Electrodialysis with Bipolar Membranes for the Sustainable Production of Chemicals from Seawater Brines at Pilot Plant Scale

Environmental concerns regarding the disposal of seawater reverse osmosis brines require the development of new valorization strategies. Electrodialysis with bipolar membrane (EDBM) technology enables the production of acid and base from a salty waste stream. In this study, an EDBM pilot plant with a membrane area of 19.2 m2 was tested. This total membrane area results much larger (i.e., more than 16 times larger) than those reported in the literature so far for the production of HCl and NaOH aqueous solutions, starting from NaCl brines. The pilot unit was tested both in continuous and discontinuous operation modes, at different current densities (200-500 A m-2). Particularly, three different process configurations were evaluated, namely, closed loop, feed and bleed, and fed-batch. At lower applied current density (200 A m-2), the closed-loop had a lower specific energy consumption (SEC) (1.4 kWh kg-1) and a higher current efficiency (CE) (80%). When the current density was increased (300-500 A m-2), the feed and bleed mode was more appropriate due to its low values of SEC (1.9-2.6 kWh kg-1) as well as high values of specific production (SP) (0.82-1.3 ton year-1 m-2) and current efficiency (63-67%). These results showed the effect of various process configurations on the performance of the EDBM, thereby guiding the selection of the most suitable process configuration when varying the operating conditions and representing a first important step toward the implementation of this technology at industrial scale.