Application of Forward/Reverse Osmosis Hybrid System for Brackish Water Desalination using El-Salam Canal Water, Sinai, Egypt, Part (1): FO Performance

This paper is the first part of two papers focus on the investigation of a forward osmosis – reverse osmosis hybrid process to co-treat brackish water and El-Salam Canal water in Sinai, Egypt. By using this hybrid process, brackish water can be diluted before desalination, hence reducing the energy cost of desalination. Simultaneously, contaminants present in the El-Salam Canal water are prevented from migrating into the product water through the forward and reverse osmosis membranes. The main objective of this part is to investigate the performance of the forward osmosis (FO) system at different draw solution concentrations comparable to the ground water in Sinai. It was found that the FO water fluxes are low and not promising to be economically applied. To improve the FO performance with El-Salam canal water, ammonium bicarbonate was added to water wells to increase the osmotic pressure of draw solution.