Water Recovery Research Articles

Residual Dewatering Aids in Process Water on Flotation Performance of a Selected Cu-Ni-PGM Ore from a Siliceous Reef

The increasing scarcity of water has led to mine operations recycling water from tailing dams, thickener overflow, dewatering and filter products. However, water quality is found to influence the process of ore flotation, with adverse effects on flotation selectivity. The adsorption of the collector onto valuable minerals may also be affected by the unintended change on water chemistry. This study simulates the impact of dewatering reagents present in recycled water from tailings dewatering unit operations into the flotation process using a Silicate reef ore from the South African Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) supplied by Pilanesburg Platinum Mines. Unique plant water (UPW), consisting of inorganic electrolytes and dewatering chemical reagents, was synthetically prepared using water quality analyses received from a South African concentrator processing a Cu-Ni-PGM bearing Merensky ore. The study has a specific focus on the impact of flocculants and coagulants as dewatering reagents present in recycled process water on solids recovery, water recovery, copper and nickel mineral recovery, copper and nickel mineral grade, residual concentrations of the collector post flotation are also determined as well as particle settling of the tails after flotation. The results show that the presence of dewatering reagents in recycled process water into the flotation system may result increased mineral particle recoveries, both the valuable minerals and gangue. However, the increase in gangue recoveries may be to the detriment of the concentrate grades with respective to the valuable minerals of interest. The ability to pull more solids to the concentrate could further have considerable implications on the dewatering of tailings post flotation as each condition resulted in distinct tailings settling tendency. It was also shown that there was little to no influence on the adsorption of the freshly dosed collector as its residual concentrations in the tails remained fairly the same across the tested process water conditions containing residual concentrations of the coagulant, depressant and flocculant.

Water Recovery in Life Support Systems for Long-Term Space Missions

Water Recovery in Life Support Systems for Long-Term Space Missions

Hydrogel membrane composite reduces fouling and retains ammonium efficiently

The recovery of pure water and valuable substances from wastewater is a major challenge in the context of the circular economy, requiring advanced separation methods. However, actual membrane separation techniques such as forward osmosis are limited by membrane fouling and selectivity. Here, we synthesized composite membranes by crosslinking polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel, using both glutaraldehyde and borax as crosslinking agents, on top of cellulose ester membranes. We tested these composite membranes on model and real wastewater. Results show that the composite membranes retain ammonium effectively, maintain surface electroneutrality, and exhibit remarkable resistance to fouling by organic and biological contaminants. This is explained by the high hydrophilicity of the membrane surface after application of a hydrogel layer.

Physical simulation study on production characteristics and mechanism of connate water in gas reservoirs

The late-stage development of gas reservoirs often encounters the paradox of significant remaining formation pressure coupled with low wellhead pressure, which indicates small drainage volume, low gas production rate, and low recovery efficiency, reducing gas supply and economic benefit. Owing to the lack of experimental research, the reasons behind this contradiction between gas production and producing pressure differential are unclear. The key factors affecting the development outcomes are reservoir permeability and initial water saturation, while the evaluation parameters include gas and water production rates, reservoir pressure, and recovery efficiency. Based on the characteristic properties of typical gas fields, physical simulation experiments of constant-rate gas production are conducted on spliced long cores with average permeabilities of 2.300, 0.486, and 0.046 millidarcy (mD). Furthermore, leveraging the multi-point embedded pressure measurement technique, the pressure drawdown propagations and the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of connate water production at the initial water saturations of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 55% are investigated. By connate water, we mean water that occurs naturally within the pores of rock. Pre- and post-experiment core weighing and nuclear magnetic resonance testing are performed. In addition to the mercury injection tests, the results indicate that during gas reservoir depletion, connate water primarily stems from macropores and mesopores, with micropores and nanopores capturing water through capillary imbibition. Moreover, lower permeability and higher initial water saturation lead to greater pressure gradients, increased connate water production, and reduced recovery efficiency. Reservoirs with permeabilities below 0.1 mD are significantly affected by connate water, exhibiting steep pressure profiles. Owing to connate water, the near-wellbore pressure quickly decreases, while distant reservoir pressure barely decreases, implying a limited drainage area. To enhance the recovery efficiency, measures like infill drilling and reservoir stimulation are recommended for low-permeability gas reservoirs.

Performance evaluation of novel superhydrophobic electrosprayed-electrospun nanofibrous membranes for water recovery using direct contact membrane distillation

Direct contact membrane distillation is a reliable way to produce fresh water from challenging wastewater streams. In this study, a novel electrosprayed-electrospun nanofibrous membranes (EENFMs) were fabricated using a two-step approach to reclaim water from hypersaline streams and wastewater containing trace organic contaminants. The synthesized SBA-15 was modified using fluoroalkylsilane and electrosprayed onto an electrospun PVDF-co-HFP support layer to form the EENFMs. The superhydrophobic/omniphobic membrane possessed multidirectional micro-nano scale roughness with a water contact angle of ≃ 154˚ and a low contact angle hysteresis of ≃ 6˚. The EENFM was challenged with synthetic feed solutions containing 3.5, 7.0, and 10.5 wt% NaCl and was found to exhibit stable fluxes and > 99% rejection. The M2′ membrane exhibited a steady flux of ∼ 6.5 Lm−2h−1 and permeate conductivities < 50 μScm−1 for up to 3600 min of operation for a feed solution of 10.5 wt% NaCl solution. M2′ proved to be suitable to recover water from wastewater feeds containing pesticides such as imidacloprid, carbendazim, chlorpyrifos, lambda-cyhalothrin, and quinalphos (total feed organic carbon content ∼ 350 ppm) and produced a stable flux of 8.5 Lm−2h−1 with an organic carbon rejection > 98%. Alkaline wash using sodium hydroxide was found to be efficient in recovering membrane performance and alleviating membrane fouling for 3 cycles of operations (8 h each) compared to the DI water wash. This regeneration method proved efficient, with ∼ 100% recovery of initial flux and surface superhydrophobicity. The present study indicates that these EENFMs are potential candidates for further evaluation to improve water recovery from industrial brines.

The Australian public’s preferences for further environmental and cultural water recovery options in the Murray-Darling Basin

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) Plan in Australia legislated in 2012 represents the largest recovery of water, from consumptive use to environmental use in the world – with the aim of restoring rivers and ecosystems back to health. To date, although billions of dollars have been spent, the Plan’s water recovery targets have not been achieved and will not meet their original target dates for full recovery, with governments needing to continue to make difficult water policy choices and trade-offs. This study explores a survey of Australian public preferences for five different water reallocation options in the MDB (and methods to be used for recovery) and identifies individual characteristics associated with various policy options. Almost a quarter of those surveyed did not support further water recovery; 17 % favoured recovering water to current goals only; 22 % favoured recovering environmental water beyond current goals; while 38 % favoured recovering both environmental and cultural water beyond current goals. For those wanting further recovery, a third preferred using irrigation infrastructure subsidies as the main method, while the majority favoured buying water directly back from irrigators (either through voluntary buyback or compulsory acquisition). Trust levels, location, age, climate change perception and gender all played a part in influencing respondent preferences for various water recovery options.

High-pressure batch reverse osmosis (RO) for zero liquid discharge (ZLD) in a Cr(III) electroplating process

A batch RO system was designed and built for high-pressure (120 bar) operation. The system was developed for a ZLD application involving treatment of metal plating wastewater from a Cr(III) electroplating process at a major industrial plant. Hybrid semi-batch/batch operation enabled a compact design to be achieved. To maximize water recovery without exceeding a set peak pressure, a method for controlling the switch point between semi-batch and batch phases was developed. The system was tested with feed representative of rinse water from the electroplating process. A range of feed concentrations (at 10–20× dilution of the plating bath), feed flows (0.21–0.46 m3/h), water fluxes (6–14 LMH) and water recoveries (87–95.7 %) were investigated. The system successfully recovered Cr(III) and restored its concentration to that of the electrolyte bath, thus meeting the requirements for reuse in the electroplating process. Rejection of most species was >99.8 %, sufficient for reuse of the permeate as rinse. However, rejection of boric acid was only 69–80 % such that a second RO pass may be needed to remove boric acid. Specific Energy Consumption was <2.25 kWh per m3 of treated rinse water, representing a 50-fold saving compared to the current method of treatment and disposal at the industrial plant.

Water reuse from wastewater: Experiences and challenges of implementing a full-scale water reuse system in a food industry plant

This paper presents experiences and challenges related to the implementation and successful 3-year operation of a full-scale station for water reuse from wastewater in one of the largest poultry slaughterhouses in Europe. Solved problems for implementing deammonification, as well as automatic coagulant dosing for wastewater pre-treatment, improvement of activated sludge separation, and digestate management, are presented and discussed. Two major limitations of stable water reclamation were a limit of 30 mg N/L in the effluent to the river and the passing of cationic flocculants and natural polymers formed by activated sludge microorganisms to the ultrafiltration units. The limit of 30 mg N/L was achieved by implementing i) a unique deammonification system to treat leachate from the anaerobic digester, ii) automatic coagulant dosing to mitigate high nitrogen peaks and balance organic compounds between biogas production and efficient denitrification. Flocculants and polymers passing to the ultrafiltration units and causing a sharp drop in water recovery were eliminated by stabilizing the zeta potential of the sludge, adding an antiscalant before the ultrafiltration, and automatic control of wastewater coagulation at primary treatment, responding to COD peaks. With improvements described in the article, the water reuse system provides a stable supply of 4000 m3/d of high-quality water, resulting in over 4 million m3 of water reclaimed since 2020.

Life cycle assessment of hybrid electrodialysis and reverse osmosis seawater desalination systems

This study investigates the environmental impact (EI) and water footprint (WF) of four seawater (SW) desalination configurations that combine both standalone and hybrid systems of SW reverse osmosis (SWRO) and SW electrodialysis (SWED). The analysis is conducted using life cycle assessment (LCA) and water recovery calculations. The results indicate that the hybrid SWRO-ED configuration has increased water recovery by 18–48 % over standalone SWRO and SWED. However, the SWRO-ED hybrid configuration has decreased membrane performance, which leads to increasing membrane replacement by 1.2–3.7 times compared to standalones SWED and SWRO, respectively. The carbon footprint for the SWRO-ED hybridization is 7.62 kg CO2 eq. per cubic meter of desalinated water compared to 5.35 and 6.48 kg CO2 eq/m3 emitted from SWRO and SWED standalones, respectively. On the other hand, the amending of SWED with brackish water RO (BWRO) consecutively increases water recovery by 8.4–42.1 % while reducing CO2 emissions by 41–51 %. The average WF per cubic meter of desalinated water is 2.46, 3.52, 2.65 and 3.92 m3 for the SWRO standalone, SWED standalone, SWED-BWRO, and SWRO-ED hybrid systems, respectively. Most of the WF is consumed indirectly for electricity or chemical production required for water desalination.

Optimized improvement of double-stage solar AES saline wastewater treatment system based on performance simulation and exergy analysis

Being an innovative, clean and high-efficiency double-stage solar air evaporating separation (AES) saline wastewater treatment system, it enables the full recovery of clean water and salt from saline wastewater. Nevertheless, there are still possibilities for optimized improvement in various aspects. Therefore, in this work, a well-established and accurately system simulation model is constructed, comprehensive performance is intensively analyzed, and different optimization and improvement methods are designed. Results demonstrate that among three potential improvements, “Improvement of three-stage switching operation” brings little effect, while “Improvement of distribution relationship” can effectively improve system adaptability to weather, particularly under overcast weather conditions. Moreover, “Improvement of regenerator” improves overall performance (gained output ratio (GOR), evaporation efficiency (EE) and overall system efficiency (ηsys), which are 20.11 %, 11.01 %, and 8.55 % higher than original system, respectively). Furthermore, the exergy analysis concludes that simultaneous implementation of “Improved distribution relations” and “Improved regenerators” is preferable. This improvement enhances system weather resilience and wastewater recycling capabilities in one fell swoop. This improved system can achieve an average GOR, ηsys and system exergy efficiency (ηex) of 2.588, 63.92 % and 2.849 %, respectively, throughout total summer months. Consequently, the best system improvement method is combining “Improvement of distribution relationship” with “Improvement of regenerator”.

Transitional Strategies of Juvenile Green Sturgeon from a Riverine to a Brackish Water Environment

Information on habitat transitions is critical to understand whether efforts to manage the freshwater phase of juvenile green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) rearing habitats are feasible or beneficial. We implanted microacoustic transmitters in naturally produced age-0 juvenile green sturgeon in the Sacramento River to evaluate residency, general spatial distribution, movement rates, and downstream migration patterns over 300 river kilometers. Furthermore, we investigated whether changes in three environmental variables (discharge, turbidity, and water temperature) were associated with the beginning of movements resulting in the transition from riverine to brackish waters during their outmigration to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. We captured 183 juvenile green sturgeon by trawl of which 88 were implanted with microacoustic tags. An additional 10 individuals were collected and tagged from the Red Bluff Diversion Dam rotary-screw traps. Linear mixed models showed that individuals caught by trawl had longer upper river residence times, post-tagging, than those caught by trap. Intergate velocity models showed that trap-caught individuals relocated at higher upper river reach velocities than trawl-caught fish, but there were no differences between trap- and trawl-caught fish within the middle or lower reach. Detections showed that juvenile green sturgeon began the downstream transition to brackish water habitat when discharge and turbidity increased. Temperature was not found to significantly influence the initiation of downstream migration. Both continuous and stepped downstream migration patterns were observed in each of the four cohorts, with smaller individuals being more likely to exhibit stepped migration. These data provide information that was previously unknown about the life history of the southern distinct population segment of the North American green sturgeon and can be utilized to assist with water resource management and recovery of this threatened fish species.

Protein and water recovery from tuna defrosting wastewater

The objective of this research was to recover protein and water from tuna defrosting wastewater. Tuna defrosting wastewater (TDW) was concentrated, and salt protein residue (PR) was separated from concentrate TDW (cTDW). Protein in the cTDW was precipitated (PP). Salt was removed from PR and PP by using hot water (60 °C). PR and PP were dried at 50 °C before analysis for total protein, amino acid profile and salt content. Salty protein solution (PS) following salt removal from the precipitate was collected and concentrated. Then salt cPS was desalted by Sephadex G-25, and the elution was collected and concentrated. The resulting cPS was analyzed for pH, total protein, salt content, amino acid profile and antioxidant properties. Water from the protein recovery procedure was collected and analyzed for biological qualities (heterotrophic plate count, coliform bacteria, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp. and Clostridium perfringens), physical qualities (apparent color, turbidity, pH) and chemical qualities (total dissolved solids, total hardness and sulfate).The results showed that cTDW contained 11.57 ± 0.03 % protein and 3.36 ± 0.03% NaCl. After salt was removed, the dried PR and PP contained 33.10 ± 0.16% and 6.92 ± 0.13% protein, respectively, and 0.23 ± 0.00% and 0.05 ± 0.00% NaCl, respectively. Dried PR contained 9 essential amino acids at higher concentrations than in PP. Concentrated PS contained 3.15 ± 0.12% protein and no NaCl. Histidine (254.15 mg/100 g) was the dominant amino acid in cPS. Antioxidant properties are shown by values for DPPH, ABTS and FRAP. The physical, chemical and bacterial parameters of recovered water met the guidelines for drinking water quality. These results indicate that recovery of protein and water is possible in fish processing, which could reduce costs for processors and benefit the environment.

Effect of Aquifer Strength and Gas-cap Size on Oil Recovery Efficiency in Thin-Oil Rim

Recovering oil from thin oil rim reservoirs depends on some factors such as the gas-cap size, thickness of initial oil column, aquifer strength, permeability anisotropy (kV/kH), and rock and fluid properties. The arbitrary selection of these factors by researchers during investigation limits the systematic assessment of the influence of these factors on hydrocarbon recovery from thin oil rim reservoirs. This work investigated the effect of aquifer strength, gas cap size, and permeability anisotropy on hydrocarbon recovery, using design of experiment (DOE) as a tool in the systematic selection of some of the factors that influence hydrocarbon recovery. A static model of the base case oil rim was built in Petrel. Using Eclipse simulator, two other reservoir models having different gas cap sizes from the base case were built. Forty-eight simulation cases were generated using the result from the design of experiment (DOE). The aquifer model used is a Fetkovich analytical aquifer model, and the aquifer volume factors used for this investigation are 0.7, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.5, while the gas cap sizes (m-factor) used are 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. The permeability anisotropy used are 0.01, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.40. Each simulation case was made to run for a period of twenty years (20years) and the results for the Field Oil Efficiency (FOE), Field Water Production Total (FWPT) and Field Gas Production Total (FGPT) were obtained and analyzed. It was found from this study that, the oil percentage recovery will increase as the gas cap size is decreased, while the percentage gas and water recoveries will increase as the size of the gas cap is increased for a thin oil rim reservoir. Again, for a thin oil rim reservoir with gas cap size of 0.50 ≤ m ≤ 2.00, percentage recovery of gas, oil and water will increase with aquifer volume. Also, based on the result obtained, a thin oil rim reservoir with small to moderate gas cap size (0.5≤ m≤1.0) will yield higher oil recoveries irrespective of the kV /kH ratio.

A Feasibility Study on Enhanced Oil Recovery of Modified Janus Nano Calcium Carbonate-Assisted Alkyl Polyglycoside to Form Nanofluids in Emulsification Flooding.

Emulsification flooding can effectively enhance crude oil recovery to solve the problem of petroleum shortage. In this work, a modified Janus Nano Calcium carbonate (JNC-12) with a particle size of 30-150 nm was synthesized, and an in situ emulsification nanofluid (ISEN) was prepared with JNC-12 and alkyl polyglycoside (APG). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed that the dispersion of JNC-12 in air or APG solution was better than Nano Calcium carbonate (Nano CaCO3). The emulsification properties, interfacial tension, and expansion modulus of ISEN were studied, and the result showed that with the increase in salinity, the emulsification rate decreased, the water yield rate increased, the interfacial tension first decreased and then increased, and the expansion modulus first increased and then decreased. With the increase in temperature, the emulsification rate, emulsion viscosity, and interfacial tension decreased. With the increased oil-water volume, the water yield rate and the emulsion viscosity increased. With increase in the concentration of JNC-12, the water yield rate, the emulsion viscosity, and the interfacial tension decreased but the expansion modulus increased. The emulsion generated by emulsifying ISEN with crude oil was an O/W emulsion, the crude oil viscosity was 4-10 times that of emulsion, and the average particle size of emulsion was 1.107 μm. The addition of ISEN caused the decrease in interfacial tension of oil-water to 0.01-0.1 mN/m. The wettability alteration experiment found that ISEN could change the lipophilic rock to hydrophilic rock. Finally, the core displacement experiments showed that compared with the first water flooding, the oil recovery of the second water flooding after ISEN flooding enhanced by 17.6%. This research has important guiding significance for in situ emulsified nanofluid flooding to enhance oil recovery.

Predicting forward osmosis performance with synthesized polyamide-based membrane: An integrated machine learning (MATLAB and ANN) and economic analysis framework

Forward Osmosis (FO) has emerged as a highly promising membrane-based water treatment process owing to its intrinsic advantages, such as low energy requirements and the potential for high water recovery. The lab-prepared highly efficient thin film composite (TFC) FO membranes that were used in this research work. The resultant polyamide-based FO membrane showed exceptional performance, notably achieving a high-water flux of 60.94 ± 3.5 L/m2.h and a constrained solute flux of 1.52 ± 0.08 g/m2.h. Machine learning methodologies are strategically employed in this study to construct predictive models for FO membrane performance. Notably, the accuracy of the van't Hoff equation's linear assumption is significantly enhanced by introducing an osmotic pressure calculation based on water activity, considering the nuanced effects of external and internal concentration polarization. The research employs MATLAB software alongside an artificial neural network (ANN) to develop predictive models. MATLAB facilitates the creation of a comprehensive theoretical model, offering insights into forecasting water flux through FO membranes by systematically analyzing diverse membrane parameters and their impact on performance. Concurrently, the ANN model was employed to predict the permeate flux for the laboratory-scale FO membrane system, utilizing the input parameters within the network's training range (R2 > 0.91). An economic assessment is also conducted to estimate the projected membrane cost, a pivotal determinant of system viability. Collectively, these investigations yield valuable insights into the intricacies of FO membrane design and optimization, elucidating their performance dynamics in water treatment and allied applications. This research significantly contributes to the ongoing quest to develop more efficient and precise membrane processes.

Hydrogen Nanobubbles Generated In Situ from Nanoscale Zerovalent Iron with Water to Further Enhance Selenite Sequestration.

Gas nanobubbles used for water treatment and recovery give rise to great concern for their unique advantages of less byproducts, higher efficiency, and environmental friendliness. Nanoscale zerovalent iron (nZVI), which has also been widely explored in the field of environmental remediation, can generate gas hydrogen by direct reaction with water. Whether nanoscale hydrogen bubbles can be produced to enhance the pollution removal of the nZVI system is one significant concern involved. Herein, we report direct observations of in situ generation of hydrogen nanobubbles (HNBs) from nZVI in water. More importantly, the formed HNBs can enhance indeed the reduction of Se(IV) beyond the chemical reduction ascribed to Fe(0), especially in the anaerobic environment. The possible mechanism is that HNBs enhance the reducibility of the system and promote electron transport in the solution. This study demonstrates a unique function of HNBs combined with nZVI for the pollutant removal and a new approach for in situ HNB generation for potential applications in the fields of in situ remediation agriculture, biotechnology, medical treatment, health, etc.

Design of a novel wastewater reuse system for space station based on urea electrooxidation technology

The replenishment of water resources in a space station is essential for achieving an astronaut's long-term and on-orbit residence. Recycling his or her urine is one of important and major ways of wastewater recovery. However, traditional urine treatment methods have the disadvantages of equipment that takes large space, complex procedures and low atomic utilization. Therefore, this paper designs a novel wastewater reuse system that treats urine based on urea electrooxidation technology, introduces methane fuel cell coupled with the Sabatier reactor and hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell to further utilize urine treatment products and to allocate water resources precisely in the space station through designing grading treatment and dynamic control systems. The wastewater reuse system designed in the paper contributes to saving valuable space and reducing energy consumption during urine treatment, thus improving water recovery rate and optimizing resource allocation.

Selective removal of Gallium from mixed metal solutions with Arsenic by ion flotation using the biosurfactant rhamnolipid

Rhamnolipids have received great attention in various environmental applications in terms of metal complexation and recovery. However, the effect of metal ions on interfacial and foaming properties in relation to flotation are not much studied. To assist, this study investigated the effect of metal ions alone and in a mixed metal system containing Gallium (Ga) and Arsenic (As) on these properties of rhamnolipid, along with isothermal titration calorimetry to study rhamnolipid-metal interactions. Further, the potential of rhamnolipid to recover and separate Ga from As was assessed using bioionflotation. Ga alone and in mixed metal system had a remarkable effect on the interfacial and foaming properties of rhamnolipid as compared to As alone. The effect of operating parameters like pH, rhamnolipid concentration, and airflow rate had a significant influence on the separation performance. Nearly 74% Ga was removed at 0.85 mM rhamnolipid concentration, pH 6, and an airflow rate of 80 ml/min. The selectivity index of Ga over As was highest (17.2) at 0.85 mM rhamnolipid concentration, pH 6, and an airflow rate of 40 ml/min. Also, the selective separation of Ga was dependent on the recovery of water from the foam. Altogether, the results provide new insights on the interfacial and foaming properties of rhamnolipid and its efficiency as an ion collector for Ga and showed that the optimized process parameters could be expected to provide very efficient separation and recovery of target metal via ion flotation.

Reusability of pre-treatment water obtained via textile wastewater by coagulation and filtration methods in reactive and disperse dyeing

Besides high-water consumption in the textile industry, color, quantity, and variety of chemicals in discharged wastewater draws attention both in terms of environmental and economic aspects. Therefore, efficient, and reliable treatment techniques are needed. In this context, coagulation is a very important step in the treatment of wastewater. In this study, water recovery from textile wastewater taken from different discharge points was investigated by using coagulation and filtration methods. Iron (III) chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3.6H2O) was used as a coagulant. The optimum conditions were determined by studying the effect of different coagulant dosages and pH values. The filtration process was performed using 12-25 µm and

On the thermodynamic properties of hydrolysed urine: Experimental data, predictive and correlative models for the design of concentrative urine treatment technologies

Source-separated urine contains the potential for water, nutrient and energy recovery. During the recovery of such resources, urine treatment technologies undergo temporal changes in the thermodynamic properties of urine. To inform the design of thermal, membrane and electrochemical urine treatment processes, this study experimentally measured and modelled the thermophysical properties of synthetic hydrolysed urine (vapour pressure, osmotic pressure, density, and electrical conductivity) across temperature and concentration profiles using two approaches: predictive thermodynamic equations based on an ionic speciation model and correlative modelling. The vapour pressure and osmotic pressure were accurately predicted to 14 wt% for the predictive model, within an error of 0.30% and 0.46%, respectively, while the correlative model based on the experimental data from this study demonstrated an error of <1% for both parameters across the whole range of salt concentrations and temperatures (4.5 to 32.2 wt%; 333 to 373 K). The predictive and correlative models for density and electrical conductivity showed adequate agreement with the experimental data, where error did not exceed 2.12% and 1.2%, respectively, across the entire range of concentrations and temperatures.The value of the models for the development of sustainable urine treatment technologies was demonstrated by their application to determine the optimum heating surface area of a urine evaporator and the energy requirements of a reverse osmosis process.