Abstract
Microbial desalination cell (MDC) is a bioelectrochemical system capable of oxidizing organics, generating electricity, while reducing the salinity content of brine streams. As it is designed, anion and cation exchange membranes 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 exchange membrane (AEM). Non-patterned and patterned (varying topographical features) CEMs were investigated 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±7mWm−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, making the system more suitable for real applications.
Highlights
Worldwide demand of water supply is increasing every day due to different factors that include population growth and higher domestic demands in developing countries
The 1H NMR in Fig. 2.b confirmed successful incorporation of sulfonic acid moieties into the Poly(arylene ether ether ketone) (PEEK) polymer to make sodium (Na+) poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK), because a peak was detected at 7.5 ppm
The degree of sulfonation was 0.6 and that translated to an ion-exchange capacity (IEC) of 1.8 m mol g−1
Summary
Worldwide demand of water supply is increasing every day due to different factors that include population growth and higher domestic demands in developing countries. Drinking water resources primarily come from fresh surface waters, ground water extraction, and desalination treatment of seawater [2]. Fresh surface waters and ground waters are over exploited in many areas across the globe. The cost of operation is very high due to the large amount of energy utilized and materials such as membranes [5,6]. These challenges motivate continued research with the intent to make desalination technologies more affordable and sustainable (more energy efficient)
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