Evaluation of commercial reverse osmosis and forward osmosis membranes at different draw solution concentration in pressure retarded osmosis process

In this work, the FO and PRO experiments were performed using GE Osmonics reverse osmosis (RO) and cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO commercial membranes. Both RO and FO commercial membrane become the benchmark for the PRO membranes modification. The effect of draw solution concentration on water flux, salt reverse flux and membrane type on FO and PRO performance pressure were systematically investigated. The results showed that permeate flow increased with greater draw solution concentration in both FO and PRO modes. In the PRO process, the commercial GE Osmonics RO and CTA FO membranes could only be operated at a pressure not>7 bar with peak power densities achieved of 1.98 Wm = 2 and 3.17 Wm = 2, respectively. (c) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the Regional Congress on Membrane Technology 2020 (RCOM 2020) and Regional Conference Environmental Engineering (RCEnvE 2020).

Automated summary

The FO and PRO experiments using commercial membranes showed that permeate flow increased with greater draw solution concentration. In the PRO process, commercial membranes had to operate at pressures not exceeding 7 bar to achieve peak power densities.