A new concept of volume-retarded osmosis and low-pressure membrane (VRO-LPM) hybrid process was developed and evaluated for the first time in this study. Commercially available forward osmosis (FO) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were employed in a VRO-LPM hybrid process to overcome energy limitations of draw solution (DS) regeneration and production of permeate in the FO process. To evaluate its feasibility as a water reclamation process, and to optimize the operational conditions, cross-flow FO and dead-end mode UF processes were individually evaluated. For the FO process, a DS concentration of 0.15 g mL⁻¹ of polysulfonate styrene (PSS) was determined to be optimal, having a high flux with a low reverse salt flux. The UF membrane with a molecular weight cut-off of 1 kDa was chosen for its high PSS rejection in the LPM process. As a single process, UF (LPM) exhibited a higher flux than FO, but this could be controlled by adjusting the effective membrane area of the FO and UF membranes in the VRO-LPM system. The VRO-LPM hybrid process only required a circulation pump for the FO process. This led to a decrease in the specific energy consumption of the VRO-LPM process for potable water production, that was similar to the single FO process. Therefore, the newly developed VRO-LPM hybrid process, with an appropriate DS selection, can be used as an energy efficient water production method, and can outperform conventional water reclamation processes.

这项研究首次提出了一种新的概念，即采用体积滞后渗透和低压膜（VRO-LPM）混合工艺。在VRO-LPM混合工艺中采用了市售的正渗透（FO）和超滤（UF）膜，以克服FO工艺中汲取溶液（DS）再生和渗透液产生的能量限制。为了评估其作为水回收工艺的可行性并优化操作条件，分别评估了交叉流FO和死端模式UF工艺。对于FO工艺，DS浓度为0.15 g mL ^-1确定多磺酸苯乙烯（PSS）的最佳用量，具有高通量和低反向盐通量。选择分子量截断值为1 kDa的UF膜是因为它在LPM工艺中具有较高的PSS抑制率。作为一个单一过程，UF（LPM）的通量要比FO高，但这可以通过调整VRO-LPM系统中FO和UF膜的有效膜面积来控制。VRO-LPM混合过程仅需要用于FO过程的循环泵。这导致用于饮用水生产的VRO-LPM工艺的单位能耗降低，这与单FO工艺相似。因此，新开发的VRO-LPM混合工艺（具有适当的DS选择）可以用作节能的水生产方法，并且性能优于常规的水回收工艺。