Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review
Forward osmosis (FO) is a promising membrane technology to combine seawater desalination and water reuse. More specifically, in a FO-reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process, high quality water recovered from the wastewater stream is used to dilute seawater before RO treatment. As such, lower desalinatio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2016-07-01
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| Series: | Membranes |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/6/3/37 |
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| author | Gaetan Blandin Arne R.D. Verliefde Joaquim Comas Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda Pierre Le-Clech |
| author_facet | Gaetan Blandin Arne R.D. Verliefde Joaquim Comas Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda Pierre Le-Clech |
| author_sort | Gaetan Blandin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forward osmosis (FO) is a promising membrane technology to combine seawater desalination and water reuse. More specifically, in a FO-reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process, high quality water recovered from the wastewater stream is used to dilute seawater before RO treatment. As such, lower desalination energy needs and/or water augmentation can be obtained while delivering safe water for direct potable reuse thanks to the double dense membrane barrier protection. Typically, FO-RO hybrid can be a credible alternative to new desalination facilities or to implementation of stand-alone water reuse schemes. However, apart from the societal (public perception of water reuse for potable application) and water management challenges (proximity of wastewater and desalination plants), FO-RO hybrid has to overcome technical limitation such as low FO permeation flux to become economically attractive. Recent developments (i.e., improved FO membranes, use of pressure assisted osmosis, PAO) demonstrated significant improvement in water flux. However, flux improvement is associated with drawbacks, such as increased fouling behaviour, lower rejection of trace organic compounds (TrOCs) in PAO operation, and limitation in FO membrane mechanical resistance, which need to be better considered. To support successful implementation of FO-RO hybrid in the industry, further work is required regarding up-scaling to apprehend full-scale challenges in term of mass transfer limitation, pressure drop, fouling and cleaning strategies on a module scale. In addition, refined economics assessment is expected to integrate fouling and other maintenance costs/savings of the FO/PAO-RO hybrid systems, as well as cost savings from any treatment step avoided in the water recycling. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:05:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8d9008b64dd0441eb0c1709f3e5f5d02 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:05:56Z |
| publishDate | 2016-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Membranes |
| spelling | doaj.art-8d9008b64dd0441eb0c1709f3e5f5d022023-09-02T15:20:53ZengMDPI AGMembranes2077-03752016-07-01633710.3390/membranes6030037membranes6030037Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical ReviewGaetan Blandin0Arne R.D. Verliefde1Joaquim Comas2Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda3Pierre Le-Clech4LEQUIA, Institute of the environment, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, Girona 17003, SpainDepartment of Applied Analytical and Physical Chemistry, Ghent University, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Particle and Interfacial Technology Group (PaInT), Gent 9000, BelgiumLEQUIA, Institute of the environment, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, Girona 17003, SpainLEQUIA, Institute of the environment, University of Girona, Campus Montilivi, Girona 17003, SpainUNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW2052, AustraliaForward osmosis (FO) is a promising membrane technology to combine seawater desalination and water reuse. More specifically, in a FO-reverse osmosis (RO) hybrid process, high quality water recovered from the wastewater stream is used to dilute seawater before RO treatment. As such, lower desalination energy needs and/or water augmentation can be obtained while delivering safe water for direct potable reuse thanks to the double dense membrane barrier protection. Typically, FO-RO hybrid can be a credible alternative to new desalination facilities or to implementation of stand-alone water reuse schemes. However, apart from the societal (public perception of water reuse for potable application) and water management challenges (proximity of wastewater and desalination plants), FO-RO hybrid has to overcome technical limitation such as low FO permeation flux to become economically attractive. Recent developments (i.e., improved FO membranes, use of pressure assisted osmosis, PAO) demonstrated significant improvement in water flux. However, flux improvement is associated with drawbacks, such as increased fouling behaviour, lower rejection of trace organic compounds (TrOCs) in PAO operation, and limitation in FO membrane mechanical resistance, which need to be better considered. To support successful implementation of FO-RO hybrid in the industry, further work is required regarding up-scaling to apprehend full-scale challenges in term of mass transfer limitation, pressure drop, fouling and cleaning strategies on a module scale. In addition, refined economics assessment is expected to integrate fouling and other maintenance costs/savings of the FO/PAO-RO hybrid systems, as well as cost savings from any treatment step avoided in the water recycling.http://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/6/3/37potable water reuseseawater desalinationpressure assisted osmosismodulefoulingtrace organic contaminants |
| spellingShingle | Gaetan Blandin Arne R.D. Verliefde Joaquim Comas Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda Pierre Le-Clech Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review Membranes potable water reuse seawater desalination pressure assisted osmosis module fouling trace organic contaminants |
| title | Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review |
| title_full | Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review |
| title_fullStr | Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review |
| title_short | Efficiently Combining Water Reuse and Desalination through Forward Osmosis—Reverse Osmosis (FO-RO) Hybrids: A Critical Review |
| title_sort | efficiently combining water reuse and desalination through forward osmosis reverse osmosis fo ro hybrids a critical review |
| topic | potable water reuse seawater desalination pressure assisted osmosis module fouling trace organic contaminants |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/6/3/37 |
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