Concentration performance and cleaning strategy for controlling membrane fouling during forward osmosis concentration of actual oily wastewater

This study evaluated the feasibility of forward osmosis (FO) in diluting and reusing the concentrate produced in a reverse osmosis (RO) plant in James City County, VA. Secondary treated wastewater (STW) was used as the feed solution. Findings indicated that pH had slight effects on the water flux of the FO membrane. As the concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the concentrate was diluted from 12.5 to 1.0 g/L or the temperature in the STW decreased from 23 to 10 °C, the membrane flux decreased from 2.2 to 0.59 and 0.81 L/(m2 h), respectively. The FO membrane showed a good performance in the rejection of organic pollutants, with only a small part of the protein-like substances and disinfection byproducts permeating to the diluted concentrate. During an 89-hour continuous operation, water flux decline due to membrane fouling was not observed. Controlling the TDS in the second-stage FO effluent at 1.5 g/L, approximately 8.3% of the pump energy input could be saved. The consumption of groundwater was reduced from 22.7 × 103 to 10.6 × 103 m3/d. FO was proved to be an effective method in both diluting the discharged concentrate and reducing the energy consumption of RO.

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Use of a Forward Osmosis–Membrane Distillation Integrated Process in the Treatment of High-Salinity Oily Wastewater

Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ◽

10.1021/acs.iecr.8b04875 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 58 (2) ◽

pp. 956-962 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mustafa Al-Furaiji ◽

Nieck Benes ◽

Arian Nijmeijer ◽

Jeffrey R. McCutcheon

Keyword(s):

High Salinity ◽

Forward Osmosis ◽

Membrane Distillation ◽

Oily Wastewater ◽

Integrated Process

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Direct concentration of municipal sewage by forward osmosis and membrane fouling behavior

Bioresource Technology ◽

10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.145 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 247 ◽

pp. 730-735 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Yue Gao ◽

Zhou Fang ◽

Peng Liang ◽

Xia Huang

Keyword(s):

Membrane Fouling ◽

Forward Osmosis ◽

Municipal Sewage

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Zwitterion-Modified Ultrafiltration Membranes for Permian Basin Produced Water Pretreatment

Water ◽

10.3390/w11081710 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (8) ◽

pp. 1710 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mirjalal Babayev ◽

Hongbo Du ◽

Venkata S. V. Botlaguduru ◽

Raghava R. Kommalapati

Keyword(s):

Membrane Fouling ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Produced Water ◽

Forward Osmosis ◽

Dip Coating ◽

Permeate Flux ◽

Permian Basin ◽

Water Pretreatment ◽

Uf Membranes ◽

Surface Modified

Unconventional oil and gas extraction generates large quantities of produced water (PW). Due to strict environmental regulations, it is important to recover and reuse PW. In this study, commercial polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were surface-modified with zwitterionic polymer 3-(3,4-Dihydroxyphenyl)-l-alanine (l-DOPA) solution to alleviate membrane fouling during the ultrafiltration of shale oil PW of the Permian Basin. UF membranes were coated in l-DOPA solution by using a dip coating technique. Membrane characterization tests confirmed successful l-DOPA coating on UF membranes. While performing the experiments, permeate flux behaviors of the uncoated and coated membranes and antifouling resistance of the zwitterionic coating were evaluated. Among the coated UF membranes with varying coating times from one day to three days, the three-day coated UF membrane showed a good flux performance and the highest fouling resistance. The flux reduced by 38.4% for the uncoated membrane, while the reduction was 16% for the three-day coated membrane after the 5 h ultrafiltration of PW. Both improvements of the flux performance and recovery ratio are attributed to a negatively-charged surface developed on the membranes after the zwitterionic coating. The UF pretreatment also improved the flux behavior of the later forward osmosis (FO) process for PW treatment.

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Strategies in Forward Osmosis Membrane Substrate Fabrication and Modification: A Review

Membranes ◽

10.3390/membranes10110332 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 332 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nur Diyana Suzaimi ◽

Pei Sean Goh ◽

Ahmad Fauzi Ismail ◽

Stanley Chinedu Mamah ◽

Nik Ahmad Nizam Nik Malek ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Treatment ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Forward Osmosis ◽

Composite Membranes ◽

High Energy ◽

Future Perspective ◽

Selective Layer ◽

Long Duration ◽

Selective Membrane ◽

Separation Performances

Forward osmosis (FO) has been recognized as the preferred alternative membrane-based separation technology for conventional water treatment technologies due to its high energy efficiency and promising separation performances. FO has been widely explored in the fields of wastewater treatment, desalination, food industry and bio-products, and energy generation. The substrate of the typically used FO thin film composite membranes serves as a support for selective layer formation and can significantly affect the structural and physicochemical properties of the resultant selective layer. This signifies the importance of substrate exploration to fine-tune proper fabrication and modification in obtaining optimized substrate structure with regards to thickness, tortuosity, and porosity on the two sides. The ultimate goal of substrate modification is to obtain a thin and highly selective membrane with enhanced hydrophilicity, antifouling propensity, as well as long duration stability. This review focuses on the various strategies used for FO membrane substrate fabrication and modification. An overview of FO membranes is first presented. The extant strategies applied in FO membrane substrate fabrications and modifications in addition to efforts made to mitigate membrane fouling are extensively reviewed. Lastly, the future perspective regarding the strategies on different FO substrate layers in water treatment are highlighted.

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