Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure

The use of forward osmosis (FO) is of growing interest for water desalination, due to its potential energy savings. However, its industrial implementation is still limited by its actual performance limitation in water permeation and reverse salt diffusion, due to membrane properties. Assisted forwar...

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Main Authors: Blandin, Gaetan, Verliefde, Arne R. D., Tang, Chuyang Y., Childress, Amy E., Le-Clech, Pierre
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101320
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16776
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author Blandin, Gaetan
Verliefde, Arne R. D.
Tang, Chuyang Y.
Childress, Amy E.
Le-Clech, Pierre
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Blandin, Gaetan
Verliefde, Arne R. D.
Tang, Chuyang Y.
Childress, Amy E.
Le-Clech, Pierre
author_sort Blandin, Gaetan
collection NTU
description The use of forward osmosis (FO) is of growing interest for water desalination, due to its potential energy savings. However, its industrial implementation is still limited by its actual performance limitation in water permeation and reverse salt diffusion, due to membrane properties. Assisted forward osmosis (AFO) is a new concept, aiming at pressurising the feed solution to enhance water permeation through synergising osmotic and hydraulic driving forces. This paper presents the impact of hydraulic pressure on the FO membrane properties and the overall performances of the system in order to validate the interest of AFO. When 6 bar was applied on the feed side of the process, the membrane water permeability (A) was observed to double, mainly due to the membrane deformation against the spacers. Under those conditions, the additional driving force provided resulted in 70% increase in permeation flux, despite the more severe concentration polarisation. More interestingly, the observed reverse salt diffusion was significantly lower than expected by the solution diffusion model, confirming the interest of AFO in tackling current limitations of FO technology. This study also revealed the relative limitations of the current methodology used for the determination of membrane solute and water permeabilities, which currently fail to consider membrane deformation that could arise in pressure retarded osmosis and AFO systems.
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spelling ntu-10356/1013202020-03-07T11:43:41Z Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure Blandin, Gaetan Verliefde, Arne R. D. Tang, Chuyang Y. Childress, Amy E. Le-Clech, Pierre School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Singapore Membrane Technology Centre DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering The use of forward osmosis (FO) is of growing interest for water desalination, due to its potential energy savings. However, its industrial implementation is still limited by its actual performance limitation in water permeation and reverse salt diffusion, due to membrane properties. Assisted forward osmosis (AFO) is a new concept, aiming at pressurising the feed solution to enhance water permeation through synergising osmotic and hydraulic driving forces. This paper presents the impact of hydraulic pressure on the FO membrane properties and the overall performances of the system in order to validate the interest of AFO. When 6 bar was applied on the feed side of the process, the membrane water permeability (A) was observed to double, mainly due to the membrane deformation against the spacers. Under those conditions, the additional driving force provided resulted in 70% increase in permeation flux, despite the more severe concentration polarisation. More interestingly, the observed reverse salt diffusion was significantly lower than expected by the solution diffusion model, confirming the interest of AFO in tackling current limitations of FO technology. This study also revealed the relative limitations of the current methodology used for the determination of membrane solute and water permeabilities, which currently fail to consider membrane deformation that could arise in pressure retarded osmosis and AFO systems. 2013-10-24T06:54:21Z 2019-12-06T20:36:41Z 2013-10-24T06:54:21Z 2019-12-06T20:36:41Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Blandin, G., Verliefde, A. R. D., Tang, C. Y., Childress, A. E., & Le-Clech, P. (2013). Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure. Journal of membrane science, 447,1-11. 0376-7388 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101320 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16776 10.1016/j.memsci.2013.06.002 en Journal of membrane science
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering
Blandin, Gaetan
Verliefde, Arne R. D.
Tang, Chuyang Y.
Childress, Amy E.
Le-Clech, Pierre
Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title_full Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title_fullStr Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title_full_unstemmed Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title_short Validation of assisted forward osmosis (AFO) process : impact of hydraulic pressure
title_sort validation of assisted forward osmosis afo process impact of hydraulic pressure
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/101320
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16776
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