• Membrane Journal
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.201-211
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• 2011

The effects of humic acid (HA), photo-oxidation and adsorption were investigated in hybrid process of ceramic ultrafiltration and photocatalyst for drinking water treatment. UF, photocatalyst, and UV radiation processes were investigated in viewpoints of membrane fouling resistance $(R_f)$, permeate flux (J), and total penneate volume $(V_{\Upsilon})$ at 2 and 4 mg/L of HA respectively. As decreasing HA, $R_f$ decreased dramatically and J increased, and finally $V_{\Upsilon}$ was the highest at 2 mg/L HA. Average treatment efficiencies of turbidity decreased as increasing HA, but treatment efficiency of HA was the highest at 4 mg/L HA. It was because most of HA was removed by membrane and some HA passing through the membrane was adsorbed or photo-oxidized by photocatalyst at low HA, and therefore treated water quality was almost same at 2 and 4 mg/L HA, but feed water quality was higher at 4 mg/L. At effect experiment of photo-oxidation and adsorption, J of UF + $TiO_2$ + UV process was maintained at the highest, and ultimately $(V_{\Upsilon})$ after 180 minutes' operation was the highest. As results of comparing the treatment efficiencies of turbidity and HA, photocatalyst adsorption had more important role than photo-oxidation when HA increased from 2 to 4 mg/L.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.8-20
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• 2002

In this study using $N_2$-back flushing, which wwas not the general back-flushing method of membranes, the discharged wastewater from a paper plant was filtrated by 4 kinds of tubular carbon ceramic ultrafiltration membranes. We could in vestigate effects of $N_2$-back flushing period, transmembrane pressure (TMP)and flow rate and find optimal operating conditions. The $N_2$-back flushing time (BT) was fixed at 40 sec, filtration times (FT) were changed in 4~32 min, TNP in $1.0~3.0kg_f/cm^2$ the flow celocities in 0.53~1.09cm/s. The optimal conditions were discussed in the viewpoints of dimensionless permeate flux ($J/J_0$), toal permeate volume ($V_T$) and resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$). Optimal back-flushing period was BT/FT=0.167 (FT=8 min ), in which more $V_T$ was obtained than that in BT/FT=0.083 (FT=4 min) which was the most friquent back-flushing condition. Then rising TMP should increase the driving force, and more $V_T$ could be accumulated. And rising flow rate should decrease membrane fouling increase permeate flux, and more $V_T$could be produced. Average rejection rates of pollutants were higher than 95% for turbidity and 45~83% for $COD_{Cr}$, but rejection rates of total dissolved solid (TDS) were lower than 10%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.359-368
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• 2012

For hybrid water treatment of high turbidity water, we used the hybrid module that was composed of photocatalyst packing between tubular membrane outside and module inside. Photocatalyst was PP (polypropylene) bead coated with $TiO_2$ powder by CVD (chemical vapor deposition) process. Water back-flushing of 10 sec was performed per every period of 10 min to minimize membrane fouling for modified solution was prepared with humic acid and kaolin. Resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$) decreased as humic acid concentration changed from 10 mg/L to 2 mg/L, and finally the highest total permeate volume ($V_T$) could be obtained at 2 mg/L, which was the same with the previous results. Then, treatment efficiencies of turbidity and humic acid were above 98.9% and 88.7%, respectively. As results of treatment portions of UF, UF + $TiO_2$, and UF + $TiO_2$ + UV processes, turbidity was treated little by photocatalyst adsorption, and photo-oxidation. However, treatment portions of humic acid by adsorption and photo-oxidation were 2.5% and 12.3%, respectively. Compared with the previous results, treatment portions of humic acid by adsorption and photo-oxidation were different depending on membrane material and pore size. As simplified the process, the membrane fouling resistance after 180 minutes' operation ($R_{f,180}$) increased and the final permeate flux decreased a little.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.373-383
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• 2018

Fouling by solids and microorganisms is the major obstacle limiting the efficient use of membrane wastewater treatment. In our previous study, two stages microalgae/membrane filtration system was proposed to treat anaerobic digested palm oil mill effluent (AnPOME). This two stages microalgae/membrane filtration system had showed great potential for the treatment of AnPOME with high removal of COD, $NH_3-N$, $PO_4{^{3-}}$, TSS, turbidity, and colour. However, fouling behavior of the membrane in this two stages microalgae/membrane filtration system was still unknown. In this study, empirical models that describe permeate flux decline for dead-end filtration (pore blocking - complete, intermediate, and standard; and cake layer formation) presented by Hermia were used to fit the experimental results in identifying the fouling mechanism under different experimental conditions. Both centrifuged and non-centrifuged samples were taken from the medium with 3 days RT intervals, from day 0 to day 12 to study their influence on fouling mechanisms described by Hermia for ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO) filtration mode. Besides, a more detailed study on the use of resistance-in-series model for deadend filtration was done to investigate the fouling mechanisms involved in membrane filtration of AnPOME collected after microalgae treatment. The results showed that fouling of UF and NF membrane was mainly caused by cake layer formation and it was also supported by the analysis for resistance-in-series model. Whereas, fouling of RO membrane was dominated by concentration polarization.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.563-574
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• 2017

Antibacterial effective, high performanced, novel ZnO embedded composite membranes were obtained by blendig ZnO nanoparticles with polysulfone. IR, TG/DTG, XRD and SEM analysis were performed to characterize structure and morphology of ZnO nanoparticles and composite membranes. Contact angle, EWC, porosity and pore structure properties of composite membranes were investigated. Cross-flow filtration studies were performed to investigation of performances of prepared membranes. It was found from the cross section SEM images that ZnO nanoparticles dispersed homogenously up to additive amount of 2% and the membrane skin layer thicknesses increased in the presence of ZnO. Contact angle of pure PSf membranes were reduced from $70^{\circ}$ to $55^{\circ}$ after addition of 4% ZnO. Porosity of composite membrane contains 1% ZnO was higher about 22% than pure PSf membrane. BSA rejection ratio and PWF of 0.5% ZnO embedded composite membrane became 2.2 and 2.3 times higher than pure PSf membrane. It was determined from flux recovery ratios that ZnO additive increased the fouling resistance of composite membranes. Also, the bacterial killing ability of ZnO is well known and there are many researches related to this in the literature. Therefore, it is expected that prepared composite membranes will show antibacterial effect.

• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2005

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.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 2019

The roles of polypropylene (PP) beads and pH on membrane fouling and treatment efficiency were investigated in a hybrid advanced water treatment process of tubular carbon fiber membranes (ultrafiltration (UF) or microfiltration (MF)) and PP beads. The synthetic feed including humic acid and kaolin flowed inside the membrane, and the permeated contacted the PP beads fluidized in the space between the membrane and the module with UV irradiation and periodic water back-flushing. In the hybrid process of UF ($0.05{\mu}m$) and PP beads, final resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$) after 180 min increased as PP beads increased. The turbidity treatment efficiency was the maximum at 30 g/L; however, that of dissolved organic matters (DOM) showed the highest at PP beads 50 g/L. The $R_f$ strengthened as pH of feed increased. It means that the membrane fouling could be inhibited at low alkali condition. The treatment efficiency of turbidity was almost constant independent of pH; however, that of DOM showed the maximum at pH 5. For MF ($0.1{\mu}m$), the final $R_f$ was the minimum at PP beads 40 g/L. The treatment efficiencies of turbidity and DOM were the maximum at PP beads 10 g/L.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2001

Rapid backpulsing to reduce membrane fouling of hollow fiber ultrafiltration module (polyacrylonitrile with 50000 l'vlWCO, 1.4 rom OD and 0,9 mm ID) was studied with latex solutions. Values estimated by a theoretical model were compared with the ones obtained from the systems with or without backpulsing, Specific Cake resistance, time consUmt for cake growth, diffusion coefficient, and the rate constants of fnur fouling models; the complete, intermediate. standard blocking and cake filtration were calculated to obtain the theoretical values. High frequency backpulsing gave net increase of fluxes by 40~120%. Fluxes predicted by the model were in good agreement with experimental ones within 14% error bound, The optimum backpulsing strength was acquired at 20% in the ranges of 20~40% strength and the optimum frequcncv was acquired at 2 Hz in the ranges of 0.67~3 Hz.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.86-95
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• 1996

Rotary disc ultrafiltration module(RDM) was developed for the separation of oil e$$\mu$sions. This module was devised to reduce the gel polarization phenomenon by decoupling the operation pressure and the surface velocity of solution in ultrafiltration(UF) processes. The rotary disc membrane consists of 3mm-thick ABS plate covered with UF membrane (UOP, U.S.A.). When the angular velocity($\omega$) was increased, the pure water flux was slightly decreased due to pressure drop caused by centrifugal force and slip flow at the surface of membrane. The pressure drop was proportional to the square of linear velocity(${\omega}r$). When the angular velocity was changed from 52.36rad/s to 2.62rad/s, the flux decline for 5% cutting oil in one-shaft RDM at $25^{\circ}C$ and 0.1MPa was 30.16%. In the lower concentrations, angular velocity tends to give less effect on the flux. Flux(J; $kg/m^{2} \cdot s$) in a rotating disc module is mainly a function of the bulk concentration($C_{B}$; %), the linear velocity(${\omega}r$; m/s) and the effective transmembrane pressure($\Delta P_{T}$ ; Pa). Using a modified resistance-in-series model, the flux data of cutting oil experiments were fitted to give the following equation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.301-309
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• 2016

The effects of water back-flushing time (BT) and photocatalyst-coated polypropylene (PP) beads were investigated in hybrid water treatment process of alumina microfiltration and the PP beads in this study, and compared with the previous study with alumina ultrafiltration membrane and the same PP beads. The BT was changed in the range of 6~30 s with fixed 10 min of back-flushing period (FT). Then, the BT effects on resistance of membrane fouling ($R_f$), permeate flux (J) and total permeate volume ($V_T$) were observed during total filtration time of 180 min. As longer BT, $R_f$ decreased and J increased dramatically; however, $V_T$ was the maximum at BT 10 s. The treatment efficiency of turbidity was high beyond 99.0%, and the BT effect was not shown. The treatment efficiency of organic matters was the highest value of 89.0% at no back-flushing (NBF), and increased as longer BT. The optimum input concentration of the PP beads was 20 g/L in the viewpoint of membrane fouling; however, the optimum PP beads of the previous study was 40 g/L. The treatment efficiency of turbidity and organic matters were the maximum at 30 g/L of the PP beads; however, those of the previous study with alumina ultrafiltration membrane and the same PP beads were the highest at 40 g/L.