• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.61-65
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• 2013

Water is an integral part of energy production because it is used directly in many power generation systems such as hydroelectric power plants and thermoelectric power plants. Water is also used extensively in energy-resource extraction, oil, natural gas, and alternative fuels refining and processing. Recently, osmotic power systems using seawater and freshwater has been also investigated to produce electricity in a sustainable way. This study focused on the use of RO and PRO for the mutual conversion of water and energy. This system allows the production of water from seawater if there is not enough water. It can also generate electricity from salinity gradient of brine water and fresh water if there is not enough energy. To demonstrate the feasibility of this technology, a set of laboratory-scale experiments were carried out using a specially-designed RO/PRO system. The efficiency of energy conversion was theoretically estimated based on the results from the experiments. The results indicated that water and energy could be easily converted using a single device. Nevertheless, a lack of optimum membrane for this purpose was identified as a major barrier for practical application.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.7-12
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• 2004

Desalination system of revers osmosis(RO) membrane has been proven to be the most economical not only for the desalination of water containing salts, but also for the concentration of solute. RO membranes were traditionally made of inorganic polymers such. as cellulose acetate(CA), Polyamide(PA). To retain more minerals in deep ocean water, a new hybrid membrane composed of tourmaline film as organic material onto inorganic layer of CA polymer in asymmetric structure was developed for RO membrane process. The performance tests were carried out in the permeability of pure water and the rejection of NaCl solution to evaluate the adaptability for DOW desalination. The results of these basic tests show possibility to apply the new hybrid RO membrane for the desalination with function control.

• Clean Technology
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.179-185
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• 2001

Some companies are trying to develop the microfiltration membranes because most of them used as a prefilter is imported in Korea. However, they are faced with much difficulty such as characterization of membrane and controlling of pore size on development. In this study, a microfiltration membrane developed by a company was evaluated for applicability to use as a prefilter before reverse osmosis membrane process in production of ultra pure water. The optimum feed pressure for the raw water was obtained at 0.2 to 0.4 atm. At that time, turbidity of the treated water was 0.4 NTU and flux was 6,000 to $9,000L/m^2/hr$. In case of the conventionally treated water, it showed the very stable flux and turbidity at 90% of recovery rate. The chemical cleaning was helpful to reduce the TMP for treated water. The turbidity was improved from 0.3 NTU to 0.1 NTU after chemical cleaning.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.517-523
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• 2014

In order to remove both nitrate and sulfate present in the concentrate of RO(reverse osmosis) process, a combined bio-regeneration and ion-exchange(IX) system was studied. For this purpose, both denitrifying bacteria(DNB) and sulfate reducing bacteria(SRB) were simultaneously cultivated in a bio-reactor under anaerobic conditions. When the IX column containing a nitrate-selective A520E resin was fully exhausted by nitrate and sulfate, the IX column was bio-regenerated by pumping the supernatant of the bio-reactor, which contains MLSS concentration of $125{\pm}25mg/L$, at the flowrate of 360 BV/hr. Even though the nitrate-selective A520E resin was used, the breakthrough curves of ionic species showed that sulfate was exhausted earlier than nitrate. The reason for this result is due to the fact that the concentration of sulfate in RO concentrate was 36 to 48 times higher than nitrate. The bio-reactor was successfully operated at a volumetric loading rate of 0.6 g $COD/l{\cdot}d$, nitrate-N loading rate of 0.13 g $NO_3{^-}-N/l{\cdot}d$, and sulfate loading rate of 0.08 g $SO_4{^{2-}}/l{\cdot}d$. The removal rate of SCOD, nitrate-N, sulfate was 90, 100, and 85%, respectively. When the virgin resin was fully exhausted and consecutively bio-regenerated for 2 days, 81% of nitrate and 93% of sulfate were reduced. When the virgin resin was repeatedly used up to 4 cycles of service and bio-regeneration, the ion-exchange capacity of bio-regenerated resin decreased to 95, 91, 88, and 81% of virgin resin.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.209-214
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• 1999

The purpose of this research was to investigate the permeation properties of each stage in three stage reverse osmosis system for cold-mill wastewater reuse. After construction of the three staged pilot plant which had 75% recovery and equipped with seven plate-and-frame modules, the change of each stage's penneate flow and quality were investigated in the process of membrane fouling. The order of average permeate flow was first, second, and third stage at the beginning. As the operation time passed, the permeate flow of first stage was decreased, the second stage was maintained steadily, and the third stage was increased. Accordingly, the fouling was initiated at the first stage and then progressed to the second and third stage. The first stage's permeate quality showed the best and the second and third stage was the next in that order. And the order of quality was maintained during the test periods. Therefore, the permeate quality was not affected by membrane fouling.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.16-34
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• 2021

Water supplies are decreasing in comparison to increasing clean water demands. Using nanofiltration is one of the most effective and economical methods to meet the need for clean water. Common methods for desalination are reverse osmosis and nanofiltration. However, pristine membranes lack the essential features which are, stability, economic efficiency, antibacterial and antifouling performances. To enhance the properties of the pristine membranes, graphene oxide (GO) is a promising and widely researched material for thin film composites (TFC) membrane due to their characteristics that help improve the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties. Modification of the membrane can be done on different layers. The thin film composite membranes are composed of three different layers, the top filtering active thin polyamide (PA) layer, supporting porous layer, and supporting fabric. Forward osmosis (FO) process is yet another energy efficient desalination process, but its efficiency is affected due to biofouling. Incorporation of GO enhance antibacterial properties leading to reduction of biofilm formation on the membrane surface. Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is an excellent process to generate clean energy from sea water and the biofouling of membrane is reduced by introduction of GO into the active layer of the TFC membrane. Different modifications on the membranes are being researched, each modification with its own advantages and disadvantages. In this review, modifications of nanofiltration membranes and their composites, characterization, and performances are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.7-12
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• 1993

Preparation of asymmetric polyimide membranes by the phase inversion process was investigated to develop ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and pervaporation membranes for organic solutions, using a commercially available solvent-soluble polymaide. The influences of the various factors such as the composition of a cast solution, casting conditions, gelating solutions and others on membrane structure and performance were studied in detail, and it was made clear that a wide variety of asymmetric polyimide membranes ranging from UF to RO for organic solutions could be prepared from the aromatic polyimide used. It was also found that the chemical stability and separation performance of the asymmetric polyimide membranes could be improved by annealing in a liquid or a vacuum at above 200$\circ$. The membrane annealed at 300$\circ$ in a vacuum exhibited the separation factor $\alpha(H_2O/EtOH)$ of 900 with the flux of 1.0 kg/$m^2\cdot h$ at 60$\circ$C for an aqueous ethanol solution of 95 vol%.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.181-200
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• 2012

At present water crisis is not an issue of scarcity, but of access. There is a growing recognition of the need for increased access to clean water (drinkable, agricultural, industrial use). An encouraging number of innovative technologies, systems, components, processes are emerging for water-treatment, including new filtration and disinfectant technologies, and removal of organics from water. In the past decade many methods have been developed. The most important membrane-based water technologies include reverse osmosis (RO), ultrafiltration (UF), microfiltration (MF), and nanofiltration. Beside membrane based water-treatment processes, other techniques such as advanced oxidation process (AOP) have also been developed. Some unconventional water treatment technology such as magnetic treatment is also being developed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.21-28
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• 2007

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on removal efficiencies of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus in MBR-RO process for treating synthetic sewage. In MBR process, turbidity was less than average 2 NTU and average removal efficiency showed more than 99% during the operation period(MBR 105 day). As a result of HRT variation, average removal efficiencies of $COD_{Cr}$ on HRT 6, 12, 18 and 24hour were about 72.4, 84, 88.6 and 92.5%, respectively. The $NH_4{^+}-N$ removal efficiency was about 60.2 85.5, 91.3 and 92.2%, respectively. T-N and T-P removal efficiencies increased from 53.7 and 56.8 to 82.5 and 86.4%, respectively as the HRT increased from 6 hour to 24 hour. In RO process, average removal efficiencies of color and $COD_{Cr}$ in RO permeate were about 99.9% and 96.8%, respectively. Also, removal efficiencies of T-N, $NH_4{^+}-N$, $NO_3{^-}-N$ and T-P were all above average 90%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.281-290
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• 2016

Thin film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes were prepared on polysulfone (PSF) supports for forward osmosis (FO) applications. To understand the influence of polarity and porosity of support layer on the formation of polyamide structure and the final FO performance, clathochelate metal complex (MC) contained PSF supports were prepared via the phase inversion process from various PSF casting solutions containing 0.1-0.5 wt% of MC in dimethyl formamide (DMF) solvent (18 wt%). A crosslinked aromatic polyamide layer was then fabricated on top of each support to form a TFC membrane. For the porous PSF supports prepared with relatively low concentration casting solutions (12 wt%), the PET film was removed after phase inversion and crosslinked aromatic polyamide layer was then fabricated. The tested sample from PSF (18 wt%)/MC (0.5 wt%) casting solution presented outstanding FO performance, almost similar water flux (9.99 LMH) with lower reverse salt flux (RSF, 0.77 GMH) compared to commercial HTI FO membrane(10.97 LMH of flux and 2.2 GMH of RSF). By addition of MC in casting solution, the thickness of the active layer in FO membranes was reduced, however, the increased RSF value was obtained.