Differences of RO and FO/MO

The membranes are constructed differently, but before you get into that you should consider
the energy difference between the two.
To desalinate with reverse osmosis you need to do work on the system, because you're
essentially LOWERING the total entropy. In other words, you're taking something with a
relatively high entropy (i.e. 35,000 some parts per million of salt in water) and you're turning
it into something with a lower entropy (i.e. 100 parts per million of salt in water plus some
brine at maybe 100 parts per million of salt in water). The laws of Thermodynamics require
that we ADD energy to a system to make the system more ordered (i.e. lower the entropy.)
So to do this, we run pumps or electric gradients which essentially push the salty water
through the reverse osmotic membrane.
But forward osmosis is the opposite. In that case, we're RAISING the total entropy of the
system. We start with 35,000 parts per million salt in water and then make the system even
more disordered (i.e. raise the entropy) by allowing the water in that salt solution to pass
through a Forward Osmotic membrane and run in the even more disorganized playground
of a 60,000 parts per million solution, for example. (This higher concentration draw solution
doesn't have to be 60,000 ppm, it just has to be higher than the original solution.) But the
trick here is that the 60,000 ppm draw solution doesn't have to be salt, it can be sugar or
ammonia or liquid fertilizer, or anything that is less harmful than salt, or which can be
removed from the higher concentrate. (For example, I can happily drink 60,000 ppm sugar
solution, but not 35,000 ppm salt solution, or 60,000 ppm ammonia can be boiled out of the
water and reused in the cycle.
But the key here is that since the solution is allowed to become even more disorderd than it
was originally, we don't have to add energy to the system or do work on the system. It's
essentially rolling downhill on the entropy gradient, and the process can GIVE us low grade
heat or work, some of which we can add to the system. The reason why forward osmosis
isn't commonly used yet is because it can be tough to find the right (i.e. cheap) draw
solution. However it's Jim Dandy for emergency pouch desalination units on lifeboats. The
user is happy to drink the high-concentrate sugar solution. These are available on Amazon
for less than $30.
As for the membranes themselves, that gets technical enough that it needs formula more
than words, but the construction of the membranes are similar in that they essentially act as
gatekeepers to allow the osmosis to happen one direction, either against or with the entropy
gradient.

How does forward osmosis (FO) compare to reverse osmosis

(RO)?
People often confuse reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. If you think of just
osmosis, its the use of a semi-permeable barrier or membrane and water
diffuses across that membrane from a lower concentration to a higher
concentration so that both sides are at equilibrium. That's what osmosis is and
that's what forward osmosis is.
Reverse osmosis uses that same semi-permeable barrier or membrane, but
instead of allowing fresh water or lower-saline water to move across to a
higher concentration to dilute that side, you do the opposite. You have to
overcome that osmotic pressure by using hydraulic pressure to essentially
force water through the membrane, leaving the salt behind.
When you think about RO, you think of high-pressure pumps, high-pressure
vessels, stainless steel, and lots of energy because you have to overcome that
natural osmotic gradient and then have additional pressure to actually force
water through. That's a major difference between RO and FO.
How does Oasys take advantage of forward osmosis technology?
The technology Oasys has today is more focused on treating very difficult
water. We're transforming the most challenging water in the world into
valuable resources. Seawater is generally thought of as challenging in the
water industry, but we're looking at waters that are three to five times the
salinity of seawater. Waters from exploration and production in O&G and
mining operations come out of the ground at somewhere between 50 and
150,000 parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids (TDS). It's much
higher than what you would see out of traditional seawater, and were able to
convert those into freshwater resources.
Initially we were looking at seawater desalination, but recognized that the
technology had a much higher value in some markets where RO can't compete

 brines, saturated mineral tar pits areas that you would only be able to use
technologies such as evaporation.
What are the energy implications for the Oasys process in
comparison to alternatives?
The Oasys technology is performing the same function as an evaporator. It
takes a lot of energy, and a lot of high-quality heat to be able to turn water into
a vapor and leave salt behind. The difference for Oasys is that because we are
not boiling the feed water, but are instead changing the phase of the draw
solution, we use much less energy.
Another advantage is that our source heat needed to recover the draw solution
can come from multiple places. We can use anything from electricity, to
natural gas, to waste heat from a power plant, to renewable energy. We're
really agnostic when it comes to the source. We just need a low-temperature
heat source.
From a sheer economic standpoint, we're operating anywhere between 30 and
50 percent less energy in comparison to evaporators. That fact, coupled with
not having to use materials that need to withstand high heat, gives us a
significant advantage.