Application of fouling index for forward osmosis hybrid system: A pilot demonstration

Min Zhan, Youngjin Kim, Jihun Lim, Seungkwan Hong*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    An osmotic dilution process of hybrid forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO) was applied at pilot-scale to integrate wastewater treatment with seawater desalination in a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The aim of this study is to expand the understanding of multiple FO fouling indexes (i.e., MFI-UF and ORI) to not only obtain insight on fouling characteristics of the FO process but also optimize the operation of the osmotic dilution process. The correlation between the fouling indexes and performance of the FO membrane (i.e., transmembrane inlet pressure (TMIP), differential pressure (DP)) was first validated based on the operation data from the seven-month pilot run. MFI-UF was then selected for measuring the fouling potential according to the pretreatment process (or source water), whereas ORI was obtained for optimizing the cleaning protocol of the FO process to support the stable operation of the FO plant. The sensitivity analysis of the seasonal effect verified the correlation between MFI-UF and FO performance. The results of this study are expected to provide practical insight and technical guidelines to FO based plant engineers/operators.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number118624
    JournalJournal of Membrane Science
    Volume617
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2021 Jan 1

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2020 Elsevier B.V.

    Keywords

    • FO-RO osmotic Dilution process
    • Forward osmosis
    • Fouling reversibility
    • Long-term pilot-scale study
    • Modified fouling index
    • Osmotically-driven reversibility index

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Biochemistry
    • General Materials Science
    • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
    • Filtration and Separation

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