Study and investigation of hydrogels as a draw agent in forward osmosis (FO) process

Although significant advancements have been made in forward osmosis (FO) membranes, the absence of draw solutes that can be effectively regenerated remains a critical barrier to the broader commercial implementation of FO technology. Despite the discussion of various promising concepts, additional work is necessary to discover an 'ideal' draw solute that may lead to the next major breakthrough in forward osmosis (FO) process. Responsive hydrogels have been the subject of extensive research due to their ability to change their conformation and properties when subjected to various stimuli. The forward osmosis (FO) process requires energy-intensive and expensive secondary processes for the recovery of draw solutions. As a result, the utilization of stimuli-responsive hydrogels as draw solutions to lower the energy requirements for draw solution recovery has been widely investigated. An identification of the research gap has been made, and subsequent areas that necessitate further exploration have been specified, such as enhancing flux and addressing challenges associated with gel layer resistance. There have been reported joint efforts focused on the cutting-edge multi-responsive hydrogel that has been copolymerized with a greater number of hydrophilic functional groups or electrolytes to tackle the aforementioned challenges.

کلیدواژه ها:

Forward Osmosis ، Hydrogel ، Draw Solution ، Thermoresponsive