Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42506185›Full record

ReviewMembranes2026

Forward Osmosis Technology and Its Application Progress.

Bo Zhang, Ronggang Wang, Feng Wang

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Membranes, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Bo ZhangGuizhou Branch, China Three Gorges Corporation, Guiyang 550081, China.
Ronggang WangGuizhou Branch, China Three Gorges Corporation, Guiyang 550081, China.
Feng WangGuizhou Branch, China Three Gorges Corporation, Guiyang 550081, China.

Funding

Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Department No.[2023]414
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As a novel membrane treatment technology, forward osmosis (FO) has become a research hotspot in the field of membrane technology owing to its advantages such as low energy consumption and low pollution. Nevertheless, this technology still faces notable limitations, including lower water flux than reverse osmosis (RO), difficult regeneration of draw solutions, limited commercial membrane types, and unavoidable reverse solute flux, which restrict its large-scale industrial application. This paper reviews the characteristics of forward osmosis membranes, the classification of draw solutions, the characteristics of membrane fouling, as well as the applications and development trends of forward osmosis technology. Common FO membranes include cellulose acetate (CA) membranes, thin-film composite (TFC) membranes fabricated by interfacial polymerization, and aquaporin (AQP)-based biomimetic membranes. According to the types of draw solutes, draw solutions can be classified into gaseous solutions, organic compound solutions, inorganic compound solutions, magnetic nanoparticle-based draw solutions, polymer gel draw solutions, etc. Since FO is operated without external hydraulic pressure, it exhibits lighter membrane fouling compared with pressure-driven membrane separation technologies. FO membrane fouling can be mainly divided into four categories according to fouling types: inorganic fouling, organic fouling, colloidal fouling, and biofouling. FO technology has a wide range of applications and plays an important role in seawater desalination, pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) power generation, wastewater treatment and reuse, and the energy field. Notably, the reconcentration and regeneration of draw solutions remain major energy and economic limitations restricting the large-scale deployment of FO. As a promising treatment technology, with continuous technological advances in membrane materials and draw solutions, FO will play a significant role in the energy field, especially in lithium extraction from geothermal water, promoting the iteration of forward osmosis technology from a "water treatment technology" to a "core technology for energy and resource recovery".

Indexed as

draw solutionforward osmosislithium extractionmembrane foulingmembrane materials

Identifiers

PMID42506185
PMCPMC13413910

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.