The application of forward osmosis (FO) membrane-based technology in urban wastewater treatment has received increased attention, however, its techno-economic feasibility and sustainability have not been fully demonstrated. In this study, the feasibility of FO application in urban wastewater treatment was assessed in terms of economic performance, energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions benchmarked against microfiltration (MF). Three different scenarios of wastewater treatment and water reclamation were proposed: (A) forward osmosis aerobic membrane bioreactor (FOAeMBR); (B) FOAeMBR integrated with reverse osmosis (RO); (C) forward osmosis anaerobic membrane bioreactor (FOAnMBR) integrated with partial nitrification/anammox (PN/AMOX) process. In this study, the wastewater treatment and reclamation costs by using FO in scenarios A and B were more expensive than MF by $0.16 per m³ and $0.75 per m³ respectively due to the larger surface area of FO membrane required. In scenario C, the wastewater treatment cost of using FO ($1.11 per m³) was equivalent to MF. This was due to the good rejection performance of FO and its ability to concentrate wastewater, hence, resulting in a higher efficiency of (PN/AMOX) in comparison to MF. In addition, the application of FO in scenario C generated total GHG emissions to be as low as 0.93 kg CO₂ equivalent m⁻³, which was 1.5 and 4.1 times lower than scenarios A and B respectively. The minimal net energy consumption and low carbon footprint of FO application in scenario C suggests this integration will likely be a feasible membrane-based technology for the next generation of wastewater treatment.

中文翻译：

---

一体化正渗透膜生物反应器（FOMBR）工艺在城市废水处理中的经济，能源和碳足迹评估

基于正渗透膜的技术在城市污水处理中的应用受到越来越多的关注，但是其技术经济可行性和可持续性尚未得到充分证明。在这项研究中，根据经济表现，能源消耗和以微滤（MF）为基准的温室气体（GHG）排放评估了FO在城市废水处理中的可行性。提出了三种不同的废水处理和水再生方案：（A）正渗透需氧膜生物反应器（FOAeMBR）；（B）集成了反渗透（RO）的FOAeMBR；（C）结合部分硝化/厌氧氨氮（PN / AMOX）工艺的正渗透厌氧膜生物反应器（FOAnMBR）。在这项研究中，³和$ 0.75每m ^3，这是因为所需的FO膜的表面积更大。在方案C中，使用FO的废水处理成本（$ 1.11每m ³）等于MF。这是由于FO的良好排斥性能及其浓缩废水的能力，因此，与MF相比，导致（PN / AMOX）的效率更高。此外，在方案C中使用FO产生的温室气体总排放量低至0.93 kg CO ₂当量m ^-3，分别比方案A和B低1.5倍和4.1倍。方案C中FO应用的最小净能耗和低碳足迹表明，这种集成对于下一代废水处理而言可能是一种可行的基于膜的技术。