Abstract
A microbial desalination cell was developed that contained a stack of membranes packed with ion exchange resins between the membranes to reduce ohmic resistances and improve performance. This new configuration, called a stacked microbial electro-deionization cell (SMEDIC), was compared to a control reactor (SMDC) lacking the resins. The SMEDIC+S reactors contained both a spacer and 1.4±0.2. mL of ion exchange resin (IER) per membrane channel, while the spacer was omitted in the SMEDIC-S reactors and so a larger volume of resin (2.4±0.2. mL) was used. The overall extent of desalination using the SMEDIC with a moderate (brackish water) salt concentration (13. g/L) was 90-94%, compared to only 60% for the SMDC after 7 fed-batch cycles of the anode. At a higher (seawater) salt concentration of 35. g/L, the extent of desalination reached 61-72% (after 10 cycles) for the SMEDIC, compared to 43% for the SMDC. The improved performance was shown to be due to the reduction in ohmic resistances, which were 130. Ω (SMEDIC-S) and 180. Ω (SMEDIC+S) at the high salt concentration, compared to 210. Ω without resin (SMDC). These results show that IERs can improve performance of stacked membranes for both moderate and high initial salt concentrations. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 364-370 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
Volume | 469 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2014 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-I1-003-13
Acknowledgements: This work was sponsored by a PhD fellowship, a Global Research Partnership-Collaborative Fellows Award (GRP-CF-2011-14-S), KAUST Award KUS-I1-003-13 and discretionary investigator funds at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), We would like to thank Dr. Fang Zhang, from Penn State University, for helping with analysis of the components of the internal resistances.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Filtration and Separation
- General Materials Science
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry