Forward Osmosis (FO) Technology

Principle of Forward Osmosis (FO)

The solvent and the solution are separated by a semipermeable membrane that can only pass through the solvent and cannot pass through the solute molecules. The solvent molecules spontaneously pass through the membrane from the solvent side to the solution side under the action of osmotic pressure, which is the phenomenon of osmosis, that is "Forward Osmosis".

Application of Forward Osmosis membrane in Water Treatment

● Seawater Desalination

In desalination, FO is one of the most commonly used in its research fields. The early application research was mainly used in patents, but these researches were not mature and also unreliable.

● Industrial Wastewater Treatment

In the early research, it reported that FO membrane could be used in the treatment of heavy metal wastewater. However, because of the serious contamination of RO (Reverse Osmosis) and rapid decline of flux, it cannot be deeply developed.

● Treatment of landfill leachate

CoffinButte refuse landfill, locates in Corvallis, Oregon, USA, products (2-4)×104m³ of landfill leachate every year. In order to reach the water quality standard of land utilization, the TDS of water production must reduce to below 100mg/L.