Membrane bioreactor (MBR) provides the benefits on high effluent quality and construction cost without the secondary clarification. Despite of these advantages, fouling, which clogs the pore in membrane modules, affects the membrane life span and effluent quality. Studies on the laboratory scale MBR were focused on the control of particulate fouling, organic fouling and inorganic fouling. However, less studies were focused on the control of biofouling and microbial aspect of membrane. In the full scale operation, most MBR produces high effluent quality to meet the national permit of discharge regulation. In this study, the performance and microbial community analysis were investigated in two MBRs. As the results, the performance of organic removal, nitrogen removal, and phosphorus removal was similar both MBRs. Microbial community analysis, however, showed that Azonexus sp. and Propionivibrio sp. contributed to indirect fouling to cause the chemical cleaning in the DX MBR.

Fouling is an inevitable problem in membrane water treatment plant. It can be measured by trans-membrane pressure (TMP) in the constant flux operation, and chemical cleaning is carried out when TMP reaches a critical value. An early fouilng alarm is defined as warning the critical TMP value appearance in advance. The alarming method was developed using one of machine learning algorithms, decision tree, and applied to a ceramic microfiltration (MF) pilot plant. First, the decision tree model that classifies the normal/abnormal state of the filtration cycle of the ceramic MF pilot plant was developed and it was then used to make the early fouling alarm method. The accuracy of the classification model was up to 96.2% and the time for the early warning was when abnormal cycles occurred three times in a row. The early fouling alram can expect reaching a limit TMP in advance (e.g., 15-174 hours). By adopting TMP increasing rate and backwash efficiency as machine learning variables, the model accuracy and the reliability of the early fouling alarm method were increased, respectively.

우리나라 해양생태계의 현황을 조사 및 분석하여 해양을 지속하게 이용할 수 있도록 하며 해양생태를 보전하고 관리할 수 있 도록 국가 해양생태계 종합조사를 해양수산부의 위탁을 받아 해양환경공단에서 진행하고 있다. 국가 해양생태계 종합조사는 주요 조사정 점을 설정하여 한반도 주변 해역의 생태계 변화를 조사하고 있지만, 정점이 연안을 중심으로 설정되어 근해역 등 조사범위 확대가 필요 한 실정이다. 한편 해양수산부 항로표지과에서는 항로표지 인양점검 시 부착생물의 사진을 촬영하여 제공함으로써 국가 해양생태계 종합 조사를 지원하고 있지만, 해양환경공단과 협의하여 지정된 등부표에 한해서 부착생물 사진을 제공한다. 이에 항로표지를 국가 해양생태 계 종합조사의 정점으로 활용할 수 있도록, 항로표지 및 등부표 인양점검 시 딥러닝 기반의 영상처리 알고리즘을 활용하여 부착생물의 정보를 생성하는 연구를 진행했다. 항로표지를 국가 해양생태계 종합조사의 정점으로 활용한다면 항로표지의 활용 가치를 제고하고 우리 나라 근해의 이상 해황 및 생태계 변화를 분석할 수 있는 기초자료로 활용할 수 있다.

Polyethersulfone (PES)은 친수성과 상분리법의 용이성 덕분에 수처리 및 정제 분야에서 정밀여과 및 한외여과막 소재로 일반적으로 사용된다. 그러나, 비용매 유도 상분리법으로 제조된 PES 분리막, 특히 지지체가 없는 여과막의 경우 도 프의 조성과 기재의 특성에 따라 여과막 하부에 낮은 기공도를 갖는 치밀층이 형성되기 쉽고, 이러한 치밀층으로 인해 수투 과 저항이 증가하고 오염물질의 쌓임에 의한 막오염이 일어난다. 본 연구에서는 PES 여과막 제조 시 상전이 과정의 수축으 로 인해 분리막 하부에 물이 침투하여 치밀층을 형성, 심각한 막오염을 유발할 수 있음을 확인하였다. 동일한 선택층을 갖는 PES 여과막을 단일층 및 이중층 캐스팅법으로 각각 제조하여 하부 치밀층이 여과막의 투과성능 및 막오염에 미치는 영향을 파악하고자 하였다. 하부 치밀층이 없는 이중층 캐스팅된 여과막은 기존 여과막 대비 높은 투과성능 및 막오염에 대한 저항 성을 보였으며, 이를 통해 다공성 여과막의 내오염성을 향상시키기 위한 표면 기공도 및 기공 구조 등 물리적 구조의 최적화 가 중요함을 확인하였다.

In general, trans-membrane pressure (TMP), flux, filtration resistance are used as indicators to evaluate the degree of fouling in MBR. However, they have limitations in determining the level of EPS generation, which is known as an important factor of fouling. Therefore, a new evaluation method is required to monitor the amount of EPS generation. In this study, the applicability of capillary suction time (CST), which is used to measure the dewaterability of sludge, was evaluated as an indirect fouling evaluation index. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of EPS on CST, and to determine whether EPS has high similarity with representative fouling evaluation indicators and CST, and quantitatively compared them. As a result, the correlation coefficient between CST and bEPS was 0.7988, which was higher than the correlation coefficient between filtration resistance and bEPS. Since bEPS is a major factor inducing fouling by affecting the formation of the cake layer, it was evaluated that CST, which has a high correlation with bEPS, is suitable to represent EPS. In addition, it was evaluated that the correlation coefficient between filtration resistance and CST was high as 0.7187, which could be used as a fouling evaluation index.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) 막은 내구성 및 열적⋅화학적 안정성 등의 물성은 우수하나 소수성이 커서 수투과도가 낮고 단백질 및 유기물에 의한 막오염이 쉽게 발생한다. 본 연구에서는 PVDF 막의 내오염성을 개선시키고자 바이오 기능성 물질인 β-cyclodextrin (β-CD)을 PVDF 막 구조 내에 분산 함침시킨 PVDF/β-CD 혼합기질 비대칭막을 상변환 법을 통해 제조하고, β-CD 함침량에 따른 순수 투과 유속(PWF) 측정과 BSA 용액을 대상으로 한 막여과 실험을 수행하여 내오염성 특성을 평가하였다. 이 결과 PVDF 고분자 매질 내에 β-CD를 함침시키면 막의 친수성을 증가시켜 접촉각을 감소시키고 이로 인해 내오염성을 향상시킬 수 있었다. β-CD 함침량이 2 wt%인 도프용액을 사용하여 제조된 PVDF/β-CD 혼합 기질 비대칭막의 PWF는 64 L/m2⋅h, BSA 배제도는 95%를 나타내었으며, β-CD를 첨가하지 않고 제조된 pristine PVDF 막에 비해 투과 유속 향상성이 최대 80%에 달해 β-CD를 첨가시킴으로서 PVDF 막의 내오염성을 증가시킬 수 있었다.

In this study, chemically enhanced steam cleaning(CESC) was applied as a novel and efficient method for the control of organic and inorganic fouling in ceramic membrane filtration. The constant filtration regression model and the resistance in series model(RISM) were used to investigate the membrane fouling mechanisms. For total filtration, the coefficient of determination(R2) with an approximate value of 1 was obtained in the intermediate blocking model which is considered as the dominant contamination mechanism. In addition, most of the coefficient values showed similar values and this means that the complex fouling was formed during the filtration period. In the RISM, Rc/Rf increased about 4.37 times in chemically enhanced steam cleaning compared to physical backwashing, which implies that the internal fouling resistance was converted to cake layer resistance, so that the membrane fouling hardly to be removed by physical backwashing could be efficiently removed by chemically enhanced steam cleaning. The results of flux recovery rate showed that high-temperature steam may loosen the structure of the membrane cake layer due to the increase in diffusivity and solubility of chemicals and finally enhance the cleaning effect. As a consequence, it is expected that chemically enhanced steam cleaning can drastically improve the efficiency of membrane filtration process when the characteristics of the foulant are identified.