Microbial desalination cell with sulfonated sodium poly(ether ether ketone) as cation exchange membranes for enhancing power generation and salt reduction

Francisco Lopez Moruno, Juan E. Rubio, Plamen Atanassov, José M. Cerrato, Christopher G. Arges, Carlo Santoro

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Abstract

Microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a bioelectrochemical system capable of oxidizing organics, generating elec- tricity, while reducing the salinity content of brine streams. As it is designed, anion and cation exchange mem- branes play an important role on the selective removal of ions from the desalination chamber. In this work, sulfonated sodium (Na+) poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) cation exchange membranes (CEM) were tested in combination with quaternary ammonium chloride poly(2,6-dimethyl 1,4-phenylene oxide) (QAPPO) anion ex- change membrane (AEM). Non-patterned and patterned (varying topographical features) CEMs were investi- gated and assessed in this work. The results were contrasted against a commercially available CEM. This work used real seawater from the Pacific Ocean in the desalination chamber. The results displayed a high desalination rate and power generation for all the membranes, with a maximum of 78.6 ± 2.0% in salinity reduction and 235 ± 7 mW m−2 in power generation for the MDCs with the SPEEK CEM. Desalination rate and power generation achieved are higher with synthesized SPEEK membranes when compared with an available commercial CEM. An optimized combination of these types of membranes substantially improves the performances of MDC, mak- ing the system more suitable for real applications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-184
Number of pages9
JournalBioelectrochemistry
Volume121
Early online date9 Feb 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2018

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