• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2010

Membrane distillation process was used for purification of pre-treated natural water (tap water). The rejection of inorganic and organic compounds in this process was investigated. The obtained rejection of inorganic solutes was closed to 100%, but the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) diffused through the membrane together with water vapour. The content of trihalomethanes (THMs) in the obtained distillate was two-three fold higher than that in the feed, therefore, the rejection of the total organic compounds present in the tap water was reduced to a level of 98%. The intensive membranes scaling was observed during the water separation. The morphology and composition of the fouling layer was studied using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersion spectrometry. The influence of thermal water pre-treatment performed in a heat exchanger followed by filtration on the MD process effectiveness was evaluated. This procedure caused that significantly smaller amounts of $CaCO_3$ crystallites were deposited on the membrane surface, and a high permeate flux was maintained over a period of 160 h.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.70-80
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• 2018

Natural organic matter (NOM) is among the most common pollutant in underground and surface waters. It comprises of humic substances which contains anionic macromolecules such as aliphatic and aromatic compounds of a wide range of molecular weights along with carboxylic, phenolic functional groups. Although the concentration of NOM in potable water usually lies in the range of 1-10 ppm. Conventional treatment technologies are facing challenge in removing NOM effectively. The main issues are concentrated to low efficiency, membrane fouling, and harmful by-product formation. Ion-exchangers can be considered as an efficient and economic pretreatment technology for the removal of NOM. It not only consumes less time for pretreatment but also resist formation of trihalomethanes (THMs), an unwanted harmful by-product. This article provides a comprehensive review of ion exchange processes for the removal of NOM.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2008

This work was performed to evaluate the effect of membrane material and structure on fouling in a submerged membrane bioreactor(MBR). Three types of microfiltration membranes with the same pore size of 0.1 $\mu$m but different materials, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polycarbonate(PCTE) and polyester(PETE), were used. While PETE membrane exhibited the most rapid flux decline throughout the operation, PCTE and PTFE had a similar tendency with regard to permeability. Difference in permeability between PETE and the other membranes gradually decreased with time, which was probably due to chemical cleaning. The higher TOC rejection of PETE membrane could be attributable to its faster fouling, resulting from a larger amount of foulants to get attached to the membrane in a shorter time. DOC fractionation using a DAX-8 resin showed that the composition of each fraction between the supernatant and permeates did not change significantly with operation time, indicating that membrane hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity was not a dominant factor affecting to MBR fouling in this study. Compared to other membranes, the fouling of PETE membrane was more influenced by pore clogging (irreversible fouling), which would probably contribute to a higher organic rejection of the PETE membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.581-589
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• 2005

Recently, membrane processes have been replacing the conventional processes for waste water treatment to produce better quality of effluent and to meet more stringent regulations because of water shortage. However, using membrane processes for water treatment has confronted with fouling and difficulty in treating dissolved organic pollutants. In this study, membrane process equipped with crossflow microfiltration is combined with coagulation process using alum and PAC to improve permeability and treatment efficiency. The effects of coagulant dosage and optimum membrane operating conditions were investigated from measurement of permeate flow, cumulative volume, total resistance, particle size, dissolved organic pollutant, dissolved aluminium and quality of effluent. Characteristic of PAC coagulation was compared with that of alum coagulation. PAC coagulation reduced membrane fouling because of forming larger particle size and increased permeate velocity and cumulative volume. Less dissolved organic pollutants and dissolved aluminum made decreasing-rate of permeate velocity being lowered. At using $0.2\;{\mu}m$ membrane, cake filtration observed. At using $0.45\;{\mu}m$ membrane, there was floc breakage due to shear stress occurred born circulating operation. It made floc size smaller than membrane pore size, which subsequently to decrease permeate velocity and to increase total resistance. The optimum coagulation dosage was $300{\pm}50\;mg/L$ for both alum and PAC. PAC coagulation was more efficiently used with $0.2\;{\mu}m$ membrane, and the highest permeate flux was in using $0.45\;{\mu}m$membrane. The greatest efficiency of treatment was as follows; turbidity 99.8%, SS 99.9%, $BOD_5$ 94.4%, $COD_{Cr}$ 95.4%, T-N 54.3%, T-P 99.8%.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.22 no.12
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• pp.2205-2213
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• 2000

To investigate removal efficiency of dissolved matter by NF and RO, a pilot plant was operated for six months using groundwater treated by UF membrane. After the pilot plant operation, we performed autopsy test to identify characteristics of foulant attached on the membrane surface applying the used NF and RO in the pilot plant test. In autopsy test, we measured permeate flux and recovery rate of flux by chemical cleaning in each membrane. We also analyzed chemical cleaning disposal to examine component of foulant. Permeate flux of NF and RO1 showed rapid decline after 100 days of operation. Especially, reduction of specific flux in RO1 was more serious than in NF. Specific flux of RO2 with a low recovery rate resulted in gradual flux decline. Removal efficiencies of dissolved inorganic matters as a conductivity were 76.3%, 88.2% and 95.3% respectively for NF, RO1 and RO2, and RO2 presented the highest removal efficiency. And those of dissolved organic matters as TOC were about 80% for both NF and RO. The specific flux of membranes declined gradually from the feed water inlet to outlet of the membrane module and it showed that membrane fouling increased along the feed flow direction. Namely, concentration of pollutants became higher and volume of feed water was less as the feed flow approached to the outlet. It seemed that major foul ants were Ca consolidated into inorganic material and Si consolidated into organic material on the membrane surface. Fe was a great contribution to irreversible fouling. The SEM results indicated that the organic matter was attached to the first layer, closer to the membrane, and then inorganic matter with tetragonal shape layered over them. We could not observe biofouling because microorganism, which was cause of biofouling, was almost pretreated in UF membrane.

• Clean Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2023

Due to water shortages caused by water pollution and climate change, total organic carbon (TOC) standards have been implemented for wastewater discharged from public sewage treatment facilities. Furthermore, there is a growing interest and body of research pertaining to the reuse of sewage treatment water as a secure alternative water resource. The membrane bio-reactor (MBR) method is commonly used for advanced wastewater treatment because it can remove organic and inorganic ions and it does not require or emit any chemicals. However, the MBR process uses a separation membrane (MF), which requires frequent film cleaning due to fouling caused by a high concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS). In this study, process improvement and microbubble cleaning efficiency were evaluated to improve the differential pressure, water flow, and MF fouling, which are the biggest disadvantages of operating the MF. The existing MBR method was improved by installing a precipitation tank between the air tank and the MBR tank in which raw water was introduced. Microbubbles were injected into a separation membrane tank into which the supernatant water from the precipitation tank was introduced. The microbubble generator was operated with a 15 day on, 15 day off cycle for 5 months to collect discharged water samples (4L) and measure TOC. As the supernatant water from the precipitation tank flowed into the separation membrane tank, about 95% of the supernatant water MLSS was removed so the MF fouling from biological contamination was prevented. Due to the application of microbubbles to supernatant water from the precipitation tank, the differential pressure of the separation membrane tank decreased by 1.6 to 2.3 times and the water flow increased by 1.4 times. Applying microbubbles increased the TOC removal rate by more than 58%. This study showed that separately operating the air tank and the separation membrane tank can reduce fouling, and suggested that applying additional microbubbles could improve the differential pressure, water flow, and fouling to provide a more efficient advanced treatment method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.492-497
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• 2014

This study investigated removal characteristics of organic matters in pretreatment and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane processes for seawater desalination. Also, the influence of the changes in characteristics of organic matters on the membrane fouling was assessed. The pretreatment processes included dual media filtration (DMF), pressurized membrane filtration (MF), and submerged membrane filtration (SMF). Turbidity, UV absorption at 254 nm, dissolved organic carbon, size exclusion chromatography (SEC), fluorescence excitation emission matrix (FEEM), and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in raw and processed waters were analyzed. Ions and minerals were not removed by any pretreatment process tested, but were removed over 99% through the RO membrane process. Hydrophobic organics, which can play major role in organic membrane fouling, were relatively readily removed compared with hydrophilic ones. Membrane based pretreatment such as MF and SMF exhibited better removals of organics than conventional DMF. As the levels of organics in pretreated water decreased, the silt density index (SDI) decreased. MF treated water exhibited the lowest SDI value; this is possibly due to the lowest TEP ($0.1-0.4{\mu}m$) concentrations.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05b
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• pp.144-146
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• 2004

Various polymeric hollow fiber membranes have been prepared and been used widely due to their high surface area per unit volume and high permselectivity. However, the organic materials are only limited to mild operating conditions because of their weak thermal stability and ease of fouling.(omitted)

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.434-442
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• 2021

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane has a good membrane durability because of its high mechanical resistance, thermal and chemical stability. However, the strong hydrophobic property of PVDF membrane can induce a low water permeability and easy fouling by proteins and organic matters. In order to improve the anti-fouling properties of PVDF membrane, the PVDF mixed matrix asymmetric membranes impregnated with biofunctional material 𝛽-cyclodextrin (𝛽-CD) in the membrane structure were prepared by phase inversion method. The membrane filtration experiments of pure water and BSA solution were performed using the PVDF/𝛽-CD mixed matrix asymmetric membranes prepared according to the 𝛽-CD contents. The experiments showed that the introduction of 𝛽-CD into the PVDF polymer matrix contributed to increase in the hydrophilic property of the PVDF membranes, and this led to the reduction of contact angles and improvement of anti-fouling properties. The PVDF/𝛽-CD membrane which was prepared using the dope solution with a 2 wt% 𝛽-CD content represented 64 L/m²·h of pure water flux, 95% of BSA rejection and maximum 80% of flux enhancements compared to flux results of the pristine PVDF membrane.