Performance analysis of a capacitive deionization stack for brackish water desalination

摘要: Abstract Capacitive deionization (CDI), a promising ion removal technology, has shown encouraging results in the last decade. In this work comprehensive characterization of CDI prototype equipped with 3D graphite felt electrodes is shown. Initially, study different flow distributor designs, analyzed by Computational Flow Dynamic (CFD), determined importance elements such as small inlet cavities or perforated channels to achieve uniform fluid distribution. Then, an evaluation under operational parameters and modes (batch single pass, SP) demonstrated strong flexibility terms performance that system able offer. Thus, general terms, SP experiments were produce larger quantities water (14–47 L h−1 m−2) than batch (2–24 L h−1 m−2) although obtaining lower salt concentration reductions (1–2 mM vs 6–10 mM, respectively). The stack was tested for 350 galvanostatic cycles (700 h operation) showing exceptional robustness performance. Energy consumption values below 200 Wh m−3 obtained experiments, whereas value increased 600 Wh m−3 tests. Nevertheless, implementing energy recovery these could be reduced average 40–50%.