Investigating sustainable management of desalination brine through concentration using forward osmosis.

A fertilizer drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) process was tested for the concentration of synthetic brine using an industrial-grade fertilizer ammonium sulfate (NH)SO as the draw solution (DS), NaCl-based synthetic brine as the feed solution (FS), and a commercial forward osmosis (FO) membrane. A bench-scale investigation and a pilot-scale investigation were carried out. By using the highest possible concentration of the DS with a fixed concentration of the FS, the brine generated by reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants was simulated.