Effects of temperature, pH, feed, and fertilizer draw solution concentrations on the performance of forward osmosis process for textile wastewater treatment

Water is crucial for enhancing the yield of agricultural land to meet the growing demand. Forward osmosis (FO) is a developing technology that utilizes the natural osmotic gradient of solutions. In this study, fertilizer drawn FO setup was considered by using potassium chloride (KCl) as the draw solution (DS) for treating textile wastewater as the feed solution (FS). This study investigated the effects of FS temperature, pH, and FS and DS concentrations. The performance investigation involved the study in terms of water flux, reverse salt flux, and specific reverse salt flux. DS and FS properties, osmotic potential, and temperature played a vital role in the performance. At 30°C FS temperature, the highest water flux (5.5 LMH) was observed. Reverse salt flux increased due to the increase in solute diffusivity. The highest value of water flux was obtained at a DS of 1.150 M and FS of 1000 mg/L. The permeation of water improved due to the difference in DS and FS concentrations at pH values above 7. The results of this study suggest that KCl as DS has a higher potential for the treatment of textile wastewater at a temperature of 30°C. Additionally, the functional groups attached to the FO membrane were identified through Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic study. Practitioner points Treatment of textile wastewater with the use of fertilizer draw solution (KCl) by forward osmosis process as carried out. The performance was assessed in terms of water flux, reverse salt flux, and specific reverse salt flux. The effects of feed and fertilizer draw solution concentrations; pH and temperature were evaluated on the performance of FO process. The treatment of textile wastewater using fertilizer as draw solution by forward‐osmosis (FO) process was invested in this study. The effects of various factors on the performance of FO process such as feed and draw solution concentrations, pH, and temperature were studied. Also, the future perspectives of the fertilizer drawn FO process were discussed.