“…SWM modules have been used for industrial applications of seawater RO (SWRO) since the 1960s [ 3 ], and their use has been further extended to nanofiltration (NF) in the early 1980s [ 4 ]. For emerging osmotic membrane processes such as forward osmosis (FO) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), the development of SWMs is still at an early stage and is only limited to lab-scale studies [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Although some researchers report that the hollow fibre membrane configuration is more suitable for FO and PRO processes due to its higher packing density, self-mechanical support properties and better flow control on both sides of the membrane (i.e., lumen and outer surface of fibre) [ 9 , 10 ], a large number of studies published over the years have used flat sheet membranes for assessing FO and PRO processes [ 6 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”