• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.553-554
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• 2006

This paper presents the effects of different operating parameters on the performance of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell by a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The effects of different operating parameters on the performance of PEM fuel cell studied using pure hydrogen on the anode side and air on the cathode side. The various parameters are temperatures, pressures, humidification of the gas steams and various combinations of these parameters. In addition, geometrical and material parameters such as the gas diffusion layer (GDL) thickness and porosity as well as the ratio between the channel width and the land area were investigated.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.443-455
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• 2021

In this study, polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) was used as a support and a separator was manufactured using polysulfone and inorganic additives to manufacture a separator with low membrane resistance for application of an alkali water electrolysis system, and then the effect on the thickness and porosity of the support was analyzed. The PPS felt used as a support was compressed with variables of temperature (100℃, 150℃, 200℃) and pressure (1 ton, 2 tons, 3 tons, 5 tons) to adjust the thickness. A porous separator could be manufactured by preparing a slurry with polysulfone using BaTiO₃ and ZrO₂ which have high hydrophilicity and excellent alkali resistance as inorganic particles and casting the slurry on a compressed PPS felt. Changes in morphology of the separator according to compression conditions were confirmed through an electron scanning microscope (SEM). After that, the porosity was calculated, and the thickness and porosity tended to decrease as the compression conditions increased. Various characteristics were evaluated to confirm whether it could be used as a separator for water electrolysis. As a result of measuring the mechanical strength, it was confirmed that the tensile strength gradually increased as the compression conditions (temperature and pressure) increased. Finally, it was confirmed that the porous separator manufactured through the alkali resistance test has excellent alkali resistance, and through the IV test, it was confirmed that the membranes compressed at 100℃ and 150℃ had a lower voltage and improved performance than the existing uncompressed membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.495-505
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• 2016

Mesoporous MCM-41 was deposited on an inexpensive disk shaped ceramic support through hydrothermal technique for ultrafiltration of $Fe^{3+}$ from aqueous solution. The ceramic support was fabricated using uni-axial compaction technique followed by sintering at $950^{\circ}C$. The characteristics of MCM-41 powder as well as the composite membrane were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), porosity and pure water permeation test. The XRD result revealed the good crystallinity and well-resolved hexagonally arranged pore geometry of MCM-41. TGA profile of synthesized MCM-41 zeolite displayed the three different stepwise mechanisms for the removal of organic template. The formation of MCM-41 on the porous support was verified by FESEM analysis. The characterization results clearly indicated that the accumulation of MCM-41 by repeated coating on the ceramic disk directs to reduce the porosity and pore size from 47% to 23% and 1.0 to $0.173{\mu}m$, respectively. Moreover, the potential of the fabricated MCM-41 membrane was investigated by ultrafiltration of $Fe^{3+}$ from aqueous stream at various influencing parameters such as applied pressure, initial feed concentration and pH of solution. The maximum rejection 85% was obtained at applied pressure of 276 kPa and the initial feed concentration of 250 ppm at pH 2.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.121-137
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• 2010

This work presents inexpensive inorganic precursor formulations to yield submicron range symmetric ceramic microfiltration (MF) membranes whose average pore sizes were between 0.1 and $0.4{\mu}m$. Incidentally, the sintering temperature used in this work was about 800 to $950^{\circ}C$ instead of higher sintering temperatures ($1100^{\circ}C$) that are usually deployed for membrane fabrication. Thermogravimetric (TGA) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis were carried out to evaluate the effect of temperature on various phase transformations during sintering process. The effect of sintering temperature on structural integrity of the membrane as well as pore size distribution and average pore size were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The average pore sizes of the membranes were increased from 0.185 to $0.332{\mu}m$ with an increase in sintering temperature from 800 to $950^{\circ}C$. However, a subsequent reduction in membrane porosity (from 34.4 to 19.6%) was observed for these membranes. Permeation experiments with both water and air were carried out to evaluate various membrane morphological parameters such as hydraulic pore diameter, hydraulic permeability, air permeance and effective porosity. Later, the membrane prepared with a sintering temperature of $950^{\circ}C$ was tested for the treatment of synthetic oily waste water to verify its real time applicability. The membrane exhibited 98.8% oil rejection efficiency and $5.36{\times}10^{-6}\;m^3/m^2.s$ permeate flux after 60 minutes of experimental run at 68.95 kPa trans-membrane pressure and 250 mg/L oil concentration. Based on retail and bulk prices of the inorganic precursors, the membrane cost was estimated to be $220 /$m^2$ and $1.53 /$m^2$, respectively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.326-332
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• 2020

In this study, polymer-fluorinated silica composite hollow fiber membranes were fabricated and applied to a membrane contactor for the recovery of methane dissolved in the anaerobic effluent. To prepare the composite membranes, porous hollow fiber substrates were fabricated with Ultem^®, a commercial polyetherimide (PEI). Subsequently, fluorinated silica particles were synthesized and coated on the surface via strong covalent bonding. Due to the high porosity, our membrane showed a CH₄ flux of 8.25 × 10^-5 ㎤ (STP)/㎠·s at the liquid velocity of 0.03 m/s which is much higher that that of commercial polypropylene membrane designed for degassing processes. This is attributed to our membrane's high porosity as well as a superior surface hydrophobicity (120~122°) resulted from the coating with fluorinated silica nanoparticles.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.43-49
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• 2021

The Commercial polymeric membranes like Polysulfone (PSF), Polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) which are an integral part of water purification investigation were chosen for the shockwave (SW) exposure experiment. These membranes were prepared by blending polymer (wt. %) / DMF (solvent) followed by phase-inversion casting technique. Shockwaves are generated by using Reddy Tube lab module (Table-top Shocktube) with range of pressure (1.5, 2.5 and 5 bar). Understanding the changes in membrane before and after shock wave treatment by parameters, i.e., pure water flux (PWF), rejection (%), porosity, surface roughness (AFM), morphology (SEM) and contact angle which can significantly affect the membrane's performance. Flux values PSf membranes shows increase, 465 (pristine) to 524 (1.5wt%) LMH at 50 Psi pressure and similar enhancement was observed at 100Psi (625 to 696 LMH). Porosity also shows improvement from 73.6% to 76.84% for 15wt% PSf membranes. It was observed that membranes made of polymers such as PAN and PSF (of high w/w %) exhibits some resistance against shockwaves impact and are stable compared to other membranes. Shockwave pressure of up to 1.5 bar was sufficient enough to change properties which are crucial for performance. Membranes exposed to a maximum pressure of 5 bar completely scratched the surface and with minimum pressure of 1.5bar is optimum enough to improve the water flux and other parameters. Initial results proved that SW may be suitable alternative route to minimize/control membrane fouling and improve efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.1036-1039
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• 2004

This paper is to experimentally study on the sound absorption of a membrane resonance type system. Membrane resonance type system improves the weak point of a perforated plate system. The experimental results for a membrane resonance type system are explained in comparison with those of a perforated plate system. From the experimental results, it is found that there is an influence of the membrane on the absorption performance. The sound absorbing performances of a membrane resonance system are similar to those of a perforated plate system.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.104-112
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• 2012

Chemically stable Polyvinylidene fluoride-hexa-fluoropropane (PVDF-HFP) copolymer asymmetric membranes were prepared by the conventional phase inversion process, using Dimethyacetamide (DMAc) as a solvent and water as a non-solvent. To control the pore size and porosity of the PVDF-HFP membranes, tetra-ethoxysilane (TEOS) was used as a pore-forming agent. The prepared membranes were characterized, using several analytical methods such as Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA), Field Emission Scanning Electronic Microscopy (FESEM). TEOS turned out to increase porosity and make homogeneous pores on the membranes. Depending on the composition of the dope solutions, the pore size was ranged from 0.1 to 1.0 ${\mu}m$. The flux of the PVDF-HFP membranes prepared by using TEOS as a pore forming agent was increased substantially without much decrease in the rejection. When 15 wt% PVDF-HFP solution was blended with 13 wt% TEOS solution at composition ratio of 70/30 in wt%, the water flux at 2 bars was about 2 $m^3/m^2day$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.207-210
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• 2005

In this paper, a two-dimensional cross-channel model was applied to investigate influence of the gas diffusion layer(GDL) property and flow field geometry in the anode side for proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC). The GDL is made of a porous material such as carbon cloth, carbon paper, or metal wire mesh. To the simplicity, the GDL is represented as a block of material containing numerous pathways through which gaseous reactants and liquid water can pass. The purpose of present work was to study the effect of the GDL thickness and the porosity, and flow field geometry by computational fluid dynamics(CFD)

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.115-121
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• 2008

In this paper, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic model of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) with serpentine flow channel is presented. A steady state, single phase and isothermal numerical model has been established to investigate the influence of the GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer) parameters. The GDL is made of a porous material such as carbon cloth, carbon paper or metal wire mesh. For the simplicity, the GDL is modeled as a block of material having numerous pathways through which gaseous reactants and liquid water can pass. The porosity, permeability and thickness of the GDL, which are employed in the model parameters significantly affect the PEMFC performance at the high current region.