• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.283-290
• /
• 2003

To improve membrane performance, the dead-end and Cross-flow ultrafiltration with or without ultrasound irradiation onto the membrane module were carried out using a BSA protein solution. Intermittent or continuous irradiation of ultrasound effectively suppressed the formation of fouling on membrane or removed the fouling layers from membrane. Effect of ultrasound irradiation on the enhancement of ultrafiltration performance was more increased at the operating conditions which form more membrane fouling (at the operating conditions of higher feed concentration and TMP, and lower flow rate). The permeate flukes were enhanced up to 1.9 times in case of the dead-end ultrafiltration and 1.5 times in case of the cross-flow ultrafiltration by ultrasound irradiation onto the membrane module.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.147-154
• /
• 2019

The permeate flux increments of a natural convection instability flow (NCIF) caused by the change of inclined angles ($0{\sim}180^{\circ}$) to gravity of the commercial membrane module were tested in the dead-end membrane filtration of BSA protein solution. The NCIF are more generated as the inclined angle increased from $0^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}$, and the occurred NCIF enhances permeate flux. However, the commercial module can only generate NCIF by completely removing the air gap in module. Since the custom design module designed in this study is permeated in a crossward direction ($90^{\circ}$), NCIF is always generated even if there is the air gap in module. The results of membrane filtration of BSA and dextran solutions using a custom design module showed that the flux in the crossward direction is increased to about 3.8 times for BSA solution and 1.8 times for dextran solution after two hours of operation due to the occurrence of NCIF. Also, NCIF generation is continued during 20 hours filtration of BSA solution, increasing the permeate flux to about 7.5 times. Since the custom design module with a permeation in the crossward direction and NCIF is always generated within the module, so it is possible to expect an increase in permeate flux due to the suppression of fouling formation, and thus to be utilized as a superb dead-end membrane module.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.332-341
• /
• 2012

We studied the effects of induction of natural convection instability flow (NCIF) according to the gravitational orientation (inclined angle) of the membrane cell on the reduction of membrane fouling in the constant-flow ultrafiltration (UF) of colloidal silica solutions. Five colloidal silica solutions with different silica size (average size = 7, 12, 22, 50 nm and 78 nm) were used as UF test solutions. The silica particles in colloidal solutions form cakes on the membrane surface thereby causing severe membrane fouling. The constant-flow UF performance according to the gravitational orientation of the membrane cell (from $0^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}$ inclined angle), was examined in an unstirred dead-end cell. We evaluate the effects of NCIF on the suppression of fouling formation by measuring the variation of transmembrane pressure (TMP) and the increase of critical flux by using the flux-stepping method. In the constant-flow dead-end UF for the smaller size (7, 12 nm and 22 nm) silica colloidal solutions, changing the gravitational orientation (inclined angle) of the membrane cell above the $30^{\circ}$ angle induces NCIF in the membrane module. This induced NCIF enhances back transport of the deposited silica solutes away from the membrane surface, therefore gives for the reduction of TMP. But in the constant-flow UF for the more larger size (50 nm and 78 nm) silica colloidal solutions, NCIF effects are not appearing. The critical flux is increased as increasing the module angle and decreasing the silica size. Those results show that the intesity of NCIF occurrence in membrane module is more higher as increasing the module angle and decreasing the silica size.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.165-170
• /
• 2002

Membrane process was investigated to recover useful components, such as protein from rice-washing water generated in the production of the washed-rice. The filtration experiments were carried out using not only a dead-end Amicon cell to determine suitable membranes but also a hollow fiber ultrafiltration, spiral wound nanofiltration and reverse osmosis modules for home water purification. Ultrafiltration module(molecular weight cut-off : 10,000 dalton) was not suitable for recovery of useful components or protein in the rice-washing water, but nanofiltration and reverse osmosis modules showed a good performance. in the case of 250% concentration of the rice-washing water contained about 9% protein the proteins in concentrates of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis were 18% and 22%, which were about 2 and 2.4 times higher protein concentrations than those of feed, respectively.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.170-176
• /
• 1998

A study on the bioconversion of soluble starch to cyclodextrin(CD) homologue by CGTase was performed in the membrane-enzyme reactor equipped with a dead-end type membrane module. in the batch reactor, the total conversion of soluble starch to CD homologue was decreased rapidly from a maximum value of 45 % with increasing reaction time due to the product inhibition and breakdown of CD homologue to the reducing sugars. However, in the membrane-enzyme reactor, the total conversion of soluble starch was maintained at a constant value of 35 % throughout the reaction, since the membrane(MWCO = 10,000) promptly separated CD homologue from the reaction mixture. After the macdon for 24 hr in the membrane-enzyme reactor using a 10 % soluble starch solution, the cumulative production amount of CD homologue was about 3.7 kg/m$^2$ at the operating pressure of 2 atm.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.84-90
• /
• 2011

We studied the effects of induction of natural convection instability flow (NCIF) according to the gravitational orientation (inclined angle) of the membrane cell on the reduction of membrane fouling in ultrafiltration (UF) of colloidal silica solutions. Five colloidal silica solutions with different silica size (average size = 7, 12, 22, 50 and 78 nm) were used as UF test solutions. The silica particles in colloidal solutions form cakes on the membrane surface thereby causing severe reduction in the flux. The UF performance according to the gravitational orientation of the membrane cell (from 0 to $180^{\circ}$ inclined angle), was examined in an unstirred dead-end cell. We evaluate the effects of NCIF on membrane performance as the flux enhancement ($E_i$). In the dead-end UF of smaller size (7, 12 and 22 nm) silica colloidal solutions, changing the gravitational orientation (inclined angle) of the membrane cell induces NCIF in the membrane module and higher inclined angle and smaller size silica colloidal solution offer more stronger NCIF. This induced NCIF enhances back transport of the deposited silica solutes away from the membrane surface, therefore gives for the improvement of permeate flux. But in UF of more larger size (50 and 78 nm) silica colloidal solutions, NCIF effects are not appearing. These results suggest that the size of colloidal particle affects the extent of NCIF occurrence.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.18-29
• /
• 2019

The dead-end ultrafiltration (UF) of BSA protein solution was performed to investigate the defouling effects of natural convection instability flow (NCIF) induced in membrane module. The permeate fluxes were measured according to the inclined angles ($0{\sim}180^{\circ}$) of membrane module with respect to gravity, and analyzed using the blocking filtration model. NCIF are more induced as the inclined angles increased from $0^{\circ}$ to $180^{\circ}$, and the induced NCIF enhances flux. Comparing the fluxes at $0^{\circ}$ inclined angle (no NCIF induction) and $180^{\circ}$ (maximum NCIF induction), the flux enhancements by NCIF induction are increased about 5 times in the short-term UF operation (2 hours) and about 17 times in the long-term operation (20 hours). As applying the blocking filtration model, it is more suitable to analyze the flux results by using the intermediate blocking model in the early times of UF operation within 15 minutes and then thereafter times by using the cake filtration model. NCIF induced at $180^{\circ}$ inclined angle reduces the intermediate blocking fouling at about 67% in the early times operation and thereafter the cake layer fouling at about 99.9%. The main defouling mechanism of NCIF induced in the membrane module is suppress the formation of protein cake layer.