Science never stops to amaze us. The everyday appliances that we use are a wonder of technological marvel which cannot be ignored at all costs. On the other hand, with the explorations in new scientific principles, the modern age is at the corner. A scientific phenomenon like forward osmosis is one such example. The principle finds its applications in industrial applications with the energy efficiency for industry being its primary application.
The four essential fundamentals of Forward Osmosis
The forward osmosis depends upon a broad set of factors, with each factor playing a distinct role. Here are the four elements that regulate the process.
· Concentration: The concentration of water depends heavily on the concentration of the water in the solution. The reverse osmosis extracts water from the solution, leaving the solution dehydrated. This, thus, increases the density of minerals in the water.
· Dilution: The channels from where the pure water is extracted and is collected, dilute the solution in the freshwater container. The pouring of a high amount of freshwater does it and hence is the opposite of the process that has been discussed above. This, in fact, improves the energy efficiency of the industry as well.
· Direct water production: In this process, the water obtained from the solution is cleaned and stored in a container by using complementary separation processes like reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, thermal separation, nano-filtration, ultrafiltration, etc. These processes are widely used in industries at a very large scale and hence provide energy efficiency for industry.
· Energy production: In the following step, the clean water extracted from the feed streams are used to generate pressure on the draw side and run turbines to generate electricity. The following process is known as pressure retarded osmosis and is chiefly done on the basis of forwarding osmosis.
The forward osmosis is caused on the basis of a number of factors and hence is used widespread on account of energy efficiency for industry.
Applications of Industrial Waste Water Treatment by Forward Osmosis
Example 1:
Most industrial wastewater is not suitable to be treated without making some changes in it. These wastewaters are treated with conventional pressure and have driven water treatment technologies on account of various factors. Some of the specific examples include wastewater from the oil and gas industries, wastewater from textile industries, and so on. However, with the forward osmosis in play, the water content is moved, and all the solids are used processed through other less expensive machinery while improving energy efficiency for industry.
Example 2:
The principal aim of the forward osmosis is to separate freshwater from the dilute. One of the best examples of industrial applications is fertigation. In this method, the freshwater is extracted from the diluted industrial waste, and the freshwater is poured into a container of concentrated fertilizer. The fertilizer mixed with the freshwater becomes diluted until a point is reached where no dilution is needed. The following method is used extensively in advanced agricultural lands and hence is a huge hit.
Example 3:
One of the best practices about forward osmosis is the application itself. Suppose there are two tanks in which one of the tanks needs to be diluted, and the other one needs to be concentrated. By using a single process – Forward osmosis, the desired results could be obtained at a meager cost while keeping the energy efficiency for industry high.
Concluding Remarks
When it comes to the application of forward osmosis for industrial applications, there are a number of factors that come into play. Because of the use of the process, the energy efficiency of industry can be regulated and hence should not be ignored at all costs.
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