The addressable FO market ranges from $300million to $6billion in 2017

Forward osmosis in zero liquid discharge

According to a new article on WaterWorld, forward osmosis is gaining traction within product concentration, ZLD, and water reuse

In the recent WaterWorld article, “Forward Osmosis: Is it beginning to live up to the hype?“, Steve Gluck – TAG expert for BlueTech Research – estimates the addressable FO market to range from $300million (when considering only ZLD) to $6billion (if both ZLD, product concentration, and water reuse are considered).

Some FO application areas are starting to show commercial promise

While ZLD/brine concentration still shows most promise, additional application areas are emerging where FO is likely to challenge existing thermal solutions (such as evaporators):

  • Concentration of valuable products by de-watering
  • Minimizing waste hauling costs by concentrating difficult to treat wastewater streams such as landfill leachate
  • Specialized desalination opportunities

While others are unlikely to materialize commercially within a foreseeable future

  • PRO due to lack of low cost industrial scale FO membranes
  • Osmotic MBRs and fertigation
  • Pressure-assisted osmosis (PAO)

Join the discussion

What’s your opinion on forward osmosis commercialization? Where are the low hanging fruits to be found?

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