Current Patents of Forward Osmosis Membrane Process

Due to its inherent advantages, forward osmosis (FO) membrane process was widely recognized as one of promising membrane based separation processes. From the academic and technological points of view, the interest for it has been spurred. In this paper, beginning with a simple introduction of the FO process based on the reverse osmosis membrane process, the innovative works related to FO membrane process mainly appeared in the recent patents, including the membrane preparation and its engineered applications in relevant fields, were reviewed.