• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.543-551
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• 2017

Membrane fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR) remains a primary challenge for its wider application. The focus of this study to investigate the influence of iron distribution in activated sludge on gel layer fouling in MBR. Significant reduction in the transmembrane pressure (TMP) rise rates was observed in the presence of iron as result of retarding the gel layer formation time. The spatial distribution of iron had a significant impact on the stratification structure of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) fractions, such as proteins (PN) and polysaccharides (PS). A mitigation of PN or PS from the supernatant to the EPS inner layers was observed in the presence of iron. Compared with the control reactor, the reduction in PN and PS of the supernatant and lower PN/PS rates of the LB-EPS were beneficial to decrease the membrane fouling potential during the gel layer formation. Consequently, the iron addition managed to control gel layer fouling could be a useful strategy in MBR.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.105-114
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• 2018

Membrane fouling in EC-MBR (Electro-Coagulation aided Membrane Bio-Reactor) processes was evaluated according to the operating parameters, such as current density and contact time. In addition, the fouling mechanism was investigated. Compared to the control (i.e., no electro-coagulation), membrane fouling for filtration of the activated sludge suspension after electro-coagulation was reduced significantly. Membrane fouling was improved further when the contact time was doubled under a low current density of $2.5A/m^2$. On the other hand, membrane fouling was not mitigated further, as expected, even though the contact time was doubled from 12 to 24 hr. at a current density of $10A/m^2$. This indicates that the overall decrease in membrane fouling is a function of the product of the current density and contact time. The particle size of the activated sludge flocs after electro-coagulation was changed slightly, which means that the membrane fouling reduction was not attributed to a larger particle size resulting from electro-coagulation. The experimental confirmed that the dynamic membrane made from aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3, and/or aluminum phosphate, Al(PO4), which had been formed during the electro-coagulation, played a key role on the reduction of membrane fouling. The dynamic membrane prevents the particles in the feed solution from deposition to the membrane pores and cake layers. Dynamic membrane formation as a result of electro-coagulation plays a critical role in the mitigation of membrane fouling in EC-MBR.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.71-81
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• 2017

In this study, a series of full-scale extrapolation procedures based on the Granville's similarity scaling method, which was employed by Schultz (2007), is modified and then applied to compare the resistance performance between two different anti-fouling coatings. As an analysis example, the low frictional AF coating based on a novel skin-friction reducing polymer named FDR-SPC (Frictional Drag Reduction Self-Polishing Copolymer), which had been invented by the present author, is employed. The low frictional coating, which gives 25.4% skin frictional reduction in lab test, is estimated to give 18.2% total resistance reduction for a 176k DWT bulk carrier.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.395-409
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• 2017

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a compact and efficient wastewater treatment and reclamation technology; but, it is limited by membrane fouling. The control of membrane fouling significantly increases operational and maintenance costs. Bacteria and their byproducts - extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) - are major contributors to membrane fouling in MBRs. A recent attempt at fouling mitigation is the development of aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) through the integration of a novel biotechnology - aerobic granulation - and MBR. This paper provides an overview on the development of AGMBR to mitigate membrane fouling caused by bacteria and EPS. In AGMBR, EPS are used up in granule formation; and, the rigid structure of granules provides a surface for bacteria to attach to rather than the membrane surface. Preliminary research on AGMBR using synthetic wastewater show remarkable membrane fouling reduction compared to conventional MBR, thus improved membrane filtration. Enhanced performance in AGMBR using actual municipal wastewater at pilot-scale has also been reported. Therefore, further research is needed to determine AGMBR optimal operational conditions to enhance granule stability in long-term operations and in full-scale applications.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.737-744
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• 2016

The investigation of effects on fouling propensity with various viscosity of feed solutions would be better understanding for forward osmosis (FO) performance since the fouling propensity was directly influenced with solution viscosity. Therefore, this study was focused on the FO fouling with model foultants (humic acid, alginate) by altering solution viscosity with change of ionic strength (I.S) and $Ca^{2+}$ concentrations. In the comparison between humic acid and alginate, as expected, the alginate generally caused more severe fouling (almost 35.8 % of flux reduction) based on the solution characteristics (high viscosity) and fouling patterns (coil and gel layer). However, interesting point to note is that the fouling propensity of alginate was more severe even though it was applied with low viscosity of feed conditions (I.S = 20 mM, $Ca^{2+}=1mM$). This might be due to that crossed linked gel layer of alginate on the FO membrane surface could be best formed in the condition of $Ca^{2+}$ presence and higher I.S, and that is more dominant to fouling propensity than the low viscosity of feed solutions.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.323-337
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• 2015

Membrane Fouling was considered as major drawback in various industrial applications. Thus, this paper reviews the surface modification of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes for antifouling performance. Various modification techniques clearly indicate that hydrophilicity has to improve on the PES membrane surface. Moreover, the mechanism of fouling reduction with corresponds to various modification methods is widely discussed. Incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups on PES membrane surface enhances the surface free energy thereby which reduces the fouling. Characterization techniques adopted for the surface modified membranes was also discussed. These studies might be useful for the other researchers to utilize the modification technique for the applications of waste water treatment, chemical process industry and food industry.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1995.10a
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• pp.80-93
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• 1995

Membrane Technology, which has been in use for over twenty five years, has established itself as one of the principle separation methods. With improved technology, Reverse Osmosis ("RO") has been applied to large volume water treatment facilities. UF and MF Membrane Technology has, up until recently, been applied to small scale water treatment facilities. The fouling of membrane has restricted the growth of Membrane Technology in Water Treatment. Membrane fouling compound found in water causes the loss of flux across the membrane by absorbing to membrane and plugging their pores. Various methods have been used in the reduction and prevention of membrane fouling. For RO, a conventional pre-treatment system removes the pollutants, preventing the function decline of RO membrane by keeping SDI < 4 as the standard condition of feed water. UF and MF Membrane Technology that must have pre-treatment function within itself, are required to keep its ability not to be influenced by fouling.y fouling.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.450-460
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• 1995

A modified circulating fluidized bed heat exchanger under severe fouling condition is developed. The effects of fouling deposits on the performance of a heat exchanger are investigated. The principle and operating characteristics of a circulating fluidized bed heat exchanger are dicussed. A modified circulating fluidized bed heat exchanger shows more stable operating than the other circulating fluidized bed heat exchanger. The characteristics of self cleaning and heat transfer enhancement of a circulating fluidized bed heat exchanger are studied. The movement of spherical particles in a tube is visualized and heat transfer enhancement and scale reduction mechanism by particles are investigated.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.429-436
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• 2005

A coagulation/ultrafiltration membrane hybrid system was operated to treat river water with capacity of $0.06m^3/d$. The impact on membrane fouling by flux and linear velocity was investigated. It is known that pressure increase is proportional to flux increase. However, pressure increase was much faster than theoretical value in the pilot plant test. So it was suggested that flux was on important factor in ultrafiltration of continuous operation. Membrane fouling was decreased when linear velocity was increased. This phenomenon was found more obviously without coagulation. With the combination of coagulation and sedimentation, membrane fouling was not reduced conspicuously. Big particles formed during coagulation and sedimentation were destroyed by feed and circulation pumping, which resulted in little effect on membrane fouling reduction. The degree of destruction was similar at various linear velocities. In this study, the hollow fiber membrane was used and the system was operated in pressure type module. In case of the system used in this study, membrane fouling has been affected lightly by linear velocity variation when coagulation pretreatment was applied.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2016

Organic fouling observed in submerged membrane filtration as a pretreatment for seawater desalination increases energy consumption for membrane operation because of requiring frequent chemical cleaning and membrane replacement. In membrane pretreatment for seawater facing with algae blooms, membrane fouling was observed in submerged microfiltration using sodium alginate model compound which is one of the main components of extracellular polymeric substances. Without aeration, aglinate fouling increased with its concentration while aeration reduced the alginate fouling effectively regardless of its concentration tested. In the absence of aeration, alingate fouling tended to be decreased with increasing calcium concentration. However, this effectiveness was reduced by increasing sodium chloride concentration. At high concentration of sodium chloride and calcium similar to the seawater conditions, aeration reduced initial fouling. However, as time progressed, the effect of increased airflow rate on fouling reduction was not significant, implying that optimum airflow rate to control alginate fouling in submerged microfiltration can exist.