ABSTRACT
Water shortage problems have negatively affected farming and agriculture activities worldwide. Tapping into seawater was considered as a viable solution for freshwater supply. Reverse osmosis (RO) and thermal processes were the pioneering technologies for freshwater supply for many countries. The current study investigates the feasibility of using an forward osmosis (FO)-membrane hybrid system for irrigation water supply. The product water generated from a series of membrane treatment should contain a sufficient concentration of nutrients. The diluted draw solution from the FO process was further treated by a special membrane hybrid system for irrigation water supply. FO was suggested for irrigation water supply in arid and semi-arid regions. The proposed system utilized a novel concept of a draw solution mixture consisting of a primary solution of high concentration and a secondary solution of low concentration for seawater desalination. The diluted draw solution was regenerated by a dual-stage nanofiltration (NF)–RO system to produce irrigation water and concentrated draw solution.
