• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.553-559
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• 2016

There has been increasing global interest in the environmental pollution problems produced by fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In order to tackle these issues, new renewable energy such as solar, wind, bio gas, fuel cell and pressure retarded osmosis(PRO) have been developed extensively. Among these energy sources, PRO is one of the salinity gradient power generation methods. In PRO, energy is obtained by the osmotic pressure generated from the concentration difference between high and low concentration solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane. The development for high power density PRO membranes is imperative with the purpose of commercialization. This study investigates development of thin film composite PRO membrane and spiral wound module for high power density. Also, the influence of membrane backing layer on power density was identified, and the characteristic factors of PRO membranes was determined. Different backing layers were used to improve power density. As expected, the PRO membrane with more porous backing layer showed higher power density.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.303-310
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• 2017

Pressure retarded osmosis(PRO) has attracted much attention as potential technology to reduce the overall energy consumption for reverse osmosis(RO) desalination. The RO/PRO hybrid process is considered as the most logical next step for future desalination. The PRO process aims to harness the osmotic energy difference of two aqueous solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane. By using the concentrated water(RO brine) discharged from existing RO plants, the PRO process can effectively exploit a greater salinity gradient to reduce the energy cost of processing concentrated water. However, in order to use RO brine as the draw solution, PRO membrane must have high water flux and enough mechanical strength to withstand the high operational pressure. This study investigates the development of a thin film composite PRO membrane and spiral wound module for high power density. Also, the influence of membrane backing layer on the overall power density was studied using the characteristic factors of PRO membranes. Finally, the performance test of an 8-inch spiral wound module was carried out under various operating conditions(i.e. hydraulic pressure, flow rate, temperature). As the flow rate and temperature increased under the same hydraulic pressure, the PRO performance increased due to the growth of water permeability coefficient and osmotic pressure. For a high performance PRO system, in order to optimize the operating conditions, it is highly recommended that the flow pressure be minimized while the flow rate is maintained at a high level.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.285-292
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• 2021

Osmotic power is to produce electric power by using the chemical potential of two flows with the difference of salinity. Water permeates through a semipermeable membrane from a low concentration feed solution to a high concentration draw solution due to osmotic pressure. In a pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) process, river water and wastewater are commonly used as low salinity feed solution, whereas seawater and brine from the SWRO plant are employed as draw solution. During the PRO process using wastewater effluent as feed solution, PRO membrane fouling is usually caused by the convective or diffusive transport of PRO which is the most critical step of PRO membrane in order to prevent membrane fouling. The main objective of this study is to assess the PRO membrane fouling reduction by pretreatment to remove organic matter using coagulation-UF membrane process. The experimental results obtained from the pretreatment test showed that the optimum ferric chloride and PAC dosage for removal of organic matter applied for the coagulation and adsorption process was 50 mg/L as FeCl₃ (optimum pH 5.5). Coagulation-UF pretreatment process was higher removal efficiency of organic matter, as also resulting in the substantial improvement of water flux of PRO membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.299-312
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• 2016

The main objective of this paper is to develop computer simulation program for performance evaluation and cost estimation of a reverse osmosis (RO) and pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) hybrid process to propose guidelines for its economic competitiveness use in the field. A solution-diffusion model modified with film theory and a simple cost model was applied to the simulation program. Using the simulation program, the effects of various factors, including the Operating conditions, membrane properties, and cost parameters on the RO and RO-PRO hybrid process performance and cost were examined. The simulation results showed that the RO-PRO hybrid process can be economically competitive with the RO process when electricity cost is more than 0.2 $/kWh, the PRO membrane cost is same as RO membrane cost, the power density is more than $8W/m^2$ and PRO recovery is same as 1/(1-RO recovery).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.133-138
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• 2015

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) process is one of membrane processes for harvesting renewable energy by using salinity difference between feed and draw solutions. Power is generated by permeation flux multiplied by hydraulic pressure in draw side. Membrane fouling phenomena in PRO process is presumed to be less sever, but it is inevitable. Membrane fouling in PRO process decreases water permeation through membrane, resulting in significant power production decline. This study intended to investigate the effect of hydraulic pressure in PRO process on alginate induced organic fouling as high and low hydraulic pressures (6.5 bar and 12 bar) were applied for 24 h under the same initial water flux. In addition, organic fouling in draw side from the presence of foulant (sodium alginate) in draw solution was examined. As major results, hydraulic pressure was found to be not a significant factor affecting in PRO organic fouling as long as the same initial water flux is maintained, inidicating that operating PRO process with high hydraulic pressure for efficient energy harvesting will not cause severe organic fouling. In addition, flux decline was negligible from the presence of organic foulant in draw side.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.425-431
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• 2013

This paper has studied the hydrophilizing effect of support on the performance of pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The hydrophilicity of polyester support has been controlled with cellulose solutions. In order to investigate the effect of hydrophilizing of support, the performance test has been conducted with membrane which compose of active layer and support in absence of support layer. The active layer has been made by casting of cellulose tri-acetate (CTA) 1,4-dioxane solution (13 wt%) and combined with the hydrophilized support. The results show that water fluxes of PRO membranes with hydrophobic or hydrophilized support were measured $0.8L/m^2hr$ and $1.2L/m^2hr$ under $5kgf/cm^2$ pressure, respectively. However, water flux increase did not accord with hydrophilicity of supports treated by cellulose solutions. It is because the porosity and pore size of supports decrease as the cellulose concentration increases. This result confirms that both the hydrophilization of support and the maintenance of membrane porosity are important to enhance the performance of PRO membrane.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.401-408
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• 2016

Desalination is getting more attention as an alternative to solve a global water shortage problem in the future. Especially, a desalination technology is being expected as a new growth engine of Korea's overseas plant business besides one of the solutions of domestic water shortage problem. In the past, a thermal evaporation technology was a predominant method in desalination market, but more than 75% of the current market is hold by a membrane-based reverse osmosis technology because of its lower energy consumption rate for desalination. In the future, it is expected to have more energy efficient desalination process. Accordingly, various processes are being developed to further enhance the desalination energy efficiency. One of the promising technologies is a desalination process combined with Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) process. The PRO technology is able to generate energy by using osmotic pressure of seawater or desalination brine. And the other benefits are that it has no emission of $CO_2$ and the limited impact of external environmental factors. However, it is not commercialized yet because a high-performance PRO membrane and module, and a PRO system optimization technology is not sufficiently developed. In this paper, the recent research direction and progress of the SWRO-PRO hybrid desalination was discussed regarding a PRO membrane and module, an energy recovery system, pre-treatment and system optimization technologies, and so on.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.352-358
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• 2012

In this study, we found structure-property relationship for pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) membrane, between BPS-XX and BisA-XX having similar structure but different free volume. And this comparison was subdivided by controlling its sulfonation degree. BPS-XX and BisA-XX were prepared via a polycondensation reaction. The degree of sulfonation were 20 to 60 mol.%. And they were fabricated to membrane. Characteristics were analyzed to verify of free volume. And the results showed that increase of free volume normally lead to increase permeability and decrease selectivity in equivalent molecule structure. Finally, in the permeability-selectivity results, we conclude high permeability and selectivity membrane can be prepared by controlling molecular structure and free volume.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.367-372
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• 2015

In pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) and forward osmosis (FO) processes, solvent (permeate) flux depends on which surface the draw solution faces. There are two operation modes. PRO mode indicates that the active layer faces the draw solution, and FO mode means that the porous substrate fronts the draw stream. It is often observed that the PRO mode produces higher flux than that of FO under the same operating conditions. The current work uses the method of proof by contradiction, and mathematically proves the intrinsic flux inequality between the two modes.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.858-862
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• 2008

Membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) is a zinc-dependent proteinase found in cholesterol-rich lipid rafts on the plasma membrane. MT1-MMP hydrolyzes extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, activates pro-matrix metalloproteinase-2 (proMMP-2) and plays an important role in ECM remodeling, cancer cell migration and metastasis. The role of caveolin-1, an integral protein of caveolae, in the activation of MT1-MMP remains largely unknown. Here, we show that the expression of caveolin-1 attenuates the activation of proMMP-2, reduces proteolytic cleavage of ECM and inhibits cell migration. We utilized the cytoplasmic tail domain deletion (${\Delta}CT$) or the E240A mutant of MT1-MMP. Co-expression of caveolin-1 with the wild-type or the ${\Delta}CT$ MT1-MMP decreased the proMMP-2 activation and inhibited collagen degradation and cell migration. Caveolin-1 had no effect on the catalytically inert E240A MT1-MMP. Our findings suggest that caveolin-1 is essential in the down-regulation of MT1-MMP activity by promoting internalization from the cell surface.