The rejection of carbamazepine in the PRO mode was lower
than that in the FO mode due to the higher concentration
gradient caused by concentrative ICP in porous supporting
layer. Steric hindrance was probably the main separation
mechanism for the neutral carbamazepine in the FO process.
On the other hand, the rejection of sulfamethoxazole was
significantly affected by the FS pH in both membrane orientations. Variation in the rejection sulfamethoxazole could
be attributed to the electrostatic repulsion between the negatively charged FO membrane surface and varying effective
charge of the sulfamethoxazole molecule.
Organic solvents employed in pharmaceutical industry
along with the potential concentration of pharmaceutical
ingredients were investigated by Cui and Chung (2018).
They demonstrate and evaluate FO process for solvent
recovery. In this demonstration, organic solvent was conducted in different solvents with different draw solutes. The
overall process shows rejections >98% when recovering
organic solvents from different feed solutions, even when the
feed concentration is as high as 20 wt%. More importantly,
all systems exhibit relatively low ratios of reverse solute flux
to solvent flux, indicating that the adverse effects of using
hazardous draw solutions could be minimized. Nevertheless,
the use of non-hazardous draw solutes such as citric acid is
highly recommended to remove any potential risk.
5 Conclusions
This study confirms that a range of applications is available
to apply FO technology on an industrial scale. This novel
low-energy technology has demonstrated to be technically
developed enough. The high volume of different draw
solutions employed by experts in this area makes the process
adaptable for a number of particular cases, while further
efforts should be focused on reducing fouling aspects as well
as on diminishing the concentration polarization. Among the
different types of membranes for FO processes, CTA
membranes were the first to be developed whereas TFC
membranes have proved to be the best. In this sense, the next
challenge is finding new kind of membranes which enhances
water flux and/or avoids reverse flux.
Several industrial areas have been chosen for implementing FO processes with remarkable results. Some
examples described in this paper are chemical industry,
desalination of drinking water, food industry, pharmaceutical industry, textile industry, coal processing industry,
electronic industry and heavy metal industry. Among them,
the first four industries are necessarily to be pointed out since
a lot of studies have been done to show its potential during
the last years. Nevertheless further efforts should be put into
developing alternative systems to re-concentrate the spent
DS and thus implementing FO in many industrial areas with
economic success.
References
Achilli, A., Cath, T. Y., & Childress, A. E. (2010). Selection of
inorganic-based draw solutions for forward osmosis applications.
Journal of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.
2010.08.010.
Akther, N., Sodiq, A., Giwa, A., Daer, S., Arafat, H. A., & Hasan, S.
W. (2015). Recent advancements in forward osmosis desalination:
A review. Chemical Engineering Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
cej.2015.05.080.
Alsvik, I. L., & Hägg, M. B. (2013). Pressure retarded osmosis and
forward osmosis membranes: Materials and methods. Polymers.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym5010303.
Aydiner, C., Sen, U., Koseoglu-Imer, D. Y., & Dogan, E. C. (2016).
Hierarchical prioritization of innovative treatment systems for
sustainable dairy wastewater management. Journal of Cleaner
Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.107.
Baena-moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-galán, M., Vega, F., Alonso-fariñas,
B., Arenas, L. F. V., & Navarrete, B. (2018). Carbon capture and
utilization technologies: A literature review and recent advances.
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental
Effects, 41(12), 1403–1433. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.
2018.1548518.
Baena-Moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-Galán, M., Vega, F., Vilches, L. F.,
& Navarrete, B. (2019). Review: Recent advances in biogas
purifying technologies. International Journal of Green Energy, 16
(5), 401–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2019.1572610.
Baena-Moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-Galán, M., Vega, F., Vilches, L. F.,
Navarrete, B., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Biogas upgrading by cryogenic
techniques. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 17, 1251–1261.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-019-00872-2.
Bell, E. A., Poynor, T. E., Newhart, K. B., Regnery, J., Coday, B. D., &
Cath, T. Y. (2017). Produced water treatment using forward
osmosis membranes: Evaluation of extended-time performance and
fouling. Journal of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
memsci.2016.10.032.
Bensaadi, S., Arous, O., Kerdjoudj, H., & Amara, M. (2016).
Evaluating molecular weight of PVP on characteristics of CTA
membrane dialysis. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2016.02.003.
Bevacqua, M., Tamburini, A., Papapetrou, M., Cipollina, A., Micale,
G., & Piacentino, A. (2017). Reverse electrodialysis with
NH 4 HCO 3 -water systems for heat-to-power conversion. Energy.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.012.
Blandin, G., Verliefde, A. R. D., Comas, J., Rodriguez-Roda, I., &
Le-Clech, P. (2016). Efficiently combining water reuse and
desalination through forward osmosis-reverse osmosis (FO-RO)
hybrids: A critical review. Membranes. https://doi.org/10.3390/
membranes6030037.
Brunetti, A., Bernardo, P., Drioli, E., & Barbieri, G. (2010). Membrane
engineering: Progress and potentialities in gas separations. Membrane Gas Separation. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470665626.
ch14.
Brunetti, A., Sellaro, M., Drioli, E., & Barbieri, G. (2016). Membrane
engineering and its role in oil refining and petrochemical industry.
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-9975-5.ch005.
Cath, T. Y., Childress, A. E., & Elimelech, M. (2006). Forward
osmosis: Principles, applications, and recent developments. Journal
of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2006.05.
048.
10
M. Rodríguez-Galán et al.
than that in the FO mode due to the higher concentration
gradient caused by concentrative ICP in porous supporting
layer. Steric hindrance was probably the main separation
mechanism for the neutral carbamazepine in the FO process.
On the other hand, the rejection of sulfamethoxazole was
significantly affected by the FS pH in both membrane orientations. Variation in the rejection sulfamethoxazole could
be attributed to the electrostatic repulsion between the negatively charged FO membrane surface and varying effective
charge of the sulfamethoxazole molecule.
Organic solvents employed in pharmaceutical industry
along with the potential concentration of pharmaceutical
ingredients were investigated by Cui and Chung (2018).
They demonstrate and evaluate FO process for solvent
recovery. In this demonstration, organic solvent was conducted in different solvents with different draw solutes. The
overall process shows rejections >98% when recovering
organic solvents from different feed solutions, even when the
feed concentration is as high as 20 wt%. More importantly,
all systems exhibit relatively low ratios of reverse solute flux
to solvent flux, indicating that the adverse effects of using
hazardous draw solutions could be minimized. Nevertheless,
the use of non-hazardous draw solutes such as citric acid is
highly recommended to remove any potential risk.
5 Conclusions
This study confirms that a range of applications is available
to apply FO technology on an industrial scale. This novel
low-energy technology has demonstrated to be technically
developed enough. The high volume of different draw
solutions employed by experts in this area makes the process
adaptable for a number of particular cases, while further
efforts should be focused on reducing fouling aspects as well
as on diminishing the concentration polarization. Among the
different types of membranes for FO processes, CTA
membranes were the first to be developed whereas TFC
membranes have proved to be the best. In this sense, the next
challenge is finding new kind of membranes which enhances
water flux and/or avoids reverse flux.
Several industrial areas have been chosen for implementing FO processes with remarkable results. Some
examples described in this paper are chemical industry,
desalination of drinking water, food industry, pharmaceutical industry, textile industry, coal processing industry,
electronic industry and heavy metal industry. Among them,
the first four industries are necessarily to be pointed out since
a lot of studies have been done to show its potential during
the last years. Nevertheless further efforts should be put into
developing alternative systems to re-concentrate the spent
DS and thus implementing FO in many industrial areas with
economic success.
References
Achilli, A., Cath, T. Y., & Childress, A. E. (2010). Selection of
inorganic-based draw solutions for forward osmosis applications.
Journal of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.
2010.08.010.
Akther, N., Sodiq, A., Giwa, A., Daer, S., Arafat, H. A., & Hasan, S.
W. (2015). Recent advancements in forward osmosis desalination:
A review. Chemical Engineering Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
cej.2015.05.080.
Alsvik, I. L., & Hägg, M. B. (2013). Pressure retarded osmosis and
forward osmosis membranes: Materials and methods. Polymers.
https://doi.org/10.3390/polym5010303.
Aydiner, C., Sen, U., Koseoglu-Imer, D. Y., & Dogan, E. C. (2016).
Hierarchical prioritization of innovative treatment systems for
sustainable dairy wastewater management. Journal of Cleaner
Production. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.08.107.
Baena-moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-galán, M., Vega, F., Alonso-fariñas,
B., Arenas, L. F. V., & Navarrete, B. (2018). Carbon capture and
utilization technologies: A literature review and recent advances.
Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental
Effects, 41(12), 1403–1433. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.
2018.1548518.
Baena-Moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-Galán, M., Vega, F., Vilches, L. F.,
& Navarrete, B. (2019). Review: Recent advances in biogas
purifying technologies. International Journal of Green Energy, 16
(5), 401–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/15435075.2019.1572610.
Baena-Moreno, F. M., Rodríguez-Galán, M., Vega, F., Vilches, L. F.,
Navarrete, B., & Zhang, Z. (2019). Biogas upgrading by cryogenic
techniques. Environmental Chemistry Letters, 17, 1251–1261.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-019-00872-2.
Bell, E. A., Poynor, T. E., Newhart, K. B., Regnery, J., Coday, B. D., &
Cath, T. Y. (2017). Produced water treatment using forward
osmosis membranes: Evaluation of extended-time performance and
fouling. Journal of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
memsci.2016.10.032.
Bensaadi, S., Arous, O., Kerdjoudj, H., & Amara, M. (2016).
Evaluating molecular weight of PVP on characteristics of CTA
membrane dialysis. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2016.02.003.
Bevacqua, M., Tamburini, A., Papapetrou, M., Cipollina, A., Micale,
G., & Piacentino, A. (2017). Reverse electrodialysis with
NH 4 HCO 3 -water systems for heat-to-power conversion. Energy.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.012.
Blandin, G., Verliefde, A. R. D., Comas, J., Rodriguez-Roda, I., &
Le-Clech, P. (2016). Efficiently combining water reuse and
desalination through forward osmosis-reverse osmosis (FO-RO)
hybrids: A critical review. Membranes. https://doi.org/10.3390/
membranes6030037.
Brunetti, A., Bernardo, P., Drioli, E., & Barbieri, G. (2010). Membrane
engineering: Progress and potentialities in gas separations. Membrane Gas Separation. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470665626.
ch14.
Brunetti, A., Sellaro, M., Drioli, E., & Barbieri, G. (2016). Membrane
engineering and its role in oil refining and petrochemical industry.
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-9975-5.ch005.
Cath, T. Y., Childress, A. E., & Elimelech, M. (2006). Forward
osmosis: Principles, applications, and recent developments. Journal
of Membrane Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2006.05.
048.
10
M. Rodríguez-Galán et al.