Determination of a constant membrane structure parameter in forward osmosis processes

The membrane structure parameter (S) is an intrinsic membrane parameter used to determine the degree of internal concentration polarization (ICP) in the porous support structure of forward osmosis (FO) membranes, and is crucial in evaluations of FO membrane performance. Although S values only depend on membrane properties, and should be close to a constant value, experiments to determine the S values produce various values, which vary with respect to the concentrations of the feed and draw solutions. In this study, we develop a numerical model based on the finite element method (FEM) to determine a constant membrane structure parameter. In contrast to other FO models, the developed model successfully simulates the performance of FO processes, and maintains a consistent S value. Here, the most influential factor causing inconsistent S values is found to be the assumption that the ratio of concentrations is approximately identical to the ratio of osmotic pressures, as is frequently used in FO modeling due to lack of availability of concentration profiles at the active layer-support layer interface. However, use of a constant diffusion coefficient had little influence on either the simulation result or the S value consistency. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.