TY - JOUR
T1 - Smart utilisation of reverse solute diffusion in forward osmosis for water treatment
T2 - A mini review
AU - Wu, Xing
AU - Zhang, Xiwang
AU - Wang, Huanting
AU - Xie, Zongli
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors appreciate the financial support from CSIRO Manufacturing. The authors would like to acknowledge Mr. Shaoheng Ma (CSIRO) for the technical support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/5/15
Y1 - 2023/5/15
N2 - Forward osmosis (FO) has been widely studied as a promising technology in wastewater treatment, but undesirable reverse solute diffusion (RSD) is inevitable in the FO process. The RSD is generally regarded as a negative factor for the FO process, resulting in the loss of draw solutes and reduced FO efficiency. Conventional strategies to address RSD focus on reducing the amount of reverse draw solutes by fabricating high selective FO membranes and/or selecting the draw solute with low diffusion. However, since RSD is inevitable, doubts have been raised about the strategies to cope with the already occurring reverse draw solutes in the feed solution, and the feasibility to positively utilise the RSD phenomenon to improve the FO process. Herein, we review the state-of-the-art applications of RSD and their benefits such as improving selectivity and maintaining the stability of the feed solution for both independent FO processes and FO integrated processes. We also provide an outlook and discuss important considerations, including membrane fouling, membrane development and draw/feed solution properties, in RSD utilisation for water and wastewater treatment.
AB - Forward osmosis (FO) has been widely studied as a promising technology in wastewater treatment, but undesirable reverse solute diffusion (RSD) is inevitable in the FO process. The RSD is generally regarded as a negative factor for the FO process, resulting in the loss of draw solutes and reduced FO efficiency. Conventional strategies to address RSD focus on reducing the amount of reverse draw solutes by fabricating high selective FO membranes and/or selecting the draw solute with low diffusion. However, since RSD is inevitable, doubts have been raised about the strategies to cope with the already occurring reverse draw solutes in the feed solution, and the feasibility to positively utilise the RSD phenomenon to improve the FO process. Herein, we review the state-of-the-art applications of RSD and their benefits such as improving selectivity and maintaining the stability of the feed solution for both independent FO processes and FO integrated processes. We also provide an outlook and discuss important considerations, including membrane fouling, membrane development and draw/feed solution properties, in RSD utilisation for water and wastewater treatment.
KW - Forward osmosis
KW - Reverse solute diffusion
KW - Wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149277341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162430
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162430
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 36842573
AN - SCOPUS:85149277341
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 873
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 162430
ER -