Desalination using capacitive deionization: development of new electrodes and process optimization

• Grant number: 15/26593-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Chemical Engineering - Chemical Process Industries
• Principal Investigator: Luis Augusto Martins Ruotolo
• Grantee: Rafael Linzmeyer Zornitta
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/24684-4 - Development of activated carbon from lignin as electrode for capacitive deionization of multicomponent solutions, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

In the last few years the interest by the capacitive deionization technology (CDI) for water treatment (desalination and softening) has been exponentially increasing due to its efficiency and low energy consumption. The development of this technology for desalination in Brazil would be very welcome in order to provide potable water from brackish water to the semiarid region, thus promoting its social and economic development. CDI operates removing ions from solution based on the concept of storing ions in the electric double layer created when an electrode is negative and positively polarized. The development of new electrode materials is one of the most challenging issues in CDI. The search for a cheap electrode with high specific surface area, available for electrosorption, has been investigated by many research groups around the world. In this proposal the concepts of electrochemistry and materials science will be employed for the development of new electrodes materials based on carbon (and their composites) considering their sustainability. Therefore, materials abundant in Brazil, such as lignin and bagasse fly ash will be used to produce activated carbons to prepare electrodes for CDI. In the second part of this project, concepts of electrochemical engineering will be used to build a CDI cell to study different operational modes (potentiostatic, galvanostatic, and potentiodynamic) in order to optimize the process variables (current, voltage, flow rate, etc.) that maximize the desalination kinetics and the coulombic efficiency and minimize the specific energy consumption. Once optimized all the variables, the CDI cell will be used in experiments to desalinate real brackish water. (AU)

Scientific publications

(9)

(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)

ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. Simultaneous analysis of electrosorption capacity and kinetics for CDI desalination using different electrode configurations. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, v. 332, p. 33-41, JAN 15 2018. (15/16107-4, 15/26593-3)

ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; BARCELOS, KAMILLA M.; NOGUEIRA, FRANCISCO G. E.; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. Understanding the mechanism of carbonization and KOH activation of polyaniline leading to enhanced electrosorption performance. Carbon, v. 156, p. 346-358, JAN 2020. (15/26593-3, 17/19838-5)

LEE, JUHAN; SRIMUK, PATTARACHAI; ZWINGELSTEIN, ROSE; ZORNITTA, RAFAEL LINZMEYER; CHOI, JAEHOON; KIM, CHOONSOO; PRESSER, VOLKER. Sodium ion removal by hydrated vanadyl phosphate for electrochemical water desalination supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8ta10087j. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A, v. 7, n. 8, p. 4175-4184, FEB 28 2019. (16/24684-4, 15/26593-3)

ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; GARCIA-MATEOS, FRANCISCO J.; LADO, JULIO J.; RODRIGUEZ-MIRASOL, JOSE; CORDERO, TOMAS; HAMMER, PETER; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. High-performance activated carbon from polyaniline for capacitive deionization. Carbon, v. 123, p. 318-333, OCT 2017. (15/16107-4, 15/26593-3)

LADO, JULIO J.; ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; VAZQUEZ RODRIGUEZ, INES; BARCELOS, KAMILA MALVERDI; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. Sugarcane Biowaste-Derived Biochars as Capacitive Deionization Electrodes for Brackish Water Desalination and Water-Softening Applications. ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING, v. 7, n. 23, p. 18992-19004, DEC 2 2019. (15/26593-3, 17/19838-5, 15/16107-4)

LEE, JUHAN; SRIMUK, PATTARACHAI; CARPIER, SIDONIE; CHOI, JAEHOON; ZORNITTA, RAFAEL LINZMEYER; KIM, CHOONSOO; ASLAN, MESUT; PRESSER, VOLKER. Confined Redox Reactions of Iodide in Carbon Nanopores for Fast and Energy-Efficient Desalination of Brackish Water and Seawater. CHEMSUSCHEM, v. 11, n. 19, p. 3460-3472, OCT 11 2018. (15/26593-3, 16/24684-4)

LEE, JUHAN; SRIMUK, PATTARACHAI; ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; ASLAN, MESUT; MEHDI, B. LAYLA; PRESSER, VOLKER. High Electrochemical Seawater Desalination Performance Enabled by an Iodide Redox Electrolyte Paired with a Sodium Superionic Conductor. ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING, v. 7, n. 11, p. 10132-10142, JUN 3 2019. (16/24684-4, 15/26593-3)

ZORNITTA, RAFAEL LINZMEYER; SRIMUK, PATTARACHAI; LEE, JUHAN; KRUENER, BENJAMIN; ASLAN, MESUT; MARTINS RUOTOLO, LUIS AUGUSTO; PRESSER, VOLKER. Charge and Potential Balancing for Optimized Capacitive Deionization Using Lignin-Derived, Low-Cost Activated Carbon Electrodes. CHEMSUSCHEM, v. 11, n. 13, p. 2101-2113, JUL 11 2018. (16/24684-4, 15/26593-3)

LADO, JULIO J.; ZORNITTA, RAFAEL L.; CALVI, FELIPE A.; MARTINS, MARIANA; ANDERSON, MARC A.; NOGUEIRA, FRANCISCO G. E.; RUOTOLO, LUIS A. M.. Enhanced capacitive deionization desalination provided by chemical activation of sugar cane bagasse fly ash electrodes. JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL AND APPLIED PYROLYSIS, v. 126, p. 143-153, JUL 2017. (15/16107-4, 15/26593-3)