Possibilities of electricity generation by reverse electrodialysis using novel russian cation exchange membranes
Abstract
Reverse electrodialysis is an emerging method of generating renewable electrical energy from salinity gradient energy using ion exchange membranes. Improving the prospects for the implementation of reverse electrodialysis requires the development of novel membranes that meet the requirements of cost, conductivity and selectivity, and improvement of plant design to eliminate ionic shortcut currents. The subject of the study was determination of the possibility of generating electrical energy by reverse electrodialysis using novel cation exchange membranes and a cell that differs from those commonly used for reverse electrodialysis by the absence of internal manifolds. The aim of the work was to study the generation of electrical energy by reverse electrodialysis using a membrane stack containing cation exchange membranes produced by Krasnodar Compressor Plant and anion exchange membranes produced by Fujifilm. A more dilute solution contained 0.1 g/L NaCl simulating the salinity of river water, and one of the two variants of the composition of more concentrated solution were fed into the cell; in the first variant, the more concentrated solution contained 10 g/L NaCl, simulating the salinity of seawater, and in the second variant, the more concentrated solution simultaneously contained 9 g/L NaCl and 1.215 g/L Na2SO4 to test the effect of the presence of polycharged ions. By varying the resistance of the external load and recording the values of the potential drop between the end electrodes and the current in the external circuit, the dependence of the generated power on current in the external circuit was determined. As a result, it was shown that the cell not containing internal manifolds equipped with a membrane stack that included novel cation exchange membranes can be used to generate electric power, that the presence of polycharged ions reduces the generated power and potential drop as expected, but in all cases the maximum potential drop between the electrodes was significantly lower than the one calculated from the diffusion potentials, and the maximum generated power was significantly lower than achievable by state-of-the-art cells. It can be concluded that a mere transition to the scheme without internal solution collectors is not enough to improve the efficiency of the plants, and it is promising to revise the design and compare the properties of new membranes with analogs in devices that can better demonstrate their possible advantages.
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References
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