화학 반응의 수율 향상을 위해 부산물을 제거하는 다양한 방법이 연구되고 있다. 특히 산업적으로 중요한 반응에 서 주로 부산물로 물이 생성되기 때문에 넓은 범위의 온도에서 안정적으로 물을 분리하는 기술이 필요하다. 흡수제의 사용, 탈수 반응의 도입 등 다양한 방법이 제안되었으나 추가적인 에너지 및 시간 소요, 전환율의 지속 가능성 등의 문제로 한계를 가지고 있다. 그에 반해 운전 및 설치가 용이하고, 낮은 유지비용 등의 장점을 가지고 있는 분리막 기술은 다양한 촉매 반응 에 도입되었을 때 안정적으로 부산물을 제거할 수 있어 반응의 효율을 향상시킬 수 있는 좋은 방안이다. 따라서 본 총설에서 는 분리막을 이용한 부산물 제거 및 이를 통한 효과에 대해 논의하였다.

Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) have stored ion exchange resins, which are used in deuteration, dehydrogenation systems, liquid waste treatment systems, and heavy water cleaning systems, in spent resin storage tanks. The C-14 radioactivity concentration of PHWR spent resin currently stored at the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant is 4.6×10E+6 Bq/g, which exceeds the limited concentration of low-level radioactive waste. In addition, when all is disposed of, the total radioactivity of C-14, 1.48×10E+15 Bq, exceeds the disposal limit of the first-stage disposal facility, 3.04×10E+14. Therefore, it is currently impossible to dispose of them in Gyeongju intermediate- and low-level disposal facilities. As to dispose of spent resins produced in PHWR, C-14 must be removed from spent resins. This C- 14 removal technology from the spent resin can increase the utilization of Gyeongju intermediate- and low-level disposal facilities, and since C-14 separated from the spent resin can be used as an expensive resource, it is necessary to maximize its economic value by recycling it. The development of C-14 removal technology from the spent resin was carried out under the supervision of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power in 2003, but there was a limit to the C-14 removal and adsorption technology and process. After that, Sunkwang T&S, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology developed spent resin treatment technology with C-14-containing heavy water for the first and second phases from 2015 to 2019 and from 2019 to the present, respectively. The first study had a limitation of a pilot device with a treatment capacity of 10L per day, and the second study was insufficient in implementing the technology to separate spent resin from the mixture, and it was difficult to install on-site due to the enlarged equipment scale. The technology to be proposed in this paper overcomes the limitations of spent resin mixture separation and equipment size, which are the disadvantages of the existing technology. In addition, since 14CO2 with high concentration is stored in liquid form in the storage tank, only the necessary amount of C-14 radioactive isotope can be extracted from the storage tank and be used in necessary industrial fields such as labeling compound production. Therefore, when the facility proposed in this paper is applied for treating mixtures in spent resin tanks of PHWR, it is expected to secure field applicability and safety, and to reflect the various needs of consumers of labeled compound operators utilizing C-14.

In this study, we prepared thin composite membranes in which a support layer and a selective layer are covalently bonded in a simple method. The graft polymerization was carried out using UV/Ozone on a commercial Poly(sulfone) ultrafiltration membrane with Poly((ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PEGMA) possessing CO2 affinity. As a result, nano-pores on the surface membrane were covered with PEGMA. The covalent bonding of the composite membranes has the advantage of improving stability and weatherability. In addition, due to the thin selective layer formed by the graft polymerization, highly gas permeation characteristics are exhibited, and efficient process performance can be expected. The final composite membranes were investigated in terms of their chemical structures and elements, and gas permeation properties.

분자수준에서 가교화된 고분자네트워크는 높은 내화학성과 비표면적을 가질 수 있다. 하지만 3차원으로 가교하기 위해서는 3개 이상의 다관능기를 가진 단량체가 사용되어야 하는데 합성 시 분자수준의 네트워크를 구성하기 전에 겔화가 되거나 침전이 발생하게 되어 높은 가교도의 고분자네트워크를 합성할 수 없다. 본 발표에서는 유기 졸-겔법을 이용하여 가교화된 고분자네트워크가 용매내에 안정하게 분산되어 있는 졸을 합성한다. 합성된 sol은 다양한 공정에 의해 나노파티클, 나노캡슐, 프리스탠딩 필름, 계층적 기공구조를 가지는 모노리스, 고분자 복합체로 가공이 가능하며 이를 이용하여 흡착제, 기체분리막 등 가스분리 응용에 적용한다.

In this study, we prepared thin composite membranes in which a support layer and a selective layer are covalently bonded in a simple method. The graft polymerization was carried out using UV/Ozone on a commercial Poly(sulfone) (PSf) ultrafiltration membrane with Poly((ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PEGMA) possessing CO2affinity. As a result, nano-pores on the surface membrane were covered with PEGMA. The covalent bonding of the composite membranes has the advantage of improving stability. In addition, due to the thin selective layer formed by the graft polymerization, highly gas permeation characteristics are exhibited, and efficient process performance can be expected. The final composite membranes were investigated in terms of their chemical structures and elements, morphology, and gas permeation properties.

이산화탄소 분리막은 이산화탄소에 대한 선택성이 우수하면서도 투과성이 뛰어나야 그 성능을 제대로 발휘할 수 있는데, 대부분의 고분자 분리막들은 투과도 및 선택도에 있어 매우 뚜렷한 상충관계를 보이고 있으며, 이러한 상충관계를 극복할 수 있는 고투과성 및 고선택성을 갖는 분리막의 개발이 시급하다 할 수 있다. 근래 PEG (polyethylene glycol)가 이산화탄소에 대한 투과선택도가 뛰어난 것이 밝혀져 많은 연구가 진행되고 있으며, 본 연구는 이에 더해 내구성이 우수한 표면고착된 PEG 함유 고분자 복합막을 제조하여 이의 이산화탄소에 대한 분리에 대하여 발표한다.