• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.21-27
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• 2013

The present study explored the way to desalinate seawater for agricultural irrigation using forward osmosis (FO) process using liquid fertilizer as draw solution. FO experiments were performed in a cross flow mode using flat sheet FO membrane. The effect of membrane orientation, flow rate, and draw solution concentration on the performance of forward osmosis was investigated by measuring water flux of forward osmosis membrane. The water flux when the draw solution was placed against the membrane active layer was lower than the water flux when the feed solution was placed against the membrane active layer. This results indicated that the decrease of effective osmotic pressure by dilutive internal concentration polarization was less than that by concentrative internal concentration polarization. Increasing flow rate from 66.7 to 133.1 $cm^3$/min resulted in increase of the water flux when the membrane active layer orient to draw solution and feed solution, respectively. The reduction of resistance to water flow increased water flux at higher flow rate. The water flux of FO membrane increased with increasing draw solution concentration from 10000 to 30000 mg/L. The water flux for $KH_2PO_4$ draw solution was similar to that for commercial fertilizer. Optimization of FO process would contribute to economically desalinate brackish water for agricultural use.

• 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.23 no.5
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• pp.343-351
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• 2013

This study is to investigate the effects of the draw solution concentration on forward osmosis desalination performance using blended fertilizer as draw solution. As the concentration of blended fertilizer solution (draw solution) increased, the water permeate flux increased nearly linearly, but PR (performance ratio) was reduced. Using sea water and deionized water as the feed solution, respectively, at the blended fertilizer solution of 600 g/L $H_2O$, the PR obtained were 5.39 and 6.50, respectively. And as the concentration of blended fertilizer solution increased, the reverse solute flux for nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) increased nearly linearly, but specific reverse solute flux for them was reduced. The reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux became higher in the order of N > K > P.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.196-204
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• 2018

The anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor (AFBR) treating synthetic wastewater to simulate domestic sewage was operated under GAC fluidization to provide high surface area for biofilm formation. Although the AFBR achieves excellent COD removal efficiency due to biological activities, concerns are still made with nutrient such as nitrogen remaining in the effluent produced by AFBR. In this study, forward osmosis membrane was applied to treat the effluent produced by AFBR to investigate removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) with respect to the draw solution (DS) such as NaCl and glucose. Permeability of FO membrane increased with increasing DS concentration. About 55% of TN removal efficiency was observed with the FO membrane using 1 M of NaCl of draw solution, but almost complete TN removal efficiency was achieved with 1 M of glucose of draw solution. During 24 h of filtration, there was no permeate flux decline with the FO membrane regardless of draw solution applied.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.38 no.9
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• pp.476-481
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• 2016

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is a quite new technique for power generation using an osmotically driven membrane process. In the PRO process, water permeates through a semipermeable membrane from a low concentration feed solution to a high concentration draw solution due to osmotic pressure. This study carried out to evaluate the performance of the 8 in spiral wound membrane module using reverse osmosis concentrate for a draw solution and reverse osmosis permeate for a feed solution. Three different flowrates of draw and feed solution, such as 2.4 L/min, 5.0 L/min, and 10.0 L/min were used to estimate the power density and water flux under various range of hydraulic pressure differences between 5 bar and 30 bar. In addition, the effects of feed and draw solution concentration, flowrate, and mixing ratio on 8 in spiral wound PRO membrane module performance were investigated in this study. As major results, increases of the draw solution concentration lead to the improvement of power denstiy, and water flux. Also, increase of flowrate resulted in the improvement of power density and water flux. In addition, optimal mixing ratio of draw and feed solution inlet flowrate was found to be 1:1 to attain a maximum power denstiy.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.449-462
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• 2017

Direct treatment of municipal wastewater by forward osmosis (FO) process was evaluated in terms of water flux decline, reverse salt diffusion, pollutants rejection and concentration efficiency by using synthetic seawater as the draw solution. It was found that when operating in PRO mode (active layer facing the draw solution), although the FO membrane exhibited higher osmotic water flux, more severe flux decline and reverse salt diffusion was also observed due to the more severe fouling of pollutants in the membrane support layer and accompanied fouling enhanced concentration polarization. In addition, although the water flux decline was shown to be lower for the FO mode (active layer facing the feed solution), irreversible membrane fouling was identified in both PRO and FO modes as the water flux cannot be restored to the initial value by physical flushing, highlighting the necessity of chemical cleaning in long-term operation. During the 7 cycles of filtration conducted in the experiments, the FO membrane exhibited considerably high rejection for TOC, COD, TP and $NH_4{^+}-N$ present in the wastewater. By optimizing the volume ratio of seawater draw solution/wastewater feed solution, a concentration factor of 3.1 and 3.7 was obtained for the FO and PRO modes, respectively. The results demonstrated the validity of the FO process for direct treatment of municipal wastewater by using seawater as the draw solution, while facilitating the subsequent utilization of concentrated wastewater for bioenergy production, which may have special implications for the coastline areas.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.63-72
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• 2022

Choline chloride-glycerol (1:2 mol), a natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) is examined as a draw solution in forward osmosis (FO) for dewatering application. The NADES is easy to prepare, low in toxicity and environmentally benign. A polyamide thin film composite membrane was used. Characterization of the membrane confirmed porous membrane structure with good hydrophilicity and a low structural parameter (722 ㎛) suitable for FO application. A dilute solution of 20% (v/v) NADES was enough to generate moderate water flux (14.98 L m^-2h^-1) with relatively low reverse solute flux (0.125 g m^-2h^-1) with deionized water feed. Application in dewatering industrial wastewater feed showed reasonably good water flux (11.9 L m^-2h^-1) which could be maintained by controlling the external concentration polarization and fouling/scaling mitigation via simple periodic deionized water wash. In another application, clarified sugarcane juice could be successfully concentrated. Recovery of the draw solute was accomplished easily by chilling utilizing thermo responsive phase transition property of NADES. This study established that low concentration NADES can be a viable alternative as a draw solute for dewatering of wastewater and other heat sensitive applications along with a simple recovery process.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.368-377
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• 2018

The n-nitrilotris(methylene) phosphonic acid (NTPA) potassium salt was synthesized as a draw solute for forward osmosis. NTPA-4K, NTPA-5K and NTPA-6K were synthesized by varying the content of KOH added to NTPA and confirmed by $^1H$-NMR and $^{13}C$-NMR. The osmotic pressure, viscosity, water flux and reverse salt flux were measured to characterize the draw solute. In the forward osmosis process when distilled water was used as a feed solution and 0.5 M of NTPA-4K, NTPA-5K and NTPA-6K were used as a draw solution, the water flux was 35.8, 38.8 and 42.2 LMH, the reverse salt flux was 5.4, 6.9 and 7.4 gMH, respectively. It was confirmed that the water flux was lower than the conventional NaCl draw solution, but the reverse salt flux was much lower. In order to recover the diluted draw solution, nanofiltration was conducted. The results showed that the draw solute could be retained by above 90%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.400-408
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• 2014

This study is to evaluate the performance of draw solutions in forward osmosis desalination using fertilizer as draw solution. Considering osmotic pressure, solubility, and pH, $NH_4NO_3$, $NH_4H_2PO_4$, $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, KCl, $KNO_3$, and $KHCO_3$ were screened from a comprehensive lists of fertilizer. Their performance were evaluated in terms of pure water permeate flux, reverse solute flux, and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen and phosphorus. KCl showed the highest pure water permeate flux among the selected fertilizers while $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$ draw solution had the lowest flux. $NH_4H_2PO_4$ showed the lowest reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux for nitrogen followed by $(NH_4)_2HPO_4$, $KNO_3$, and $NH_4NO_3$. Although the pure water permeate flux of $NH_4H_2PO_4$ is lower than the other draw solutions, because it contains both nitrogen and phosphorus, and have the lowest reverse solute flux and specific reverse solute flux, it is a promising candidate as draw solution for forward osmosis desalination.