Forward osmosis membrane to produce water energy drink from seawater

Access to clean water increases in the future due to world population growth, climate change, water pollution by industrial and household waste, and water scarcity that occurs in several countries worldwide. Seawater desalination is the fastest and most convenient way to meet the needs of clean water that continues to grow today and in the future. In this study, a forward osmosis (FO) membrane has been prepared from chitosan polymer study for seawater desalination. The FO Chitosan membranes are prepared by casting the chitosan polymers in 1% (v/v) acetic acid on the support and evaporating the printing solution at room temperature. The membrane preserves asymmetric structure with 33.67 % of porosity and 15.76 % of a swelling degree. The chitosan membrane has excellent mechanical strength with the tensile strength of 29.67 kgf/mm2 and elongation equal to 8.21%. The performance of the FO process was studied using fructose, sucrose, and a mixture of fructose and sucrose as a withdrawal solution for extracting water from seawater as a feed solution. The clean water flux increases with the addition of the concentration of the draw solution in the forward osmosis process. The parameter quality of all the produced-water agreed to Indonesian government regulation of drinking water quality. The chitosan forward osmosis membrane can be an alternative method for producing drinking water from seawater.