Article
Engineering, Chemical
Semion Brover, Yaal Lester, Asher Brenner, Eyal Sahar-Hadar
Summary: Ultrafiltration (UF) is used as pretreatment for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, with key operational parameters needing to be optimized for sustainable and cost-effective operation. Adjusting filtration flux, length of filtration cycle, coagulant dosing, and membrane cleaning procedure can improve UF performance, while also considering reversible and irreversible fouling.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Chao Chen, Yu Yang, Nigel J. D. Graham, Zhenyu Li, Xingtao Yang, Zhining Wang, Nadia Farhat, Johannes S. Vrouwenvelder, Li -an Hou
Summary: The fouling of seawater reverse osmosis membranes is a persistent challenge in desalination. This study monitored the operational performance of a desalination plant for 7 years and the fouling development in different areas of membrane modules. The findings showed that operational performance declined over time and fouling mainly occurred at the feed side of the modules, with the highest microbial diversity. Keystone species like Chloroflexi and Planctomycetes played an important role in maintaining community structure and biofilm maturation. Polysaccharides, soluble microbial products, marine humic acid-like substances, and inorganic substances contributed to fouling. Overall, biofouling had a significant impact on membrane fouling after 7 years of operation.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
MhdAmmar Hafiz, Radwan Alfahel, Ali Altaee, Alaa H. Hawari
Summary: This study evaluated the feasibility of using forward osmosis as a pretreatment method for seawater desalination. The results showed that the process was effective in removing scaling ions and had a low cost.
SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Abdon Parra, Mario Noriega, Lidia Yokoyama, Miguel Bagajewicz
Summary: In this study, the design of reverse osmosis systems for desalination of water at different concentrations was explored, along with the impact of coupling reverse osmosis with a pressure-retarded osmosis unit on economics. Different configurations and scenarios were presented, showing that in the cases studied, the pressure-retarded osmosis unit did not improve the economic efficiency of reverse osmosis.
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Hailan Wang, Yue Gao, Baoyu Gao, Kangying Guo, Ho Kyong Shon, Qinyan Yue, Zhining Wang
Summary: The study evaluated the potential of using an NF-like FO membrane for SWRO pretreatment and analyzed the feasibility of the NF-like membrane-based FO-NF-RO process for seawater desalination.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jiaxin Ding, Qian Zhou, Zixun Zhou, Wenyu Chu, Yao Jiang, Wei Lai, Pin Zhao, Xinhua Wang
Summary: This study developed a hybrid technology integrating pressure-retarded osmosis with activated sludge process (PRO-MBR) for simultaneous treatment of concentrated seawater brine and municipal wastewater. The results showed that regardless of the membrane orientation, the municipal wastewater was completely treated and the concentrated brine of seawater desalination was diluted to meet the standard of seawater discharge. The PRO-MBR also demonstrated high removal efficiency of various pollutants and the ability to recover osmotic energy. Membrane fouling was found to be more severe in one of the membrane orientations.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Chunliang Du, Jennifer Runhong Du, Xiangshan Zhao, Fang Cheng, Mohamed E. A. Ali, Xianshe Feng
Summary: The article introduces the process of producing acid and base on site by using BMED technology to treat brackish water RO brine. Through optimizing operational conditions and utilizing response surface methodology, high-purity acid and base were successfully produced, and water resources were maximized utilized.
INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Sanjana Chintalacheruvu, Yiyang Ren, Jonathan Maisonneuve
Summary: The study explores the use of thermal energy from solar radiation and industrial waste heat to enhance the performance of membrane processes. It is found that using heat to improve pressure retarded osmosis can lead to significant improvements in water flux and power density. The temperature of the feed solution is found to be more important than the draw temperature. The results show that a hot feed solution can produce a warmer membrane, which increases permeability and reduces polarization, mainly due to the well-mixed nature of the feed boundary in pressure retarded osmosis.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dong-Ho Kim, Chulmin Lee, Thanh-Tin Nguyen, Rusnang Syamsul Adha, Chaeyeon Kim, Sang-Jun Ahn, Heejong Son, In S. Kim
Summary: Research on pressure-assisted forward osmosis (PAFO) process has shown linear correlations between microbial ATP concentration and fouling index in both wastewater and seawater influent. After 76 days of operation, analysis of fouling on filtration media and FO membranes revealed the importance of advanced pretreatment to protect the FO membranes.
JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Hiroo Takabatake, Masahide Taniguchi, Masaru Kurihara
Summary: Seawater desalination plants utilizing reverse osmosis membranes are now integral to social infrastructure, requiring designs that cater to product water quality and production capacity while taking into account environmental factors. Customization for individual solutions is crucial as no one-size-fits-all technology exists to meet these various demands.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Jiacheng Xu, Yingzong Liang, Xianglong Luo, Jianyong Chen, Zhi Yang, Ying Chen
Summary: Pressure-retarded osmosis is a promising technique for generating energy by recovering salinity gradient from high concentration effluents. This study proposes a novel method for optimizing the modules layout of a multi-stream PRO system, resulting in improved energy recovery efficiency.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Juan L. Fajardo-Diaz, Aaron Morelos-Gomez, Rodolfo Cruz-Silva, Akito Matsumoto, Yutaka Ueno, Norihiro Takeuchi, Kotaro Kitamura, Hiroki Miyakawa, Syogo Tejima, Kenji Takeuchi, Koichi Tsuzuki, Morinobu Endo
Summary: The robust nanocomposite reverse osmosis (RO) module, assembled using crosslinked polyamide (PA) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) membranes, showed high salt rejection rates and excellent antifouling behavior in laboratory tests using bovine serum albumin in simulated seawater. The industrial vessel built with CNT-PA nanocomposite modules demonstrated superior antifouling performance and stable operation for over 100 days in pilot-plant tests with real seawater, compared to a commercial antifouling vessel. These CNT-PA nanocomposite RO antifouling modules are ideal for desalination plants, requiring less maintenance and promoting green desalination technology.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
P. Pazouki, J. P. S. Sidhu, D. S. Ipe, M. L. Pype, T. D. Wohlsen, F. Helfer, E. Bertone, R. A. Stewart
Summary: This study explored the feasibility of incorporating two low-energy dilution desalination processes into a conventional seawater desalination approach using real seawater and recycled wastewater. The results showed that mixing dilution of influent feed waters reduced the number of pathogenic contaminants and organic/inorganic compounds. The osmotic dilution desalination (ODD) process with the FO membrane was more effective in removing viruses and bacterial indicators compared to the mixing dilution desalination (MDD) process with the UF membrane.
Article
Engineering, Multidisciplinary
RunZe Zhao, Ji Li, ZiKang Zhang, Rui Long, Wei Liu, ZhiChun Liu
Summary: PRMD system has the potential to produce net power and freshwater simultaneously using low-grade heat as the only energy input. However, liquid supply, working pressure, and membrane properties need to be improved for better performance.
SCIENCE CHINA-TECHNOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sristina Baruah, Asfak Patel, Arvind Kumar Mungray, Alka A. Mungray
Summary: Forward osmosis (FO) has gained attention in desalination due to its low or no hydraulic pressure operation, reduced membrane fouling, and high-water recovery. Nevertheless, pre-treatment of seawater is required to minimize membrane fouling caused by suspended solid particles. Finding a suitable draw solute (DS) remains a significant research focus. This study demonstrates the potential of a novel deep eutectic solvent (DES) as the ideal DS by successfully extracting water after a 500% dilution of DS.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2023)