• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.373-384
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• 2015

In the past few decades, polymeric membrane has played an important role in gas separation applications. For the separation of $CO_2$, one of greenhouse gases, high permselectivity, long-term stability and scale-up are needed. However, conventional polymeric membranes have shown a trade-off relation between permeability and selectivity while inorganic materials are highly permeable but expensive. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) combining the advantages of both polymeric and inorganic materials have become a possible breakthrough for the next-generation gas separation membranes. The MMMs could be either symmetric or asymmetric but the latter is more preferred to improve the permeance. Important factors influencing the MMM fabrication include homogeneous distribution of inorganic particles and good interfacial contact between inorganic filler and organic matrix. Recently, metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have received much attention as a new class of porous crystalline materials and a potential candidate for $CO_2$ separation. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), a sub-branch of MOFs, are the most widely used in MMMs due to small particle size and appropriate pore size for $CO_2$ separation. One of the major issues associated with the incorporation of porous particles in a polymeric membrane is to control the microstructure of the porous particle materials such as particle size, orientation, and boundary conditions etc. In this review, major challenges surrounding MMMs and the strategies to tackle these challenges are given in detail.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.183-189
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• 2008

The present study compared the feasibility of Caco-2 and MDCK cells as an efficient in-vitro model for the drug classification based on Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) as well as an in-vitro model for drug interactions mediated by P-gp inhibition or P-gp induction. Thirteen model drugs were selected to cover BCS Class I{\sim}IV$ and their membrane permeability values were evaluated in both Caco-2 and MDCK cells. P-gp inhibition studies were conducted by using vinblastine and verapamil in MDCK cells. P-gp induction studies were also performed in MDCK cells using rifampin and the P-gp expression level was determined by western blot analysis. Compared to Caco-2 cells, MDCK cells required shorter period of time to culture cells before running the transport study. Both Caco-2 and MDCK cells exhibited the same rank order relationship between in-vitro permeability values and human permeability values of all tested model compounds, implying that those in-vitro models may be useful in the prediction of human permeability (rank order) of new chemical entities at the early drug discovery stage. However, in the case of BCS drug classification, Caco-2 cells appeared to be more suitable than MDCK cells. P-gp induction by rifampin was negligible in MDCK-cells while MDCK cells appeared to be feasible for P-gp inhibition studies. Taken all together, the present study suggests that Caco-2 cells might be more applicable to the BCS drug classification than MDCK-cells, although MDCK cells may provide some advantage in terms of capacity and speed in early ADME screening process.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.66
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• pp.311-319
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• 2023

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is the main structural component of the caveolae on the plasma membrane, which regulates various cellular processes, including cell growth, differentiation, and endocytosis. Although a recent study demonstrated that Cav-1 might be involved in diabetes-associated inflammation, its exact role in the intestine was unclear. In this study, we examined the intestinal expression of Cav-1 in diabetic conditions. We also investigated its effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation by expressing this protein in human intestinal Caco-2 cells lacking Cav-1. We observed that increased Cav-1 levels and decreased expression of tight junction proteins affected intestinal permeability in high-fat diet-induced diabetic mice. When Caco-2 cells were treated with LPS, Cav-1 enhanced the NF-κB signaling. Moreover, LPS reduced the expression of tight junction proteins while it increased cell-cell permeability and reactive oxygen species generation in Caco-2 cells and this effect was amplified by cav-1 overexpression. LPS treatment promoted phosphorylation of tyrosine-14 (Y14) on Cav-1, and the LPS-induced NF-κB signaling was suppressed in cells expressing non-phosphorylatable Cav-1 (tyrosine-14 to phenylalanine mutant), which reduced intestinal barrier permeability. These results suggest that Cav-1 expression promotes LPS-induced inflammation in Caco-2 cells, and phosphorylation of Y14 on Cav-1 might contribute to the anti-inflammatory response in LPS-induced NF-κB signaling and cell permeability.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.463-471
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• 2018

The present paper deals with the liquid-liquid extraction and flat sheet supported liquid membrane studies of Pd(II) separation from nitric acid medium using a novel synthesized ligand, namely, N,N,N',N'-tetraethyl-2,2-thiodiethanthiodiglycolamide (TETEDGA). The effect of various diluents and stripping reagents on the extraction of Pd(II) was studied. The liquid-liquid extraction studies showed complete extraction of Pd(II) in ~ 5 min. The influence of nitric acid and TETEDGA concentration on the distribution of Pd(II) has been investigated. The increase in nitric acid concentration resulted in increase in extraction of Pd(II). Stoichiometry of the extracted species was found to be $Pd(NO_3)_2{\cdot}TETEDGA$ by slope analysis method. Extraction studies with SSCD solution showed negligible uptake of Pt, Cr, Ni, and Fe, thus showing very high selectivity and extractability of TETEDGA for Pd(II). The flat sheet supported liquid membrane studies showed quantitative transport of Pd(II), ~99%, from the feed ($3M\;HNO_3$) to the strippant (0.02 M thiourea diluted in $0.4M\;HNO_3$) using 0.01 M TETEDGA as a carrier diluted in n-dodecane. Extraction time was ~160 min. Parameters such as feed acidity, TETEDGA concentration in membrane phase, membrane porosity etc. were optimized to achieve maximum transport rate. Permeability coefficient value of $2.66{\times}10^{-3}cm/s$ was observed using TETEDGA (0.01 M) as carrier, at 3 M, $HNO_3$ feed acidity across $0.2{\mu}m$ PTFE as membrane. The membrane was found to be stable over five runs of the operation.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.277-296
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• 2016

The aim of this research was to investigate the ability of nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes as a filtration unit for groundwater treatment for drinking water resources. Commercial membranes denoted as TS40, TFC-SR3 and GHSP were used to study the performance based on rejections and fluxes. The investigation has been conducted using natural groundwater obtained from a deep tube well with initial concentration of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) at 7.15 mg/L and 0.87 mg/L, respectively. Experimental results showed that NF membranes exhibited higher fluxes than UF membrane with pure water permeability at 4.68, 3.99 and $3.15L.m^{-2}.h^{-1}.bar^{-1}$, respectively. For metal rejection, these membranes have performed higher removal on Fe with TS40, TFC-SR3 and GHSP membranes having more than 82%, 92% and 86% respectively. Whereas, removal on Mn only achieved up to 60%, 80% and 30%, for TS40, TFC-SR3 and GHSP membranes respectively. In order to achieve drinking water standard, the membranes were efficient in removing Fe ion at 1 and 2 bar in contrast with Mn ion at 4 and 5 bar. Higher rejection of Fe and Mn were achieved when pH of feed solution was increased to more than 7 as TFC-SR3 membrane was negatively charged in basic solution. This effect could be attributed to the electrostatic effect interaction between membrane material and rejected ions. In conclusion, this study proved that NF membrane especially the TFC-SR3 membrane successfully treated local groundwater sources for public drinking water supply in line with the WHO standard.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2018

The purposes of this paper were to improve both fouling and chlorine resistance by increasing the hydrophilicity of the reverse osmosis membrane. In order to improve chlorine resistance, the surface of RO membrane was activated by ultraviolet irradiation, and then it was modified by the sol-gel method using Octyltriethoxysilane (OcTES) such as the silane coupling agent to low sensitivity to chlorine, thereby the polyamide active layer was protected and chlorine resistance was improved. In addition, polyglycerol polyglycidyl ether (PGPE) and sorbitol polyglycidyl ether (SPE) coating with different number of epoxides, ring opening reaction of epoxide improved the anti-fouling resistance. The surface modification condition was optimized by FT-IR, XPS, and contact angle analysis. As a result, the permeability reduction rate of the silane-epoxy modified membrane after the fouling test was decreased about 1.5 times as compared with that of the commercial membrane. And the salt rejection was maintained over 90% at $20,000ppm{\times}hr$ even after chlorine resistance test.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.248-256
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• 2012

A Pd-based hydrogen membranes for hydrogen purification and separation need high hydrogen perm-selectivity. The surface roughness of the support is important to coat the pinholes free and thin-film membrane over it. Also, The pinholes drastically decreased the hydrogen perm-selectivity of the Pd-based composite membrane. In order to remove the pinholes, we introduced various surface pre-treatment such as alumina powder packing, nickel electro-plating and micro-polishing pre-treatment. Especially, the micro-polishing pretreatment was very effective in roughness leveling off the surface of the porous nickel support, and it almost completely plugged the pores. Fine Ni particles filled surface pinholes with could form open structure at the interface of Pd alloy coating and Ni support by their diffusion to the membrane and resintering. In this study, a $4{\mu}m$ surface pore-free Pd-Cu-Ni ternary alloy membrane on a porous nickel substrate was successfully prepared by micro-polishing, high temperature sputtering and Cu-reflow process. And $H_2$ permeation and $N_2$ leak tests showed that the Pd-Cu-Ni ternary alloy hydrogen membrane achieved both high permeability of $13.2ml{\cdot}cm^{-2}{\cdot}min^{-1}{\cdot}atm^{-1}$ permation flux and infinite selectivity.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.109-115
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• 2001

Pore-filled ion-exchange membranes in which polypropylene(PP) microporous membrane was used as a nascent membrane were prepared by an in-situ cross-linking technique. Poly(vinylbenzyl chloride)(PVBCI) reacted with piperazine(PIP) or 1,4-diaminobicyclo[2,2,2]octane(DABCO) in a di-methylforamide(DMF) solution was filled in the pores of the microporous base membrane. After gellation the remaining chloromethyl groups were, then reacted with an amine such as trimethylamine to form positively charged, ammonium site. This will produce the pore-filled anion-exchange membrane. It was shown that this simple 2 step procedure gave dimensionally stable, pore-filled membranes in which the MG of polymer gel and degree of cross-linking could be easily controlled by the concentration of PVBCI and cross-linker in the starting DMF solution. Specially, high water permeability (7.8 kg/$m^2$hr, host membrane: PP3, MG: 73%, degree of cross-linking: 10%, crosslinker: PIP) at ultra low pressure(100 kPa) indicates the produced pore-filled membranes is usable as a water softening membrane.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.321-328
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• 2011

$PrBa_{0.9}Sr_{0.1}Co_2O_{5+{\delta}}$ oxide was synthesized by soild state reaction method. Dense ceramic membrane was prepared using as-prepared powder by pressing and sintering at $1250^{\circ}C$. XRD result of membrane showed double perovskite structure. Leakage and oxygen permeation test were conducted on the membrane sealed by pyrex ring as a sealing material. Oxygen permeation was measured in the temperature range from 850 to $950^{\circ}C$. The oxygen flux of $PrBa_{0.9}Sr_{0.1}Co_2O_{5+{\delta}}$ membrane was increased with the temperature from 0.15 to $0.32mL/cm^2{\cdot}min$.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.138-148
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to identify the cleaning efficiency of fouled multi-bore hollow fiber membranes after purification of contaminated water. The PSf (polysulfone) based hollow fiber membrane manufactured by Pure & B Tech Co., Ltd. Was used in this study. The antifouling characteristics during the water treatment were studied using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model compound and the chemical resistance was evaluated after long-term impregnation in sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solution and Citric acid to understand the long term stability of the membranes. Water permeability and mechanical strength of the membranes after prolonged chemical exposure was measured to observe the change in mechanical stability and long term performance of the membrane. moreover, the recovery efficiency was also evaluated after chemical enhanced backwashing of a membrane contaminated with bovine serum albumin. The PSf hollow fiber membrane exhibited excellent chemical resistance, and it was confirmed that the efficiency of sodium hypochlorite was high as a result of chemical enhanced backwashing.