Current Trends and Future Developments on (Bio-) Membranes

Reverse osmosis (RO), Forward Osmosis (FO) and the FO/RO hybrid process have received increased attention in the last years. The benefits of the individual processes are well established but the benefits in combined use have only recently emerged. The combined process have considerable potential across a wide variety of applications including power generation, enhanced oil recovery, water treatment, fluid concentration, thermal desalination feed water softening, water substitution and desalination. Most of these applications have been currently commercialised. Reverse and Forward Osmosis: Principles, Applications aims to cover the important aspects of RO, FO and their combination in integrated systems as well as their specific and well -established applications. The book offers an overview of recent developments in the field of forward osmosis and reverse osmosis and their applications in specific areas such as water desalination, wastewater treatment, power generation and food processing. General principles, membrane module developments, membrane fouling as well as modelling, simulation and optimization of both technologies are also covered. The ultimate goal is to support the scientific community, professionals and enterprises that aspire to develop new applications, as well as to improve efficiency and sustainability of such processes.

• Provides an overview of the advances made in combining reverse osmosis membrane technology and the corresponding forward osmosis
• Provides a comprehensive review of advanced research on membrane processes for water desalination, wastewater treatments, etc
• Addresses key issues in process intensification and extraction of energy from renewable sources
• Identifies further research needs for the practical implementation of these two membrane technologies