Effect of operating conditions on osmotic-driven membrane performances of cellulose triacetate forward osmosis hollow fiber membrane

• CTA-HF membrane module for approximately 700 HF membranes with diameters of less than 200 μm
• CTA HF membranes featured high JwFO/JsFO, exceeding 800 L/mol.
• The theoretical results agreed well with the experimental data in the obtained FO membrane.

Recent development in forward osmosis (FO) membranes is promising in providing a versatile potential application for further advance in the water treatment and energy production sectors. Using FO hollow fiber membranes to achieve wide application of FO at an industrial level is advantageous because of their large specific membrane area and easy module construction for large-scale applications. In this study, three types of cellulose triacetate (CTA) hollow fiber (HF) forward osmosis membranes with diameters of less than 200 μm were evaluated under various operating conditions i.e., draw solution concentration, cross flow velocity, membrane orientation, and temperature. The osmotically driven performance evaluation revealed that the CTA HF membranes featured high water flux-to-reverse salt flux ratios, JwFO/JsFO, exceeding 800 L/mol. These values are much higher than those of commercial and reported FO membranes. The performance of the obtained FO membranes was also analyzed theoretically and the theoretical results agreed well with the experimental data.

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