PROSPECTS, CHALLENGES, AND UTILIZATION OF FORWARD OSMOSIS (FO) AND PRESSURE-RETARDED OSMOSIS (PRO) FOR WATER AND ENERGY CRISIS ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS

• Main Author: Rizqy Trihutama Putra, Mochamad
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/51184
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Water and energy crisis are two increasing problems humanity has to face. Few alternative solutions are developed to solve those problems, one of them being osmotically-driven membranes. These processes include forward osmosis (FO) and pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) for water and energy production using draw solution as its driving force. However, applications of these processes are still limited due to the three main challenges they still face: the need for membrane materials and fabrication process for higher water flux and selectivity, widely available and high-performing draw solutions, and proper post-treatments. Therefore, a literature study is conducted to compare variations of membrane materials and their fabrication processes, different draw solutions, and post-treatments for both FO and PRO processes by grouping and analyzing data from previous studies to find the best solutions from all three challenges. Polyamide (PA)-coated polyetherimide (PEI) among various polymers has shown greater degree of performance in both FO and PRO application, offering high water flux and mechanical strength. RO brine as a draw solution is considered appealing due to its high osmotic pressure and lower environmental impacts. Ideas of FO/RO, PRO/RO, and FO/PRO/RO hybrid systems have been proposed and researched to overcome the post-treatment requirements of osmotically-driven membranes. FO/PRO/RO system is proven to reduce energy consumption and decrease global warming impacts up to 1.40 kWh and 0.99 kgCO2/hour for every 1 m3/hour water production. In the future, these hybrid systems aim to realize continuous and self-sustaining osmotically-driven water and energy production.