Coupling forward osmosis (FO) with microbial desalination cells (MDCs) can lead to some synergistic
benefits, i.e. simultaneous water recovery, desalination and removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand).
Herein, an FO-MDC system was developed and examined in a continuously-operated mode. It achieved
70.6% COD removal from a synthetic wastewater and 94.0% conductivity decrease in a salt solution
containing 35 g L1 NaCl. The flow rates of both wastewater and salt water exerted strong effects on the
system performance. At a draw flow rate of 0.02 mL min1, the effluent TDS (total dissolved solids)
reached 315 mg L1, lower than the maximum contaminant levels of the National Secondary Drinking
Water Regulations. A mathematical model was developed for the first time through integrating FO model
with MDC model. This model could well predict the key performance parameters such as current generation and desalination effectiveness and rate. When further tested with actual domestic wastewater
amended with glucose and NaHCO3, the FO-MDC system generated a desalinated effluent containing
1130 mg TDS L1. The results of this study suggest that proper coordination of the treatment capacity of
the two membrane-based treatment processes could create a potentially effective system for wastewater
reuse and seawater desalination.