The permeate flux decline due to membrane fouling can be addressed using a variety of theoretical stand-points. Judicious selection of an appropriate theory is a key toward successful prediction of the permeate flux. The essential criterion f3r such a decision appears to be a detailed characterization of the feed solution and membrane properties. Modem theories are capable of accurately predicting several properties of colloidal systems that are important in membrane separation processes from fundamental information pertaining to the particle size, charge, and solution ionic strength. Based on such information, it is relatively straight-forward to determine the properties of the concentrated colloidal dispersion in a polarized layer or the cake layer properties. Incorporation of such information in the framework of the standard theories of membrane filtration, namely, the convective diffusion equation coupled with an appropriate permeate transport model, can lead to reasonably accurate prediction of the permeate flux due to colloidal fouling. The schematic of the essential approach has been delineated in Figure 5. The modern approaches based on appropriate cell models appear to predict the permeate flux behavior in crossflow membrane filtration processes quite accurately without invoking novel theoretical descriptions of particle back transport mechanisms or depending on adjust-able parameters. Such agreements have been observed for a wide range of particle size ranging from small proteins like BSA (diameter ${\~}$6 nm) to latex suspensions (diameter ${\~}1\;{\mu}m$). There we, however, several areas that need further exploration. Some of these include: 1) A clear mechanistic description of the cake formation mechanisms that clearly identifies the disorder to order transition point in different colloidal systems. 2) Determining the structure of a cake layer based on the interparticle and hydrodynamic interactions instead of assuming a fixed geometrical structure on the basis of cell models. 3) Performing well controlled experiments where the cake deposition mechanism can be observed for small colloidal particles (< $1\;{\mu}m$). 4) A clear mechanistic description of the critical operating conditions (for instance, critical pressure) which can minimize the propensity of colloidal membrane fluting. 5) Developing theoretical approaches to account for polydisperse systems that can render the models capable of handing realistic feed solutions typically encountered in diverse applications of membrane filtration.

PP hollow fiber membrane was hydrophilized by EVOH dip coating followed by low temperature plasma treatment and UV irradiation. EVOH coating attained high water flux without any prewetting but its stability did not guaranteed at high water permeation rate. At high water permeation rate, water flux declined gradually due to swelling and delamination of the EVOH coating layer causing pore blocking effect. However, plasma treatment reduces the swelling, which suppress delamination of the EVOH coating layer from PP support result in relieving the flux decline. Also, UV irradiation helped the crosslinking of the EVOH coating layer to enhance the performance at low water permeation rate. FT-IR and ESCA analyses reveal that EVOH dip coating performed homogeneously through not only membrane surface but also matrix. Thermogram of EVOH film modified plasma treatment and W irradiation show that crosslinking density of EVOH layer increased. Chemical modification by plasma treatment and UV irradiation stabilized the hydrophilic coating layer to increase the critical flux of the submerged membrane.

The feasibility of producing sulfuric acid and ammonia water from ammonium sulfate was investigated by an integrated process including ammonia stripping (AS) and electrodialysis with bipolar membrane (EDBM). It was suggested that the production of sulfuric acid using ammonia stripping-electrodialysis with bipolar membrane (ASEDBM) was effective in obtaining high concentration of sulfuric acid compared with EDBM alone. AS was carried out over pH 11 and within the range of temperatures, $20^{\circ}C{\~}60^{\circ}C$. Sodium sulfate obtained using AS was used as the feed solution of EDBM. The recovery of ammonia increased from $40\%$ to $80\%$ at $60^{\circ}C$ due to the increased mobility of ammonium ion. A pilot-scale EDBM system, which is composed of two compartments and 10 cell pairs with an effective membrane area of $200 cm^2$ per cell, was used for the recovery of sulfuric acid. The performance was examined in the range of 0.1 M${\~}$1.0 M concentration of concentrate compartment and of $25 mA/cm^2{\~}62.5 mA/cm^2$ of current density. The maximum current efficiency of $64.9\%$ was obtained at 0.1 M sulfuric acid because the diffusion rate at the anion exchange membrane decreased as the sulfuric acid of the concentrate compartment decreased. It was possible to obtain the 2.5 M of sulfuric acid in the $62.5 mA/cm^2$ with a power consumption of 13.0 kWh/ton, while the concentration of sulfuric acid was proportional to the current density below the limiting current density (LCD). Thus, the integrating process of AS-EDBM enables to recover sulfuric acid from the wastewaters containing ammonium sulfate.

The wastewater discharged from a paper plant was filtrated by 3 kinds of tubular carbon ceramic UF and MF membranes with $N_2$-backflushing. The filtration time (FT) was fixed at 8 min or 16 min, and $N_2$-backflushing time (BT) was changed in 0${\~}$60 sec. The optimal condition was discussed in the viewpoints of total permeate volume ($V_T$), dimensionless permeate flux (J/Jo) and resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$). In the viewpoints of $V_T$, J/Jo and $R_f$, the optimal $N_2$-BT was 40 sec at both FT for M9 (MWCO: 300,000 Daltons) and C005 ($0.05{\mu}m$) membranes. However, for C010 ($0.1{\mu}m$) it was 10 sec at FT=8 min, and 20 sec at FT=16 min in the viewpoints of J/Jo and $R_f$, and 5 sec at both FT in the viewpoints of $V_T$. It means that the short $N_2$-BT could reduce the membrane fouling and recover the permeate flux sufficiently for MF membrane having a large pore size as C010. Average rejection rates of pollutants were higher than $99.0\%$ for turbidity and $22.8{\~}59.6\%$ for $COD_{cr}$, but rejection rates of total dissolved solid (TDS) were lower than $8.9\%$. Therefore, the low turbidity water purified in our system could be reused for paper process.

Among ceramic membranes developed to date, amorphous silica membranes are attractive for gas separation at elevated temperatures. Most of the silica membranes can be formed on a porous support by sol-gel or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. To improve gas permselectivity of the membrane, well-controlled pores having desired size and chemical affinity between permeates and membrane become important factors in the preparation of membranes. In this article, we review the literature and introduce our technologies on the microstructure to be solved and pore size control of silica membranes using sol-gel and CVD methods.

Pervaporation with a membrane is one of the economic technologies for separation of liquid mixtures including organic/water mixtures. The ZSM-5 membrane was used fur pervaporation of dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene from their aqueous solutions since its physical property shows very hydrophobic. ZSM-5 crystals were hydrothermally grown and deposited on the inside of a porous sintered stainless steel tube by the secondary growth method. Fluxes of dichlorinated organic compounds were observed to be $50{\~}429\;g/m^2/h$ while separation factors were $15{\~}320$ depending on a mole fraction of a dichlorinated organic compound in a feed solution ranged from 0.0001 to 0.001 mole fraction and the operation temperature between $25^{\circ}C\;and\;35^{\circ}C$.

Nanofiltration (NF) of a dyeing wastewater was carried out using polyamide NF-membranes. Before applying the wastewater to the membrane process, it was pretreated with various chemical coagulants such as alum, ferric chloride and HOC-100A. In order to see the effect of the pretreatment of the wastewater using chemical coagulants on the membrane separation process, the optimum conditions for the coagulation and sedimentation process using the chemical coagulants were sought. By the pretreatment, despite the different coagulants used, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and UV-absorbance of the wastewater were lowered by more than $70\%$. The pretreated wastewater was then applied to the membrane process. The effect of the coagulants used for the pretreatment on the membrane fouling was studied. From this study, it was found that the HOC-100A was the best out of the coagulants used far the removal of the materials that could cause membrane fouling.

It is well known as the role of ion exchange membrane with functional group in membrane matrix. Recently, we were reported that the charged mosaic membrane within parallel array of negative and positive charge groups. In this study we are reported the properties for the various transport coefficients of metal and heavy metal ions across charged mosaic membrane based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics is not based on equilibrium state.