Chul Hun Eum

REMOVAL OF AGGREGATES FROM MICRON-SIZED POLYMETHYL METHACRYLATE (PMMA) LATEX BEADS USING FULL FEED DEPLETION MODE OF GRAVITATIONAL SPLITT FRACTIONATION (FFD-GSF)

Split-flow thin cell (SPLITT) fractionation (SF) provides separation of colloidal particles or macromolecules into two fractions. A gravitational SF (GSF) system was constructed and its applicability was tested for removal of aggregates from mass-produced polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) latex beads. The full-feed depletion (FFD) mode of GSF (FFD-GSF) was found to be a simpler alternative to the conventional mode for removal of the aggregates. Unlike in the conventional mode, where two inlets are used for feeding of the sample suspension and the carrier liquid respectively, only one inlet (for the sample feeding) is used in the FFD mode, allowing easier control of the flow rate. Also the sample suspension is not diluted during FFD mode operation. Aggregated particles were found only in one of the two fractions, allowing removal of the aggregates. The sample was continuously fed into the GSF system, showing potential application to a large quantity operation for removal of the PMMA aggregates.

A study on the relationship between concentration of phosphorus, turbidity, and pH in water and soil

In this research, behaviour of turbidity and phosphorus in water and soil dependent upon pH and a change of water was studied. Phosphorus dissolve rate from turbidity was increased for water if potential of hydrogen was less than pH 4 or more than pH 7. Turbidity release rate from soil was increased with pH. Turbidity release rate from soil was drastically increased for water if potential of hydrogen was more than pH 4. turbidity release rate from soil was stabilized more than pH 6. Dissolved phosphorus was increased from 2 hours to 24 hours and stabilized in 24 hours. Turbidity was reached the peak of 24 hours and decreased from 24 hours to 96 hours. Turbidity and dissolved phosphorus was decreased for water if these samples were changed a overlying water. Behaviour of turbidity was analogous to dissolved phosphorus when potential of hydrogen was increased from pH 6 to pH 10 and a change of overlying water was increased from 1 time to 4 times. These results suggest that phosphorus dissolve rate and turbidity were directiy correlated with pH. These results are of great importance in lakes because most lakes have a pH in the range of pH 7-10.

Investigation on sample throughput of large scale splitter-less gravitational SPLITT fractionation (GSF)

Split-flow thin cell (SPLITT) fractionation (SF) is a rapid separation technique capable of separating colloidal particles or macromolecules into two or more fractions. SF allows fractionations in a preparative scale as sample is fed continuously. Generally SF uses a thin ribbon-like channel equipped with two flow stream splitters at the inlet and outlet of the channel. Thus there exist two flow inlets and two flow outlets at the top and bottom of the inlet and outlet of the channel, respectively. There are two operating modes in SF, conventional mode and full-feed mode (FFD). Although the resolution in the FFD mode is lower than that in the conventional mode, FFD mode has some merits. The design of the channel and operation are simpler in the FFD mode, as it does not require the feeding of the solvent. Thus there is no flow stream splitter at the channel inlet, and only one pump is needed, unlike the conventional mode, where two pumps are required for the feedings of the sample and the solvent separately. Also the sample is not diluted in the FFD mode as there is no solvent feeding, which is important for fractionation samples with low colloidal concentrations such as environmental samples. For some of environmental samples, pre-concentration is often required. In this study, a new large-scale splitter-less FFD-SF channel was implemented, where there is no splitter at the outlet as well as at the inlet of the channel. It was possible to build the channel in a much larger dimension than conventional ones, allowing much higher sample throughput (TP). The new channel was tested and optimized with polyurethane (PU) latex beads, and then applied to large-scale separation of Polyacrylate (PA).

Characterization of Asian dust using steric mode of sedimentation field-flow fractionation (Sd/StFFF)

Asian dust particles are known to have sizes ranging from a few nanometers up to about a few micrometers. The environmental and health effects depend on the size of the dust particles. The smaller, the farther they are transported, and the deeper they penetrate into the human respiratory system. Sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) provides separation of nano to microparticles using a combination of centrifugal force and parabolic laminar flow in a channel. In this study, the steric mode of SdFFF (Sd/StFFF) was tested for size-based separation and characterization of Asian dust particles. Various SdFFF experimental parameters including flow rate, stop-flow time and field strength of the centrifugal field were optimized for the size analysis of Asian dust. The Sd/StFFF calibration curve showed a good linearity with R2 value of 0.9983, and results showed an excellent capability of Sd/StFFF for a size-based separation of micron-sized particles.The optical microscopy (OM) was also used to study the size and the shape of the dust particles. The size distributions of the samples collected during a thick dust period were shifted towards larger sizes than those of the samples collected during thin dust periods. It was also observed that size distribution of the sample collected during dry period shifts further towards larger sizes than that of the samples collected during raining period, suggesting the sizes of the dust particle decrease during raining periods as the components adsorbed on the surface of the dust particles were removed by the rain water. Results show Sd/StFFFis a useful tool for size characterization of environmental particles such as the Asian dust.

Explicit role of ionic strength in retention behavior of polystyrene latex particles in sedimentation field-flow fractionation: Slip boundary model

We investigate an explicit role of the ionic strength in the retention behaviors of polystyrene (PS) latex particles in sedimentation field-flow fractionation (SdFFF) by hinging upon the retention theory recently developed [1] asR=(Ro+vb*)/(1+vb*). Here R is an experimental retention ratio, and Ro is the analytical expression of the standard retention theory based on the parabolic flow velocity. The reduced boundary velocityvb* is expressed in terms of the ionic strength I of the carrier liquid as vb*=vb,o*/(1+εI), where vb,o*=0.070and ε=60 mM-1 for all the PS latex systems under investigation. We then apply this to study the explicit ionic strength effect on the retention behaviors of PS beads of 200, 300, 400, and 500nm, respectively. As a primary result, the strong dependence of the retention ratio on the ionic strength can be quantitatively accounted for in an excellent accuracy: The slip effect at the channel surface is significant, particularly when I≲0.5mM, without showing any distinguishable dependence on the specific additives to control I, such as FL-70, SDS, NaNO3, and NaN3. Based on the present study, we put forward an experimental means to estimate the ionic strength of an aqueous solution using an FFF technique.

Optimization of fractionation efficiency (FE) and throughput (TP) in a large scale splitter less full-feed depletion SPLITT fractionation (Large scale FFD-SF)

Split-flow thin cell fractionation (SPLITT fractionation, SF) is a particle separation technique that allows continuous (and thus a preparative scale) separation into two subpopulations based on the particle size or the density. In SF, there are two basic performance parameters. One is the throughput (TP), which was defined as the amount of sample that can be processed in a unit time period. Another is the fractionation efficiency (FE), which was defined as the number % of particles that have the size predicted by theory. Full-feed depletion mode (FFD-SF) have only one inlet for the sample feed, and the channel is equipped with a flow stream splitter only at the outlet in SF mode. In conventional FFD-mode, it was difficult to extend channel due to splitter in channel. So, we use large scale splitter-less FFD-SF to increase TP from increase channel scale. In this study, a FFD-SF channel was developed for a large-scale fractionation, which has no flow stream splitters (‘splitter less’), and then was tested for optimum TP and FE by varying the sample concentration and the flow rates at the inlet and outlet of the channel. Polyurethane (PU) latex beads having two different size distribution (about 3~7 µm, and about 2~30 µm) were used for the test. The sample concentration was varied from 0.2 to 0.8% (wt/vol). The channel flow rate was varied from 70, 100, 120 and 160 mL/min. The fractionated particles were monitored by optical microscopy (OM). The sample recovery was determined by collecting the particles on a 0.1 µm membrane filter. Accumulation of relatively large micron sized particles in channel could be prevented by feeding carrier liquid. It was found that, in order to achieve effective TP, the concentration of sample should be at higher than 0.4%.

Development of wet-sampler for collection and fractionation of micron-sized particles

In this study, a wet-sampler was developed for collection in water and simultaneous fractionation of micron-sized particles (e.g., pigment, airborne, etc.). In this new device, three cylinders (partially filled with water) through which air was forced to pass for sample collection are connected in a series. Particles of different sizes are collected in different cylinders, allowing simultaneous fractionation. An uniqueness of this new device is that it does not use any membrane filter. Microparticles are collected directly in cylinders filled partially with water. Also the particles are simultaneously fractionated within this device while they are being collected. The new device was employed for collection of airborne particles. The collected airborne particles were fractionated by using sedimentation field-flow fractionation, SdFFF), and observed with an optical microscopy (OM) for size and shape analysis. Also AAS and ICP-AES were used for composition analysis of the airborne particles. It is expected that the new device is applicable to collection and analysis of size distribution of various types of microparticles.