Abstract Forward osmosis (FO) studies to date have focused on mass transport and applications. Additionally, further investigations regarding scale-up of FO system are required to commercialize this technology. In this study, the effect of operating parameters on FO performance was experimentally investigated using plate-and-frame FO membrane elements. Operating parameters such as membrane area, concentrations and flow rates of the feed and draw solutions were evaluated to determine their influence on water permeate flux, operating pressures, and water recovery in continuous operation mode. The membrane area was adjusted by series connection of FO elements, to a maximum value of 63 m 2 (nine elements). The feed flow rate was adjusted to 10, 15, and 20 LPM at draw flow rates of 5 and 10 LPM under various feed (10, 20, and 30 g/L) and draw (70, 110, and 150 g/L) concentration combinations. Increase of operating pressures was observed with increasing feed water flow rates and membrane area. However, the operating pressures of the plate-and-frame elements were significantly lower than that of spiral-wound elements. The lower operating pressure of serial-connected FO elements can be an advantage for a scale-up FO system design. In addition, water recovery data as a function of feed flow rate fraction were compared with model results based on the equilibrium between the feed and draw solutions. Estimation of the normalized membrane area (membrane area to initial feed flow rate) was evaluated to be a critical factor for achieving the desired water recovery. A normalized membrane area higher than 0.08 m 2 L −1 h is required for a scale-up design of an FO system to obtain the water recovery predicted by the equilibrium model.

中文翻译：

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板框式正向渗透膜元件的性能分析及其对放大设计的影响

摘要 迄今为止，正向渗透 (FO) 研究主要集中在质量传输和应用上。此外，需要进一步研究 FO 系统的放大，以将该技术商业化。在这项研究中，使用板框式 FO 膜元件通过实验研究了操作参数对 FO 性能的影响。对膜面积、进料和汲取溶液的浓度和流速等操作参数进行评估，以确定它们对连续操作模式下的水渗透通量、操作压力和水回收率的影响。通过串联连接 FO 元件将膜面积调整到最大值 63 m 2 （九个元件）。在不同进料（10、20 和 30 g/L）和牵引（70、110、和 150 g/L) 浓度组合。观察到操作压力随着进水流速和膜面积的增加而增加。然而，板框元件的工作压力明显低于螺旋缠绕元件。串联 FO 元件的较低工作压力可能是放大 FO 系统设计的一个优势。此外，将作为进料流速分数函数的水回收率数据与基于进料和汲取溶液之间的平衡的模型结果进行比较。归一化膜面积（膜面积相对于初始进料流速）的估计被认为是实现所需水回收率的关键因素。归一化膜面积大于 0。