Semiempirical kinetic modelling of water desalination by electrodialysis processes

Water desalination was performed by electrodialysis (ED) in batch recirculation mode by means of cationic and anionic membranes containing sulfonate and ammonium groups, respectively. Variations in sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration in dilute compartment versus time during ED experiments were recorded at different voltages, flow rates, and feed concentrations. ED experiments were modelled by means of a semiempirical kinetic model. A good agreement is found between experimental data and the model.     

Effect of an AC perturbation on a desalination electrodialysis process

The influence of an alternating (AC) sinusoidal perturbation, of known frequency and small amplitude, superimposed to the usual applied continuous (DC) signal in a desalination electrodialysis process has been studied. The experiments were carried out with two types of ion-exchange membranes and sodium chloride aqueous solutions of two initial concentrations and at different frequencies of the AC signal. The results show that the presence of the AC perturbation favours the desalination process, mainly at the lowest frequencies. This fact is considered as a consequence of that the electroosmotic transport accompanying ion transfer during the process is affected by the AC perturbation. This behaviour suggests that the presence of an AC perturbation may influence on the efficacy of the desalination process.     

A novel electrodialyzer for the production of demineralized water by electrodialysis

A twin electrodialyzer with a common anode, in which first an ED stack was packed with non-conductingspacers and second an ED stack was packed with ion-conducting spacers, was developed and tested under various experimental conditions. Experiments were conducted on a laboratory scale at different voltage and flow rates. Each membrane had an effective area of 65 cm². Two configurations of the twin electrodialyzer [configuration (1), ED stack 1:7 cell pairs and ED stack 2: 7 cell pairs; configuration (2), ED stack 1:10 cell pairs and ED stack 2: 7 cell pairs] were optimized for the production of demineralized water. The results show that from inlet NaCl solutions of 500 and 800 ppm concentrations with conductivity 0.75 and 1.26 mS cm⁻¹, respectively, with a linear velocity 2.52×10⁻³ms⁻¹ and at applied voltage 1.5 to 2.0 V/cell pair, an outlet conductivity ranging between 15.0 to 20.0 μS cm⁻¹ was obtained using a twin electrodialyzer. It was concluded that with the twin electrodialyzer, both the stacks perform in an efficient manner, and it is possible to achieve a high degree of demineralization at a lower flow rate and low electrolyte concentration.     

Development of a four-grade and four-segment electrodialysis setup for desalination of polymer-flooding produced water

An electrodialysis (ED) setup with an 11 m³/h water treatment scale was designed based on a small experimental device. The setup adopts four-grade and four-segment (four-GS) reversal electrodialysis (EDR) technology to desalinate polymer-flooding produced water (PFPW). The removal rate of total dissolved solids (TDS) with different flow rates was measured with different grades and segments. The operating performance of this setup was determined to meet design standards. The maximum treatment capacity and the optimal operation conditions of the tested setup were studied. The design standards were met only by adopting a four-GS ED setup. The maximal capacity of the four-GS ED setup for treating PFPW was 5 m³/h. The optimal operating condition and results were at an operating electric current of 86 A, 62.5% production rate of diluted treated PFPW, 0.89 kW?h/m³ energy consumption, and 78.7% TDS removal rate. Under optimal conditions, the treated PFPW has two beneficial uses. First, the diluted treated PFPW is feasible for preparing polymer solutions. Second, the concentrated treated PFPW is feasible for replacing the original PFPW as the injecting water in the water-flooding process for high permeability layers.     

Process simulation of desalination by electrodialysis of an aqueous solution containing a neutral solute

A model was developed to describe the desalination process of an aqueous solution consisting of a salt and a neutral solute using electrodialysis (ED). Under the assumption of plug flow in compartments, the ED process was analyzed in two-dimensional directions of the electric field and flow to get the differential equations of mass balance in the flow length. Then the transport equations of solutes and water through the membrane were deduced by the irreversible thermodynamics approach. Under the limited condition of uniform current density, the model composed of a first-order differential equation set was developed. While the model parameters such as transport coefficients, dimensions of ED equipment, operation conditions and characteristics of solutes are given, the model was solved by the numerical method. The variations of current density, concentrations of solutes and velocities in dilute and concentrated compartments vs. flow length can be simulated by the model. While there was no neutral solute, the model was used to simulate the desalination process of a salt solution. By comparing the ED experiments to the simulations, it is shown that the model is well suited to describe the actual desalination process. The effects of the initial values of variables in the model on the desalination process were simulated to attempt to construct the actual ED process; and the general simulation of desalination process can be realized by the model. While the effect of concentration polarization on the desalination process is reflected by the variation of membrane conductivity, the model was verified to describe the ED process successfully under low velocity.     

Optimal design of an electrodialysis brackish water desalination plant

This paper considers the optimal design and operation of electrodialysis (ED) desalination plants. In general an ED plant aims to produce potable water from a high salinity source, like brackish water or high salinity water. The system is modelled mathematically as mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) optimization problem, determining the number of desalination stages, the membrane area, the total required energy so as to minimise the total annualised cost of the investment accounting for both infrastructure and operating costs. Two examples from the literature illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach and evaluate the quality of the results obtained.     

Determination of the limiting current density in electrodialysis desalination as an empirical function of linear velocity

Electrodialysis is known to be a useful membrane process for water desalination. The limiting current density (LCD) in the electrodialysis process is an important parameter which determines the electrical resistance and the current utilization. Usually, LCD depends on membrane and solution properties as well as on the electrodialysis stack construction and various operational parameters such as the flow velocity of the diluate solution. Therefore, a reliable determination of LCD is required for designing an efficient electrodialysis plant. In this study, LCD was measured in an electrodialysis flow cell system of given geometry and spacer configuration as a function of the linear velocity. The coefficients a and b of an equation describing LCD as a function of the linear flow velocity of the diluate solution, i_lim=aCu^b, were determined from a plot of the measured LCD over the electrolyte concentration versus the linear velocity on a double logarithmic scale. It was found that the coefficient b was related to the hydrodynamic conditions, while the coefficient a was affected by the cell geometry, electrolyte concentration and the membrane properties.     

The possibility of the desalination of actual 1,3-propanediol fermentation broth by electrodialysis

Electrodialysis (ED) was employed to remove the organic and inorganic salts from actual 1,3-propanediol (PDO) fermentation broth. These salts cause many problems during the purification of PDO if not removed. Suitable operation parameters such as applied potential and the flow rate of streams were selected to ensure a stable and durative desalination process for PDO fermentation broth. Under these conditions, the membrane fouling can be alleviated effectively by changing pole and cleaning membranes so that further industrial production is possible. The experiment results show that about 90% of organic acid salts in PDO broth are removed by the ED process. In addition, a simulated diffusion PDO experiment proved that the diffusion of PDO results in its loss from fermentation broth and the loss ratio is less than 6% under the chosen operating conditions.     

电渗析在化工行业中应用展望

简要介绍近几年电渗析技术在化工领域中浓缩海水制盐，纯水技术，化工过程等方面的研究和应用情况。     

Industrial wastewater desalination using electrodialysis: evaluation and plant design

Industrial processes usually generate streams enriched with high organic and inorganic components. Due to the complexity of these streams sometimes it is not quite straightforward to predict the performance of desalination technologies. Some technologies are available for the selective removal of salts from aqueous stream, but in general these technologies are applied in high value applications where salts are either the product or limit further purification of the final product is required. These technologies are, however, not widely used in low value applications like wastewater treatment. The aim of this article is to review, improve and perform the design of electrodialysis processes for relevant industrial wastewater applications. It is focused on the determination of the critical design parameters like membrane resistance, current efficiency and limiting current density through lab scale experiments and its further use for industrial scale first approximation design. In this article, the basic equations for design are reviewed and a practical approach to obtain the number of stacks required for a certain separation is introduced. An industrial wastewater stream has been used for lab batch experiment and its following continuous plant design. The results show that it is possible to separate monovalent ions in a high rate (more than 70 %) and divalent ions were less separated (less than 50 %). The energy required for the particular case was evaluated in a range from 6 to 11 kWh/m³ of feed stream depending on the water reclamation rate.     

Separation of copper ions by electrodialysis using Taguchi experimental design

With the aid of atomic absorption, a systematical and analytical evaluation method called Taguchi's quality engineering has been applied for the separation of copper ions from a solution using a laboratory electrodialysis set-up to evaluate the optimal experimental conditions and hence to achieve the highest removal percentage and the best robustness of the quantitation from the least number ofexperimental runs. Fourparameters at three levels were studied: concentration (100, 500, 1000 ppm), temperature (25, 40, 60°C), flow rate (0.07, 0.7, 1.2 mL/s) and voltage (10, 20, 30 V). Two types of different membranes with different ion-exchange capacities were used. The optimal levels thus determined for the four influential factors were: concentration 1000 ppm, temperature 60°C, flow rate 0.07 mL/s and voltage 30 V. It has also been found that using a membrane pair with higher ion-exchange capacity improves performance. The highest removal percentage was found to be 94.94% and 97.33% for the two types of membranes.     

Exergy analysis of a combined RO, NF, andEDR desalination plant

A brackish water desalination plant in California that incorporates RO, NF, and EDR units was analyzedthermodynamically using actual plant operation data. Exergy flow rates were evaluated throughout the plant, and the exergy flow diagrams were prepared. The rates of exergy destruction and their percentage are indicated on the diagram so that the locations of highest exergy destruction can easily be identified. The analysis shows that most exergy destruction occurs in the pump/motor and the separation units. The fraction of exergy destruction in the pump/motor units is 39.7% for the RO unit, 23.6% for the NF unit, and 54.1 % for the EDR unit. Therefore, using high-efficiency pumps and motors equipped with VFD drives can reduce the cost of desalination significantly. The plant was determined to have a Second Law efficiency of 8.0% for the RO unit, 9.7% for the NF unit, and 6.3% for the EDR unit, which are very low. This indicates that there are major opportunities in the plant to improve thermodynamic: performance by reducing exergy destruction and thus the amount of electrical energy supplied, making the operation of the plant more cost effective.     

Passive vacuum solar flash desalination

A model for a sustainable desalination process has been developed. The simulated process consists of pumping seawater through a solar heater before flashing it under a passively created vacuum in an elevated chamber. The vacuum enhances evaporation and is maintained by the balance between the hydrostatic pressure inside the elevated flash chamber and the atmospheric pressure. The developed model uses theoretical thermodynamic relations to describe the process setting it apart from previous empirical correlations. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

A computer simulation of continuous ion exchange membrane electrodialysis for desalination of saline water

A computer simulation program including the principle of ① mass transport, ② current density distribution, ③ energy consumption and ④ limiting current density is developed for predicting desalinating performance of a continuous (one-pass flow) electrodialysis process. In this simulation the following parameters are inputted; ① membrane characteristics such as overall transport number, overall solute permeability, overall electro-osmotic permeability, overall hydraulic permeability, direct current electric resistance etc. ② electrodialyzer specifications such as flow-pass thickness, flow-pass width and flow-pass length of a desalting cell etc. and ③ electrodialytic conditions such as current density, electrolyte concentration in a feeding solution, linear velocity in desalting cells, standard deviation of normal distribution of solution velocity ratio etc.In a practical-scale electrodialyzer, electrolyte concentration in a desalting cell is decreased along a flow-pass and it gives rise to electrolyte concentration distribution. It causes electric resistance distribution and current density distribution. Solution velocities in desalting cells vary between the cells, and give rise to solution velocity distribution. In this simulation, these distributions are taken into account assuming that the frequency distribution of solution velocity ratio is equated by the normal distribution. Further, the influences of electrodialyzer specifications and elctrodialysis conditions described above on the performances of an electrodialyzer (desalting ratio, current efficiency, electrolyte concentration at the outlets of desalting cells, cell voltage, energy consumption, electrolyte concentration distribution, current density distribution, and limiting current density) are predicted. The simulation model is developed on the basis of the experiments and its reasonability is supported by the performance of electrodialyzers operating in salt-manufacturing plants.     

Hydrophilic hollow fiber membranes for water desalination by the pervaporation method

Hydrophilic ion-exchange membranes based on sulfonated polyethylene hollow fibers were manufactured, and their suitability for a water pervaporation process was studied for possible application in water desalination systems. The effects of the following parameters on the average water flux were determined: membrane properties (diameter (0.4–1.8 mm) and wall thickness (0.05–0.18 mm)); charge density (0.6–1.2 meq g⁻¹); and operating conditions (brine inlet temperature (30–68°C), air sweep velocity (0–6 m s⁻¹), and salt concentration in the feed brine (0–3 M)). A water flux of 0.8–3.3 kg m⁻² h⁻¹ was obtained using this type of hollow fiber with an inlet brine temperature of 25–65°C. It was found that, for our application, the optimal specifications for the ion-exchange hollow fibers were an outside diameter of 1.2 mm, a wall thickness of 0.1 mm, and an ion-charge density of about 1.0 meq g⁻¹. This information is required as basic data for the design of a prototype water desalination system based on a pervaporation system that uses this type of ion-exchange hollow fiber membrane.     

A computer simulation of batch ion exchange membrane electrodialysis for desalination of saline water

A computer simulation program is developed for predicting desalinating performance of a batch electrodialysis process. The program includes the principle of ① mass transport, ② current density distribution, ③ cell voltage, ④ mass balance/energy consumption and ⑤ limiting current density. In this simulation the following parameters are inputted; ① membrane characteristics such as overall transport number, overall solute permeability, overall electro-osmotic permeability, overall hydraulic permeability, direct current electric resistance etc., ② electrodialyzer specifications such as flow-pass thickness, flow-pass width and flow-pass length in a desalting cell etc. and ③ electrodialytic conditions such as voltage, electrolyte concentration in a feeding solution, linear velocity in desalting cells, standard deviation of normal distribution of solution velocity ratio etc.The following phenomena were computed and discussed; ① Changes of electrolyte concentration and current density with operation time. ② Influence of cell voltage on operation time (batch duration), water recovery and energy consumption. ③ Influence of volume of an electrolyte solution prepared at first on operation time. ④ Influence of cell voltage, electrolyte concentration and standard deviation of solution velocity ratio in desalting cells on limiting current density. ⑤ Energy consumption in a reverse osmosis process. ⑥ Excepting limiting current density, the performance of an electrodialyzer is never influenced by the standard deviation of normal distribution of solution velocity ratio in desalting cells. ⑦ Energy consumption in electrodialysis is less than that in reverse osmosis at feeding saline water concentration less than about 2000 mg/l.     

A small solar desalination plant for the production of drinking water in remote arid areas of southern Algeria

The common methods of desalination salt water for production of fresh water by distillation, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis are intensive energy techniques. However, in remote arid areas, the desalination needs not exceed a few cubic meters per day. This decentralised demand favours local water production by developing other desalination processes, especially those using renewable or recovered energy (solar, geothermal, etc.). Solar desalination process is one of these methods used to resolve the scarcity of fresh water. Several reviews have been published by different authors. Small production systems as solar stills can be used if fresh water demand is low and the land is available at low cost. To supply the population of remote arid lands of South Algeria with drinkable water, solar distillation of brackish waters is recommended. It satisfies some of theses demands. Solar stills are used to produce fresh water from brackish water by directly utilising sunshine. These stills represent the best technical solution to supply remote villages or settlements in South Algeria with fresh water without depending on high-tech and skills. The production capacity indicates a possible daily production of far more than 15 l/m²d. Therefore, the still has a place in the upper range of known comparable products with regards to production output. This depends on the material used and the price of the solar stills and their accessories. The best working temperature solves most problems. Small, modular high-performance stills with features like the possibility of decentralised use, less maintenance and robust construction can help to reduce fresh water scarcity. The recent development of stills based on new concepts and heat recovery has been successful. The technical optimization is still in process today, it aims to improvement of the efficiency of these distillers. In our research work, a plant for brackish water distillation by directly sunshine and heat recovery was constructed and investigated experimentally and theoretically in South Algeria. This study aims the improvement of the performance of this solar distillation plant, conducted under the actual insulation, for brackish underground geothermal water desalination.     

Preliminary experimental study of a small reverse osmosiswind-powered desalination plant

The paper describes the work carried out in the development of a small wind-powered desalination plant. Analternative control system was studied to serve as a direct interphase between a reverse osmosis desalination plant and a small wind energy conversion system. The main purpose was to reduce or eliminate the need for an energy storage system (usually, a battery bank). In order to achieve this objective, an experimental prototype of a desalination plant and a wind generator simulator were developed. The systems were evaluated under laboratory-controlled conditions and subjected to field trials. The experimental plant desalinates highly saline seawater (35,000 mg/L) at a rate of approximately 0.4 m³/d. This amount of potable water is sufficient to supply the basic water demands in a small community in an isolated location. The paper also describes the identification of technical problems associated with operating a desalination plant with an intermittent source of energy (wind).     

Comparison of diester waste treatment by conventional andbipolar electrodialysis

Diester manufacturing plants produce large quantities of glycerol solutions. Their economic development requiressodium sulfate elimination to obtain glycerol rates over 80% of the initial content. Conventional electrodialysis (ED) and bipolar electrodialysis (BED) were investigated for their performances in the demineralisation of effluents. Results indicate that both ED and BED achieve the demineralisation objective with a global loss below 2.5% of the initial glycerol. Salt fluxes are twice as high with a bipolar membrane, bipolar membranes having however a lower efficiency. Hence energetic consumption is higher for BED. This technique also leads to the production of alkali and acid solutions which are useful to the diester process. The glycerol content of the solutions acts, via its viscosity, on the energetic cost of fluid pumping and on energetic efficiency. Therefore, ED or BED has to be used before the preconcentration of the solution.     

Optimization of fluoride removal from brackish water by electrodialysis

The study showed that desired potable water can be easily obtained by electrodialysis from fluoride-rich brackish water. Studies have been performed to defluoridate brackish water containing 3000 ppm of total dissolved solids (TDS) and 3 ppm of fluoride using electrodialysis. The behaviour of water parameters (ion contents, TDS, pH, total hardness) with electrodialysis parameters (duration, flow rate, temperature, voltages) is followed. Optimal operational conditions for obtaining desired potable water have been proposed.