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A review on the forward osmosis applications and fouling control strategies for wastewater treatment

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Abstract

During the last decades, the utilization of osmotic pressure-driven forward osmosis technology for wastewater treatment has drawn great interest, due to its high separation efficiency, low membrane fouling propensity, high water recovery and relatively low energy consumption. This review paper summarizes the implementation of forward osmosis technology for various wastewater treatment including municipal sewage, landfill leachate, oil/gas exploitation wastewater, textile waste-water, mine wastewater, and radioactive wastewater. However, membrane fouling is still a critical issue, which affects water flux stability, membrane life and operating cost. Different membrane fouling types and corresponding fouling mechanisms, including organic fouling, inorganic fouling, biofouling and combined fouling are therefore further discussed. The fouling control strategies including feed pre-treatment, operation condition optimization, membrane selection and modification, membrane cleaning and tailoring the chemistry of draw solution are also reviewed comprehensively. At the end of paper, some recommendations are proposed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the financial supports from National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2020YFB1709301 and 2020YFB1709304).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Huazhong University of Science and Technology), Ministry of Education, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Linwei Zhu, Chun Ding, Tengyang Zhu & Yan Wang

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Yan Wang

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  1. Linwei Zhu
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Correspondence to Yan Wang.

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Zhu, L., Ding, C., Zhu, T. et al. A review on the forward osmosis applications and fouling control strategies for wastewater treatment. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. 16, 661–680 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2084-4

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