Forward osmosis membrane technology: An enabler for sustainable and resilient water production

This research aims to investigate the practical application of forward osmosis (FO) systems and optimize their design to determine the viability of FO technology for water production. The study is crucial to provide support for proposed water re-use and desalination schemes, offering potential solutions to water scarcity. While FO membrane and draw solution designs have been extensively studied, there's a research gap in array and module design for these systems. This aspect requires deeper exploration to assess its potential in enhancing overall system performance, as the integration of various components for maximum efficiency remains relatively unexplored.
The research will address these gaps through laboratory testing of the FO system. Experimental approach is important to validate FO's applicability across different feed water types and industrial contexts. The results from the lab-based experiments should be evidence FO's adaptability in various scenarios, from conventional industrial applications to emerging innovative contexts. The research's impact extends beyond the laboratory, envisioning the real-world application of forward osmosis technology to meet global water demands. By filling knowledge gaps, optimizing system design, and validating versatility through empirical evidence, this research could lead to practical and sustainable water production solutions that effectively tackle water scarcity.

Water-WISER will train a cohort of 50 British research engineers and scientists and equip them to work in challenging environments both in the low-income settings of rapidly growing poor cities and in the changing urban environment of the UK, Europe and other regions with a historic endowment of aging infrastructure. The vision is for a generation of engineers with the skills to deliver the trans-disciplinary innovations needed to ensure that future water, waste and sanitation infrastructure is resilient to the stresses posed by rapid urbanisation, global climate change and increasingly extreme natural and man-made disasters. Our alumni will address the urgent need to re-imagine urban spaces as net contributors to ecological and environmental well-being rather than being net users of vital resources such as energy, nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. These new leaders will be an essential resource if the UK is to deliver on its commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 which calls for universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services, within planetary and local ecological boundaries. This next generation of research engineers will enable UK-based engineering consultancies, manufacturers, and utility companies to grow their share of the expanding global market for water and waste services, for example; in the water services industry from 3% to 10% (an increase of £33 billion per annum) by 2030, and attract significant inward investment.
The research which Water-WISER cohorts enable will form the basis of new innovations in the design and delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Innovations developed by Water-WISER graduates will inform how growing cities are designed and built in the global south and will be used to inform the re-engineering and replacement of the aging infrastructure on which the UK's water and waste services are currently reliant. Our alumni will form the new generation of leaders who will play a central role in securing a larger share of the international water and waste management consultancy market to UK consultancies. The network of expertise and skills created by Water-WISER will enhance potential for collaborations between major UK players (for example strengthening links between UK consultancy, the Department for International Development, and leading UK water agencies such as WaterAid and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) and between UK companies and partners in the global south including international investors such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Graduates of Water-WISER will enter industry, academia and development agencies having spent a substantial period (minimum of six months) embedded in an industry or development partner organisation delivering their field-based research. Water-WISER students will thus gain a unique combination of trans-disciplinary training, field experience and cohort networking; they are destined for leadership roles in UK and international engineering and development consultancies, academia, international development banks, international agencies such as the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations.