Abstract
Rechargeable seawater battery (SWB) is a unique energy storage system that can directly transform seawater into renewable energy. Placing a desalination compartment between SWB anode and cathode (denoted as seawater battery desalination; SWB‐D) enables seawater desalination while charging SWB. Since seawater desalination is a mature technology, primarily occupied by membrane‐based processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), the energy cost has to be considered for alternative desalination technologies. So far, the feasibility of the SWB‐D system based on the unit cost per desalinated water ($ m−3) has been insufficiently discussed. Therefore, this perspective aims to provide this information and offer future research directions based on the detailed cost analysis. Based on the calculations, the current SWB‐D system is expected to have an equipment cost of ≈1.02 $ m−3 (lower than 0.60–1.20 $ m−3 of RO), when 96% of the energy is recovered and stable performance for 1000 cycles is achieved. The anion exchange membrane (AEM) and separator contributes greatly to the material cost occupying 50% and 41% of the total cost, respectively. Therefore, future studies focusing on creating low cost AEMs and separators will pave the way for the large‐scale application of SWB‐D.
Highlights
Rechargeable seawater battery (SWB) is a unique energy storage system that imbalance in accessible water due to climate change.[1]
Seawater battery desalination (SWB-D) uses rechargeable seawater battery (SWB) to save energy used during seawater desalination
It is worth noting here that SWB is different from sodium ion battery (SIB)[15] or desalination battery (DB).[16,17,18]
Summary
Discharging converts the sodium metal back to sodium ions, releasing it into the seawater Throughout this perspective, we assume that sodium metal anode is used because it is one of the most widely used anodes in SWB research. It is worth noting here that SWB is different from sodium ion battery (SIB)[15] or desalination battery (DB).[16,17,18] SIBs have almost the same structure as LIBs but only use sodium ions and tuned materials.[15] DBs use sodium-intercalating electrodes (cathode and anode) and a salt solution flowing along the surface of the electrodes.[16,17,18] The water flowing channel in the DB is often divided by ion-exchange membranes in between two electrodes, and redox solution is used as the catholyte and the anolyte. The reaction mechanisms for each component will not be discussed in this perspective but are available in previous literatures if further understanding is needed.[11,12]
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