• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.283-296
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• 2010

During the disinfection of potable water, humic substances present in the solution react with chlorine to form potential carcinogenic compounds. This study evaluates the feasibility of using a submerged membrane photocatalysis reactor (SMPR) process for treatment of humic substances through the characterization of both organic removal efficiency and membrane hydraulic performance. A simple SMPR was operated and led to the removal of up to 83% of the polluting humic matters. Temporal rates of organic removal and membrane fouling were found to decrease with filtration time. Using tighter membrane in the hybrid process resulted in not only higher organic removal, but also more significant membrane fouling. Under the experimental conditions tested, optimum $TiO_2$ concentration for humic removal was found to be 0.6 g/L, and increasing initial pollutant concentration expectedly resulted in a more substantial membrane fouling. The importance of the influent nature and pollutant characteristics in this type of treatment was also assessed as various water sources were tested (model humic acid solution vs. local water containing natural organic matters). Results from this study revealed the promising nature of the SMPR process as an alternative technique for organic removal in the existing water treatment system.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2006

Nanofiber is a broad phrase generally referring to a fiber with diameter less than 1 micron. Various polymers have been successfully electrospun into nanofibers in recent years. These nanofibers, due to their high surface area and porosity, have a great potential for use as filter medium, adsorption layers in protective clothing, etc. Nanofiber filters will enable new levels of filtration performance in the field of air filtration. In particular, nanofibers provide marked increases in filtration efficiency at relatively small pressure drop in permeability. Therefore, nanofiber filters could be substituted for conventional filter market due to the easy application of process and the possibility of coating to micron-sized non-woven sheets. This review is discussed on the trend of researche and development related to nanofiber filter including future marketability.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.120-124
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• 2009

This study was performed to investigate the application of submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) system for biological nutrient removal of municipal wastewater. MBR bioreactor consists of four reactors such as anaerobic, stabilization, anoxic and submerged membrane aerobic reactors with two internal recycles. The hydraulic retention time (HRT), sludge retention time (SRT) and flux were 6.2 hr, 34.1 days and $19.6L/m^2/hr$ (LMH), respectively. As a result of operation, the removal efficiency of $COD_{Cr}$, SS, TN and TP were 94.3%, 99.9%, 69.4%, and 74.6%, respectively. There was no significant effect of microbial activity after the maintenance cleaning using 200 mg/L of NaOCl. Membrane filtration for the treatment of municipal wastewater was performed for longer than 9 months without chemical recovery cleaning.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.335-341
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• 2016

Various studies have forwarded an outstanding wastewater effluent treatment systems toward securing sustainable supply of water sources. In this paper, a broad overview of the performance of MF membrane as pretreatment option for wastewater reuse will be presented based on the literature survey and experiments conducted over the wastewater reuse pilot plant. The pilot plant was operated with a continuous data acquisition for about 300days under various chemical enhanced backwash (CEB) system with subsequent treated water quality analysis. Accordingly, assessment of the effluent revealed that the pretreated water is suitable enough to be used as an input for Reverse Osmosis (RO) unit and significant effect of CEB and concentration of NaOCl is also conceived from the analysis. Moreover, it's also observed that the application of various CEB condition over long operational hours induced a constant declination of overall performance of MF membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.323-329
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• 2000

The coupling of an activated sludge reactor with a membrane unit, i.e., Membrane Coupled Activated Sludge (MCAS) system offers several advantages over conventional process. But the major hurdle in the extensive use of this process is the continuous reduction of permeation flux caused by membrane fouling. The aim of this study is to investigate membrane fouling characteristics in the MCAS process. During crossflow ultrafiltration(CFUF) of activated sludge, floc size decreased abruptly at the beginning of operation and thereafter decreased continuously and gradually. The floc size changed from 100~200 to $6{\sim}8{\mu}m$ depending on recirculation velocity. This floc breakage played a key role in rapid increase of $R_c$(cake layer resistance), which led to flux decline. The floc breakage stimulated biomass to release EPS(Extracellular Polymeric Substance) which has been known to be one of the major membrane foul-ants. The amounts of EPS before and after CFUF were 266 and 405(VS mg/MLSS g), respectively. The rise up of EPS concentration was another factor affecting flux decline in MCAS system.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.473-480
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• 2018

The effect of three iron-based adsorbents pre-depositing on ultrafiltration membrane for humic acid (HA) removal and membrane fouling was investigated. The result showed that pre-depositing adsorbents on membrane could not only reduce membrane fouling but also enhance HA removal. The flux was related to the adsorbent dosage and the optimal dosage for pre-deposition was $35.0g/m^2$. The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal of HA was 38.3%, 67.3% and 41.1% respectively when pre-deposited $35.0g/m^2$ $FeO_xH_y$, $MnFe_2O_4$ and $Fe_3O_4$ on membrane. Different adsorption effect of adsorbents on HA contributed to increasing of the flux at different level. Zeta potential of three adsorbents all decreased after adsorbed HA. The adsorption capacity of the three adsorbents was $FeO_xH_y$ > $MnFe_2O_4$ > $Fe_3O_4$. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) measurement showed the thickness of pre-deposition layers formed by different adsorbents was different. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) detection showed the morphology and compactness of pre-deposition layers formed by different adsorbents was different.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.161-173
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• 2007

Membrane filtration processes are increasingly popular for drinking water treatment that requires high quality of water. Low pressure membrane(LPM) processes such as microfiltration(MF) and ultrafiltration(UF), however, are ineffective in the removal of dissolved organic matter and also membrane fouling is still an important issue to be resolved. High pressure membranes(HPMs) may guarantee better water quality, but at the high energy consumption. Thus, various approaches to combine LPM processes with other physicochemical methods have been recently made to achieve their efficiency to the level comparable to that of HPM processes. In this work, therefore, hybrid processes that coupled MF/UF with coagulation, adsorption, chemical reactions(e.g., chelation and oxidation) are reviewed regarding system design and performance and also membrane surface modifications conducted by grafting and polyelectrolyte multilayer formation were assessed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.194-202
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• 2009

In this study periodic water-back-flushing using permeate water was performed to minimize membrane fouling and to enhance permeate flux in advanced water treatment by tubular ceramic ultrafiltration membrane for Gongji stream in Chuncheon city. The back-flushing period (FT, filtration time) 2 min with periodic water-back-flushing of 15 sec showed the highest value of dimensionless permeate flux (permeate flux vs. initial permeate flux), and the lowest value of resistance of membrane fouling. Also in the results of BT effect at fixed FT 10 min, BT (back-flushing time) 20 sec showed the lowest value of resistance of membrane fouling and the highest value of dimensionless permeate flux, and we could be obtained the highest total permeate volume of 107.3 L. Consequently FT 10 min and BT 20 sec could be the optimal condition in Gongji stream water treatment, which was the exactly same results of our previous tubular alumina microfiltration. Then the average rejection rates of pollutants by our tubular ceramic UF system were 97.0% for turbidity, 32.1 % for chemical oxygen demand by manganese method, 28.8% for ammoniac nitrogen and 54.4% for T-P.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 1989

In separating mycelia from antibiotic fermentation broths, high permeate flux was obtained by cross-flow filtration using modified regenerated cellulose membrane. The flux was increased most effectively by increasing the flow rate. There existed a critical mycelium density (about 20% PMV) at which the highest flux was observed. In a batchwise concentration of the fermentation broth, the system suffered from a severe fouling problem, which was relieved drastically by applying diafiltration technique, although it increased the permeate volume. A combined concentration/diafiltration process was ideal in keeping relatively high flux together with a high product recovery yield. The best result was obtained by starting diafiltration after concentrating the broth to 20% PMV. By doing so, a 98% product recovery yield was achieved in the shortest time while keeping the permeate volume at a minimum level.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.639-645
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• 2008

The objectives of this research are to (1) observe changes in particle size distribution due to formation of microflocs during coagulation process (2) identify the membrane fouling potential on cross flow system (3) investigate the mechanism of membrane fouling. The rate of flux decline for the hydrophobic membrane was significantly greater than for the hydrophilic membrane, regardless of pretreatment conditions. The pretreatment of the raw water significantly reduced the fouling of the UF membrane. Also, the rate of flux decline for the hydrophobic membrane was considerably greater than for the hydrophilic membrane. Applying coagulation process before membrane filtration showed not only reducing membrane fouling, but also improving the removal of dissolved organic materials that might otherwise not be removed by the membrane. That is, during the mixing period, substantial changes in particle size distribution occurred under rapid and slow mixing condition due to the simultaneous formation of microflocs and NOM precipitates. Therefore, combined pretreatment using coagulation not only improved dissolved organics removal efficiency but also flux recovery efficiency.