A novel flow electrode capacitive deionization device with spindle-shaped desalting chamber

Highlights

● A spindle-shaped influent chamber was designed and equipped in FCDI system.

● CFD is used to analyze the hydrodynamics of raw water in the intermediate chamber.

● The spindle-shaped chamber avoided the stagnation zone in the intermediate chamber.

Abstract

Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) is an innovative technology in which an intermediate chamber plays an important role in the desalination process. However, relatively few studies have been conducted on the structures of these intermediate chambers. In this study, we propose a novel flow-electrode capacitive deionization device with a spindle-shaped inlet chamber (S-FCDI). The desalination rate of the S-FCDI under optimal operating conditions was 36% higher than that of the FCDI device with a conventional rectangular chamber (R-FCDI). The spindle-shaped chamber transferred 1.2 μmol more ions than the rectangular chamber, based on energy per joule. Additionally, we performed a detailed analysis of different inlet chamber shapes using computational fluid dynamics software. We concluded that S-FCDI has a relatively low flow resistance and almost no stagnation zone. This provides unique insights into the development of intermediate chambers. This study may contribute to the improvement of the desalination performance in industrial applications of FCDI.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Spindle-shaped chamber / Desalination performance / Flow electrode capacitive deionization

References

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Science and Technology Project of Hebei Education Department (China) (No. QN2022038); special fund of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (China) (No. 22K05ESPCT).

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1800-y and is accessible for authorized users.

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