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Desalination feasibility study of an industrial


NaCl stream by bipolar membrane
electrodialysis
Article January 2014

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Journal of Environmental Management 140 (2014) 69e75

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Journal of Environmental Management


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Desalination feasibility study of an industrial NaCl stream by bipolar


membrane electrodialysis
Karel Ghyselbrecht a, *, Ana Silva b, Bart Van der Bruggen c, Katleen Boussu d,
Boudewijn Meesschaert a, e, Luc Pinoy c, f
a

Laboratory for Microbial and Bio-Chemical Technology, Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven e Kulab, Zeedijk 101, B-8400 Oostende, Belgium
Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Mestrado em Engenharia Qumica, Rua Dr. Antnio Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Department of Chemical Engineering, ProcESS e Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems, KU Leuven, W. de Croylaan 46, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
d
Umicore NV, Watertorenstraat 33, B-2250 Olen, Belgium
e
Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, Cluster for Bio-engineering Technology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 23, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
f
Laboratory for Chemical Process Technology, Faculty of Engineering Technology, KU Leuven e KAHO St.-Lieven, Gebroeders De Smetstraat 1,
B-9000 Gent, Belgium
b
c

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 31 October 2013
Received in revised form
24 February 2014
Accepted 6 March 2014
Available online 12 April 2014

The industrial implementation of alternative technologies in the processing of saline efuent streams is a
topic of growing importance. In this technical feasibility study, the desalination of an industrial saline
stream containing about 75 g L1 NaCl contaminated with some organic matter using bipolar membrane
electrodialysis (EDBM) was investigated on lab-scale. Bipolar membranes of two different manufacturers
(PCA e PolymerChemie Altmeier GmbH and FuMA-Tech GmbH) were tested and compared in terms of
electrical resistance, current efciency and purity of the produced acid and base stream. In both cases,
almost complete desalination (>99%) was achieved and simultaneously HCl and NaOH were produced
with a concentration between 1.5 and 2 M with a relatively good purity. The Fumasep bipolar membranes scored slightly better for electrical resistance and current efciency. On the other hand, slightly
higher current densities were achieved with PCA bipolar membranes. Simultaneously, some information
was obtained on the transport behavior of the organic matter present in the saline stream. It was
observed that a transport competition occurred between the organic matter and the accompanying
chlorides. From this lab-scale study it was concluded that EDBM is a promising and attractive technology
in the area of saline efuent reclamation and reuse.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Desalination
Feasibility
Bipolar membrane electrodialysis
Organic matter
Efuent reclamation

1. Introduction
Contamination of natural waters by industrial saline efuents is
an important environmental problem in industrialized nations.
This is caused by the rapid industrial expansion especially in the
petrochemical, pharmaceutical, food and chemical industries
(Lefebvre and Moletta, 2006). Therefore, efuent reclamation and
reuse have received much attention lately, owing to diminishing
natural water resources, wastewater disposal costs, and stricter
environmental regulations, guidelines and policies that ensure
acceptable discharge of such efuents (IWMI, 2006; Mann and Liu,
1999; Miller, 2006).

* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 32 59 569 053.


E-mail address: karel.ghyselbrecht@kuleuven.be (K. Ghyselbrecht).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.03.009
0301-4797/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nowadays, saline efuents are discharged less frequently


because they are regarded as a fresh water resource. Therefore,
technologies have been developed to either reduce the volume of
the nal discharge for more economic disposal (as disposal costs
are often based on volume) or to maximize the recovery of fresh
water or salts (Dolnicar and Schfer, 2009; Shannon et al., 2008). In
this context, membrane separation processes are emerging as a
promising approach among these technologies especially with
respect to water purication (Peinemann and Nunes, 2010). On the
one hand, pressure-driven membrane processes such as reverse
osmosis (RO) have proven to be useful in the production of fresh
water from seawater or brackish water (Greenlee et al., 2009). The
main bottleneck of implementing this technology remains the
treatment of the RO concentrate, which is generated as a byproduct of the purication process (Kenna and Zander, 1999). On
the other hand, investigation of conventional electrodialysis (ED)
was initiated in the 1950s and to date has mainly been used for

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K. Ghyselbrecht et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 140 (2014) 69e75

desalination purposes (Ortiz et al., 2005; Tanaka, 2003). Moreover,


ED has proven its feasibility and high performance in efuent
treatment and recycling of industrial efuents (Lambert et al.,
2006; Marder et al., 2004). It has demonstrated its environmental
value in low to moderate (salinity < 5 g L1) water desalination
(Strathmann, 1981). However, desalination of high salinity waters
(up to 35 g L1) by means of electrodialysis was also proven to be
technologically feasible (Banasiak et al., 2007). In such applications,
ED is a logical step prior to evaporation because less water has to be
evaporated which in turn is economically more favorable. The main
advantages of ED compared to other membrane processes are: less
feed water pre-treatment, higher selectivity and the option of ED
reversal for membrane fouling control (Strathmann, 2010). More
recently, electrodialysis in combination with bipolar membranes
(EDBM) is developed to split an aqueous saline stream into its
corresponding acid and base without addition of chemicals. It is
appropriate to use a three-compartment conguration to accomplish this. In this conguration the bipolar membrane is anked on
either side by an anion- and a cation-exchange membrane to form
three compartments: acid compartments between the bipolar and
the anion-exchange membranes, base compartments between the
bipolar and the cation-exchange membranes, and diluate compartments between the cation- and anion-exchange membranes
(Mani et al., 1988). In a recent study by Ibez et al. (2013), the
inuence of the operative conditions on the recovery of HCl and
NaOH from model (softened) seawater RO brines was investigated
in a bench scale EDBM set-up. The results obtained prove that the
technology is a technically feasible option for the production of 1 M
or higher concentrated acid and base with current efciencies in
the 60e90% range. The application of the EDBM process to real
seawater RO concentrates needs the implementation of an appropriate pre-treatment step in order to eliminate interfering components (such as multivalent cations responsible for potential
scaling). As the number of applications of the EDBM technology is
continuously increasing, the availability of mathematical models
becomes a very important tool in the design and optimization of
these processes. In this context, Mier et al. (2008) developed a
mathematical model based on the Nernst-Planck equation that
describes the behavior of EDBM systems in a wide range of ionic
concentrations and current density values. The proposed model
was validated by the experimental data of the production of HCl
and NaOH from NaCl using a three-compartment conguration and
batch mode in a laboratory plant. From the viewpoint of green
chemistry, this promising technology is environmentally friendly as
no additional chemicals are needed (Mavrov et al., 1999). Thus, it
can be concluded that EDBM has the ability to play an important
future role in wastewater reclamation and waste valorization
through brine minimization and valuable ion recovery through
chemical production of acids and bases.
An important consideration in wastewater treatment is organic
matter, which is often present in industrial efuents (Frimmel,
1998). Charged small organics are able to adhere to the membrane surface and/or within the membrane through hydraulic or
other physical or electrical forces (Grebenyuk et al., 1998;
Lindstrand et al., 2000). The accumulation of organic matter on
the ion-exchange membrane is called membrane fouling and leads
to a signicant loss of the performance of the ion-exchange
membranes and, thus, the overall ED(BM) process. Kim et al.
(2002) have demonstrated that the anion-exchange membrane is
more sensitive to organic fouling than the cation-exchange membrane due to electrostatic attraction between negatively charged
organic compounds and the positively charged anion-exchange
membrane. Although transport of small organic ions has already
been studied in conventional ED, the separation of organic ions
from inorganic salts during the EDBM process is not yet

investigated. It must be noted that the behavior of organic matter


during EDBM is strongly dependent upon its composition.
In this lab-scale study, the technical feasibility of EDBM for the
desalination of a highly concentrated NaCl (75 g L1) stream
contaminated with organic matter, generated during the renery
process of cobalt, was investigated. To this end, the stream should
be desalinated as much as possible and simultaneously an acid and
a base should be produced as concentrated and pure as possible by
applying a three-compartment conguration. In this context, a
screening of bipolar membranes was performed. Bipolar membranes of two different manufacturers were tested under analogous
circumstances and compared with each other in terms of electrical
resistance, current efciency and purity of the produced acid and
base stream. As the stream considered in this study also contained
some organic matter, some information on the transport behavior
of the organic matter present was also obtained.
2. Experimental
2.1. Origin of the industrial NaCl stream
To perform this lab-scale study, 100 L of saline water was obtained from Umicore Olen. Umicore is a global materials technology
and recycling group. The Cobalt Specialty Materials (CSM) is a division of Umicore Olen that manufactures a range of specialized
metal and metalloid products for industrial use, including ne
metal powders for diamond and hard metal tools, as well as oxides
and salts of cobalt and nickel for use in batteries, glass and
ceramics.
Prior to characterization, the saline water received was ltered
by means of a Hendor pump lter Type F-11A-K-PP (Hendor
Pompen BV, The Netherlands) using a cartridge (polypropylene)
with a pore size of 0.5 mm in order to remove the suspended solids.
Afterwards, the saline water (feed water that is used as diluate in
the experiments) was characterized by analysing the following
parameters: pH, conductivity, chloride, sodium, calcium, total
organic carbon (TOC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC).
2.2. Electrodialysis equipment and membranes
The EDBM lab-scale experiments were carried out with a PCCell
ED 64-004 stack, which was manufactured by PCCell GmbH,
Heusweiler, Germany. There were ve cell triplets in the stack, each
containing a diluate, an acid and a base compartment. Five pieces of
anion-exchange membrane, ve pieces of cation-exchange membrane and six pieces of bipolar membrane were used in total. In all
the experiments performed PC Acid 60 membranes and standard
cation (SK)-exchange membranes were used as anion-exchange
membranes and cation-exchange membranes, respectively. These
membranes were supplied by PCA e PolymerChemie Altmeier
GmbH. PC Acid 60 membranes are specially created for the production of monovalent acids such as HCl. Bipolar membranes of
two different manufacturers were tested in this study, namely PCA
bipolar membrane (PBM; PolymerChemie Altmeier GmbH) and
Fumasep bipolar membrane (FBM; FuMA-Tech GmbH). For each
membrane, the active surface area was 64 cm2 and the spacer
thickness between two membranes was 0.5 mm.
2.3. Experimental procedure
For the EDBM lab-scale experiments, a three-compartment
conguration was used, which resulted in four separate loops:
diluate, acid, base and electrode rinsing solution. An overview of
the experimental conditions, such as purpose of the experiment
performed and composition of the various streams, is given in

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K. Ghyselbrecht et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 140 (2014) 69e75

2.4. Analytical methods

Table 1
Summary of the experimental conditions.
Purpose

Acid e base

Electrode rinsing
solution

Limiting currenta
Desalination exp.b

1.8M NaNO3 (4L)


0.5M HCl (2L) e 0.6M NaOH (2L)

1.6M Na2SO4 (4L)


1.4M Na2SO4 (2L)

a
b

71

4L initial diluate.
2L initial diluate.

Table 1. Each experiment was carried out with the membrane


combinations PCA Acid 60/PBM/SK and PCA Acid 60/FBM/SK.
Primarily, the limiting current density was determined for the
membrane combinations PCA Acid 60/PBM/SK and PCA Acid 60/
FBM/SK. For each membrane combination four consecutive experiments were performed for various desalination degrees, namely
99%, 95%, 75% and 0%. To simulate this, 0.04, 0.2, 1 and 4 L of the
saline water were successively added to the diluate vessel; the
vessel was subsequently lled up to 4 L with demineralized water.
For these experiments, the applied current was gradually increased
in steps of 0.25 A and after a stabilization period of 5 min, the
voltage was recorded. Subsequently, desalination experiments
were carried out with both membrane combinations. A double set
point was used in these experiments: either 16 V or 5 A was the
limiting factor. The maximum voltage of 16 V was deduced as follows: for each cell trio a voltage drop of 1.5 V was used as recommended by PCA e PolymerChemie Altmeier GmbH. The value was
further increased with 2.5 V to take into consideration the voltage
drop across the electrode compartments and with another 6 V to
take into consideration the voltage necessary to activate the six
bipolar membranes (1 V for each bipolar membrane)
(Nagasubramanian et al., 1977). The maximum current of 5 A corresponds to a current density of 0.078 A cm2, which can be
considered the upper limit (Aritomi et al., 1996). All the experiments were carried out in the batch mode. This implies that the
diluate, acid and base stream were recirculated through the
installation until the nal product or concentrate quality was achieved. In all the experiments, the ow rate of diluate, acid and base
were 30 L h1; the ow rate of the electrode rinsing solution was
150 L h1. Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the EDBM setup
and one cell trio conguration.

Samples of the lab-scale experiments were collected at the start


of each experiment and then every half hour. The following parameters of the samples taken were analysed: pH, conductivity,
chloride, sodium and total organic carbon (TOC). Conductivity and
pH were measured with multi-parameter analysers Consort C831
and C861, respectively (Consort, Belgium). Chloride concentration
was measured by ion chromatography (Dionex ICS-1100 RFIC system, Thermo Scientic Dionex, USA). Determination of the sodium
concentration was done by means of atomic emission spectroscopy,
for which a Unicam AAS Solar 989 (ThermoFisher Scientic, USA)
was used. The concentration of organic carbon was measured with
a TOC Analyzer (TOC-VCPH Total Organic Carbon Analyzer, Shimadzu, Japan). For the characterization of the saline water, also the
concentration of inorganic carbon and calcium were determined.
Inorganic carbon was measured with TOC Analyzer (TOC-VCPH Total
Organic Carbon Analyzer, Shimadzu, Japan). Calcium was determined by means of atomic absorption spectroscopy, for which a
Unicam AAS Solar 989 (ThermoFisher Scientic, USA) was used.
2.5. Data analysis
The current efciency of ion A is dened as the ratio of the
electrical charge used for the transport of ion A to the total electrical
current charge (Zhang et al., 2011). The current efciency of ion A
(hA) is calculated by:

hA

DmA t=MA zF
 100%
nIDt

(1)

where DmA(t) is the weight of the transferred ion A during the


considered time period [g], MA is the molar mass of ion A [g mol1],
z is the valence of ion A [], F is the Faraday constant
[96485 C mol1], Dt is the time period [s], I is the mean current for
that time period [A], and nally n is the number of cell triplets in
the EDBM stack [].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterization of the saline feed water
The characteristics of the saline feed water are shown in Table 2.
This water was used as diluate during the experiments.
As can be seen in Table 2, the feed water contains high concentrations of chloride and sodium. The values of calcium and TIC
are low. This implies that the occurrence of CaCO3 scaling is unlikely. Moreover, the concentration of calcium is even below the
detection limit (DL), which is positive in order to avoid precipitation of Ca(OH)2 within the base compartment during the EDBM
process. Therefore, both parameters will not be further analysed
during the experiments. In addition, the absence of calcium in the
feed water led to the decision to carry out the experiments with
standard cation (SK)-exchange membranes. The feed water also
contains some organic matter, as indicated by the relatively high
TOC concentration in Table 2. Hence, it is a good opportunity to
obtain some information on the transport behavior of the organic
fraction during the EDBM lab-scale experiments.

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the EDBM setup and one cell trio conguration. BM
stands for one of the two types of bipolar membranes; SK stands for standard cationexchange membrane and Acid 60 for anion-exchange membrane suitable for the
production of HCl.
(Adapted from Ghyselbrecht et al., 2013).

Table 2
Characteristics of the saline feed water.
pH ()

Conductivity
(mS cm1)

Cl
(g L1)

Na
(g L1)

Ca2
(mg L1)

TOC
(mg C L1)

TIC
(mg C L1)

12.6

101.9

41

33

<DL

132

10

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K. Ghyselbrecht et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 140 (2014) 69e75

3.2. Screening of bipolar membranes


A rst aspect of the screening of bipolar membranes is to assess
the electrical resistance of the stack. A lower resistance implies a
lower cost of the process. This assessment is possible through the
determination of the limiting current density for the membrane
combinations Acid 60/PBM/SK and Acid 60/FBM/SK. The limiting
current density is an important parameter in electrodialysis-related
processes as it is economically unfavorable to exceed this limit
value. For each membrane combination four consecutive experiments were performed for various simulated desalination degrees,
namely 99%, 95%, 75% and 0%. No limiting current densities were
expected for the two lowest desalination degrees (0% and 75%).
Therefore, higher desalination degrees (95% and 99%) were also
examined in order to observe such a limiting current density. In
Fig. 2, the resistance over the complete stack (voltage divided by
current) is plotted against the reciprocal of the current density for
the various desalination degrees. This was done for the two types of
bipolar membranes, namely the bipolar membrane of PCA (Fig. 2A)
and the bipolar membrane of FuMA-Tech (Fig. 2B). When the
limiting current density is exceeded, the electrical resistance in the
diluate signicantly increases due to the depletion of ions in the
boundary layer at the membrane surface (Lee et al., 2006). The
excess current density is then not used for ion transport but to split
water. The limiting conditions can thus be observed as the minimum value in each curve.
As expected, the curves of 75% and 0% desalination in Fig. 2A and
B show no minimum value so no limiting current density was found
for these desalination degrees. As can be seen in Fig. 2, a minimum

Fig. 2. Determination of the limiting current density for the various desalination degrees using the membrane combination (A) Acid 60/PBM/SK and (B) Acid 60/FBM/SK.

value is found for 99% and 95% desalination. For the membrane
combination Acid 60/PBM/SK (Fig. 2A) the limiting current density
is 0.016 and 0.031 A cm2, respectively. For the membrane combination Acid 60/FBM/SK (Fig. 2B) the limiting current density is
0.015 and 0.023 A cm2, respectively. The slightly higher current
densities, obtained with the membrane combination Acid 60/PBM/
SK, offer a slight advantage for the bipolar membranes of PCA.
Nevertheless, it is noted that the electrical resistances that are
obtained using the membrane combination Acid 60/FBM/SK are
slightly lower than those using the membrane combination Acid
60/PBM/SK. As both experiments were performed under analogous
circumstances (Table 1), the cause should be related to the use of
different types of bipolar membranes.
Secondly, a desalination experiment was carried out for both
membrane combinations under analogous circumstances. The
objective was to desalinate the saline feed water as much as
possible and to simultaneously produce an acid and a base as
concentrated and pure as possible. Therefore, an initial acid and
base concentration of 0.5 M HCl and 0.6 M NaOH, respectively, were
chosen. In this way, both of these circuits were sufciently
conductive at the start and it should be possible to produce HCl and
NaOH with a nal concentration of 2 M. The concentration prole of
chloride in the diluate and acid compartment and the concentration prole of sodium in the diluate and base compartment are
given in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. After 270 min, the concentration
reduction of Cl in the diluate for the desalination experiment with
the Fumasep and PCA bipolar membranes is 99.7% and 99.8%,
respectively; while the concentration reduction of Na is 99.7% and
99.9%, respectively. The desalination rate was thus for both membrane combinations similar; in both cases almost complete desalination was already achieved after 180 min.
From Figs. 3 and 4, it is clear that almost all the chloride and the
sodium were removed from the diluate. As expected, the chloride
ions ended up in the acid compartment whereas the sodium ions
ended up in the base compartment. After 270 min, the concentration of the HCl and NaOH produced with the Fumasep bipolar
membranes reached 1.8 M and 2 M, respectively. With the PCA
bipolar membranes HCl and NaOH were produced with a concentration of 1.6 M and 1.7 M, respectively. Despite the concentration
difference between both membrane combinations the maximum
concentration of acid and base was achieved as complete desalination of the diluate was realized in both cases. So, in terms of acid
and base production the performance of both membrane combinations is considered to be similar.

Fig. 3. Concentration prole of chloride in diluate and acid as a function of time during
a desalination experiment carried out with two different types of bipolar membranes.

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73

Table 4
Average current efciencies and mean current densities for the rst 180 min and for
the entire desalination experiment for both membrane combinations.

First 180 min


Entire experiment

Fig. 4. Concentration prole of sodium in diluate and base as a function of time during
a desalination experiment carried out with two different types of bipolar membranes.

An important additional aspect of the acid/base production is


the purity of the HCl and NaOH produced. In this study, the impurity level is calculated as the molar amount of chloride ions found
in the base compartment for every 100 mol of NaOH produced. For
the acid compartment, the molar amount of sodium ions for every
100 mol of HCl produced is used. The impurity is thus a percentage
that reects how pure is the produced acid (HCl) and base (NaOH).
Table 3 shows the impurities related to the desalination experiments with the two different bipolar membranes.
As can be seen in Table 3, both the impurity of chloride in the
base compartment and the impurity of sodium in the acid
compartment are very similar for both membrane combinations.
Although the acid and base produced are probably not suitable for
commercial purposes, the impurity level is acceptable to the
company concerned. Both streams can namely be reused within the
company for the neutralization (pH correction) of waste streams
and hence lead to a closure of the material cycle in a sustainable
way. In order to meet the quality requirements of commercial
products, it is necessary that the purity level of the acid and base
produced is improved. In this context, new membranes must be
developed that signicantly reduce the co-ion transport.
Another important criterion related to the screening of the two
different bipolar membranes is the current efciency. This is the
fraction of the current that is used to transfer a given ion. Table 4
shows the average current efciencies for chloride and sodium in
the diluate for the rst 180 min and for the entire desalination
experiment. Furthermore, the mean value for the current density is
added.
It can be observed that the current efciencies of Cl and Na
are higher with the membrane combination Acid 60/FBM/SK in
comparison with Acid 60/PBM/SK, both for the rst 180 min and for
the entire experiment. Two current efciencies were slightly higher
than 100% (shown in italics), which is due to measurement errors.
The current efciencies obtained with both membrane combinations for the entire experiment are signicantly lower than those
for the rst 180 min. This decrease is logical as the diluate is almost

Acid 60/FBM/SK

Acid 60/PBM/SK

Cl

Na

iaverage (A m2)

Cl

Na

iaverage (A m2)

108
79

104
84

689
523

89
61

93
69

769
572

completely desalinated after 180 min. As a result, the current


density and the current efciencies are decreasing. Nevertheless,
the values obtained are acceptable. This is important since both
parameters are directly related to the operating costs.
Bipolar membranes from two manufacturers (PCA and FuMaTech) were tested under analogous circumstances in this technical feasibility study. In both cases, almost complete desalination
(>99%) was achieved. The Fumasep bipolar membranes scored
slightly better for electrical resistance and current efciency. More
specically, these membranes had a lower electrical resistance and
a better current efciency in comparison with PCA bipolar membranes. On the other hand, the PCA bipolar membranes gave rise to
slightly higher current densities, which results in a slight advantage
over the Fumasep bipolar membranes on this criterion. In terms of
acid/base production and the impurity level of the acid and base
produced both bipolar membranes achieved a similar result. It can
be concluded that under the given circumstances the Fumasep bipolar membranes have a slightly better performance than the PCA
bipolar membranes.
3.3. Transport behavior of organic matter
As can be seen in Table 2, the saline feed water also contains
some organic matter (expressed as TOC). Therefore, another
objective of this study was to simultaneously obtain some information on the transport behavior of the organic fraction in bipolar
membrane electrodialysis. The concentration of TOC was monitored during the desalination experiment with both membrane
combinations. The change of TOC concentration in the diluate as a
function of time is shown in Fig. 5.
From Fig. 5, it can be seen that the TOC concentration initially
remained constant (rst 150 min in the gure). In fact, an almost
linear increase was observed during this period due to the occurrence of water transport from the diluate towards the acid and base

Table 3
Impurities in the HCl and NaOH produced during the desalination experiment for
both membrane combinations.
Membrane combination

Na in HCl
produced (mol/mol %)

Cl in NaOH
produced (mol/mol %)

Acid 60/FBM/SK
Acid 60/PBM/SK

3.1
3.1

0.5
0.6

Fig. 5. Concentration proles of TOC and chloride in diluate as a function of time


during a desalination experiment carried out with two different types of bipolar
membranes.

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K. Ghyselbrecht et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 140 (2014) 69e75

compartment. After this period, there was a signicant decrease of


the TOC concentration. This concentration prole can be explained
by the transport competition between the organic matter and the
accompanying inorganic chlorides. The concentration of TOC did
not decrease in the beginning due to the fact that there were still
chlorides present.
As the chlorides were signicantly reduced after 150 min, the
organic matter started to migrate from the diluate towards the acid
compartment. No signicant increase of TOC was observed in the
base compartment. This implies that the organic matter, which is
present in the saline feed water, is negatively charged. The concentration proles of TOC in the acid and base compartment is
given in Fig. 6.
It was not possible to consider the long-term impact of the
organic matter on the anion-exchange membranes during the
short-term batch experiments. However, throughout the duration
of the EDBM experiment, the ow rates and pressures in the
diluate, acid and base compartment remained unchanged, so there
were no indications of (bio)fouling.
4. Conclusion
In this technical feasibility study, the removal of salts from an
industrial saline water, containing about 75 g L1 NaCl and some
organic matter, by means of bipolar membrane electrodialysis
was investigated on lab-scale. Primarily, bipolar membranes of
two different manufacturers, namely PCA e PolymerChemie
Altmeier GmbH and FuMA-Tech GmbH, were tested under
analogous circumstances. Nearly complete desalination (>99%)
of the industrial saline water was achieved with both bipolar
membranes. Simultaneously, an acid (HCl) and a base (NaOH)
stream were produced with a concentration between 1.5 and
2 M, exhibiting a relatively good purity. However, the Fumasep
bipolar membranes scored slightly better for electrical resistance
and current efciency in comparison with the PCA bipolar
membranes. On the other hand, slightly higher current densities
were achieved with PCA bipolar membranes. Thus, it can be
concluded that EDBM is technically feasible to desalinate the
saline water considered in this study with high efciency using a
three-compartment conguration. Simultaneously, some information was obtained on the transport behavior of the organic
fraction present in the saline water. In this context, the competition between the organic fraction and the chlorides was

Fig. 6. Concentration proles of TOC in acid and base as a function of time during a
desalination experiment carried out with two different types of bipolar membranes.

examined during a short-term batch experiment using a comparison of concentration proles. It was observed that in the
beginning the organic fraction (expressed as TOC) was retained
in the diluate. However, when the chlorides were depleted in the
diluate the TOC concentration started to decrease signicantly in
the diluate and migrated mainly towards the acid compartment
meaning that the organic matter was negatively charged in this
case. However, further research needs to be addressed to detect
organic adsorption rates onto the anion-exchange membranes
and their inuence on the overall EDBM performance by means
of long-term investigations. In conclusion, EDBM is an attractive
technology that has an environmental value in saline efuent
reclamation and reuse. It is a good combination of brine minimization through water desalination and valuable ion recovery
through chemical production (acids and bases).
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge nancial support through the InToBiMem project (MIP-ICON Project 110293) from the Environmental
and Energy Innovation Platform (Het Milieu-en energietechnologie Innovatie Platform, MIP e Flemish Government).
Mieke Ghyselbrecht is acknowledged for her efforts on the English
grammar check.
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