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PreprintCC BYChemRxiv

Integrated Process Environmental and Economic Modeling of Electrically Assisted Forward Osmosis Microbial Desalination for Water and Struvite Recovery

  • Jinyu Liu1,2
  • Peijie Ye3,4
  • Bingxin Li1,2
  • Zefang Huang1,2
  • Fang Liu3,4
  • Heyang Yuan1,2
4 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  2. 2Temple University
  3. 3Institute of Ecological Civilization and Institute of Carbon Neutrality
  4. 4Zhejiang A&F University
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Abstract

Electrically assisted forward osmosis (eFO) coupled with a microbial desalination cell (MDC) integrates water recovery, nutrient recovery, desalination, and bioelectricity utilization. This study coupled a previously validated hybrid mechanistic–data-driven model with cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate the sustainability of eFO–MDC across operating conditions and scale-up scenarios. Operational electricity was the dominant environmental hotspot, accounting for 90.7% of the positive life-cycle GWP burden, whereas manufacturing impacts were concentrated in the MDC cathode and energy-management unit. Model-coupled LCA showed that hydraulic throughput strongly governed treatment-normalized impacts, while applied voltage produced comparatively small changes in GWP relative to its effect on nutrient recovery. TEA identified capital intensity, pumping, and treatment scale as the principal economic drivers, with combined scale-up and capital reduction lowering processing cost by 67.8%. Overall, eFO–MDC sustainability depends primarily on improving throughput and energy efficiency while reducing capital intensity during scale-up.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{liu2026integrated,
  title = {{Integrated Process Environmental and Economic Modeling of Electrically Assisted Forward Osmosis Microbial Desalination for Water and Struvite Recovery}},
  author = {Jinyu Liu and Peijie Ye and Bingxin Li and Zefang Huang and Fang Liu and Heyang Yuan},
  howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15010032/v1},
  url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010032/v1},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Integrated Process Environmental and Economic Modeling of Electrically Assisted Forward Osmosis Microbial Desalination for Water and Struvite Recovery
AU  - Jinyu Liu
AU  - Peijie Ye
AU  - Bingxin Li
AU  - Zefang Huang
AU  - Fang Liu
AU  - Heyang Yuan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/07
PB  - ChemRxiv
DO  - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15010032/v1
UR  - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010032/v1
AB  - Electrically assisted forward osmosis (eFO) coupled with a microbial desalination cell (MDC) integrates water recovery, nutrient recovery, desalination, and bioelectricity utilization. This study coupled a previously validated hybrid mechanistic–data-driven model with cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) to evaluate the sustainability of eFO–MDC across operating conditions and scale-up scenarios. Operational electricity was the dominant environmental hotspot, accounting for 90.7% of the positive life-cycle GWP burden, whereas manufacturing impacts were concentrated in the MDC cathode and energy-management unit. Model-coupled LCA showed that hydraulic throughput strongly governed treatment-normalized impacts, while applied voltage produced comparatively small changes in GWP relative to its effect on nutrient recovery. TEA identified capital intensity, pumping, and treatment scale as the principal economic drivers, with combined scale-up and capital reduction lowering processing cost by 67.8%. Overall, eFO–MDC sustainability depends primarily on improving throughput and energy efficiency while reducing capital intensity during scale-up.
ER  -