An initial study and potential application of maltodextrin as draw solution in forward osmosis process for desalination

Forward osmosis (FO) has been considered as one of the most promising technologies for desalination with the advantages of low energy cost, high rejection of many pollutants and low membrane fouling in comparison with the other membrane processes. In this study, maltodextrin was investigated as a draw solution in the FO process. Various parameters such as the total dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, water flux, reverse salt flux, and recovery efficiency of draw solution were studied. The results show that the highest water flux was 11.5 LMH reported in 1.00 M of maltodextrin concentration. In addition, the maltodextrin draw solution can be easily recovered using the NF90-400 membrane (95.61%), which provides a new promising method for future applications in producing freshwater using FO systems with lower energy consumption. It is fully expected to meet the demands of clean water for people living in coastal areas and saline pollutant areas in Vietnam as well as other countries in the world.