• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.126-132
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• 2022

Water purifiers have a quite different characteristic in comparison with general membrane water treatment processes in which the running and resting are repeated dozens of times a day. In the case of water purifiers using reverse osmosis membranes, this characteristic makes a phenomenon that the total dissolved solids (TDS) of permeate in water purifiers at the beginning of running shows a higher value than a normal value (TDS reduction is lower than a normal value). It is called "TDS creep". The effects of resting times and feed concentrations on the TDS creep were investigated. The feed flushing, the volume increase in permeate side and the flushing with purified water were applied to reduce TDS creep and the effectiveness were observed. Among these trials, the minimization of concentration between feed and permeate side of reverse osmosis membrane like the flushing with purified water can be an ultimate solution to reduce the TDS creep.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.158-167
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• 2023

The increasing concerns for environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources have prompted the development of environmentally sustainable technologies. Pervaporation has garnered attention in recent decades due to its low energy consumption, environmental impact, and performance efficiency. This method has been used to separate chemical species and dehydrate organic solvents, as the membranes can be fine-tuned to fulfill the desired selectivity. Several separation processes, such as reverse osmosis and distillation, are being utilized in both experimental settings and industrial applications. However, pervaporation has several advantages, such as low operating pressure and temperature and a higher rejection rate. Nonetheless, the current state of membrane technology alone can't suffice the demands of practical applications. Composite membranes, on the other hand, can leverage the benefits of both organic and inorganic materials. Many studies have effectively incorporated inorganic nanomaterials such as graphene oxide (GO) and MXene (MX) in polymeric membranes to tackle the current limitations. This review investigates the recent development of 2D composite membranes in pervaporation and evaluates performance enhancement.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.348-356
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• 2022

With the development of the bio industry, membrane chromatography with a high adsorption efficiency is emerging to replace the existing column chromatography used in the downstream processes of pharmaceuticals, food, etc. In this study, through the deacetylation reaction of two commercial cellulose acetate (CA) membranes with different pore sizes, the porous regenerated cellulose (RC) supports for membrane chromatography were obtained to attach the anion exchange ligands. The adsorptive membranes for anion exchange were prepared by attaching an anion exchange ligand ([3-(methacryloylamino) propyl] trimethylammonium chloride) containing quaternary ammonium groups on the RC supports by grafting and UV polymerization. The protein adsorption capacities of the prepared membranes were obtained through both the static binding capacity (SBC) and the dynamic adsorption capacity (DBC) measurement. As a result, the membrane chromatography with the smaller the pore size, the larger the surface area showed the highest protein adsorption capacity. Membrane chromatography which was prepared by using deacetylated commercial CA support with MAPTAC ligand (i.e., RC 0.8 + MAPTAC: 43.69 mg/ml, RC 3.0 + MAPTAC: 36.33 mg/ml) showed a higher adsorption capacity compared to commercial membrane chromatography (28.38 mg/ml).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.442-455
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• 2022

High-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) has been studied as an alternative to low-temperature PEMFC due to its fast activation of electrodes and high resistance to electrode poisoning by carbon monoxide. It is highly required to develop stable PEMs operating at high temperatures even doped by ion-conducting materials for the development of high-performance and durable HT-PEMFC systems. A number of studies have been conducted to develop polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based PEMs for applications in HT-PEMFC due to their high interaction with doped ion-conducting materials and outstanding thermomechanical stability under high-temperature operation. This review focused on the development of PBI-based PEMs showing high performance and durability. Firstly, the characteristic behavior of PBI-based PEMs doped with various ion-conducting materials including phosphoric acid was systematically investigated. And then, a comparison of the physicochemical properties of the PEMs according to the different membrane manufacturing processes was conducted. Secondly, the incorporation of porous polytetrafluoroethylene substrate and/or inorganic composites to PBI matrix to improve the membrane performances was studied. Finally, the construction of cross-linked structures into PBI-based PEM systems by polymer blending method was introduced to improve the PEM properties.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.121-131
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• 2018

Domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) consume about 0.5 % of total electric energy produced annually, which is equivalent to 207.7 billion Korean won per year. To minimize the energy consumption and as a way of mitigating the depletion of energy sources, the sewage treatment strategy should be improved to the level of "energy positive". The core processes for the energy positive sewage treatment include A-stage for energy recovery and B-stage for energy-efficient nitrogen removal. The integrated process is known as the A/B-process. In A-stage, chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) or high rate activated sludge (HRAS) processes can be utilized by modifying the primary settling in the first stage of sewage treatment. CEPT utilizes chemical coagulation and flocculation, while HRAS applies returned activated sludge for the efficient recovery of organic contents. The two processes showed organic recovery efficiencies ranging from 60 to 70 %. At a given recovery efficiency of 80 %, 17.3 % of energy potential ($1,398kJ/m^3$) is recovered through the anaerobic digestion and combustion of methane. Besides, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can recover 85% of organic contents and generate $1,580kJ/m^3$ from the sewage. The recovered energy is equal to the amount of energy consumption by sewage treatment equipped with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX)-based B-stage, $810{\sim}1,620kJ/m^3$. Therefore, it is possible to upgrade STPs as efficient as energy neutral. However, additional novel technologies, such as, fuel cell and co-digestion, should be applied to achieve "energy positive" sewage treatment.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.81-92
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• 2007

Membrane-based separation processes are receiving increasing attention in the scientific community and industry since they provide a desirable alternative to processes that are not easy to achieve by conventional separation technologies. In particular, gas separation using polymeric membranes have annually grown so fast owing to advantages such as easy installation, no moving parts, small footprint and low energy process. The key element is definitely a polymer membrane exhibiting high permeability and high selectivity to compete with other gas separation technologies. Current polymer membranes used for commercial gas separation are a family of hydrocarbon polymers for hydrogen separation, air separation and carbon dioxide separation from natural gas sweetening. Relatively, gas or vapor separation properties of fluoropolymers are not known so much as compared with those of hydrocarbon polymers. Accordingly, in this study, membranes prepared from amorphous perfluoropolymers are of particular interest because of the unique properties of these polymers. The advantages offered by these amorphous perfluoropolymers for use in gas and vapor separation will be discussed. In addition, membrane properties and separation performance will be compared with other membranes available on the market.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.12-21
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• 1990

When a piece of the dorsal skin(cat fish) was observed under a light microscope, melanophores were horizontally expanded and had a few processes filled with melanosomes. They were isolated from one another. Some melanophores looked black, while others were d&k brown. On observation with a transmission electron microscope, the epidermal melanophore of cat fish was highly branched and small segments of processes were found frequendy m the vidnity of the interecellular spaces. The cross section of the processes of melanophore was almost circular, and often invested by a thin layer of epidermal cells. Some processes, however, occurred free m the wide interecellular spaces or at the cytoplasm of the superilcial layers. In the mature melanophore, the cell organelles including melanosomes, mitochondria and free ribosomes were prominent in the perinuclear portions. Many melanosomes were spherical or elipsoidal in shape. Each melanosomes was surrounded by a limiting membrane. The processes of the mature melanophore were well developed, but the processes of the immature melanophores were incompletely developed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.409-415
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• 2014

This study is aimed to separate propylene and propane using membrane process instead of NCC(Naphtha Cracking Center) $C_3$ splitter. Membrane process is a low energy consumption and eco-friendly process while $C_3$ splitter requires high energy consumption in petrochemical processes. In this study, high performance facilitated transport membrane (FTM) is used for propylene/propane separation. FTM module was prepared on top of porous polyetherimide hollow fiber using PVP/$AgBF_4$/TCNQ. We developed simulation program predicting the membrane separation properties under operation conditions. Separation properties of FTM module for propylene and propane were obtained from the simulation program based on the pure gas permeation data. Based on these results, it is predicted that an one-stage membrane process provides 99.5% of propylene at permeate side from a binary gas mixture of 95/5 vol% $C_3H_6$ / vol% $C_3H_8$ supplied as a feed gas.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of submerged hollow fiber MF processes to treat secondary wastewater for water reuse. Specifically, membrane productivity and filtrate water quality were investigated under various operating conditions (i.e. flux, recovery, and backwash rate) at pilot-scale. Membrane fouling became more severe with increasing flux and recovery, suggesting that low flux operation (< 25 LMH) was desirable. At high flux operating(> 37.5 LMH), increasing backwash rate showed only limited success. The biofouling, quantified by PEPA and BFHPC, was also significant in wastewater reclamation, and biogrowth control by chlorine, were necessary to improve membrane productivity. Filtrate water qualities are in good compliance with water reuse regulations regardless of operating conditions (flux, recovery and backwash rate). Particle (e.g. turbidity) removal ranged from 89 to 98%, while only 11 to 21% of organics (e.g. NPDOC) were removed by MF membrane. Only small improvement in biostability (e.g. AOC) was achieved by MF system, and thus, without post disinfection, significant microorganisms might be present in the filtrate due to regrowth. Lastly, in order to further investigate pathogen removal, controlled microbial challenge tests were performed by monitoring Giardia, Cryptosporidium, bacteria and virus, and showed relatively good microbial removal.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2010

Organic/inorganic composite electrolyte membranes were prepared for dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)s with various molecular weight (600, 1,500, 2,000 and 3,400) were ethoxysilated to fabricate organic/inorganic composite materials through sol-gel processes. The electrolyte membranes were produced by doping the composite materials with KI and $I_2$, and their ionic conducting behaviors were investigated. The ionic conductivity of the composite membrane was highly affected by PEG molecular weight. The highest conductivity was shown by the composite membrane prepared with PEG with the molecular weight of 2,000. The composite electrolyte membranes showed considerable improvement of ionic conductivity. Compared to PEO electrolyte membranes, the composite electrolyte membrane by PEG, MW 2,000 showed much higher ionic conductivity.