Draw Solution Flow Rate Research Articles

Unveiling the potential of forward osmosis desalination: Multi-objective optimization for peak efficiency

Forward osmosis (FO) has emerged as a promising technology with diverse applications. While recent advancements in FO have primarily focused on developing efficient membranes and draw solutes, studies on process optimization remain scarce. This work aims at identifying optimal operating conditions to use FO in seawater and brackish water desalination. Central Composite Design was conducted to investigate the effects of draw solution concentration, temperature, and flow rate on water flux (Jw), reverse solute flux (RSF), and specific cost index (Isc) responses. Response Surface Methodology analysis was performed to identify factors influencing responses. The desirability function was used to determine the best-input variables. The optimum operating conditions for the FO process are found at a flow rate of 0.6 L/min, a temperature of 32.9 °C, and a concentration of 1.79 mol/l, with corresponding values for water flux, RSF and Isc of 18.16 L/m2h and 41.03 g/m2h and 0.274, respectively. These results were experimentally validated. Experiments were also performed using seawater and brackish water feed solutions.

Energy, exergy, economic and environment analysis of standalone forward osmosis (FO) system for domestic wastewater treatment

Energy, exergy, economic and environmental analysis is applied to a novel FO system. The system is designed to achieve minimal/zero liquid discharge with low specific energy consumption. Up to 43 % recovery is obtained with desired output in terms of salinity of diluted draw solution and concentrated feed solution. The specific energy required to produce diluted draw and concentrated feed solutions for the proposed application is as low as 0.0285 kWh/m3. In this study, DS-Lumen/AL-DS mode shows specific energy savings of 49.5 % in performed cases compared to FS-Lumen/AL-FS mode using a less flow rate of draw solution. The process design is done to reach the appropriate salinity level at the system outlet. The feed solution connection is in the series between membranes, which helps to dilute the draw solution, while the draw solution connection is in parallel between membranes to achieve desired salinity level at the outlet. The influence of the feed and draw solution temperature and flow rate on the membrane performance is observed. Capital and operating costs of the membrane and other costs, such as tank and chemical solution costs, are significant contributors to the total cost. The specific solution (total output of FO system) cost is estimated at 0.23 $/m3. Environmental analysis suggests that the deployment of solar energy as an energy source of the system reduces 93.06 % of CO2 emissions compared to fossil fuel (coal).

Reduction of Concentrating Poisonous Metallic Radicals from Industrial Wastewater by Forward and Reverse Osmosis

The research aims to use a new technology for industrial water concentrating that contains poisonous metals and recovery quantities from pure water. Therefore, the technology investigated is the forward osmosis process (FO). It is a new process that use membranes available commercial and this process distinguishes by its low cost compared to other process. Sodium chloride (NaCl) was used as draw solution to extract water from poisonous metals solution. The driving force in the FO process is provided by a different in osmotic pressure (concentration) across the membrane between the draw and poisonous metals solution sides. Experimental work was divided into three parts. The first part includes operating the forward osmosis process using TFC membrane as flat sheet for NaCl. The operating parameters studied were: draw solutions concentration (10 – 95 g/l), draw solution flow rate (12-36 I/h), temperature of draw solution (30 and 40°C), feed solution concentration (10 -210 mg/l), feed solution flow rate (10 -50 l/h), temperature of feed solution (30 and 40°C) and Pressure (0.4 bar). The second part includes operating the forward osmosis process using CTA membrane as flat sheet for NaCl. The operating parameters studied were: draw solution concentration (15 – 95 g/l), feed solution concentration (10-210 mg/l). Constant temperature was maintained at 30°C. The last part includes operating the reverse osmosis process using TFC membrane as spiral wound module in order to separate NaCl salt from draw solution and obtain on pure water so as to usefully in different uses and also obtain on solution of NaCl concentrate which was recirculated to forward osmosis process. It is then used as draw solution. The operating parameter studied was: feed solution flow rate (15-55 l/h). The experimental results show that the water flux increases with increasing draw solution concentration, feed solution flow rate, temperature of draw solution and decreases with increasing feed solution concentration, draw solution flow rate and temperature of feed solution. The experiments also show that CTA membrane gives higher water flux than TFC membrane for forward osmosis operation.

Water Recovery from Brine Solution by Forward Osmosis Process

The present work aims to study the possibility of utilization a forward osmosis desalination process as an alternative method to extract water from brine solution rejected from reverse osmosis process. Experiments conducted in a laboratory–scale forward osmosis (FO) unit in cross flow flat sheet membrane cell yielded water flux ranging from (0.0315 to 0.56 L/m2 .min) when using CTA membrane,and ranging from (0.419 to 2.785 L/m2 .min) for PA membrane under 0.4 bar. Two possible membrane orientations were tested. Sodium chloride with high concentrations was used as draw solution solute. The effect of membrane orientation on internal concentration polarization (ICP) was studied. Two regimes of ICP; dilutive and concentrative were described and characterized and their governing equations were applied. Also the effect of draw and feed solution concentrations and flow rate were studied. It was found that the experimental water flux were lower than the theoretical water flux. Using of PA membrane under pressure was resulted in a higher flux of desalinated water than when CTA used alone without pressure under the same operating conditions.

Forward Osmosis Process for the Treatment of Wastewater from Textile Industries

This paper was aimed to study the efficiency of forward osmosis (FO) process as a new application for the treatment of wastewater from textile effluent and the factors affecting the performance of forward osmosis process.The draw solutions used were magnesium chloride (MgCl2), and aluminum sulphate (Al2 ( SO4)3 .18 H2O), and the feed solutions used were reactive red, and disperse blue dyes.Experimental work were includes operating the forward osmosis process using thin film composite (TFC) membrane as flat sheet for different draw solutions and feed solutions. The operating parameters studied were : draw solutions concentration (10 – 90 g/l), feed solutions concentration (5 – 30 mg/l), draw solutions flow rate (10 – 50 l/hr), feed solutions flow rate (20-60 l/hr), constant pressure and temperature were maintained at 0.5 bar and 30ºC respectively. And includes operating the forward osmosis process using cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane as flat sheet for different draw solutions and feed solutions. The operating parameters studied were : draw solutions concentration (10 – 90 g/l), and feed solutions concentration (5 – 30 mg/l), constant temperature at 30ºC. It was found that water flux increases with increasing draw solution concentration, and feed solution flow rate and decreases with increasing draw solution flow rate and feed solution concentration for TFC and CTA. It was found MgCl2 given water flux larger than Alum. And also found that reactive red given water flux larger than disperse blue.The experiments also show that CTA membrane gives higher water flux than TFC membrane for forward osmosis operation. The increase in water flux for CTA is about 12.85% than TFC.

Forward-Reverse Osmosis Processes for Oily Wastewater Treatment

In this study, the feasibility of Forward–Reverse osmosis processes was investigated for treating the oily wastewater. The first stage was applied forward osmosis process to recover pure water from oily wastewater. Sodium chloride (NaCl) and magnesium chloride (MgCl2) salts were used as draw solutions and the membrane that was used in forward osmosis (FO) process was cellulose triacetate (CTA) membrane. The operating parameters studied were: draw solution concentrations (0.25 – 0.75 M), oil concentration in feed solution (FS) (100-1000 ppm), the temperature of FS and draw solution (DS) (30 - 45 °C), pH of FS (4-10) and the flow rate of both DS and FS (20 - 60 l/h). It was found that the water flux and oil concentration in FS increase by increasing the concentration of draw solutions, the flow rate of FS and the temperature for a limit (40oC), then, the water flux and oil concentration decrease with increasing the temperature because of happening the internal concentration polarization phenomenon. By increasing the oil concentration in FS and the flow rate of the DS, the water flux and oil concentration in FS decreased, while it had a fluctuated behavior with increasing pHof oily wastewater. It was found also that MgCl2 gives water flux higher than NaCl. So the values of resistance to solute diffusion within the membrane porous support layer were 55.93 h/m and 26.21 h/m for NaCl and MgCl2 respectively. The second stage was applied reverse osmosis process using polyamide (thin film composite (TFC)) membrane for separating the fresh water from a diluted (NaCl) solution using different parameters such as draw solution concentration (0.08–0.16 M), feed flow rate (20–40 l/h).

Mathematical approach for improved performance of flat-sheet forward osmosis membrane

Forward osmosis is a promising membrane-based desalination technique that uses less energy compared to other technologies. Hybridization of forward osmosis in the company of different technologies makes it an attractive technology. However, the availability of commercial membranes, the cost of the membrane, low water flux, low retention of impurities, and availability of the draw solution are the major obstacle to the commercialization of forward osmosis technology. Application and mass transfer are the major covered area of forward osmosis technology. In this study, mathematical modeling and simulation are carried out for the flat sheet membrane/Plate and frame membrane, which comprise mass balance, permeate flux, and effect of concentration polarization. Membrane orientation, draw and feed solution flow rate, the concentration of draw solution and feed solution, and the flow arrangement of the solutions are variable inputs to the mathematical modeling. The result shows that higher dilution of the draw solution can be achieved using a lower draw solution flow rate and a higher feed solution flow rate. Also, the parallel flow and counter flow arrangement in forward osmosis is slightly influence the variation in the concentration difference for both streams. Wisely choosed operating conditions using mathematical modeling give better membrane performance.

Mathematical Modeling of a Hollow Fiber Module Used in Pressure-Retarded Osmosis Process

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) can be considered as one of the methods for utilizing osmotic power, which is a membrane-based technology. Mathematical modeling plays an essential part in the development and optimization of PRO energy-generating systems. In this research, a mathematical model was developed for the hollow fiber module to predict the power density and the permeate water flux theoretically. Sodium chloride solution was employed as the feed and draw solution. Different operating parameters, draw solution concentration (1 and 2 M), the flow rate of draw solution (2, 3, and 4 L/min), and applied hydraulic pressure difference (0 - 90 bar) was used to evaluate the performance of PRO process of a hollow fiber module. The effect of these operational parameters was investigated on the theoretical permeate water flux and power density. According to the theoretical results, the permeate water flux and the power density increased with increasing the concentration of draw solution and the flow rate of the draw solution. While decreased with increasing the feed solution concentration. By increasing the applied hydraulic pressure on the draw solution, the water flux decreased and the produced power density increased. The maximum power density and the corresponding permeate water flux of 2 M NaCl draw solution was approximately 16.414 W/m2 and 11.818 LMH respectively, which occurs at an applied hydraulic pressure of 50 bar.

Activated carbon incorporation on forward osmosis membrane surface for enhanced performance

Abstract Cellulose triacetate (CTA) is the first-generation forward osmosis (FO) membrane used for desalination. There have been a few chemical modifications of the CTA membrane surface. This has improved membrane hydrophilicity, water flux, and salt rejection compared with unmodified CTA membranes. Chitosan-containing porous materials as composites have resulted in increased pore characteristics. It has motivated the modification of the surface of the commercial CTA forward osmosis (FO) membrane by surface coating with chitosan (CS)–powdered activated carbon (AC) mix. The membrane morphology was characterized by SEM, FTIR-ATR, contact angle measurement and AFM. Operational conditions for FO such as the orientation of the membrane active layer, feed and draw solution flow rates, and type and concentration of draw salt were optimized with the original CTA membrane. The modified membrane exhibited around a two-fold increase in the water flux and reduced reverse salt flux compared with the original CTA membrane. The improved water flux was attributed to the CS-AC coating enhancing water wettability of the membrane surface and the porous AC generating additional water flow channels. Overall, the water flux of the CTA-CS-AC membrane developed in this work was superior to that of CTA and cellulose acetate (CA) membranes reported in the literature.

Desalination of Municipal Wastewater Using Forward Osmosis.

Membrane technology has gained much ground in water and wastewater treatment over the past couple of decades. This is timely, as the world explores smart, eco-friendly, and cheap water and wastewater treatment technologies in its quest to make potable water and sanitation commonplace in all parts of the world. Against this background, this study investigated forward osmosis (FO) in the removal of salts (chlorides, sulphates, and carbonates) and organics (chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), and color) from a synthetic municipal wastewater (MWW), mimicking secondary-treated industrial wastewater, at very low feed and draw solution flow rates (0.16 and 0.14 L/min respectively), using 70 g/L NaCl solution as the draw solution. The results obtained showed an average of 97.67% rejection of SO42− and CO32− while Cl− was found to enrich the feed solution (FS). An average removal of 88.92% was achieved for the organics. A permeation flux of 5.06 L/m2.h was obtained. The kinetics of the ions transport was studied, and was found to fit the second-order kinetic model, with Pearson’s R-values of 0.998 and 0.974 for Cl− and CO32− respectively. The study proves FO as a potential technology to desalinate saline MWW.

Process water recovery via forward osmosis: membrane and integrated process development.

This work reports on efforts to develop an integrated continuous forward osmosis system for the recovery of water from wastewater streams, highlighting critical process parameters to minimize energy consumption. Forward osmosis experiments were performed using NaCl draw solutions of various concentrations and the intrinsic membrane parameters (water permeability, draw solution permeability, and structural parameter) were then determined via nonlinear regression using MATLAB. The experimental data were then used to validate a theoretical water flux model, which was subsequently applied to simulate the forward osmosis performance under different hydrodynamic conditions using both NaCl and TMA-CO2-H2O (TMA: trimethylamine) draw solutions. Analysis of the energy efficiency of the TMA-CO2 draw solution regeneration stage revealed that the draw solution flow rate has a significant impact on energy consumption. Also, increasing the feed flow rate was found to slightly enhance the water flux up to 2.5%, while having a negligible impact on the downstream regeneration process energy consumption.

Efficient organic enrichment from sludge filtrate via a forward osmosis membrane process

Anaerobically digested sludge filtrate after thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP-AD) requires large plant and operational costs for post-treatment and re-utilization. This paper reports the innovative forward osmosis (FO) membrane process to enrich organic matter from such a digested sludge filtrate. The proposed membrane separation process can reduce the operational load and environmental dependence of waste sewage treatment plants and may provide a new way for the treatment of THP-AD sludge filtrate. In this study, a cost-effective draw NaCl solution was selected for the FO process. The sensitivity of membrane operational conditions including membrane orientation, system temperature, system flow rate and concentrations of draw solution was investigated and correlated with the FO processing performance. FO mode is a clever choice to reduce the deposition of pollutants on the membrane’s surface, and improve the recovery performance of the membrane. The permeation flux of the THP-AD sludge digestion system decreased more rapidly due to the membrane pollution as well as to the decreasing of driving force caused by the dilution of the draw solution and the concentration of the feed solution. The concentration factor of digested sludge filtrate after FO process was more than five, and the rejection rates of organic and inorganic matter were above 92.5%. The membrane permeability recovery after the offline washing reached up to 98.4% and showed high efficiency at removing membrane fouling substances and at reactivating the membrane. The proposed FO process has potential as an alternative and practical method for treating and utilizing intractable sludge filtrates, conducive to the development of sustainable wastewater plants.

Thermodynamic optimization of Multistage Pressure Retarded Osmosis (MPRO) with variable feed pressures for hypersaline solutions

Salinity gradient processes, such as Forward Osmosis and Pressure Retarded Osmosis, have been proven to be promising technologies for reducing the energy consumption in water treatment processes, for energy production, and for energy recovery. Based on the thermodynamic concepts, specifically Gibbs' Free Energy of Mixing, the concentration of the draw solution plays an important role in determining whether the selected salinity gradient process is economically feasible or not. An increase in the salinity of a draw solution does not only increase the osmotic pressure difference between the draw and feed solutions, but also allows a higher hydraulic pressure to be applied on the draw solution, which together greatly increases the volumetric flux of the draw solution per single pass when PRO is used. Even though higher power densities can be achieved by applying higher hydraulic pressures on the draw solution, this requires greater mechanical stability of the membrane to be able to withstand these higher hydraulic pressures. In order to increase the mechanical stability of the membranes, generally, thicker support layers can be applied, which have a direct negative impact on membrane permeability. Therefore, there is a limitation to the salinity of the draw solution which can be used in the PRO processes. This being dependent on the concentration of the hypersaline solution and hence overall hydraulic pressure, necessitating the use of an ultra-thick support layer for maximum energy production and/or recovery. In this theoretical and simulative optimization of the PRO process, we achieved the optimum energy recovery from a hypersaline solution (TDS ~ 300,000 mg/l) by using a multistage PRO (MPRO) system which included implementing variable applied feed pressures to each stage. The results showed that the volumetric flow rate of the hypersaline draw solution increased by up to a factor of 10 during the MPRO process in single pass, and the concentration of the hypersaline draw solution diluted up to 10× accordingly. Energy conversion efficiency of osmotic pressure to hydraulic pressure was found to be around 10% without variable feed pressure and approximately 20% with variable feed pressure.

Temperature Effects and Entropy Generation of Pressure Retarded Osmosis Process

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is considered as one of the promising and new techniques to generate power. In this work, a numerical model was used to study the effect of the flow streams temperature on the performance of the PRO process and entropy generation. The variation of the feed solution and draw solution temperatures, pressure difference, concentration difference, and flow rates on the power density and entropy generation were discussed. The model results were validated with experimental measurements obtained from literature and showed a good agreement with the model predictions. It was found that the power density increases by about 130% when both feed solution and draw solution temperatures increase from 20 °C to 50 °C. The feed solution temperature has more impact on the power density than that of the draw solution. This is due to the direct effect of the feed solution temperature on the water permeability and diffusion coefficient. The effect of the feed solution temperature becomes significant at higher concentration differences. Whereas, at low concentrations, the power density slightly increases with the feed temperature. Furthermore, it is found that there is an optimum volumetric flow in the channels that maximizes the power density and minimizes the entropy generation when fixing other operating conditions.

Apple juice concentration using submerged direct contact membrane distillation (SDCMD)

The applicability of SDCMD technology using polypropylene membrane for apple juice concentration was explored in this study. The effect of feed temperature, draw solution flowrate, and draw solution concentration against the permeate flux and nutrient content were investigated. The results suggested a noticeable trade-off between the permeate flux and nutrient content. Severe temperature polarization was occurred during the SDCMD operation due to poor feed hydrodynamic and mixing condition in submerged configuration with stagnant feed. Therefore, the temperature difference of the feed and draw solution flow resulted on negligible driving force. The optimum SDCMD operation condition for apple juice concentration in this study were 3 mL/s draw solution flowrate, 630 g/L draw solution concentration, 14 °C draw solution temperature and 30 °C feed temperature. To avoid excessive heat treatment and prolong operation time, the advantage of membrane modularity was highlighted. Apple juice concentration to up to 35oBrix could be achieved with excellent nutrient preservation.

A hybrid forward osmosis/reverse osmosis process for the supply of fertilizing solution from treated wastewater

This work investigates the application of a hybrid system that combines forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO) processes for the supply of a fertilizing solution that could be used directly for irrigation purposes. In the FO process the feed solution is treated sewage effluent (TSE) and two different types of draw solutions were investigated. The impact of the feed solution and the draw solution flowrates and the membrane orientation on the membrane flux were investigated in the forward osmosis process. RO was used for the regeneration of the draw solution. In the forward osmosis process it was found that the highest membrane flux was 13.2 LMH. The FO process had high rejection rates for total phosphorus and ammonium which were 99% and 97%, respectively. RO achieved 99% total salts rejection rate. Seawater RO (SW30HR) and brackish water RO (BW30LE) membranes were used for the regeneration of the draw solution. The specific power consumption for the regeneration of the draw solution was 2.58 kW h/m3 and 2.18 kW h/m3 for SW30HR and BW30LE membranes, respectively. The final product water had high quality in terms of total dissolved solids concentration but the concentration of phosphorus was slightly higher than recommended due to adding 0.1 M of diammonium phosphate in the draw solution.

Energy efficiency of hollow fibre membrane module in the forward osmosis seawater desalination process

This study provided new insights regarding the energy efficiency of hollow fibre forward osmosis modules for seawater desalination; and as a consequence an approach was developed to improve the process performance. Previous analysis overlooked the relationship between the energy efficiency and operating modes of the hollow fibre forward osmosis membrane when the process was scaled-up. In this study, the module length and operating parameters were incorporated in the design of an energy-efficient forward osmosis system. The minimum specific power consumption for seawater desalination was calculated at the thermodynamic limits. Two FO operating modes: (1) draw solution in the lumen and (2) feed solution in the lumen, were evaluated in terms of the desalination energy requirements at a minimum draw solution flow rate. The results revealed that the operating mode of the forward osmosis membrane was important in terms of reducing the desalination energy. In addition, the length of the forward osmosis module was also a significant factor and surprisingly increasing the length of the forward osmosis module was not always advantageous in improving the performance. The study outcomes also showed that seawater desalination by the forward osmosis process was less energy efficient at low and high osmotic draw solution concentration and performed better at 1.2–1.4 M sodium chloride draw solution concentrations. The findings of this study provided a platform to the manufacturers and operators of hollow fibre forward osmosis membrane to improve the energy efficiency of the desalination process.

Evaluation of forward osmosis as a pretreatment process for multi stage flash seawater desalination

The present study evaluates the feasibility of applying forward osmosis (FO) process for the pretreatment of feed solution to a Multi Stage Flash (MSF) desalination plant. For the first time, real brine reject and real seawater were used as the draw solution and the feed solution, respectively in the FO process. The FO pretreatment is expected to dilute the brine reject and reduce the concentration of divalent ions, which are responsible for scale formation on the surface of heat exchanger in the MSF evaporator unit. The FO experiments were performed at different draw solution temperatures ranging between 25 and 40 °C, different draw and feed solutions flowrates and different membrane orientations. A maximum average membrane flux of 22.3 L/m2·h was reported at a draw solution temperature of 40 °C and 0.8 and 2.0 LPM flow rate of draw and feed solutions, respectively. The experimental results also revealed the process sensitivity to the feed solution temperature. It was found that the average membrane flux in the FO process operating at 0.8 and 2 LPM draw and feed solution flow rates, respectively was 16.9 L/m2·h at 25 °C brine temperature but increased to 22.3 L/m2·h at 40 °C brine temperature. These membrane fluxes resulted in 3% and 8.5% dilution of the draw solution at 25 °C and 40 °C temperatures, respectively. The average membrane flux in the FO mode was equal to that in the PRO mode at low flow rates but it was lower than that in the PRO mode at high flow rates of the feed and draw solutions. The outcomes of the study are very promising with regard to membrane flux and dilution of draw solution.

Hydraulics characteristics of forward osmosis membrane module boundary based on FBG sensing technology: Hydraulic properties and operating condition optimization

To obtain more information on the hydraulic properties of membrane interface, the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing technology was imported to investigate the effect of feed solution (FS) flow rate, draw solution (DS) flow rate and cross-flow direction on the membrane flux and membrane shear-force distribution of forward osmosis (FO) process. Results from experimental work demonstrated that a non-uniform spatial variation of the shear-force distribution exists along the membrane, and higher shear force is distributed in the middle position which resulted in higher diffusion load on the particular location of the membrane rind. Besides, increasing the inlet flow simply to a certain value didn't result in a higher shear force and lower the effect of concentration polarization (CP). Compared to co-current mode, counter-current mode showed the better hydraulic characteristics of higher shear-force, faster scouring frequency and consistent shear-force distribution, which will enhance the utilization of membrane and exhibit higher flux by increasing the inlet flow. Moreover, with the increase of FS and DS flow, the stress distribution showed more uniformed. Higher FS flow is more beneficial to FO process which will reduce ECP and improve flux in comparison to increasing DS flow which will produce adverse influence on ICP and diminish flux.

Osmotically and Thermally Isolated Forward Osmosis-Membrane Distillation (FO-MD) Integrated Module.

In this study, we propose a novel module design to integrate forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD). The two processes are sealed in one module and operated simultaneously, making the system compact and suitable for a wide range of applications. To evaluate the system under large-scale module operating conditions, FO and MD experiments were performed separately. The effect of draw solution (DS) temperature on the FO performance was first assessed in terms of flux, reverse salt flux (RSF), and specific RSF (SRSF). While a higher DS temperature resulted in an increased RSF, a higher FO flux was achieved, with a lower SRSF. The influence of DS concentration on the MD performance was then investigated in terms of flux and salt rejection. High DS concentration had a slightly negative impact on MD water vapor flux, but the MD membrane was a complete barrier for DS salts. The FO-MD integrated module was simulated based on mass balance equations. Results indicated that initial DS (MD feed) flow rate and concentration are the most important factors for stable operation of the integrated module. Higher initial DS flow rate and lower initial DS concentration can achieve a higher permeate rate of the FO-MD module.