• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.268-276
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• 2009

In this study the basic data were settled down to establish theory of membrane module and apparatus for measuring suspended solid per particle size. The theory and technique were different with the conventional weight method and light scattering method. For this purpose silica, dextran, kaolin, and PEG (polyethylene glycol) suspended solutions were filtrated through glass fiber membranes GF/C and GF/A on membrane module for measuring TMP (Trans-membrane pressure) changes using digital pressure gages. And the related equation between modified solution concentration and TMP change slope was derived from the TMP change experiments, and then suspended solid concentration of samples could be expected by the equation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2009

After membrane fouling factors in acrylic wastewater were minimized by pretreatment process accompanied with $TiO_2$, it was utilized in MF/UF/RO process. After composing of ultrafiltration/reverse osmosis or microfiltration/reverseosmosiss module set according to types and kinds of membrane, the separation characteristics were examined with the variation temperature and pressure using pretreated acrylic wastewater by membrane module sets. The permeate of ultrafiltration or microfiltration module was sent to reverse osmosis module. It was found that final permeate flux of reverse osmosis module in module set 2 (MWCO 200,000 UF+RO) was excellent. It was shown that the removal efficiency of TDS, T-N and COD was very low and was not dependent on the variation of temperature and pressure in UF and MF modules. From the above result, the removal efficiency of TDS, T-N and COD was very excellent in RO module. The removal efficiency of turbidity in UF and MF module was very high (> 99% removal efficiency). Final water quality of acrylic wastewater treated by the membrane module set was satisfied with effluent allowances limit and membrane module sets were ascertained to reuse wastewater.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2013

The main purpose of this study is to develop a commercial scale of pervaporative process equipped with hollow fiber membrane modules, being able to effectually purify organic solvent at high temperature well over its boiling point under high vapor pressure. Three constituent technologies have been developed; 1) to fabricate braid-reinforced hollow fiber membrane stable in high pressure and high temperature application, 2) to design and fabricate a commercial scale of hollow fiber membrane module, and 3) to design and fabricate a pilot scale of pervaporation equipment system. The developed hollow fiber membrane possesses a membrane performance superior to the membrane of Sulzer (Germany) which is the most-well known for pervaporation process, and the membrane module equips hollow fiber membranes of $4.6m^2$ and the pervaporation system can treat organic liquid at 200 L/h, which is based on the dehydration of 95 wt% isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Since the membrane module is designed to flow in and pass through the inside of individual hollow fiber membrane, not to involve both the formation of feed's dead volume observed in flat-sheet membrane module and the channeling of feed occurring inside hollow fiber bundle which lower membrane performance seriously, it showed excellent separation efficiency. In particular, the module is inexpensive and has less heat loss into its surrounding, in compared with flat-sheet membrane module. In addition, permeant can be removed effectively from the outer surface of hollow fiber membrane because the applied vacuum is conveyed uniformly through space between fibers into respective fiber, even into one in the middle of the hollow fiber bundle in which the space between fibers is uniform in distance. Since the hollow fiber membrane pervaporation system is the first one ever developed in the world, our own unique proprietary technology can be secured, preoccupying technical superiority in export competitive challenges.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2009

We investigated the effect of organic materials on membrane fouling in advanced drinking water treatment by a hybrid module packed with granular activated carbon (GAC) outside multi-channel ceramic microfiltration membrane. Synthetic water was prepared with humic acid and kaolin to simulate natural water resouces consisting of natural organic matter and inorganic particles. Kaolin concentration was fixed at 30 mg/L and humic acid was changed as 2~10 mg/L to inspect the effect of organic matters. Periodic back-flushing using permeate water was performed for 10 sec per filtration of 10 min. As a result, both resistance of membrane fouling (Rf) and permeate flux (J) were influenced highly by concentration of humic acid. It proved that NOM like humic acid could be an important factor on membrane fouling in drinking water treatment. Turbidity and UV254 absorbance were removed up to above 97.4% and 59.2% respectively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 2020

The current study focused on the effect of twisting hollow fibers (HFs) in a module during forward osmosis operation mode. Computational fluid dynamics simulation was employed for a straight HF module and twisted modules with five different angles to predict the mass transfer and observe the draw solution profile in terms of concentration and pressure. The simulation results showed that when the membranes were twisted, the concentration was distributed more evenly and the pressure at the module outlet increased gradually as the twisting angle increased. As pressure at the outlet increased, the fluid velocity inside the membrane decreased and the residence time of fluid increased, thereby facilitating mass exchange across the membrane. This is evidenced by a doubling of the ratio of water flux through the membrane in module flux when the HFs were twisted.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

Desalination by reverse osmosis (RO), which first entered commercial use in the 1970s, was initially mainly used for treating brackish water. Technological progress led to the development of an RO membrane enabling single-pass seawater desalination. Toyobo succeeded in developing a single-pass seawater desalination RO module composed of hollow fiber type membranes made of cellulose triacetate in 1978, and then in 1979 began production of the first commercially available double-element module. This double-element module has many advantages suitable for seawater desalination. It has high chlorine tolerance and high salt rejection, derived from the properties of the membrane material, and it is highly resistant to fouling and scaling matters due to the unique flow pattern and fiber bundle configuration. These advantages help to explain why the Toyobo double-element module has been used so successfully at the many seawater desalination plants around the world. Since the 1980s, large plants capable of desalinating several tens of thousands of cubic meters a day have sprung up around the Mediterranean and In the Middle East. The Jeddah RO Phase I Plant, which has a capacity of 56, 800m$^3$/day, went into operation in 1989. In 1994, the same sized Phase II Plant came on stream, giving the plant a huge total capacity of 113, 600m$^3$/day. The plant constructor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), and the RO membrane manufacturer Toyobo Co., Ltd. In 1998, the world's largest RO seawater desalination plant in operation, which has a capacity of 128, 000m$^3$/day and is run by Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), went into operation at Yanbu. RO seawater desalination technology has thus already reached the stage of full-scale commercial use. In order to encourage its wider use, however, RO desalination needs to be made more economical by lowering construction and water treatment costs. Toyobo has therefore developed a new economical RO desalination system by a recovery ratio of 60% using a high-pressure module with a high product flow rate. In 2000, Toyobo high recovery membrane module was selected for the largest seawater desalination plant in Japan, which has a capacity of 50, 000m$^3$/day.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.84-94
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• 1997

The performances of both module sets made by different methods for helical module were compared. All experiments were conducted simultaneously at the same transmembrane pressure and energy cosumption per membrane area. The effects of Dean vortices for reducing concentration polarization and fouling were low for the first module set. The increase of 115% for permeate flux improvement(permeate flux difference ${\times}100$/pemeate flux of linear module) was measured. The second module set was more effective in reducing concentration polarization and fouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.95-109
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• 1997

The effects of varing axial flow rate and solute concentration on the performance of both module sets made by different methods for active layer formation were compared and determined. All experiments were conducted simultaneously at the same transmembrane pressure and energy consumption per membrane area. In every comparative run between the presence of Dean vortices in a helical module and absence of such vortices in a linear module from the first module set, the solution fluxes and permeabilities were higher, and in some cases substantially higher for the vortex flow. With pure water, the permeabilities of both modules from the second module set were different and the flux in a linear module was 150% higher than in the helical module. This explained both module membranes were totally different.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.537-544
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to analyze the flow characteristics when a staggered hollow fiber membrane module is modeled as a porous medium. The pressure-velocity equation was used for modeling the porous medium, using pressure drop data. In terms of flow characteristics, we compared the case of the "porous medium" when the membrane module was modeled as a porous medium with the case of the "membrane module" when considering the original shape of the membrane module. The difference in pressure drop between the "porous medium" and "membrane module" was less than 0.6%. However, the maximum flow velocity and mean turbulent kinetic energy of the "porous medium" were 2.5 and 95 times larger than those of the "membrane module," respectively. Our results indicate that modeling the hollow fiber module as a porous medium is useful for predicting pressure drop, but not sufficient for predicting the maximum flow velocity and mean turbulent kinetic energy.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2017

The air injection nozzle tube was inserted inside of the tubular membrane module to reduce membrane fouling and improve the permeate flux. The average pore size of membrane was $0.1\;{\mu}m$ and the yeast was used as a foulant. All of permeate experiments were started without air injection for the module equipped with the nozzle tube, then carried out continuously with air injection. Finally, the nozzle tube was removed from the module and the permeate was measured without air injection. The measured permeate fluxes were compared to examine the effect of air injection. The fluxes for air injection were consistently maintained or increased. The fluxes of no-air injection with the nozzle tube were greater than those of the empty tubular module. As operating pressure decreased to 0.4 bar, the flux enhancement of air injection based on no-nozzle case increased to 21%. Flux enhancements of air injection were above 30% as the gas/liquid two-phase flow was changed from the stratified-smooth to the intermittent pattern due to increase of gas flowrate.