Point of use water treatment with forward osmosis for emergency relief

In emergencies, access to water plays a critical role in limiting loss of life. Point of use water treatment (PoUWT) is increasingly being used to fill this need. One emerging PoUWT technology is Hydration Technology Innovations'™ (HTI's) osmotic water purification system, which produces a clean sugar–electrolyte drink from almost any water source. This drink not only hydrates users, but also relieves malnutrition and diarrheal illness, two of the most prolific killers in refugee camps and disaster relief scenarios. In this study, HTI's HydroWell™ system is independently evaluated for on contaminant removal, cost, and material availability. Bench-top testing showed that HTI's systems have superior contaminant removal, rejecting > 88.3% of copper, lead, arsenic, and chromium at concentrations of 10 mg/L. The cost of the drink could be minimized to 0.23 USD/L by adjusting process variables. A sensitivity analysis showed significant room for cost reductions, especially if draw solutes could be locally sourced or if the system lifetime could be extended through the use of cleaning reagents or pretreatment. Further research on long-term operations and maintenance and community–technology interaction could yield more information about the efficacy of forward osmosis for this application.

► A commercially available forward osmosis system was evaluated for use in disaster relief.
► Heavy metal rejection was evaluated using a sugar–electrolyte draw solution.
► The impact of various cleaning agents on membrane performance was tested.
► System dilution factors were tested for various draw solution flow rates.
► An economic model demonstrated ways to minimize cost of the clean drink product.