• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.367-372
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• 2015

In pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) and forward osmosis (FO) processes, solvent (permeate) flux depends on which surface the draw solution faces. There are two operation modes. PRO mode indicates that the active layer faces the draw solution, and FO mode means that the porous substrate fronts the draw stream. It is often observed that the PRO mode produces higher flux than that of FO under the same operating conditions. The current work uses the method of proof by contradiction, and mathematically proves the intrinsic flux inequality between the two modes.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.132-143
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• 2015

Water is an essential resource for humans, but fresh water becomes scarce due to population growth and contamination of limited resources. Membrane technology has been widely used for water treatment, and forward osmosis is a process which does not need high hydraulic pressure for the operation. However, there are needs for (1) development of novel draw solutes causing low internal concentration polarization and reverse salt flux for high water flux, and (2) development of economic recovery method of the draw solutes in the diluted draw solution. Previous researches on the draw solute include $NaHCO_3$ which can be regenerated by about $60^{\circ}C$ heating, sucrose which can make potable water without additional process, and magnetic nanoparticles which can be regenerated by external magnetic field. Using the principles of forward osmosis process, sea water desalination, wastewater treatment, refinement of proteins, energy generation using pressure retarded osmosis process, preparation of diluted fertilizer, and growing algae for biofuel can be conducted. This paper summarizes characteristics of ideal draw solutes, recovery method of the draw solutes, and various application examples.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.339-347
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• 2019

Forward osmosis (FO) is operated at a lower pressure than reverse osmosis (RO), which has great advantages in terms of fouling control, maintenance, membrane cleaning, and potential energy reduction. In particular, since the membrane fouling layer of the forward osmosis process has a relatively loose and dispersed property, it is possible to control the membrane fouling by physical cleaning, unlike the reverse osmosis process. However, existing studies do not apply the proper cleaning flow rate for forward osmosis physical cleaning, and thus there is a limit that the optimal operation can not be performed. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the justification of proper flow rate that can show high efficiency cleaning with economical energy amount. The membrane fouling experiments of the forward osmosis process were maintained at a circulating flow rate of 8.54 cm/s and the recovery rates were compared with the three cleaning flow rates. As a result of this experiment, it was confirmed that the 2 × speed cleaning showed the same efficiency as the water permeability recovery rate of the 3 × speed cleaning, and it was confirmed that the 2 × speed cleaning was an appropriate flow rate with high cleaning efficiency and economical SEC.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.187-196
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• 2016

Pressure-assisted forward osmosis (PAFO) process has recently been under spotlight for its potential to improve forward osmosis (FO) process performance by applying low hydraulic pressure on the feed side. Structure parameter, one of the governing factors in estimating water flux and solute flux across FO membranes in the solution-diffusion model (S-D model), determines solute resistivity in FO and PAFO processes. This study aims to estimate the trend of structure parameter change with respect to varying additional hydraulic pressure condition in PAFO.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 2010

The aim of this paper is to evaluate and compare the performances of forward osmosis (FO) membranes using different materials. The FO membranes were synthesized using interfacial polymerization method on hydrophobic polysulfone (PSf) and relatively hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PES) supports. The FO performance such as flux and back diffusion was measured. The resulting fluxes of PSf and PES FO membranes were $4.3\;L/m^2hr$ and $17.8\;L/m^2hr$, respectively. The flux of the PES FO membrane was higher than that of the PSf FO membrane. The results indicated that hydrophillictity of the support membrane is important for increasing flux in FO process. Moreover, with decreasing the support layer thickness, flux increased considerably.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.240-244
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• 2013

Although forward osmosis desalination technology has drawn substantial attention as a next-generation desalination method, the energy efficiency of its draw solution treatment process should be improved for its commercialization. When ammonium bicarbonate is used as the draw solute, the system consists of forward-osmosis membrane modules, draw solution separation and recovery processes. Mixed gases of ammonia and carbon dioxide generated during the draws solution separation, need to be recovered to re-concentrate ammonium bicarbonate solution, for continuous operation as well as for the economic feasibility. The diluted ammonium bicarbonate solution has been proposed as the absorbent for the draw solution regeneration. In this study, experiments are conducted to investigate performance and features of the absorption corresponding to absorbent concentration. It is concluded that ammonium bicarbonate solution can be used to recover the generated ammonia and carbon dioxide. The results will be applied to design and operation of pilot-scale forward-osmosis desalination system.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.157-168
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• 2018

Potassium tannate (TA-K), which is prepared by base treatment of the bio-renewable tannic acid (TA), was evaluated for its potential application as a draw solute for water purification by forward osmosis. The forward osmosis and recovery properties of TA-K were systematically investigated. In the application of forward osmosis through the active layer facing feed solution (AL-FS) method, the water flux of TA-K draw solution was significantly higher than that of the TA draw solution, while that of the latter was not identified. At a low concentration of 100 mM, the osmotic pressure (1,135 mOsmol/kg) of the TA-K draw solution was approximately 6.5 times that (173 mOsmol/kg) of the NaCl draw solution. Furthermore, the water flux and specific salt flux (6.14 LMH, 1.26 g/L) of the TA-K draw solution at 100 mM were approximately 2.5 and 0.5 times those of the NaCl draw solution (2.46 LMH, 2.63 g/L) at the same concentration, respectively. For reuse, TA-K was precipitated by using a metal ion and recovered through membrane filtration. This study demonstrates the applicability of a phytochemical material as a draw solute for forward osmosis.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.136-141
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• 2014

In this study, cellulose acetate (CA) membrane was prepared by phase inversion precipitation and then evaluated the forward osmosis (FO) membrane performance. Differences in water flux and salt rejection between RO and FO with prepared membranes were observed. The different structure membranes were prepared with various solvent which evaluate the influence of membrane structure on permeability. The structure of the prepared membrane was confirmed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the permeability changes were estimated using the bench-scale FO test equipment.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.70-76
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• 2023

Heavy water (D₂O) can induce various biochemical changes in comparison with light water (H₂O). In order to reduce excessive energy consumption, which is a disadvantage of the existing separation process, we conduct the forward osmosis with electrospun polyamide membranes. NaCl and phosphoric acid were used as draw solutions. FT-IR spectroscopy was used to quantify the concentration of heavy water. It was observed that phosphoric acid could concentrate heavy water through a forward osmosis process and its special interaction with hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) was spectrophotometrically confirmed.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2013

In general, boron recovery of 40-90% could be achieved by Reverse Osmosis (RO) membranes in neutral pH condition. As an emerging technology, Forward Osmosis (FO) membrane has attracted growing interest in wastewater treatment and desalination. The objective of this study is to evaluate the possibility of the boron removal in radioactive liquid waste by FO. In this study, the performance of FO was investigated to remove boron in the simulated liquid waste as the factors such as pH, osmotic pressure, ionic strength of solution, etc. The pH of feed solution is a major operating parameter which strongly influences to the permeation of boron and more than 80% of boron content can be separated when conducted at pH values less than 7. The water flux is not influenced but the boron flux and permeation rate tends to decrease in the low salt concentration of 1,000 mg/L. The boron flux increases linearly, but the permeation ratio of reducing boron is nearly constant even with changes in the draw solution concentration.