0.22 ${\mu}m$. A mathematical model is proposed to evaluate the membrane mass transfer coefficient, thermal boundary layers' heat transfer coefficients, membrane / liquid interface temperatures and the temperature polarization coefficients. The mass transfer model was validated by the experimentally and fitted well with the combined Knudsen and molecular diffusion mechanism. The mass transfer coefficient increased with an increase in feed bulk temperature. The experimental parameters such as, feed temperature, 313 to 333 K, feed velocity, 0.8 to 1.8 m/s (turbulent flow region) were analyzed. The permeation fluxes increased with feed temperature and velocity. The effect of feed bulk temperature on the boundary layers' heat transfer coefficients was shown and fairly discussed. The temperature polarization coefficient increased with feed velocity and decreased with temperature. The values obtained were 0.56 to 0.82, indicating the effective heat transfer of the system. The fouling was observed during the 90 h experimental run in the application of natural ground water and seawater. The time dependent fouling resistance can be added in the total transport resistance.