Development of electrochemical cell for capacitive deionization

• Grant number: 20/12706-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2021 - October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Industrial Operations and Equipment for Chemical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Luis Augusto Martins Ruotolo
• Grantee: Luis Augusto Martins Ruotolo
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Francisco Guilherme Esteves Nogueira ; Rafael Linzmeyer Zornitta

Abstract

The capacitive deionization (CDI) is based on the removal of ions by capturing and storing them in the double electric layer formed when a pair of electrodes are polarized. Due to the low energy consumption and ease maintenance and operation, the interest of the scientific community has been growing exponentially in the las decade, aiming applications such as effluent and water treatment (desalination and softening). In this project we propose the development of an electrochemical cell for CDI involving the following steps: 1) Development of electrodes of activate carbon prepared using the glycerol from the biodiesel production; 2) study of electrode configurations concerning to the electrochemical (symmetry, asymmetry, and membranes) and mass transfer (flow-through e flow-by) aspects, and 3) construction and evaluation of a CDI cell with engineering design to be applied for capacitive deionization under actual galvanostatic and single-pass conditions and taking into account the concentration variation over the flow direction.By addressing these aspects, it is expected to achieve a CDI cell that not only ensure a high removal rate, but also stable over the electrosorption/desorption cycles. The fundamental phenomena to be addressed in this proposal will subsidize the design of the CDI cell by understanding the role of the structural, textural, and electrochemical properties of the activate carbon on the charge efficiency, stability and process kinetics of the electrodes. The understanding of how the hydrodynamic aspects have influence on the mass transfer and process efficacy will also be addressed. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

JUCHEN, PATRICIA T.; BARCELOS, KAMILLA M.; OLIVEIRA, KAIQUE S. G. C.; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. Using crude residual glycerol as precursor of sustainable activated carbon electrodes for capacitive deionization desalination. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, v. 429, FEB 1 2022. (17/19838-5, 20/12706-9)