Recent developments in forward osmosis and its implication in expanding applications

Abstract In this chapter, a review of various applications has been performed for the production and treatment of water using the forward osmosis (FO) process. A comprehensive and critical review on the existing hybrid FO systems and their performances in different applications are presented. To find an appropriate niche for FO the review organized past researches on the FO process and suggested optimized applications and prospects for future research areas on hybrid FO systems. This review also includes a brief overview of the different types of fouling mechanisms that can be found in FO processes, the possible fouling mitigation and cleaning methods to enhance FO efficiency, and the use of advanced membrane fouling characterization methods.