TOPIC 4C

OVERVIEW OF VARIOUS DESALINATION PROCESSES

I ELECTRODIALYSIS (ED) & ELECTRODIALYSIS REVERSAL

(EDR)
PROCESS DESCRIPTION

Electrodialysis (ED) is a voltage-driven membrane process. An electrical potential is used to

move salts through a membrane, leaving fresh water behind as product water.

ED was commercially introduced in the 1960s, about 10 years before reverse osmosis (RO),
Although ED was originally conceived as a seawater desalination process, and it has generally
been used for brackish water desalination.

ED is the original process whereas EDR is the new version of it. The equipment and the process
are exactly the same. But EDR employs an improved method of scale prevention. Nowadays, all
such plants are EDR. The following applies to ED as well as EDR.

In a saline solution, dissolved ions such as sodium (+) and chloride (-) migrate to the opposite
electrodes passing through selected membranes that either allow cations or anions to pass
through (not both). Membranes are usually arranged in an alternate pattern, with anion-selective
membrane followed by a cation-selective membrane. During this process, the salt content of the
water channel is diluted, while concentrated solutions are formed at the electrodes. Concentrated
and diluted solutions are created in the spaces between the alternating membranes, and these
spaces bound by two membranes are called cells.

ED units consist of several hundred cells bound together with electrodes, and is referred to as a
stack. Feed water passes through all the cells simultaneously to provide a continuous flow of
desalinated water and a steady stream of concentrate (brine) from the stack.
II. BASIS OF E.D.
1. Most salts in saline waters are ionic in nature, and they allow electric current to pass through
them.
2. In an electrolytic cell, the cations (+) are attracted toward cathode (-) and anions (-) are
attracted toward anode (+), Figure 4.7.
3. There are special membranes which permit only cations (+) to pass through them (such
membranes are called Cation Selective Membranes) but stop anions (-) from passing
through. Similarly, Anion Selective Membranes only allow anions (-) to pass through.

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Figure 4.7a Principle of ED process

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Figure 4.7b Principle of ED Process

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 Figure 4.7c Principle of ED process

ANODE AND CATHODE REACTIONS

Reactions take place at each electrode.
At the anode,[3]
H2O → 2 H+ + ½ O2 (g) + 2e- or 2 Cl- → Cl2 (g) + 2e-
While at the cathode,[3]
2e- + 2 H2O → H2 (g) + 2 OH-
Small amounts of hydrogen gas are generated at the cathode and small amounts of either oxygen
or chlorine gas (depending on composition of the E stream and end ion exchange membrane
arrangement) at the anode. These gases are typically subsequently dissipated as the E stream
effluent from each electrode compartment is combined to maintain a neutral pH and discharged
or re-circulated to a separate E tank. However, some (e.g.,) have proposed collection of
hydrogen gas for use in energy production.

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III. COMPONENTS OF AN E.D.

1. A CELL: A compartment bounded by a cation selective and an anion selective

membrane. There is always a spacer in between them. Spacer is made of a plastic
material.

2. A CELL PAIR: Two adjoining cells, one containing brine and the other containing
product water.

3. A STACK: consists of several hundred cell pairs.

4.ELECRODES: Usually made of Titanium (Ti) with Platinum (Pt) coating. During ED
operation, O2 and Cl2 gases evolve at anode (+) and H2 gas at cathode (- ).

5. Membranes: Essentially ion-exchange resins in sheet form, 18 inches x 40 inches and

0.022 inch thick.
Desirable features of membranes are:
They should be highly ion selective,
Have low electrical resistance,
Have good mechanical strength,
Have good chemical stability.

6. Pumps, Pipes, Fittings: Because the pumping pressure in an ED process is only 50-75
psi, all pumps, piping, and fittings are made of PVC.

7. Pre-Treatment:

Filtration for suspended solids (SS).

Acid and/or additive injection for control of scales.

EDR (E.D. Reversal), however, requires minimal pretreatment.

8. Cleaning of Membranes: Periodically, the membranes are cleaned by circulating

solutions of detergent or other cleaning agents through the membranes, or by dis-
assembling and manual cleaning.

IV. EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE

 Temperature has beneficial effect on the performance of ED. Electrical resistance

decreases by 1.8% per °C rise in temperature. Therefore, higher the temp., lower is
the power consumption.

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V. LIMITATIONS OF ED

1. Polarization Effect: In product water compartments, conductance is very low due to

low TDS. This causes the product water to dissociate into H+ and OH-.

2. Electric power required is directly proportional to TDS of saline water. It is

economical only for brackish waters of TDS  3,500 ppm TDS.

VI. ENERGY REQUIREMENT

1. Pumps 2 - 4 kWh/1000 gal.

2. Membrane stacks 2.5 kWh/1000 gal
3. Power supply 5% of total

Therefore, for brackish water of 3,500 ppm TDS:

KWh/1000 gal.

1.Pumps 4
2.Membrane stacks 2.5
3.Power supply 0.3

Figure 4.8. Basic components of an electrodialysis unit.

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 VII. EDR PROCESS
INTRODUCTION

In the past ten years Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR) has earned a reputation as a membrane
desalination process that works economically and reliably on surface waters and wastewaters.
EDR systems are routinely desalting river and lake waters in industrial and municipal
applications. They are also operating on cooling tower blowdowns, industrial wastes and
municipal wastewaters, in a variety of reuse and zero waste discharge programs.

The reason EDR is successful in these applications is a combination of equipment design and
membrane properties. Equipment design permits routine operation at higher levels of turbidity
and silt density index (SDI) than other membrane desalination equipment. The design also
allows disassembly and manual cleaning if particulate fouling should occur.

The membranes have substantial resistance to oxidizing disinfectants, are not affected by
exposure to pH values of 0 to 10, and have extreme resistance to irreversible fouling by organics.
This combination allows EDR to operate on these waters with economical pretreatment and
survive when pretreatment systems do not operate as intended.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

In the early 1970s, the Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR) process was introduced (Buros, 2000). An
EDR unit operates on the same general principle as an ED unit, except that both the product and
concentrate channels are identical in construction. At intervals of several times an hour, the
polarity of the electrodes is reversed, causing ions to be attracted in the opposite direction across
the membranes. Immediately following reversal, the product water is removed until the lines are
flushed out and desired water quality restored. The flush takes just a few minutes before
resuming water production. The reversal process is useful in breaking up and flushing out scales,
slimes, and other deposits in the cells before they build up. Flushing helps in reducing the
problem of membrane fouling.

Because of the inherent characteristics of the electrical process used in ED units, they are
normally used to desalinate brackish water, rather than high salinity water such as seawater. The
few ED units that are located in Texas are those that are used in low-salinity applications such as
surface water desalination (e.g. Lake Granbury and Sherman).

In the ED reversal (EDR) process, 3 to 4 times per hour, the polarity is switched and at the same
time, the flows are also switched, so that the previously product water line becomes the brine
line and the brine line becomes the product water line. This breaks up the slime and flushes away
the newly formed soft scale. This operation takes only 1 to 2 minutes. As a result of this on-line
cleaning procedure, no scale control chemicals need to be injected.

Mechanism
• At intervals of several times an hour, the polarity of the electrode is reversed.
• Simultaneously the flows are switched so that the brine channels become the fresh water.
• The reversal process is useful in breaking up and flushing out scales, slimes, and other deposits.

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EDR benchtop E5 stack, EDR pilot E100stack, EDR full-scale E200 stack.

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The DC electric power field applied to electrodialysis stacks is a driving force that moves
colloids toward the anion membrane. When the particles reach the membrane surface, the
electric field and electrostatic attraction to ion exchange sites in the anion exchange membrane
tend to hold the deposit in place as shown in Figure 4.9a.

Figure 4.9a: Colloidal Deposition Force in EDR

EDR employs periodic reversal of the DC electric field. Typical field reversal frequencies range
from 15 to 30 minutes. When the field is reversed, the electric driving force is reversed, which
tends to remove deposited colloids into the brine stream as shown in Figure 4.9b.

Figure 4.9b: Colloidal Removal Force in EDR

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Membrane Properties
Acid Resistance
The membranes also have important properties that contribute to the success of EDR plants
treating surface and wastewaters. EDR membranes are unaffected by pH exposures of pH
0-10. This allows the use of strong acid solutions to remove scales and metal hydroxide
deposits. A 5% hydrochloric acid solution is a standard cleaning solution for EDR systems.

Oxidizing Disinfectant Tolerance

Membrane desalination systems, with their small passages, are likely to have problems with
bacterial growths when treating these waters if a disinfectant residual is not maintained. The
acrylic based anion exchange membranes have substantial resistance to chlorine. Figure 4.10
shows ion exchange capacity data from a comparative test where both membrane types were
operated with 10 mg/l of free residual chlorine in the feed-water.

After 1,000 hours the styrene divinyl-benzene based membrane was seriously degraded.
Systems using these membranes need residual chlorine below 0.1 mg/l for long life. The acrylic
based membrane shows only relatively minor capacity loss after 4,000 hours of operation. With
this chlorine tolerance, EDR systems are operated with an average of 0.3 to 0.5 mg/l of free
chlorine residual in the feed-water, which has proven to be very effective for controlling bacterial
growth. Much higher residuals can be used for shorter periods for sterilization and other
purposes.

Figure 4.10: Ion Exchange Production Capacity vs. Operating Hours at 10 mg/l of Free Chlorine

Advantages
 Allows unit to operate with fewer pretreatment chemicals
 Chlorine resistant membranes tolerant to disinfection
 High recovery system
 The system is able to reduce dissolved ions of up to 12,000 ppm of total
dissolved solids in the feed, with 94% removal.
 Land-based applications
 Long membrane life, between 5 and 10 years
 Less sensitive than reverse osmosis to particulates and metal oxides

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Disadvantages:
 A major drawback is that beyond a particular current density (Current Density
Limit, CDL), the diffusion of ions through the EDR membranes is no longer
linear to the applied voltage but leads to water dissociation (water splitting into
H+ and OH- ions) and lowers the system’s efficiency. So EDR must always
operate below the current density limit. Experimental measuring procedures
are available to determine the CDL for a particular feed.

 Another disadvantage of EDR is that it doesn’t remove microorganisms and

organic contaminants, thus a post treatment is always necessary if high
quality water is required.

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