Forward osmosis (FO) is a membrane-based process that has an important application in water desalination. However, there are challenges in making this method operational on an industrial scale. This paper investigated a new spacer based on the concept of airfoils and the use of an optimized side stream to increase turbulency and water flux in the FO process. The effect of seven different spacer types and the side stream was investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the design of experiment (DOE) techniques. The results showed that when an airfoil spacer was used, the water flux decreased along the membrane with a very slight slope (about 54% less than the base state). Also, the local water flux will increase by about 3%. The optimum side stream had a similar permeable water flux equivalent to the function of nine spacers with the equilateral triangle but with a lower amount of shear stress (1/2) and pressure drop (1/4). Likewise, an average water flux equivalent to an increase of 2.5 was created using a side stream and 3.5 times with an optimum spacer in the inlet flow velocity of the draw solution. A comparison of energy consumption showed that the side stream consumed less energy than the spacers and could improve process costs.

正向渗透 (FO) 是一种基于膜的工艺，在海水淡化中具有重要应用。然而，使这种方法在工业规模上运行存在挑战。本文研究了一种基于翼型概念的新型垫片，并使用优化的侧流来增加 FO 过程中的湍流和水通量。使用计算流体动力学 (CFD) 和实验设计 (DOE) 技术研究了七种不同间隔类型和侧流的影响。结果表明，当使用翼型垫片时，水通量沿膜以非常小的斜率下降（比基本状态低约 54%）。此外，当地的水通量将增加约 3%。最佳侧流具有相似的渗透水通量，相当于具有等边三角形的九个隔板的功能，但剪切应力 (1/2) 和压降 (1/4) 量较低。同样，使用侧流产生相当于增加 2.5 倍的平均水通量，并在汲取溶液的入口流速中使用最佳间隔器产生 3.5 倍。能源消耗的比较表明，侧流比间隔物消耗的能源更少，并且可以提高工艺成本。