• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.50-56
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• 2014

Conventional coagulation-gravity settling processes in heavy metal removal have a problem in coagulant cost and instability of the settling efficiency. The authors investigated the effects of pH and slow mixing conditions on heavy metal hydroxide precipitation and the particle size distribution of the precipitate for a precipitation-membrane separation process. The optimum pH values for the hydroxide precipitation ranged from 9 to 10. The addition of $FeCl_3$ did not enhance the heavy metal removal. 20 min of slow mixing at 70 rpm showed the maximum heavy metal removal to meet the water quality criteria for effluent discharge. More than 99.9% of the heavy metal precipitate particles were bigger than $2{\mu}m$.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2017

Pd-based membranes have been widely used in hydrogen purification and separation due to their high hydrogen diffusivity and infinite selectivity. However, it has been difficult to fabricate thin and dense Pd-based membranes on a porous stainless steel(PSS) support. In case of a conventional PSS support having the large size of surface pores, it was required to use complex surface treatment and thick Pd coating more than $6{\mu}m$ on the PSS was required in order to form pore free surface. In this study, we could fabricate thin and dense Pd membrane with only $3{\mu}m$ Pd layer on a new PSS support manufactured by metal injection molding(MIM). The PSS support had low surface roughness and mean pore size of $5{\mu}m$. Pd membrane were prepared by advanced Pd sputter deposition on the modified PSS support using fine polishing and YSZ vacuum filling surface treatment. At temperature $400^{\circ}C$ and transmembrane pressure difference of 1 bar, hydrogen flux and selectivity of $H_2/N_2$ were $11.22ml\;cm^{-2}min^{-1}$ and infinity, respectively. Comparing with $6{\mu}m$ Pd membrane, $3{\mu}m$ Pd membrane showed 2.5 times higher hydrogen flux which could be due to the decreased Pd layer thickness from $6{\mu}m$ to $3{\mu}m$ and an increased porosity. It was also found that pressure exponent was changed from 0.5 on $6{\mu}m$ Pd membrane to 0.8 on $3{\mu}m$ Pd membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2022

Bacteria grow biofilm on various surface such as separation membrane, food packaging film and biomedical device. Growth of biofilm is associated with the formation of a complex structure of exopolysaccharides. Effect of antibacterial effect reduce drastically once the biofilm developed due to the difficulties in mass transport of antimicrobial agent. In order to enhance the antibacterial activity, surface of the membrane is modified, coated or immobilized with functional materials with biocidal properties. One of the idea is to introduce positive charge on the membrane surface by the presence of quaternary ammonium group which might displace divalent metal ion such as magnesium or calcium present in the bacteria cell wall. Efficacy of cell membrane disruption depends on the mobility of the agents available directly on the surface environment. In this review, various biocidal agents like quaternary ammonium group, helamine or zwitter ion containing membrane are discussed.

• Clean Technology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.75-80
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• 2001

In this study, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) plating wastewater in strong acidic condition was treated by reduction and alkalization. Ferrous sulfate ($FeSO_4$), known to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) rapidly at acidic pH, was used as a reductant of Cr(VI). The optimum reduction condition of Cr(VI) was observed at iron to chromium dose ratio of 3:1 by mole concentration. The precipitation of Cr(III) as $Cr(OH)_3$, was achieved by the pH adjustment in the limestone aeration bed. The precipitates were removed less than the upper limit of chromium for effluent at pH over 5.0. The continuous removal of Cr(VI) was performed using the process consisting of reduction vessel, limestone aeration bed, and sedimentation tank coupled with metal screen membrane. As pH was maintained around 5.0 in the limestone aeration bed, insoluble chromic hydroxide flocs was formed continuously. Most chromic hydroxide flocs were filtered by the metal screen membrane with 1450 mesh size, and the treated water to meet the upper limits of chromium for effluent (Cr Conc. 0.25~0.90 mg/l) was obtained in 30 minutes. Periodic backwashing decreased the fouling on the membrane rapidly.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.149-157
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• 2023

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have shown promise in various applications, including molecular separation, dye separation, gas separation, filtration, and desalination. Integrating COFs into membranes enhances permeability, selectivity, and stability, improving separation processes. Combining COFs with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) creates nanocomposite membranes with high permeability and stability, ideal for dye separation. Incorporating COFs into polyamide (PA) membranes improves permeability and selectivity through a synthetic interfacial strategy. Three-dimensional COF fillers in mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) enhance CO₂/CH₄ separation, making them suitable for biogas upgrading. All-nanoporous composite (ANC) membranes, which combine COFs and metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes, overcome permeance-selectivity trade-offs, significantly improving gas permeance. Computational simulations using hypothetical COFs (hypoCOFs) demonstrate superior CO₂ selectivity and working capacity relevant for CO₂ separation and H₂ purification. COFs integrated into thin-film composite (TFC) and polysulfonamide (PSA) membranes enhance rejection performance for organic contaminants, salt contaminants, and heavy metal ions, improving separation capabilities. TpPa-SO₃H/PAN covalent organic framework membranes (COFMs) exhibited superior desalination performance compared to traditional polyamide membranes by utilizing charged groups to enable efficient desalination through electrostatic repulsion, suggesting their potential for ionic and molecular separations. These findings highlight COFs' potential in membrane technology for enhanced separation processes by improving permeability, selectivity, and stability. In this review, COF applied for the separation process is discussed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 2023

Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs), which are composed of a polymer matrix filled with high-performance fillers as a dispersed phase, have been intensively studied for gas separations for the past 30 years. It has been demonstrated that MMMs exhibit superior gas separation performance compared to polymer membranes and are more scalable than polycrystalline membranes. Despite their potential, the commercialization of MMMs has yet to be reported due to several challenging issues. One of the major challenges of MMMs is the non-ideal interface between the continuous polymer phase and dispersed phase, which can result in defect formation (i.e., interfacial voids, etc.). With respect, many MMM studies have focused on addressing the issues through scientific approaches. The engineering approaches for facile and effective large-scale fabrication of MMMs, however, have been relatively underestimated. In this review paper, a novel strategy for fabricating MMMs in a facile and scalable manner using in situ metal-organic framework (MOF) formation is introduced. This new MMM fabrication methodology can effectively address the issues facing current MMMs, likely facilitating the commercialization of MMMs.