Forward osmosis for water treatment and desalination

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the application and the potential of forward osmosis (FO) for water and wastewater treatment. The mechanisms of mass transport will be elucidated in Section 3.2. Section 3.3 will discuss the current state-of-the-art draw agents and the research needed to obtain an ideal draw solution. In Section 3.4, the characteristics and limitations of current FO membranes will be highlighted, together with the recent advancements in this field. The extent and mechanisms of FO membrane fouling will be briefly presented in Section 3.5. The majority of this chapter will be devoted to discussing the applications of FO in water and wastewater treatment and in desalination, in Section 3.6, before summarizing the current status of the technology, its limitations and potential in the final Section 3.7.