• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.97-108
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• 2001

Bipolar membranes have gained increasing interest as a tool for an efficient production of acids and bases from the corresponding salts. A large number of potential applications have been identified in the chemical and biochemical industry have been identified and evaluated on a laboratory scale. In spite of extensive research efforts and laboratory and pilot plat test, there are hardly any large-scale commercial plants. In this paper the basic concept of the electrodialytic water dissociation with bipolar membranes are briefly reviewed. The limitations of today\`s bipolar membranes are indicated. Selected examples of successful applications of the bipolar membrane technology are discussed.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2001

The surface of Poly(ether imide) (PEI) membranes has been sulfonated using CIS03H. The resulting membranes were characterized through the analysis of ESCA and contact angle measurements The sulfonated PEI membranes were exposed to gases of $O_2$, $N_2$, and $CO_2$ to measure the permeation rates and ideal separation factors. In addition, the diffusivities and solubilities of individual gases were measured. The diffusivity effect is more dominant than the solubility one on gas transports.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.138-143
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• 1980

Hydrogel membranes were prepared by copolymerizing 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP) in the presence of the solvent and the crosslinker tetraethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA). By changing the monomer composition and the crosslinker content, different membranes were synthesized. Using these membranes, relative permeabilities and distribution coefficients for amides including urea were measured. The water contents in membrane were also measured. On the basis of solute-membrane matrix interaction, the results were interpreted.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.138-145
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• 2008

A series of anion exchange composite membranes were prepared and characterized for electro-dialysis process used in the removal of toxic anion and cation polutants in groundwater or wastewater. The membranes were prepared as follows; first, porous poly(ethylene) (PE) substrates were fully impregnated with monomer mixtures with various ratio of vinylbenzylchloride (VBC), divinylbenzene (DVB) and ${\alpha},\;{\alpha}$-azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN). Second, they were thermally polymerized to yield crosslinked poly(VBC-DVB)/PE composite membranes. Finally, the membranes were treated in trimethylamine (TMA)/acetone to give $-N^+(CH_3)_3$-containing poly(VBC-DVB)/PE membranes. The basic membrane properties such as ion exchange capacity (IEC), electric resistance and water content of the resulting membranes were measured as a function of VBC/DVB and TMA/Acetone content. As a result, the composite membranes showed lower electric resistance, lower water content and higher IEC than commercial anion exchange membranes (AMX, Astom) due to thin PE substrates, indicating that the composite membranes could be successfully applied to the electrodialysis for water treatment.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.142-150
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• 2010

A series of anion exchange composite membranes were prepared and characterized for electrodialysis processes used in the removal of nitrate nitrogen and ions in groundwater. The membranes were prepared as follows; first, fabric substrates were fully impregnated with monomer mixtures of vinylbenzylchloride (VBC), divinylbenzene (DVB), Styrene (ST) and $\alpha,\alpha$-Azobis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN). Second, they were thermally polymerized to yield crosslinked poly (VBCST- DVB)/fabric composite membranes. Finally, the membranes were treated with trimethylamine (TMA) / acetone to give $-N^+(CH_3)_3^-$-containing poly(VBC-ST-DVB)/fabric membranes. The basic membrane properties such as ion exchange capacity (IEC), electric resistance and water content of the resulting membranes were measured as a function of VBC/DVB and TMA/Acetone content. As a result, the composite membranes showed lower electric resistance and higher IEC than commercial anion exchange membranes (AMX, Astom). Electrodialysis tests using the prepared membranes were carried out for the removal of various ions such as $NaNO_3$, $MgSO_4$ and NaF for 60 minutes. The results showed that the ions were removed below 1 mg/L within about 15 minutes which indicates that the anion exchange membranes prepared here could be applied to the electrodialysis process. as can be seen in the following that the ion conductivity values were almost no change after 15 minutes electrodialysis.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.135-153
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• 1998

Nanofiltration (NF) is a recently introduced term in membrane separation. In 1988, Eriksson was one of the first authors using the word 'nanofiltration' explicitly. Some years before, FilmTech started to use this term for their NF50 membrane which was supposed to be a very loose reverse osmosis membrane or a very tight ultrafiltration membrane. Since then, this term has been introduced to indicate a specific boundary of membrane technology in between ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. The application fields of the NF membranes are very broad as follows: Demeneralizing water, Cleaning up contaminated groundwater, Ultrapure water production, Treatment of effleunts containing heavy metals, Offshore oil platforms, Yeast production, Pulp and paper mills, Textile production, Electroless copper plating, Cheese whey production, Cyclodextrin production, Lactose production. The earliest NF membrane was made by Cadotte et al, using piperazine and trimesoyl chloride as monomers for the formation of polyamide active layer of the composite type membrane. They coated very thin interfacially potymerized polyamide on the surface of the microporous polysulfone supports. The NF membrane exhibited low rejections for monovalent anions (chloride) and high rejections for bivalent anions (sulphate). This membrane was called NS300. Some of the earliest NF membranes, like the NF40 membrane of FilmTech, the NTR7250 of Nitto-Denko and the UTC20 and UTC60 of Toray, are formed by a comparable synthesis route as the NS300 membrane. Commercially available NF membranes nowadays are as follows: ASP35 (Advanced Membrane Technology), MPF21; MPF32 (Kiryat Weizmann), UTC20; UTC60; UTC70; UTC90 (Toray), CTA-LP; TFCS (Fluid Systems), NF45; NF70 (FilmTec), BQ01; MX07; HG01; HG19; SX01; SX10 (Osmonics), 8040-LSY-PVDI (Hydranautics), NF CA30; NF PES 10 (Hoechst), WFN0505 (Stork Friesland). The typical ones among the commercially available NF membranes are polyamide composite membrane consisting of interfacially polymerized polyamide active layer and microporous support. While showing high water fluxes and high rejections of multivalent ions and small organic molecules, these membranes have relatively low chemical stability. These membranes have low chlorine tolerance and are unstable in acid or base solution. This chemical instability is appearing to be a big obstacle for their applications. To improve the chemical stability, we have tried, in this study, to prepare chemically stable NF membranes from PVA. The ionomers and interfacially polymerized polyamide were used for the modification of'the PVA membranes. For the detail study of the active layer, homogeneous NF membranes made only from active layer materials were prepared and for the high performance, composite type NF membranes were prepared by coating the active layer materials on microporous polysulfone supports.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.621-626
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• 2010

Anion exchange membranes can be used for reverse electrodialysis for electric energy generation, and capacitive deionization for water purification, as well as electrodialysis for desalination. In this study, anion exchange membranes of poly((vinylbenzyl) trimethylammonium chloride-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)/poly(vinyl alcohol) were prepared through the polymerization of (vinylbenzyl)trimethylammonium chloride and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate in aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) solutions, esterification with glutaric acid, and cross-linking reaction with glutaraldehyde. We investigated electrochemical properties for the anion exchange membranes prepared according to experimental conditions. Ion exchange capacity and electrical resistance for the membranes were changed with a variation in the monomer ratio in polymerization. Water uptake and conductivity for the membranes decreased with an increase in the content of glutaric acid in esterification. The change in the time of crosslinking reaction with the formed film and glutaraldehyde affected electrochemical properties such as water uptake, conductivity, or transport number for the membranes. Chronopotentiometry and limiting current density for the anion exchange membranes prepared were measured.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.559-567
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• 2013

In recent years, NF (nanofiltration) membrane has been receiving great attention for hardness removal and has begun to replace traditional lime soda ash softening process, particularly in Florida, USA, mainly due to less sludge production and easy operation. This study aimed to provide detailed surface characteristics of various commercial NF membranes by performing sophisticated surface analysis, which would help more fundamentally understand the performance of NF membranes. More specifically, a total of 7 NF membranes from top NF/RO manufacturers in the world were examined for basic performance tests, surface analysis, and fouling potential assessment. The results demonstrated that NF membranes are classified into two groups in terms of surface zeta potential; they are highly negatively charged ones, and neutral and/or less negatively charged ones. Their hydrophobicities, measured by contact angle, varied from hydrophilic to slightly hydrophobic ones. The AFM measurements showed various surface roughness, ranging from 23 nm (smooth) to 162 nm (rough) of average peak height. Lab-scale fouling experiments were performed using feedwater obtained from conventional water treatment plants in the province of Korea, and their results attempted to correlate to surface characteristics of NF membranes. However, unlike typical RO membranes, no clear correlation was found in this study, indicating that fouling mechanisms of NF membrane may be different from those of typical RO membranes, and both cake deposition and pore blocking mechanisms should be considered simultaneously.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.43-54
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• 2016

In this study, we have prepared engineering polymer-based ionomers and pore-filled ion-exchange membranes (PFIEMs) employing a porous polyethylene substrate and combined them to fabricate the ionomer-PFIEM composite membranes for the reverse electrodialysis (RED) application. Both the electrochemical properties comparable to those of the commercial ion-exchange membranes (AMX/CMX, Astom Corp., Japan) and the physical stability adaptable to the practical uses have been achieved by integrating the ionomers having a high ion conductivity and the PFIEMs with an excellent mechanical strength. The RED performances have been evaluated by employing the prepared ionomer-PFIEM composite membranes and therefore excellent power generation performances were shown as the levels of 86.4% and 104.8% for the anion-exchange membrane and cation-exchange membrane, respectively, compared with those of the commercial membranes.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.319-323
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• 1999

Asymmetric polyetherimide membranes were prepared by phase inversion method. In the modification of the skin layers of polyetherimide membranes, the effects of NaOH concentration on the morphology and pervaporation separation of water-isopropanol mixtures were investigated. With increasing concentration of NaOH solution, polyamicacid structure was formed by the hydrolysis of imide group of polyetherimide, and the thickness of dense layer of the asymmetric membrane increased. In the pervaporation separation of water-isopropanol mixtures the overall permeation rate decreased and the separation factor increased with increasing concentration of NaOH solution. However, when the concentration of NaOH solution was very high, the permeation rate increased but separation factor decreased. From these results, it was found that the permeation behaviors of asymmetric polyetherimide membranes depended upon the concentration of NaOH solution. These modified membranes showed that both the permeation rate and separation factor increased as the operating temperature increased.