Abstract Forward osmosis (FO) has proven to be a robust, low-pressure membrane separation process capable of rejecting a broad range of contaminants; thus, providing a high quality diluted brine suitable for further desalination by reverse osmosis (RO). In this study, a pilot-scale FO-RO system treated >10,000 L of raw produced water from the Denver-Julesburg basin (Colorado) over a four-week period using commercially available FO and RO membranes. Overall, the FO-RO pilot system maintained >99% rejection of nearly all measured ions and >95% rejection of hydrocarbons such as semi-volatile linear aliphatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Although the FO-RO system was able to treat raw produced water, high concentrations of organic compounds severely fouled the FO membrane and substantially reduced water flux by 68% within 21 days. Membrane degradation due to interaction between organic constituents such as aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons and the membrane polymer may have compromised the FO membranes, resulting in substantial increase (×15) in reverse salt flux within 21 days. Further investigations of membrane cleaning and pretreatment will be required in order to better understand the overall economic feasibility of treating raw produced water using FO.

中文翻译：

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在正向渗透 - 反渗透处理的扩展中试测试期间产出水对膜完整性的影响

摘要 正向渗透 (FO) 已被证明是一种强大的低压膜分离工艺，能够去除多种污染物；因此，提供适合通过反渗透 (RO) 进一步脱盐的高质量稀释盐水。在这项研究中，中试规模的 FO-RO 系统使用市售的 FO 和 RO 膜在 4 周内处理了来自丹佛-朱勒斯堡盆地（科罗拉多州）的 10,000 L 以上的原水。总体而言，FO-RO 中试系统对几乎所有测量离子的去除率均保持在 99% 以上，对碳氢化合物（如半挥发性线性脂肪烃和多环芳烃）的去除率保持在 95% 以上。尽管 FO-RO 系统能够处理原采出水，高浓度的有机化合物严重污染了 FO 膜，并在 21 天内将水通量大幅降低了 68%。由于有机成分（如脂肪烃和芳香烃）与膜聚合物之间的相互作用，膜降解可能会损害 FO 膜，导致 21 天内反向盐通量大幅增加（×15）。需要对膜清洁和预处理进行进一步研究，以便更好地了解使用 FO 处理原采出水的整体经济可行性。