Modeling and multi-objective optimization of forward osmosis process

In order to ensure efficient wastewater treatment and seawater desalination, adequate modeling and optimization of the forward osmosis (FO) process has the potential to be very helpful. This paper deals with the FO model parameters calibration and FO process optimization by a gradient-based optimization method. For this purpose, an upgraded FO model, which involves temperature- and agent-dependent parameters, was developed. The FO model calibration was done using NaCl as agents in draw solution, while MgCl2 was used for model validation. The agreements between simulated and measured FO performance were satisfactory; relative index of agreement are higher than 0.99. By using the proposed FO model, the optimization of FO process conditions was performed with various definitions of the objective and constraint functions. In case of maximizing the water flux, minimizing reverse solute flux, and fulfilling the required constraints, the ratio of water flux and reverse solute flux increased up to 40 % for NaCl and up to 20 % for MgCl2; meanwhile the effective osmotic pressure difference was improved 2-times for NaCl and up to 3.8-times for MgCl2. The optimization process proved to be stable and efficient and can easily be adapted or upgraded for more complex dynamic FO modeling.