Abstract
The global demand for freshwater is predicted to increase up to 30% by 2050. Therefore, water reuse/desalination for production of clean water and energy development are critically important. In the meantime, the forward osmosis (FO) membrane is an emerging process with the expectation of overcoming the challenges of the conventional pressure-driven membrane processes to achieve energy-efficient and sustainable water treatment. Herein this chapter introduces the theory of the forward osmosis process (definition, concept, and modeling equations for water flux, reverse solute flux prediction). Some critical factors (Temp, pH, FS, DS, CFV, configurations, etc.) affecting the performance of the FO membrane are presented systematically. In addition, the book chapter covers a summary of FO applications to the main sectors: desalination, wastewater treatment, water reuse, concentration of materials (juice, milk, algae, sludge, medicine, etc.), resource recovery (N, P, oil, heavy metals, etc.), agricultural fertigation, and energy generation. The chapter is expected to provide the readerships with a basic understanding of the FO process and its application to sustainable water and energy development.
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