Seawater desalination and water reuse using FO-RO hybrid system: Short review

The pressing global water scarcity issue has driven researchers and engineers to develop sustainable and energy efficient seawater desalination technologies. In this context, the integration of forward osmosis (FO) and reverse osmosis (RO) has emerged as a promising hybrid system combining the advantages of both processes for simultaneous seawater desalination and wastewater reuse. FO-RO system offers an innovative solution to reduce energy consumption, enhance water recovery and mitigate environmental impacts. This paper summarizes the key aspects of FO and FO-RO hybrid desalination system and highlights the research and development progress made in this area in the course of recent years, including (i) the technical aspects and operational conditions, (ii) the challenges and opportunities related to the optimization of the FO and FO-RO processes and their applications, (iii) the sustainability potential of the FO-RO hybrid system and its energy and economic advantages, and finally (iv) presenting real cases. Overall, the FO-RO hybrid system has been proposed as a promising integrated solution for seawater desalination and water reuse, however, it is still applied at small scale. • FO-RO is an efficient system for simultaneous seawater desalination and wastewater reus. • FO-RO systems can achieve up to 30 % reductions in OPEX at a large scale. • Al Khaluf desalination plant reduced energy consumption by 42 % vs. conventional RO. • FO gaps: concentration polarization, reverse solute flux, and membrane fouling.