Suleman Muhammad, Al-Rudainy Basel, Lipnizki Frank
Division of Chemical Engineering, Department of Process and Life Science Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 221 00 Lund, Sweden.
Membranes (Basel). 2025 May 26;15(6):162. doi: 10.3390/membranes15060162.
Energy-efficient and cost-effective water desalination systems can significantly replenish freshwater reserves without further stressing limited energy resources. Currently, the majority of the desalination systems are operated by non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuel power plants. The viability of any desalination process depends primarily on the type and amount of energy it utilizes and on the product recovery. In recent years, membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) have drawn the attention of the scientific community because of FO's low energy demand and the potential of MD operation with low-grade heat or a renewable source like geothermal, wind, or solar energy. Despite the numerous potential advantages of MD and FO, there are still some limitations that negatively affect their performance associated with the water-energy nexus. This critical review focuses on the hybrid forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) processes, emphasizing energy demand and product quality. It starts with exploring the limitations of MD and FO as standalone processes and their performance. Based on this, the importance of combining these technologies into an FO-MD hybrid process and the resulting strengths of it will be demonstrated. The promising applications of this hybrid process and their advantages will be also explored. Furthermore, the performance of FO-MD processes will be compared with other hybrid processes like FO-nanofiltration (FO-NF) and FO-reverse osmosis (FO-RO). It will be outlined how the FO-MD hybrid process could outperform other hybrid processes when utilizing a low-grade heat source. In conclusion, it will be shown that the FO-MD hybrid process can offer a sustainable solution to address water scarcity and efficiently manage the water-energy nexus.
节能且经济高效的海水淡化系统能够显著补充淡水资源储备，而不会给有限的能源资源带来进一步压力。目前，大多数海水淡化系统由不可再生能源驱动，如化石燃料发电厂。任何海水淡化工艺的可行性主要取决于其使用的能源类型和数量以及产品回收率。近年来，膜蒸馏（MD）和正向渗透（FO）引起了科学界的关注，因为正向渗透能源需求低，且膜蒸馏具有利用低品位热能或地热能、风能、太阳能等可再生能源运行的潜力。尽管膜蒸馏和正向渗透有诸多潜在优势，但仍存在一些限制，对它们与水 - 能源关系相关的性能产生负面影响。这篇批判性综述聚焦于混合正向渗透 - 膜蒸馏（FO - MD）工艺，强调能源需求和产品质量。首先探讨膜蒸馏和正向渗透作为独立工艺的局限性及其性能。在此基础上，将论证把这些技术结合成正向渗透 - 膜蒸馏混合工艺的重要性及其由此产生的优势。还将探讨这种混合工艺的前景应用及其优势。此外，将把正向渗透 - 膜蒸馏工艺的性能与其他混合工艺，如正向渗透 - 纳滤（FO - NF）和正向渗透 - 反渗透（FO - RO）进行比较。将概述在利用低品位热源时，正向渗透 - 膜蒸馏混合工艺如何优于其他混合工艺。总之，将表明正向渗透 - 膜蒸馏混合工艺能够提供一个可持续的解决方案，以解决水资源短缺问题并有效管理水 - 能源关系。
