• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

In this review, surface modification methods of hydrophobic poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) membrane are introduced and their improved hydrophilicity results are discussed. Fluoropolymer based membranes, represented by PTFE membranes have been used in various membrane separation processes, including membrane distillation, oil separation and gas separation. However, despite excellent physical properties such as chemical resistance, heat resistance and high mechanical strength, the strong hydrophobicity of PTFE membrane surface has become a challenging factor in expanding its membrane separation application. To improve the separation performance of PTFE membranes, wet chemical, hydrophilic coating, plasma, irradiation and atomic layer deposition are applied, modifying the surface property of PTFE membranes while maintaining their inherent properties.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1321-1326
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• 2005

As a results of this research, the Nakdong River consisted of 43% of hydrophobic fraction, 39% of hydrophilic fraction, and 18% of transphilic fraction. The hydrophobic fraction in this raw water was mostly fulvic acid. Fulvic acid comprised of 62% and the rest was humic acid(38%). There was more carboxylic acid functional roup(64%) than phenolic group(36%). HPI-N and HPI-C comprised of 17% and 22% in the hydrophilic portion, respectively. The results of the membrane fouling test using UF membrane according to NOM fractions. HPI-N caused more fouling than HPI-C. Humic acid caused more fouling than fulvic acid probably due to higher adsorption capacity. Since humic acid has higher adsorption capacity than fulvic acid, it would be more adsorbed onto the membrane pores. The carboxylic acid functional group caused more fouling than the phenolic group.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.301-310
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• 2014

In this study, the silica nanoparticles were considerably chosen to improve a dimensional stability, proton transport and electrochemical performance of the resulting inorganic-organic nanocomposite membranes. For this purpose, hydrophobic silica (Aerosil$^{(R)}$ 812, Degussa) and hydrophilic silica (Aerosil$^{(R)}$ 380, Degussa) nanoparticles were, respectively, introduced into a Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) polymer matrix. The $SiO_2$ particles are evenly dispersed in a SPAES matrix by the aid of a non-ionic surfactant (Pluronics$^{(R)}$ L64). A $SiO_2$ content plays an important role in membrane microstructures and membrane properties such as proton conductivity and water uptake. Therefore, to study nanocomposite membranes with excessive amount of silica, the content of silica nanoparticles were increased up to 5 wt%. Interestingly, a hydrophobic $SiO_2$ containing nanocomposite membrane showed better electrochemical performance (29% higher than pristine SPAES) despite of low proton conductivity due to its adhesive properties with a catalyst layer in a single cell test. All the silica-SPAES membranes exhibited better performance than a pristine SPAES membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.137-145
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• 2011

Membrane processes are major breakthrough for the removal of organic pollutants in water remediation. The separations of solutes depend on nature of the membranes and solutes. The separation performance depends on the nature of the solutes (i.e., molecular volume, polarity, and hydrophobicity) for the same membrane. As 4-chlorophenol is of more dipolemoment compared to 2-chlorophenol, the orientation of the molecule enables it pass through the pores of the membrane, which is of negatively charged and thus separation order follows: 2-chlorophenol > 4-chlorophenol. Hydrophobicity factor also supports the order. Addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) to chlorophenol solution shows remarkable increase in separation performance of the membrane. The improvement in separation is 1.8 and 1.5 times for 4- and 2- chlorophenol consecutively in case of 0.0082 M SDS (1cmc = 0.0082 M) in the solution. 4-chlorophenol has better attachment tendency with SDS because of its relatively more hydrophobic nature and thus reflects in performance i.e. the separation performance of 4-chlorophenol with SDS through the membrane is better compared to 2-chlorophenol.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.327-334
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• 2016

The effects of dissolved inorganic and organic matter in seawater and the characteristics of fouling on the membrane surface were investigated within membrane distillation (MD) process. The changes of the membrane flux of PE and PVDF hollow fiber membranes under natural and synthetic seawater were compared with given variances of temperature. The flux of both membranes under the synthetic seawater, without any organic matter, were higher than that of the natural seawater, indicating the organic fouling on the membrane surface. The surface of the membrane was analyzed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to examine the fouling. The experiment with organics has shown the formation of thin film over the membrane surface, while the experiment with inorganics has shown only the formation of inorganic crystals. The results indicated the organic matter as the major foulants and that the organics affected the formation of the crystals. Permeate water conductivity of all conditions verified the quality of the water to be better if not similar to that of RO.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.205-210
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• 2005

There has been a growing interest in NF membrane for drinking water treatment, because it can remove simultaneously both hardness and hazardous micro pollutants such as pesticides and THM precursors. In this work, a hollow fiber NF membrane known as a composite membrane was employed for the rejection properties of both hydrophilic solutes and micro organic pollutants, where the former was used to evaluate the molecular sieving effect of this membrane and the latter was employed for the investigation of solute-membrane interaction as hydrophobic materials. This membrane effectively rejected the hydrophilic solutes and the permeation of them was mainly controlled by the molecular sieving effects such as molecular weight and molecular width. In the case of all micro organic pollutants, the rejections were varied from 42.2% for Simazine to 91.6% for Malathion, and the parameters related to the steric hindrance could significantly play an important role in the rejection. In the batch type adsorption experiments, all micro organic pollutants were entrapped mildly on the membrane in spite of lower degree compared with that of aromatic compounds, and they were correlated with log K.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.97-98
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• 1998

1. Introduction : Polypropylene(PP) membrane is widely used in the field of microfiltration and ultrafiltration. However, the hydrophobicity of PP causes the adsorption of hydrophobic and amphoteric solutes in the feed. Surface modification techniques of membrane through the treatment of hydrophilizing agents, coating of hydrophilic compounds, UV, plasma and high energy irradiation, etc. can have a great effect on propensities to prevent the protein from staining membranes. Among them, the modification to hydophilize membrane surface using UV is very simple and effective. Recently many studies for more effective surface modification have been conducted. Iwata et al. prepared membranes by grafting polyethylene glycol diacrylate macromer(PEGDA) onto polysulfone with plasma using a glow discharge reactor which prevent the oil from staining the membrane. The primary mechanism contributing to the membranes is preventing the oil from directly contacting the surface of the membrane as the PEGDA chains dissolved into emulsion. To evaluate their feasibility for use as a anti-fouling separation membrane, we prepared hydrophilic membranes by UV irradiation method and investigated their characteristics.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 1997

In the w/o concentrated emulsion, the volume fraction of the dispersed is greater than 0.74 and the hydrophilic liquid is dispersed in the hydrophobic liquid of the continuous phase. The emulsion has the same appearance and behaviour as a gel. The polarity of the hydrophilic liquids and hydrophobic liquids, the pH and the ionic strength of the hydrophilic liquid are found to be important factors in the stability at the polymerization temperature such as $50^{\circ}C$. The lower the polarity of the hydrophobic liquid and the higher the polarity of the hydrophilic liquid, the more stable the emulsion. Electron microscopy studies of the hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymer composites show that the particles of polyacrylamide, the dispersed phase, are separated by he network of the thin film of polystyrene, the continuous phase. This hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymer composites show higher permselectivity to water in the mixture of water-ethanol. The pervaporation experiment shows that the selectivity of the membrane ranges between 4-40 and increases with increasing enthanol concentration in the feed. The rate of permeation decreases with increasing ethanol concentration in the feed.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.246-251
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• 2017

To fabricate a hydrocarbon polymer electrolyte composite membrane incorporated with Pt nanoparticle, the polymer electrolyte membrane made of a sulfonated-fluorinated hydrophilic-hydrophobic block copolymer (SFBC) and sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) blend in the wight ratio of 1 : 1 was synthesized, and a simple drying process was used in order to incorporate Pt nanoparticle into the SFBC/SPEEK film by reducing platinum (II) bis (acetylacetonate), Pt $(acac)_2$. The distribution of the Pt nanoparticles was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and mechanical and thermal properties were tested by universal testing machine (UTM) and thermogravimetry analyzer (TGA). Cation conductivity, ion exchange capacity (IEC) and I-V characteristics were estimated.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.223-236
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• 2013

The paper presents an experimental set-up for osmotic membrane distillation, which can be operated continuously for several weeks. NaCl solutions were used as an osmotic solution. The influence of osmotic solution concentration on the obtained permeate flux is presented. The experimental set-up was equipped with a system for the regeneration of dilute brine. The regeneration was carried out using a method of natural evaporation to the air surrounding the installation. The evaporation area was created by the Białecki rings, assembled in the form of tower. The obtained evaporation rate was sufficient to maintain a constant NaCl concentration (over 300 g/L), for air with the relative humidity in the range of 30-80%. Accurel PP S6/2 hydrophobic polypropylene membranes were used in the study. The membranes exhibited 100% rejection for 600 h of the process duration.