{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,3]],"date-time":"2025-12-03T09:10:35Z","timestamp":1764753035917,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,1]],"date-time":"2025-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764547200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada","award":["ACT-RI-102"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACT-RI-102"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Canada","award":["DG: 04443"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DG: 04443"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The ultimate objective of this research is to concentrate nutrients\u2014nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)\u2014and produce process water from a chemically pretreated liquid digestate using an FO-RO hybrid process. However, in this manuscript, we assessed the suitability of (NH4)2SO4 and NaCl as draw solutes in a series of FO experiments employing a commercial CTA membrane and DI water as the feed solution. We also examined the regeneration of (NH4)2SO4 in a series of RO experiments at various feed concentrations and pressures using a commercial polyamide (PA) thin-film composite (TFC) membrane, ACM4. Additionally, the RO experiments enabled the experimental determination of the osmotic pressure of (NH4)2SO4 at various feed concentrations, which is crucial for designing the FO part of the hybrid process. The CTA membrane exhibited a significantly greater selectivity for (NH4)2SO4 than for NaCl at any osmotic pressure. The RO experiments demonstrated the possibility of reconcentrating (NH4)2SO4 to 0.5 mol\/L, with a corresponding water flux of 60 L h\u22121 m\u22122 at 40 bars. The experimentally determined osmotic pressures were lower than those predicted by van\u2019t Hoff\u2019s equation but were consistent with those reported in the literature using an indirect hygrometric method.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes15120366","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,3]],"date-time":"2025-12-03T08:44:28Z","timestamp":1764751468000},"page":"366","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The Evaluation of Ammonium Sulphate as a Potential Draw Solute in a Hybrid FO-RO Process to Concentrate Nutrients (NPK) from a Simulated Liquid Digestate\u2014Part I: Deionized Water as a Feed Solution"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Marsa","family":"Tolouei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Roshan","family":"Abraham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Niloofar","family":"Abdehagh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), 580 Booth Street, Ottawa, ON K1A 0E4, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6482-9377","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Majid","family":"Sartaj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8284-540X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Boguslaw","family":"Kruczek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N6, Canada"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Stamatelatou, K., Antonopoulou, G., and Lyberatos, G. 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