The Journal of Mathematical Chemistry: A Bibliometric Profile

This paper describes the bibliometric characteristics of 2,398 articles published in the Journal of Mathematical Chemistry in the period 1987-2015. These articles have been analysed using data from the Web of Science Core Collection and demonstrate the contribution of the journal not only to mathematical chemistry but also to science more generally

Effect of flow rate, draw solution concentration and temperature on the performance of TFC FO membrane, and the potential use of ro reject brine as a draw solution in FO–RO hybrid systems

© 2018 Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. The main objective of this research study was to investigate the effect of feed and draw solution flow rate, draw solution concentration (2.5–7.7 wt% NaCl) and draw solution temperature (23°C–60°C) on the performance of a commercial polyamide thin-film composite forward osmosis (FO) flat sheet membrane in the active-layer-facing-draw solution (AL-DS) membrane orientation. Increasing the feed and draw solution flow rate improved the membrane flux by mitigating concentration polarization effects on both sides of the membrane. The membrane flux also increased at higher draw solution concentration due to higher osmotic pressure. Additionally, it was found that increasing the draw solution temperature slightly improved the membrane flux but the temperature effect was negligible due to the severe effect of concentration polarization. It was observed from experimental results that the salt rejection was maintained above 98% at all operating conditions, and an optimal water flux of 11.4 L m–2 h–1 was reported at a flow rate of 48 mL min–1 with deionized water as feed and 7.7 wt% NaCl as draw solution at 40°C. The water flux across the membranes decreased when brine at 7.7 wt% NaCl was used as the draw solution and raw seawater as the feed solution in active-layer-facing-feed solution (AL-FS) membrane orientation because of concentration polarization effects and lower osmotic pressure. The results showed that the performance of FO membranes is influenced by the operating conditions. Therefore, optimizing these conditions is essential and can significantly improve the performance of FO membranes

Influence of silica nanoparticles on the desalination performance of forward osmosis polybenzimidazole membranes

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a chemically and thermally stable polymer, which is being considered for forward osmosis (FO) seawater desalination in regions with high seawater temperatures and salinities. In this work, FO flat sheet membranes were fabricated using non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method from PBI dope solution incorporated with silica nanoparticles (SNPs) at different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1 and 2 wt%). The influence of draw solution concentration, cross-flow velocity and membrane cell orientation on the performance of pristine PBI and PBI/SNP membranes was examined. Results showed that the performance of the PBI/SNP membranes improved compared to the pristine PBI membrane. Addition of 0.5 wt% of SNPs to PBI membranes (S0.5) reduced the membrane's structural parameter (809.4 μm vs. 1193.2 μm), augmented the tensile strength (31.9 MPa vs. 27.3 MPa), and increased water flux by two folds (16.9 Lm−2 h−1 vs. 7.4 Lm−2 h−1) compared to the pristine PBI membrane (S0). Given the thermal stability of the PBI/SNP membrane along with its improved water permeation performance, the modified membrane offers a promising option for the FO process in hot and arid zones

Synthesis of polybenzimidazole (PBI) forward osmosis (FO) membrane and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling of concentration gradient across membrane surface

© 2018 Elsevier B.V. The aim of this research study was to synthesize and characterize asymmetric polybenzimidazole (PBI) FO flat sheet membranes for seawater desalination applications in high temperature and high salinity regions such as in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The membrane fabrication conditions that were considered during phase inversion method were membrane casting thickness, oven temperature and duration. The impact of draw and feed solution flow rates, draw solution type and concentration were also investigated. Results showed 2 M MgCl2 reported the highest water flux and salt rejection of 3.1 ± 0.2 LMH and 97.4 ± 1.3% when compared to NaCl and KBr (i.e. 2.6 ± 0.1 LMH and 96.9 ± 1.3%, and 2.3 ± 0.3 LMH and 95.9 ± 1.3%, respectively). Additionally, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling was used to verify the experimental results and study the impact of concentration gradient across membrane film on water flux and salt rejection at different FO cell orientations. The water flux and salt rejection with 2 M MgCl2 draw solution increased from 3.6 ± 0.1 to 21.3 ± 0.2 LMH and 89.5 ± 1.2% to 96.3 ± 1.2%, respectively when the draw solution was allowed to flow in the top compartment of the membrane cell (orientation B). CFD modeling results demonstrated that solution density, gravity and diffusion rate affected FO performance at low cross-flow velocity

Recent advancements in forward osmosis desalination: A review

© 2015. Forward osmosis (FO) is one of the evolving membrane technologies in desalination with recent expanded new interest as a low energy process. The most significant parts of FO process are the membrane and draw solution since both play a substantial role in its performance. Hence, the selection of an appropriate membrane and draw solution is crucial for the process efficiency. Improvements in the development of membranes and draw solutes have been recorded recently. However, limitations such as fouling of FO membranes, reverse solute flux, concentration polarization, and low permeate flux in standalone FO systems. This work targets the review of recent progress in FO, aiming on the prospects and challenges. It starts with addressing the advantages of the FO process. The crucial part of this review is a thorough discussion of hybrid FO systems, different FO membranes, and draw solutes available coupled with their effects on FO performance. Finally, the future of FO for sustainable desalination is also discussed