This paper provides a comprehensive review of mature and emerging membrane processes destined for water treatment. These processes include pressure-driven filtration (. microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis), osmotically driven forward osmosis, and thermally driven membrane distillation. | Vietnam Journal of Chemistry, International Edition, 55(5): 533-544, 2017 DOI: Membrane processes and their potential applications for fresh water provision in Vietnam Duong Cong Hung1*, Nguyen Cong Nguyen2, Do Khac Uan3, Le Thanh Son4 1 Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia 2 Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Dalat University, Dalat, Vietnam 3 School of Environmental Science and Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Vietnam 4 Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam Received 14 March 2017; Accepted for publication 20 October 2017 Abstract Water treatment using membrane processes can be a pragmatic approach to mitigate the current fresh water scarcity in Vietnam. This paper provides a comprehensive review of mature and emerging membrane processes destined for water treatment. These processes include pressure-driven filtration (. microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis), osmotically driven forward osmosis, and thermally driven membrane distillation. Fundamentals of the membrane processes were firstly provided. Additionally, the influences of membrane properties, module configurations, and operating conditions on fresh water production rate, membrane fouling propensity, and energy consumption of the membrane processes were analyzed. Finally, potential applications of the membrane processes to alleviate the fresh water scarcity in Vietnam were discussed. Keywords. membrane processes, wastewater treatment, wastewater reclamation, desalination, fresh water scarcity. 1. INTRODUCTION In recent years, Vietnam has been confronted with increasingly serious fresh water scarcity. Even though Vietnam has 2360 rivers, only about 40 % of the country population has access to fresh water owning to limited .
