Journal
WATER RESEARCH
Volume 70, Issue -, Pages 385-393Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.12.023
Keywords
Microgels; Forward osmosis; Desalination; Water flux; Dewatering ability; On-line conductivity
Funding
- Australian Research Council [DP110102877]
- Adelaide Graduate Research Scholarships (AGRS)
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Stimuli-responsive hydrogels were recently proposed for energy-saving forward osmosis (FO) process. However, their low water flux and dewatering ability for reuse make them less attractive for industrial desalination process. In this work, the co-polymer microgels of N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylic acid with different mixing ratios were synthesized using surfactant-free emulsion polymerization to produce submicron-size hydrogels with high surface area and fast swelling-deswelling response. The microgels were employed as draw agents in a laboratory scale FO desalination system. The microgel-based FO process performed a high water flux up to 23.8 LMH and high water recovery ability of 72.4%. In addition, we explored a new conductivity measurement method to online analyze water flux of the FO system. This on-line conductivity analysis approach appeared to be an accurate and efficient method for evaluating microgel-based FO desalination performance. Our experimental data revealed that the stimuli-responsive microgel was an efficient draw agent for FO desalination. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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