Forward Osmosis: Modelling and Applications

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Physics and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2019) | Viewed by 22066

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Research Institute for Industrial, Radiophysical and Environmental Safety (ISIRYM), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera, s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: membrane technology; circular economy; microplastics; wastewater treatment; membrane fouling and cleaning
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Guest Editor
School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: synthetic membranes; water and wastewater treatment; filtration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forward osmosis (FO) is one of the membrane technologies that has drawn increasing interest in the last years. The development of new membranes has created great expectations regarding the potential uses of this technology. The main advantages of this technique in comparison with other membrane processes are the low energy cost, since the driving force for the separation is the osmotic pressure difference between the membrane sides, and the low membrane fouling. However, the low permeate fluxes yielded by the FO membranes and the reverse salt flux phenomena jeopardize industrial scale applications of FO membranes.

For this Special Issue, papers on FO process modelling and research into potential applications including osmotic membrane bioreactors are welcome. The aim is to publish research works that contribute to progressing the knowledge of FO membranes, processes and new applications or including the use of new draw solutions, new membranes or novel processes for the regeneration of draw solutions.

Prof. José Antonio Mendoza-Roca
Dr. María Cinta Vincent-Vela
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • forward osmosis
  • osmotic membrane reactors
  • draw solution
  • salt reverse flux
  • membrane fouling
  • draw solution regeneration
  • membrane fouling in forward osmosis
  • cleaning of forward osmosis membranes

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 4316 KiB  
Article
Modelling Forward Osmosis Treatment of Automobile Wastewaters
by Anita Haupt, Christian Marx and André Lerch
Membranes 2019, 9(9), 106; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9090106 - 22 Aug 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3879
Abstract
Forward osmosis (FO) has rarely been investigated as a treatment technology for industrial wastewaters. Within this study, common FO model equations were applied to simulate forward osmosis treatment of industrial wastewaters from the automobile industry. Three different models from literature were used and [...] Read more.
Forward osmosis (FO) has rarely been investigated as a treatment technology for industrial wastewaters. Within this study, common FO model equations were applied to simulate forward osmosis treatment of industrial wastewaters from the automobile industry. Three different models from literature were used and compared. Permeate and reverse solute flux modelling was implemented using MS Excel with a Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) Nonlinear Solver. For the industrial effluents, the unknown diffusion coefficients were calibrated and the influences of the membrane parameters were investigated. Experimental data was used to evaluate the models. It could be proven that common model equations can describe FO treatment of industrial effluents from the automobile industry. Even with few known solution properties, it was possible to determine permeate fluxes and draw conclusions about mass transport. However, the membrane parameters, which are apparently not solution independent and seem to differ for each industrial effluent, are critical values. Fouling was not included in the model equations although it is a crucial point in FO treatment of industrial wastewaters. But precisely for this reason, modelling is a good complement to laboratory experiments since the difference between the results allows conclusions to be drawn about fouling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forward Osmosis: Modelling and Applications)
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13 pages, 2078 KiB  
Article
Exploring Submerged Forward Osmosis for Water Recovery and Pre-Concentration of Wastewater before Anaerobic Digestion: A Pilot Scale Study
by Federico Ferrari, Maite Pijuan, Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda and Gaetan Blandin
Membranes 2019, 9(8), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9080097 - 05 Aug 2019
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5417
Abstract
Applying forward osmosis directly on raw municipal wastewater is of high interest for the simultaneous production of a high quality permeate for water reuse and pre-concentrating wastewater for anaerobic digestion. This pilot scale study investigates, for the first time, the feasibility of concentrating [...] Read more.
Applying forward osmosis directly on raw municipal wastewater is of high interest for the simultaneous production of a high quality permeate for water reuse and pre-concentrating wastewater for anaerobic digestion. This pilot scale study investigates, for the first time, the feasibility of concentrating real raw municipal wastewater using a submerged plate and frame forward osmosis module (0.34 m2) to reach 70% water recovery. Membrane performance, fouling behavior, and effective concentration of wastewater compounds were examined. Two different draw solutions (NaCl and MgCl2), operating either with constant draw concentration or in batch with draw dilution over time, were evaluated. Impact of gas sparging on fouling and external concentration polarization was also assessed. Water fluxes up to 15 L m−2 h−1 were obtained with clean water and 35 g NaCl/L as feed and draw solution, respectively. When using real wastewater, submerged forward osmosis proved to be resilient to clogging, demonstrating its suitability for application on municipal or other complex wastewater; operating with 11.7 g NaCl/L constant draw solution, water and reverse salt fluxes up to 5.1 ± 1.0 L m−2 h−1 and 4.8 ± 2.6 g m−2 h−1 were observed, respectively. Positively, total and soluble chemical oxygen demand concentration factors of 2.47 ± 0.15 and 1.86 ± 0.08, respectively, were achieved, making wastewater more suitable for anaerobic treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forward Osmosis: Modelling and Applications)
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28 pages, 5233 KiB  
Article
Role of Operating Conditions in a Pilot Scale Investigation of Hollow Fiber Forward Osmosis Membrane Modules
by Victoria Sanahuja-Embuena, Gabriel Khensir, Mohamed Yusuf, Mads Friis Andersen, Xuan Tung Nguyen, Krzysztof Trzaskus, Manuel Pinelo and Claus Helix-Nielsen
Membranes 2019, 9(6), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9060066 - 03 Jun 2019
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 6721
Abstract
Although forward osmosis (FO) membranes have shown great promise for many applications, there are few studies attempting to create a systematization of the testing conditions at a pilot scale for FO membrane modules. To address this issue, hollow fiber forward osmosis (HFFO) membrane [...] Read more.
Although forward osmosis (FO) membranes have shown great promise for many applications, there are few studies attempting to create a systematization of the testing conditions at a pilot scale for FO membrane modules. To address this issue, hollow fiber forward osmosis (HFFO) membrane modules with different performances (water flux and solute rejection) have been investigated at different operating conditions. Various draw and feed flow rates, draw solute types and concentrations, transmembrane pressures, temperatures, and operation modes have been studied using two model feed solutions—deionized water and artificial seawater. The significance of the operational conditions in the FO process was attributed to a dominant role of concentration polarization (CP) effects, where the selected draw solute and draw concentration had the biggest impact on membrane performance due to internal CP. Additionally, the rejection of the HFFO membranes using three model solutes (caffeine, niacin, and urea) were determined under both FO and reverse osmosis (RO) conditions with the same process recovery. FO rejections had an increase of 2% for caffeine, 19% for niacin, and 740% for urea compared to the RO rejections. Overall, this is the first extensive study of commercially available inside-out HFFO membrane modules. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forward Osmosis: Modelling and Applications)
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13 pages, 1356 KiB  
Article
Hybrid Forward Osmosis–Nanofiltration for Wastewater Reuse: System Design
by Mattia Giagnorio, Francesco Ricceri, Marco Tagliabue, Luciano Zaninetta and Alberto Tiraferri
Membranes 2019, 9(5), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9050061 - 06 May 2019
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 5364
Abstract
The design of a hybrid forward osmosis–nanofiltration (FO–NF) system for the extraction of high-quality water from wastewater is presented here. Simulations were performed based on experimental results obtained in a previous study using real wastewater as the feed solution. A sensitivity analysis, conducted [...] Read more.
The design of a hybrid forward osmosis–nanofiltration (FO–NF) system for the extraction of high-quality water from wastewater is presented here. Simulations were performed based on experimental results obtained in a previous study using real wastewater as the feed solution. A sensitivity analysis, conducted to evaluate the influence of different process parameters, showed that an optimum configuration can be designed with (i) an influent draw solution osmotic pressure equal to 15 bar and (ii) a ratio of influent draw solution to feed solution flow rate equal to 1.5:1. With this configuration, the simulations suggested that the overall FO–NF system can achieve up to 85% water recovery using Na2SO4 or MgCl2 as the draw solute. The modular configuration and the size of the NF stage, accommodating approximately 7000 m2 of active membrane area, was a function of the properties of the membranes selected to separate the draw solutes and water, while detailed simulations indicated that the size of the FO unit might be reduced by adopting a counter-current configuration. Experimental tests with samples of the relevant wastewater showed that Cl- and Mg2+-based draw solutes would be associated with larger membrane fouling, possibly due to their interaction with the other substances present in the feed solution. However, the results suggest that fouling would not significantly decrease the performance of the designed system. This study contributes to the further evaluation and potential implementation of FO in water reuse systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forward Osmosis: Modelling and Applications)
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