Forward Osmosis (FO) polyamide thin-film composite membranes have been prepared by interfacial polymerization using commercial UF polyethersulfoneas membrane support. Different interfacial polymerization times (10s, 30s and 60s) in the organic solution containing trimesoyl chloride (TMC) at constant mphenylenediamine (MPD) concentration (2% w/v) were studied. The synthesized polyamide membranes...

A novel osmotic membrane bioreactor (OsMBR) is presented. The system utilizes a submerged forward osmosis (FO) membrane module inside a bioreactor. Through osmosis, water is transported from the mixed liquor across a semi-permeable membrane, and into a draw solution (DS) with a higher osmotic pressure. To produce potable water, the diluted DS is treated in a reverse osmosis (RO) unit; the by-pr...

The Forward Osmosis Brine Drying (FOBD) system is based on a technique called forward osmosis (FO). FO is a membrane-based process where the osmotic potential between brine and a salt solution is equalized by the movement of water from the brine to the salt solution. The FOBD system is composed of two main elements, the FO bag and the salt regeneration system. This paper discusses the results o...

Livestock wastewater contains a large amount of nutrients that are available for recovery. In this study, a proof of concept process based on Forward Osmosis (FO) was proposed and investigated for in-situ formation of struvite from digested swine wastewater. This FO system took advantage of a drawback reverse solute flux (RSF) and used the reversed-fluxed Mg for struvite precipitation, thereby ...

Forward (direct) osmosis (FO) using semi-permeable polymeric membranes may be a viable alternative to reverse osmosis as a lower cost and more environmentally friendly desalination technology. The driving force in the described FO process is provided by a draw solution comprising highly soluble gases—ammonia and carbon dioxide. Using a commercially available FO membrane, experiments conducted i...

This study seeks to evaluate the performance and economic feasibility of the forward osmosis (FO)-reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process; to propose a guideline by which this hybrid process might be more price-competitive in the field. A solution-diffusion model modified with film theory was applied to analyze the effects of concentration polarization, water, and salt transport coefficient on flux...

Forward osmosis (FO) is a promising membrane technology to combine seawater desalination and water reuse. More specifically, in a FO-reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process, high quality water recovered from the wastewater stream is used to dilute seawater before RO treatment. As such, lower desalination energy needs and/or water augmentation can be obtained while delivering safe water for direct p...

We compared the rejection behaviours of three hydrophobic trace organic contaminants, bisphenol A, triclosan and diclofenac, in forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO). Using erythritol, xylose and glucose as inert reference organic solutes and the membrane pore transport model, the mean effective pore size of a commercial cellulose-based FO membrane was estimated to be 0.74 nm. When NaCl...

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging water treatment technology with potential applications in desalination and wastewater reclamation. In FO, water is extracted from a feed solution using the high osmotic pressure of a hypertonic solution that flows on the opposite side of a semipermeable membrane; however, solutes diffuse simultaneously through the membrane in both directions and may jeopardiz...