TY - JOUR
T1 - Human urine as a forward osmosis draw solution for the application of microalgae dewatering
AU - Volpin, Federico
AU - Yu, Hyeonjung
AU - Cho, Jaeweon
AU - Lee, Changsoo
AU - Phuntsho, Sherub
AU - Ghaffour, NorEddine
AU - Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S.
AU - Shon, Ho Kyong
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korean Grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIP) (No. NRF-2015R1A5A7037825) and by the Australian Research Council through Future Fellowship (FT140101208). HY and CL are grateful for the support of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) through the “Human Resources Program in Energy Technology” project (No. 20164030201010) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea.
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - Human urine is a unique solution that has the right composition to constitute both a severe environmental threat and a rich source of nitrogen and phosphorous. In fact, between 4-9% of urine mass consists of ions, such as K+, Cl-, Na+ or NH4+. Because of its high ionic strength, urine osmotic pressure can reach values of up to 2000 kPa. With this in mind, this work aimed to study the effectiveness of real urine as a novel draw solution for forward osmosis. Water flux, reverse nitrogen flux and membrane fouling were investigated using fresh or hydrolysed urine. Water flux as high as 16.7 ± 1.1 L.m-2. h-1 was recorded using real hydrolysed urine.
Additionally, no support layer membrane fouling was noticed in over 20 hours of experimentation. Urine was also employed to dewater a Chlorella vulgaris culture. A fourfold increase in algal concentration was achieved while having an average flux of 14.1 L.m-2. h-1. During the algae dewatering, a flux decrease of about 19% was noticed; this was mainly due to a thin layer of algal deposition on the active side of the membrane. Overall, human urine was found to be an effective draw solution for forward osmosis.
AB - Human urine is a unique solution that has the right composition to constitute both a severe environmental threat and a rich source of nitrogen and phosphorous. In fact, between 4-9% of urine mass consists of ions, such as K+, Cl-, Na+ or NH4+. Because of its high ionic strength, urine osmotic pressure can reach values of up to 2000 kPa. With this in mind, this work aimed to study the effectiveness of real urine as a novel draw solution for forward osmosis. Water flux, reverse nitrogen flux and membrane fouling were investigated using fresh or hydrolysed urine. Water flux as high as 16.7 ± 1.1 L.m-2. h-1 was recorded using real hydrolysed urine.
Additionally, no support layer membrane fouling was noticed in over 20 hours of experimentation. Urine was also employed to dewater a Chlorella vulgaris culture. A fourfold increase in algal concentration was achieved while having an average flux of 14.1 L.m-2. h-1. During the algae dewatering, a flux decrease of about 19% was noticed; this was mainly due to a thin layer of algal deposition on the active side of the membrane. Overall, human urine was found to be an effective draw solution for forward osmosis.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/655514
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389419306673
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071859978&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.06.001
DO - 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2019.06.001
M3 - Article
C2 - 31326765
SN - 0304-3894
VL - 378
SP - 120724
JO - Journal of Hazardous Materials
JF - Journal of Hazardous Materials
ER -