Pressure drop in woven-spacer-filled channels for reverse electrodialysis: CFD prediction and experimental validation

Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is a promising technology for electric power generation by the chemical potential difference of two salt solutions within a stack equipped by selective ionexchange membranes (salinity gradient energy). Mechanical energy is required for pumping the feed solutions, which can reduce dramatically the net power output. In this work Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of spacer-filled channels for RED were carried out in parallel with an experimental campaign focused on the collection of data for model validation.