Scaling up the chemical photosynthetic desalination cell by series and parallel arrangements

Abstract

The photosynthetic chemical desalination cell (PCDC) represents a cost-effective and ecologically friendly alternative for desalinization. Nevertheless, these cells exhibit a limited desalination rate, creating challenges in terms of commercialization due to the growing internal resistance and its impact on desalination. To tackle this issue, the study explores the use of series and parallel arrangement of three CPDCs to enhance the salinity removal percentage (SR%) and flow rate, while concurrently reducing internal resistance. Findings revealed that the series configuration of cells attained a superior SR% when compared to a lone CPDC. Conversely, the parallel configuration of cells led to an increased flow rate of the desalinized stream. Equivalent cells, featuring distinct currents, were fabricated for both configurations. The research also placed emphasis on evaluating the impact of variations in internal resistance and their significance in each configuration, a crucial aspect for facilitating the scaling up of the process. From an energy consumption standpoint, the parallel configuration was identified as being more efficient. The series configuration, with a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min, exhibited the highest desalination rate (DR), whereas the parallel equivalent cell, possessing the same flow rate, demonstrated the lowest DR. SynopsisThe development of CPDC technology has the potential to result in sustainable carbon dioxide capture, the production of valuable biomass, hybrid desalination, and power generation without the presence of any reject brine.