• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2020

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) treatment has been widely studied in recent years because of the potential for production of bio-energy from wastewater and energy-positive operation of wastewater treatment plants. Several AnMBR systems, including those that incorporate ceramic membranes, take advantage of enhanced water permeability and low membrane fouling potentials. Given that differences in the ceramic membranes may influence the results of AnMBR studies, relevant details are discussed in this review, which focuses on the profiles of common ceramic membranes used in AnMBR, treatment and filtration performances of different anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactors (AnCMBRs), and the membrane fouling mitigation methods available for effective AnCMBRs operation. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive summary of AnCMBR performance, feed wastewater characteristics, operating conditions, and the methods available for effective fouling mitigation.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2018

Ceramic membrane has been widely used for water treatment due to its advantages of eco-friendly property and low energy consumption. However, high porosity of ceramic membrane higher than 40 % may cause a problem of strength, when it is applied to a water treatment module. In order to solve this problem, the strength of the membrane edge was improved by using the ceramic glaze. Four different glaze compositions for low temperature sintering was selected to minimize the deformation of the membrane microstructure. After coating with low temperature glaze, cracks were observed due to differences in thermal expansion coefficient between the membrane and glaze. Thus, the thermal expansion coefficient of glaze was controlled by addition of cordierite and petalite. As a results, the compressive strength of the ceramic membrane, which was coated with the optimized glaze composition, was increased from $27N/m^2$ to $117N/m^2$, indicating that the glaze coating can improve the disadvantages of the fragile ceramic membrane.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.337-343
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• 2014

A single layer ultrafiltration(UF) ceramic membrane was prepared using boehmite sol. Boehmite was synthesized using a typical sol-gel process with optimization of the viscosity, pH, molar ratio of aluminum isopropoxide(AIP) and $HNO_3$. Boehmite sol was coated on a microfiltration(MF) support using the dip-coating method. MF support was dipped into the boehmite sol with a withdrawal speed of 5 mm/s and was maintained for 10 s in the boehmite sol, resulting in a uniform UF membrane layer of $10{\mu}m$ thickness. The porosity of the obtained membrane was measured and found to be 41.2%; the pore size was found to range from 80~100 nm, corresponding to the pore size of the UF membrane. The flux of the obtained membrane was initially 540 $L/m^2h$ and approximately 85% of the initial flux was recovered using a periodic back-flushing process.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2017

A tube-type ceramic membrane for microfiltration was developed, and the membrane module comprised of three membranes was also applied to biological carbon and nitrogen removal processes for post-treatment. Manufacturing the microfiltration membrane was successful with the structure and boundary of the coated and support layers within the membrane module clearly observable. Total kjeldahl nitrogen removal from effluent was additionally achieved through the elimination of solids containing organic nitrogen by use of the ceramic membrane module. Removal of suspended solids and colloidal substances were noticeably improved after membrane filtration, and the filtration function of the ceramic membrane could also easily be recovered by physical cleaning. By using the ceramic membrane module, the system showed average removals of organics, nitrogen, and solids up to 98%, 80% and 99.9%, respectively. Thus, this microfiltration system appears to be an alternative and flexible option for existing biological nutrient removal processes suffering from poor settling performance due to the use of a clarifier.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.633-640
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• 2008

In this research, the $3.6m^3/day$ scale pilot plant consisting preozonation, coagulation, flocculation, and ceramic membrane processes was operated for long term period to evaluate the validity of ceramic membrane filtration process for treating lake water containing high concentration manganese. The higher concentration of dissolved manganese($Mn^{2+}$) was effectively oxidized to the bigger insoluble colloidal manganese ($MnO^2$) by 1~2 mg/L ozone. The colloidal manganese reacted with coagulant (poly aluminium chloride, PAC) and then formed the big floc. Ceramic membrane rejected effectively manganese floc during membrane filtration. Dissolved organic carbon(DOC) removal was dependent upon $Mn^{2+}$ concentration. While average $Mn^{2+}$ concentration was 0.43 and 0.85 mg/L in raw water, DOC removal rate in preozonation was 26.5 and 13.5%, respectively. The decrease rate of membrane permeability was faster without preozonation than with preozonation while membrane fouling decreased with NOM oxidation by ozone. In conclusion, raw water containing high concentration of manganese can be effectively treated in preozonation-coagulation-ceramic membrane filtration system.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2016

Ceramic materials have attracted increasing attention in the last 10 years because of their high thermal stability and high permeation property compared with polymeric nanofiber membranes. Recently, novel nanofiber ceramic membranes with high porosity and flux have been fabricated from metal oxide nanofibers. To improve the performance of ceramic membranes and reduce their costs, a new ceramic membrane with a selective separation layer made of nanofibers was fabricated by electrospinning process and modification process for filtration system. This review summarizes the research trends for the development of ceramic nanofiber membrane over the past few years.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.211-219
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• 2012

To enhance the efficiency of water treatment and reduce the extent of membrane fouling, the membrane separation process is frequently preceded by other physico-chemical processes. One of them might be ion exchange. The aim of this work was to compare the efficiency of natural organic matter removal achieved with various anion-exchange resins, and to verify their potential use in water treatment prior to the ultrafiltration process involving a ceramic membrane. The use of ion exchange prior to ceramic membrane ultrafiltration enhanced final water quality. The most effective was MIEX, which removed significant amounts of the VHA, SHA and CHA fractions. Separation of uncharged fractions was poor with all the resins examined. Water pretreatment involving an ion-exchange resin failed to reduce membrane fouling, which was higher than that observed in unpretreated water. This finding is to be attributed to the uncharged NOM fractions and small resin particles that persisted in the water.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.403-409
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• 2000

The permeation characteristics and reclamation efficiency of waste lubricating oil were studied as a function of the types of ceramic composite membranes and the membrane separation process variables. The oil permeability of the TiO2 composite membrane(pore size 0.015 $\mu\textrm{m}$) was directly proportional to the crossflow velocity(0.22∼0.9 m/s) and temperature(150$^{\circ}C$∼200$^{\circ}C$). In the batch concentration process, as the concentration factor increased, both the permeability and the ash content of the permeate decreased. The average ash contents of the total permeate through the A6 alumina membrane(average pore size 0.8$\mu\textrm{m}$), Z1/A6 and Z1/A4(pore size 0.23$\mu\textrm{m}$)/A7(pore size 6$\mu\textrm{m}$) zirconia composite membrances(average pore size 0.07$\mu\textrm{m}$) were about 0.063 wt%, 0.045wt% and 0.08wt% in the region of 1∼2 concentration factor, respectively. The ash content of the mixed permeate through the A6 alumina and zirconia composite membrane was about 0.06 wt% and it can be also reduced to 0.06 wt% in the Z1/A6 membrane and below 0.003 wt% in the TiO2/Z1/A6 membrane. It was concluded that the treated oil obtained from the multi-step membrane separation process could be used as reclaimed lubricating oil as well as reclained fuel oil.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.499-515
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells in submerged membrane systems consisting of polymeric and ceramic microfiltration membranes. In this study, one polymeric (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$) and two ceramic (flat-sheet, pore size: $0.2{\mu}m$ and cylindrical, pore size: $1{\mu}m$) membranes were used. Physical cleaning was performed with water and air to determine the potential for reversible and irreversible membrane fouling. The study results showed that substantial irreversible membrane fouling (after four filtration cycles, irreversible fouling degree 27% (cleaning with water) and 38% (cleaning with air)) occurs in the polymeric membrane. In cleaning studies performed using water and air on ceramic membranes, it was observed that compressed air was more effective (recovery rate: 87-91%) for membrane cleaning. The harvesting performance of the membranes was examined through critical flux experiments. The critical flux values for polymeric membrane with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.20{\mu}m$ and $1{\mu}m$ were ${\leq}95L/m^2hour$, ${\leq}70L/m^2hour$ and ${\leq}55L/m^2hour$, respectively. It was determined that critical flux varies depending on the membrane material and the pore size. To obtain more information on membrane fouling caused by microalgal cells, the characterization of the fouled polymeric membrane was performed. This study concluded that ceramic membranes with a pore size of $0.2-1{\mu}m$ in the submerged membrane system could be efficiently used for microalgae harvesting by cleaning the membrane with compressed air at regular intervals.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2021

In this study, we developed an evaporation-driven self-assembly coating method for an ceramic intermediate layer on an ultrapermeable ��-Al2O3 support with large pore size of ~1.5 ㎛. The method led to the formation of a ceramic intermediate layer with higher surface homogeneity and less surface roughness than the conventional dip-coating method. A mesoporous ��-Al2O3 layer was deposited on the support to evaluate support quality. A supported ��-Al2O3 membrane was defect-free even without repeated coating. Furthermore, the membrane showed 2.3 times higher nitrogen permeance than one prepared on a macroporous support with pore size range of 100~200 nm, which is widely used for ceramic membrane coating.