Optimization of Forward Osmotic Dewatering on Resource Utilization of Microalgae: A Review

Shengfei Zhang, Wenhui An, Runshan Li, Xu Zhang, Haiyu Ge and Hongbo Liu ()
Additional contact information
Shengfei Zhang: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Wenhui An: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Runshan Li: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Xu Zhang: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Haiyu Ge: School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, West Anhui University, Lu’an 237012, China
Hongbo Liu: School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China

Clean Technol., 2025, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Microalgae have attracted wide attention due to their extensive application potential. Dewatering is a necessary work for the application of microalgae, especially in biofuel production, where forward osmosis (FO) research is relatively advanced but still faces technical bottlenecks hindering large-scale commercialization. Based on the current research in recent years, the research progress in the causes and control of membrane fouling, the development of membrane materials and optimization of membrane structure, and the energy saving and efficiency of the process are reviewed in this paper. We found that different species of algae have direct effects on membrane fouling. Chlorella vulgaris has a low membrane fouling trend, but the mechanisms of fouling need further investigation. The material development and structure optimization of membranes are the main research methods to reduce membrane fouling, but there are still some defects, such as complicated preparation and low water flux, which are difficult to apply on a large scale. The research progress of reducing costs by using seawater, urine, fertilizer, etc. as new draw solutions (DS) is reviewed. At present, many aspects of FO microalgae dewatering technology are still not well understood, and future research should focus on scaling up the existing technologies.

Keywords: microalgae; forward osmosis; membrane fouling; draw solution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/7/1/10/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8797/7/1/10/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jcltec:v:7:y:2025:i:1:p:10-:d:1577661

Access Statistics for this article

Clean Technol. is currently edited by Ms. Shary Song

More articles in Clean Technol. from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().